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High ISO Shots

corkyg

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Shooting at high ISOs (800, 1600, 3200, etc.) is often avoided because of fear of excessive grainiess/noise.

Not all low light work carries that stigma, especially with the EOS 5d.

This morning I was getting ready for a course I will be teaching in our SeniorNet lab at Udall COmmunity Center here in Tucson. Basically, we have 9 work stations all networked and an instructor's podium. It is linked to a projector - so what ever the instructor does is seen on the screen by students.

This makes it easy for them to follow along, step by step.

Currently, all the work stations are CRT and XP based. When funds become available, we will move to all LCDs and Vista.

There are normally 8 students in a class, and the instructor has two coaches or assistants - each handling 4 students. Our courses are all designed to 5 three hour blocks.

I took these pictures this morning showing the lab under available light using a EOS 5d set at ISO 3200.

This is the view of the class from the instructor's podium:

Senior1

This is the student's view with lights dimmed so the projection screen is more visible:

Senio3

I do a lot of this type of work in areas where a flash is verboten or objectionable.

 
ISO1600 on my D50 is for emergencies only. I can get far cleaner shots at ISO800.

Before you go off on me, looking in my Lightroom library, I have 145 shots at ISO200, 422 shots at ISO400, 982 shots at ISO800, and 706 shots at ISO1600. So obviously I do a lot of available light photography (mainly stage and performance).

Don't tell me that those shots wouldn't look better at ISO800! Besides, you could've used ISO200 if you had a tripod.
 
Originally posted by: soydios
Don't tell me that those shots wouldn't look better at ISO800! Besides, you could've used ISO200 if you had a tripod.
Click to expand...

Sure they would - but a tripod is not an option - handheld is the requirement. Go from there.

 
High iso is especially useful to wedding photographers who shoot almost exclusively on high iso. The 5d with fast glass is a godsend for those photographers who seem to always be in a dim church with no flash photography.
 
i'm assuming the glass you were using would have been able to get you at least another at 2 stops, which means ISO 800.

edit: nm, you are probably using your 24-105 f/4L
 
I shoot ISO3200 regularly with my 30D and my various lenses. I shoot a lot of sports, but I also do weddings, portraits, and other genres as well.

Here is a sample from a recent game shot at ISO3200 and filtered with Noise Ninja using a custom 30D profile.

See more of my sports photos at http://www.fargophoto.net

~Travis
 
That is really useful info. I had never tumbled on to Noise Ninja. I have it downloaded and will probably buy it. Looks like a "can't lose" tool for the digital darkroom. (My laptop.)

Very often, the main reason for using high ISO is low light with a minimum shutter speed for stop action.
 
One warning though. With noise ninja or neat image, the more aggressive you are with the noise reduction the less sharp the image will be...

-fk
 
Originally posted by: essasin
High iso is especially useful to wedding photographers who shoot almost exclusively on high iso. The 5d with fast glass is a godsend for those photographers who seem to always be in a dim church with no flash photography.
Click to expand...

I just got done with a wedding last month. Some of the exposures were 1/25 f/2.8 ISO1600 and they still needed a little push during processing. Ah well, what can you do?
 
Originally posted by: virtuamike
Originally posted by: essasin
High iso is especially useful to wedding photographers who shoot almost exclusively on high iso. The 5d with fast glass is a godsend for those photographers who seem to always be in a dim church with no flash photography.
Click to expand...

I just got done with a wedding last month. Some of the exposures were 1/25 f/2.8 ISO1600 and they still needed a little push during processing. Ah well, what can you do?
Click to expand...

What can you do? 35L, 85L, 135L. Problem solved. 😉

"L" is suppose to stand for Luxury, but I think it really means "Love", hence the red colour!
 
Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Originally posted by: virtuamike
Originally posted by: essasin
High iso is especially useful to wedding photographers who shoot almost exclusively on high iso. The 5d with fast glass is a godsend for those photographers who seem to always be in a dim church with no flash photography.
Click to expand...

I just got done with a wedding last month. Some of the exposures were 1/25 f/2.8 ISO1600 and they still needed a little push during processing. Ah well, what can you do?
Click to expand...

What can you do? 35L, 85L, 135L. Problem solved. 😉

"L" is suppose to stand for Luxury, but I think it really means "Love", hence the red colour!
Click to expand...

Too bad L glass isn't an option for me 😉

ZF 35/2, 50/1.4, 85/1.4, and 105/2 were in my bag. Too bad nobody makes a 20/1.4 (I really needed the speed at the wide end).
 
Wouldn't a lens at 20mm with a maximum aperture of 1.4 experience a lot of vignetting and lack great detail or sharpness in the image?

Sigma's 20 f/1.8 seems to be about as close as you can get.
 
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