It was a dark and dreary night....

[finnbay]

Just a couple of anecdotal shots at 3200 ISO. Got home late and light was VERY poor - dark, overcast and misting. Natural light. Canon 50D, ISO 3200, 100-400L, Av priority f/5.6 and 1/80th of a second.

Some PP. Shots with a dark background had a fair amount of banding, most of which could be controlled with Noise Ninja.

[Dbl]

Oh, Oh, who pulled the trigger on a 50D!!!!!!! I've noticed the banding as well. I've found running the NR on strong works MUCH better than cleanup with software.

I think your going to like the camera. I did a large Team and Individual shoot on Tuesday and all I can say is what a difference in file quality!

Congratulations Ken, we are going to have to trade notes!

[Steve Foss]

I hate you both. I mean that in the BEST possible way.

[finnbay]

Had an itch and just had to scratch! Very poor light so just testing out high ISO. So far am impressed. Very usable @3200 and even some @ 6400. More testing to do but how much fun!

[Steve Foss]

I'm especially interested in how it performs at 6400 with the in-camera NR set on strong, Ken. C'mon man, it's not dark yet. Get out there!

[finnbay]

Okay, dark enough now? 5:45 - be back in a minute!

[finnbay]

Okay, now it was DARK. AF didn't work so had to use manual focus. ISO 6400, Av priority f/5.6, 1/25th second - hand held, in-camera high ISO noise reduction on strong. First shot right out of the camera - no PP, second shot NN used lightly.

[Steve Foss]

Wow, that banding is really noticeable. On the weddings I've shot with the 5D, banding at iso3200 is uncommon, and very subtle when it does happen.

Hmmmmm.

I pulled in the second chipmunk image, opened it in CS2, lassoed the banded BG and applied a 2.5 pixel gaussian blur, which killed the banding nicely.

I pulled in the first chickadee image and lassoed the BG and used NN on auto-profile and it did a very nice job on the banding. I bet Noise Ninja will do even better with the banding once they have 50D profiles available for upload. I doubt they have them yet, since it's so new.

[finnbay]

I'll do some more with closer to normal lighting for weddings later this weekend. I had taken some in my living room with lights off, and it really did quite well. Unfortunately I just took 'em, looked at 'em and erased 'em. It was REALLY DARK when I took these - much darker than you'd find inside a church with a wedding.

[Steve Foss]

That's good news, Ken. Lots more great experimentation to come, and I'll look forward to seeing it.

How's your Sunday looking?

As a comparison, here's a recent wedding image with the 5D at iso3200. There was a very subtle portion of banding in the shadow immediately to the right of the groom's head (so subtle I had to strain to see it, whereas a client would not have noticed it), but lassoing that and applying NN killed it dead.

I'd bet the 50D at iso3200 with in-camera NR on strong would do at least as well, and I'm still leaning toward picking up a 50D new instead of a 5D used. Even if they are a wash at iso3200, the 50D has so many other features that make it attractive.

Canon 70-200 f2.8L non IS at 200mm, 1/100 at f2.8

[finnbay]

New camera - gotta play!

High ISO shots. DU magazine under one kitchen light. All straight from the camera, no PP:

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

Bailey, one lamp in far corner of living room, no overhead light:

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

Snuck one photo of my wife. Lamp in far corner of the living room, light cast from computer screen. ISO 6400, 1 pixel radius gaussen applied:

[Dbl]

I have some RAW files that were shot last weekend in poor light that I haven't even had a chance to look at. These results look pretty darn good, as you both mentioned a bit of blur on the background and banding is gone!

I think 12800 is going to be more than useable for sports work, and 6400 will be my new 3200! This camera has a lot going for it.

I've heard new firmware by the end of the month to address a few err99's and some noise issues. Which firmware do you have? The camera was released with 1.0.1 but mine has 1.0.2. I have around 2000 shots with not one error.

Let me know when you want to microfocus your lenses, I have a sweet procedure that allowed me to adjust all of my lenses in about 15 minutes. My 17-40 was the worst of the bunch at -5. Both my most used lenses the 70-200/2.8 and 300/2.8 were dead on with this body. It also works with third party lenses.

[finnbay]

My firmware is also 1.0.2. No err99's in the first 50 or 60 shots. I've got to get through the first part of this weekend (still cleaning up after the roof job) but maybe Sunday or Monday on the calibrating. Thanks, Dan!

[Dbl]

Steve I hope you will at least get a hands on try with the camera...if you can pry it away from Ken for 5 minutes!

[Dbl]

The team shots I did with this camera on RAW2 and M JPEG just blow my Mark IIN out of the water for sharpness and clarity, and that was with the M JPEG! I didn't even convert anything over from RAW which would do even more justice to the file.

[finnbay]

Quote:

Steve I hope you will at least get a hands on try with the camera...if you can pry it away from Ken for 5 minutes!

Might cost him another "secret spot"!

[Steve Foss]

I have so many secret spots you may never get the camera back, Ken.

Dan the micro lens adjust is one of the things that has me really interested.

[Dbl]

[Dbl]

Steve, that was one of my big plus's for this camera as well. It made a BIG difference on my 17-40! I will try and find a shot or two from Tuesdays T&I shoot. My partner used it this week twice for XC photos, the ALO made a difference in backlighted shots. Focus looked like it was no problem for it looking at some of the shots.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

The team shots I did with this camera on RAW2 and M JPEG just blow my Mark IIN out of the water for sharpness and clarity, and that was with the M JPEG! I didn't even convert anything over from RAW which would do even more justice to the file.

Sounds like you won't be needing that IIn anymore,so I'm in for $400

[Dbl]

Originally Posted By: Dbl

The team shots I did with this camera on RAW2 and M JPEG just blow my Mark IIN out of the water for sharpness and clarity, and that was with the M JPEG! I didn't even convert anything over from RAW which would do even more justice to the file.

Sounds like you won't be needing that IIn anymore,so I'm in for $400

Still can't beat that camera when it comes to focusing! Nothing comes close so it might be a while before you pry it out of my hands, unless they are cold and dead, or the Mark IV comes out . On that note first quarter of this year are the latest rumors I've heard about the Mark IV.

[MN Shutterbug]

You guys sure know how to make a guy salivate.

[finnbay]

I'm going to have to be satisfied with my (2) Mark II's, unless I unload both and get another 1D body - might be a possibility now that I have the 50D.

[Dbl]

Here is a shot right out of the camera no PP, the prints came back from this shoot and I've got to say they are extremely nice. A noticable difference from both the Mark II, 20D and 30D I've been using. Hard to pick out from a web shot but trust me the detail in these prints are very nice.

Manual mode, ISO 100, f5.6, 1/250s on the 70-200/2.8 non IS. One AB800 shot through an umbrella camera left with a Vagabond II battery pack shot on location.

One thing I've noticed is a blue cast when shooting on AWB and going from sun to shade. Didn't care for what it did to my colors at all. Shot some in RAW and changed the white balance to shade and that seemed to help but that would be a pain to switch back and forth when moving from shade to sun. The LCD itself also seems to display a bit blue and on the cool side as well. More testing to find those little things.