High iso usage

[doomed forever]

I shot this hand-held in 2010 using a Canon 30D with a 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens at 1600 ISO...



Shot in RAW with post processing done with Photoshop CS6 and NIK software. Noise reduction done with NIK Dfine...

Despite the relatively ancient body (I was shooting with a 30D and a 40D at the time) the quality is reasonable.

BTW: I had to shoot this hand held to shoot over the heads of the crowds assembled on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong Harbor. No way to use a tripod...

Another one who's using that oldie, but goldie 30D. And i do have Nik Software Collection for ages, too. Dfine2 does a great job, indeed. Really nice picture, congrats.

I do nightshots always with tripod and ISO 100, and depending onto the light between 8 to 30 seconds...call me old-fashioned, but it's okay for me.

Marc

[William W]

The relevant factor (to my post) is whether there's a hard stop end point that means you could set a precise aperture value, without looking at the camera or through the viewfinder, what the aperture is? . . . The clicks on the front or rear dials of my Nikon are sufficient to 'feel count' steps for whatever parameter is assigned to them - as long as I know where I'm starting from, which requires a look at the camera or remembering, that's fine.

Hi Dave,

I understood that was a relevant issue. I didn't address that specifically, but for the sake of conversation: holding any of my Canon DSLR's in my right hand (the camera is usually in M Mode) I can just spin the QCD (that's the dial at the back) a few big flicks counter clockwise with my thumb and I am at maximum Aperture.

If in Av Mode the the same applies except it is the Main Dial (that's the one near the Shutter Release) and it is a few good flicks with the index finger gets me to Maximum Aperture.

However, I only have to "reset" to Maximum Aperture if I am either unsure of the resting position when I pick a camera up or I get lost when I am shooting - and a relevant point I was making is that can be done one-handed.

When I wake up any of my DSLR's it should be ready at: M Mode; Evaluative Metering; AWB; Center Point AF; One Shot AF; Single Shot Drive; raw+JPEG (L) capture; Back Button Focus and the exposure set at: F/8 @ 1/400 @ ISO400.

*

Resetting the Tv without looking at the top screen I have NOT done, and, frankly never really thought about it until now: but it would be just as easy to make a few very big flicks to get to the fastest Tv and then bring it down: but that does seem impractical - I’d just look at the top display screen.

‘Resetting’ (and as nervous habit ‘playing with’) the Av up and down without looking I do often: there are much fewer clicks from beginning to end on the Av, than on the Tv.

Cheers,

Bill

[rpcrowe]

Marc,

I most normally use a tripod for my night shots and usually shoot at ISO 160 (which is my base ISO) with my 7D cameras.



I arrived rather late to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong Harbor to view the Hong Kong side light show, There was a crowd of people already standing at the harbor side to see the show about ten deep in front of us. Luckily, the people in the crowd were generally a lot shorter than my 6'1" (~185 cm or so) height.



I opened the lens to f/2.8 with IS turned on and then boosted the ISO to the point in which I would achieve a shutter speed around 1/50 second. I knew that I could hold the camera/lens steady at that shutter speed and needed at least 1/50 second to stop any movement on the water. Generally, my focal length was at the long side of my 17-55 mm f/2.8 IS lens. I decided that I would rather have a noisy image than a fuzzy one.

These images are my second go around at PP. I did not own NIK Software when I first processed the images. They look a lot better using NIK Dfine for NR.

[Brownbear]

Hi Bill,

Just to say that as someone who is often photographing foggy scenes in low light which seem especially susceptible to noise that your tutorial is especially informative and very helpful. Thank you!

Geoff:

As an addition to my commentary Post #36 and also directly addressing the shooting scenario of your sample image.

Firstly, here is an extract from my teaching notes which might be useful to you:



© AJ Group Pty Ltd Aust 1996~2015, WMW 1965~1996
REF: My Documents / Teaching Notes

***

Secondly – comments on your image specifically.

EXIF reveals:
EOS 7DMkII
F/8 @ 1/400s @ ISO800
Av Priority
EC = 0
Metering Evaluative
White Balance: AWB

By your description of the Lighting Scenario “fairly poor overcast light and a bit of water vapour from spray in the air” and my experiences of shooting at sea and evaluating EV of a scene - that scene is about at EV = 10

If so, the “correct” exposure would be in the order: F/8 @ 1/100s @ ISO800

Referring to my notes above and expecting the headroom on the 7DMkII is about 1 Stop, then for the best possible outcome ready for Post Production and especially addressing the noise, that you do not want, I expect the shot would have been better pulled at about:

F4/ @ 1/400s @ ISO1600
Bracket -1 Stop +⅔Stop in ⅓Stops
Remove Filter (if you had a filter on)
Manual White Balance K= 8,000°

*

One accurate way to measure your starting exposure for that shooting scenario:

Meter in “Evaluative Mode” something nearby: your open palm or lush grass.

> using your open palm and you are Caucasian/Anglo-Saxon Skinned- then open up about 1⅓Stops from that reading.

> lush green grass make no adjustment

WW

[doomed forever]

@Richard

Really nice pictures....i can't afford the 17-55/2.8 IS, but i do have the 24-105/4 L USM on my 5D...mostly, in contrast,
got my lens from 2008 in mint condition for just 400 like new in 2013.

2 Shots from me, albeit older ones:



Chemistry Plant



No PP, just RAW-TiF-JPG, with Lens Correction.


Coal Mine "Zollverein", Essen, Germany