Canon xxD ISO question

jbakerphoto

Ok so I have been shooting HS football this season for my local newspaper and have been doing it with a Rebel XT and a sigma 70-200 2.8. I have been getting enough quality shots to make it work with the paper for the most part but have found that there have been times where I am limited in several ways. They have also asked me if I am interested in doing some basketball after football. (YEA) So I am thinking it might be time to upgrade the camera body to get faster fps and higher iso and everything else. So my question with ISO is when you extend the ISO to high. (3200) do you get the 1/3 increments in there with a 30D and 40D after ISO 1600 or does it just go from 1600 straight to 3200. in other words can you set the ISO to something in between 1600 and 3200. Any other advice would be appreciated as well.
Thanks
Jon

ziggy53

unclejon wrote:

... So my question with ISO is when you extend the ISO to high. (3200) do you get the 1/3 increments in there with a 30D and 40D after ISO 1600 or does it just go from 1600 straight to 3200. in other words can you set the ISO to something in between 1600 and 3200. Any other advice would be appreciated as well.
Thanks
Jon

Jon,

I don't recommend fractional ISO settings on Canon cameras (probably not as good for other manufacturers as well.

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=803423&postcount=3
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=803450&postcount=5

Robinivich

I second Ziggy about the fractional ISO, it just doesn't give any real advantage, and may come at some cost in noise/dr.

And to directly answer your question, no, past 1600 it just goes to hi (3200), whether it's set to full stop or 1/3 stop increments.

As for looking at upgrading, I went from XT to 40d this past spring, and my advice to you is to do it as soon as possible! Obviously don't rush things, but the 40d outclasses the XT in basically everything. When using the XT I do notice those moments where the camera gets in the way of what I'm trying to do. I haven't yet had that problem with the 40d, and it feels good! The only thing I've noticed is that I prefer how the XT handles ISO 400 over the 40d, but funny enough I prefer the 40d's 1600 to the XT's.

Make sure you're comfortable with the size of the new camera, and compare 40d vs 50d. I wish the 40d had the higher ISOs, the newer screen, and nicer sealing, but I'm glad I don't have to deal with 15 megapixels. If I had to choose today, I'd still go 40d.

As for the 30d, it's simply an older generation, missing some handy new doodads. Beautiful pictures can still be taken easily without these new doodads, but the 40d gave me a taste, and there's no going back for me. For yourself, you still have freedom of choice!

Tee Why

Forget upgrading the body. You'll get one stop faster shutter speed if you get a 100mm f2 for a lot less than the body.