Canon 5D at 1600-3200 ISO ; what do you think ?

Peter Dumont

Hi y'all.
I was wondering what you think of the 5D high ISO sample pictures in DPreview's
hands-on preview ?

http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/?gallery=canoneos5d_preview/

It appears to me that the relatively large pixels on the 5D make for very clean high-ISO .
In combination with a fast lens this cam could be a real winner IMO .

Peter Dumont

Andy

i think that phil's quick sample shots are just that - not a thorough testing, and it was a pre-production camera.. so i wouldn't go by them, good or bad... too much...

i would go by canon's excellent reputation on the high-iso front: the 20d, 1Ds Mark II are outstanding at 1600 and serviceable at 3200, when properly exposed.

i'll also go by my own first hand experience with the camera in real-life shooting - if the 5D doesn't pass muster for me at high isos i won't keep it

Matthew Saville

Yeah, besides, high ISO shots are nearly worthless when they're shot in relative broad daylight... Try shooting a bride with just window light or a stage actor with just a single spotlight, maybe then I'll start taking notes.

But seriously, they don't look surprising to me. The shots look consistent with the Canon reputation for awesome, near-grainless high ISO shots, but also with the "signature" chromatic noise that is very visible. But wow, considering that people don't really need 30x40" prints from the kind of work that requires 3200 ISO, I'd say they're incredibly printable. Maybe some day when I'm rich and can afford to switch back and forth between systems, (or own both) I'll definitely be looking into FF digital, especially for plays and other dark situations. And since that would mean high ISO and IS / VR, things could get pretty dicey. I'll have to see how the 24-105 IS compares up with the 24-120 VR, cause the 24-120 VR is pretty near to un-acceptable, even on a 1.5x DSLR...

Now if only Canon could come out with a 1.7x TC!

-Matt-

luckyrwe

Matthew Saville wrote:

Now if only Canon could come out with a 1.7x TC!
-Matt-

How about stacking two 1.4x converters?

photobug

two 1.4x's = 2x

How about stacking two 1.4x converters?

That gives you 2x (not 1.8x). TC ratios are multiplicative (not additive), so with only 1.4x and 2x to choose from, no combination will give you 1.7x.

Matthew Saville

photobug wrote:

That gives you 2x (not 1.8x). TC ratios are multiplicative (not additive), so with only 1.4x and 2x to choose from, no combination will give you 1.7x.

The light fallout however probably IS additive, and with two 1.4x TC's, you're at 2 stops loss whereas the 1.7x only loses 1.5 stops. That's the beauty of it... :-)

Someone needs to ask the real pros like Jim Natchwey how they use Canon equipment in such harsh conditions and never get any of these errors that seem so common to us poor consumers...
-Matt-