The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

nikon/canon high iso

gooomz

Member
for color photos on the m9 iso800 to iso 1600 is pretty much the limit for most.

what is the limit on the new nikon/canon bodies?

i see published specs at like iso 12,500 or 25,000 but what is the real everyday usable iso for the new canon/nikon bodies?

thanks.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
With my Nikon D800E I fully can use ISO1600 to ISO3200 even for large prints.

ISO 6400 there is some less IQ and details are fading.

I am shooting RAW exclusively!

Hope that helps
 

gooomz

Member
so with the new "M" announced is the iso battle even between Leica and nikon/canon?

i thought with all the R&D that nikon has that there usable iso would be much higher then 3200iso.

what happened to 25,600iso?

thanks a lot
 

David Schneider

New member
Size print and what you personally feel is acceptable quality is a variable. I don't think very many cameras have quality at their highest ISO levels that are worth more than to be put on the web or perhaps personal use.
 

gooomz

Member
i guess what i am asking is with Leica's new "M" and the monochrom has Leica turned the corner and equaled the high iso performance of nikon and canon?

is high iso performance being a Leica crutch no longer the case with these new bodies?
 

ausemmao

New member
i guess what i am asking is with Leica's new "M" and the monochrom has Leica turned the corner and equaled the high iso performance of nikon and canon?

is high iso performance being a Leica crutch no longer the case with these new bodies?
There are so many things this depends on, image intent above all - detail is not important to all images, and when it is unimportant ISO can be pushed higher. Same for colour. So you'd have to try for yourself and see.
 

jlancasterd

Active member
I regularly shoot RAW at ISO 6400 with both a D800 and a D800E, and go higher when absolutely necessary. There is a fair amount of noise at 6400 with both cameras, but it is easily moderated in LR4 to look like nothing more than the moderately fine grain one would get using a medium-speed 35mm colour film.

As a veteren of the days when a 'fast' colour film was High Speed Ektachrome at ISO 160 (a film that had 'grain like footballs'!) I'm more than happy with the image quality I'm getting from these cameras – especially given the convenience of being able to shoot hand-held in the sort of dim conditions which would have required a tripod and time-exposure (or flash bulbs) back in the 1960s.

Nowadays I do a lot of photography in a railway workshop where there are a number of poorly-lit areas, but where tripods are unwelcome to say the least. The high ISO capability of the D800(E) has made it considerably easier to get the shots I need.
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
I use auto ISO up to 1600 with the D800E and don't really consider it degraded. You can see noise of course, but it's not obvious in print. The benefit of a higher shutter speed exceeds the small quality loss due to noise. That said, when on a tripod I use ISO 100 exclusively and long exposure times; it's a fantastic long-exposure camera. The only times I really need very high ISO, like 12500 is for newsprint, and those folks are happy with a 1-2MP B&W JPEG so noise is a complete non-issue. Even my m43 GX1 can crank out usable newsprint shot in the black of night.
 

gooomz

Member
so has leica caught up with nikon with the pending release of the new "M" or will Leica still be about 2 usable iso stops behind nikon?
 

pophoto

New member
With the Nikon D700 and 5D Mark II, I didn't shoot beyond ISO800.

With the 5D Mark III, I am happy shooting up to ISO 6400, but still keep it well below, say ISO 1600. On the Canon 1DX, I would say it holds well up to ISO 25600, but I am now willing to Auto ISO 12800 (but rarely goes there!). It's subjective, and not alway linear in comparison, but these are what I feel happy with!

Oh I use a personal silly general rule to not shoot above ISO 800, I still believe this is where it works best with most modern cameras, but certainly the new sensor technology has allowed a slower falloff over a rapid one above 800 where noise comes in, certainly MP resolution comes to play!

Just to add another perspective to the mix, on MFT, the OMD EM5, I am happy usually up to ISO400, but certain situations I will use 800. On the Sigma DP2M I am happy up to ISO200.
 
I'm putting together a body of work for exhibition with about half the photgraphs done at iso3200 to 6400 on the d800. I'm printing 20x30 inches. The noise is obvious, but looks fine. With both noise reduction and sharpening kept to a minimum in LR4 they look like enlargements from film that has a reasonably good looking grain structure.

The camera loses a lot of dynamic range at high ISOs but this doesn't effect my project.

None of this discussion means anything if you don't reference print size. All these images are noise-free on the web and almost noise-free in an 8x10 print.
 
Top