1DX: what's your default ISO setting?

Hi,

with my 7D I normally set ISO to 100 or 200 and increase it if really necessary. But changing ISO in the field when there is suddenly some actions can cost you a second or so and result in a missed shot.

With the 1DX being so much better at high ISO (in my tests, even 800/1600 was extremely good) I wanted to ask you if you set your 1DX to a much higher default ISO to avoid missing a shot.

I will get my own 1DX this week. Will be a while until I know everything about the camera so it is helpful to see how others use it.

Markus

I do not have a 1DX, but with the 7D I am the opposite of you...my default is pretty much 800 and decrease as needed (and I do not remember the last time I went below 400).

My default with my 7D and my 5D MkIII is ISO 800. I hand hold 99.9% of my shots, so getting SS up around 1/1000-sec, when possible, is nice. With the 7D, I resist going up to ISO 1600, but have no problem taking the 5D3 into that territory and higher.

CPS is sending my a 1DX loaner this week, so I suspect I'll also start it at ISO 800, but have even less reluctance to even to ISO 6400. It'll be interesting to see the trade off between smaller apertures, like f/11, and noise at, say ISO 6400.

BTW, if it's really bright and my subjects are in the sun, I move my default to ISO 400 and start stopping down.

1DX - I use 400 as the base.
mike

I start with 800iso on my 1dx this gives a good speed for BIF but i will drop it for birds on the ground .
Rob.

depends on light. I use any ISO between 400 and 6400 based on light and the shutter speed that I require.

Thanks for your replies.

I will probably start with 800 for birds/action and with 100 for landscape/macro. Will do lot's of testing. With the 7D sometimes (e.g. black birds) ISO 400 is already questionable (though ok with LR 4/5) but with other images (e.g. marmot in sunlight), even 1600 is no problem at all. I expect the 1DX to show similar behavior although at much higher ISO values.


Markus

Markus, IMHO you cannot compare these two bodies, they are, Poles Apart, you will see.

One of the benefits I've found with the 1Dx is it's capability to show shadow detail at high ISO e.g. this shot of a Blackbird I took last week is at ISO 16,000:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5340/9...cbfd4264_b.jpg

Mark, that is impressive. Looks like ISO 100 :-)
I had similar results in some of my tests. noise is almost no issue anymore.
Can't wait to use this camera all the time.

Markus

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Originally Posted by Markus Jais

noise is almost no issue anymore.

Markus

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Exactly. I set my desired shutter speed, then aperture, then ISO as high as it needs to be to get the shot.

Pretty impressive there Mark Corpe, I use iso 400 as a base and haven't tried iso over 12800, but as as **** will look into it after seeing that image.

I'm in the same camp as Arash. I never go below 400 except for multiple flash hummingbirds, and I will push it as high as I need to to get the shot.

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Originally Posted by Daniel Cadieux

I do not have a 1DX, but with the 7D I am the opposite of you...my default is pretty much 800 and decrease as needed (and I do not remember the last time I went below 400).

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Daniel.. When you shoot at 800 ISO, do you have a lot of noise reduction to do in Photoshop.. Just curious because I have a 7D and have heard a lot of talk about how noisy the 7D is.. Thanks

David, for dark or "midtone" backgrounds I use NR to them. Lighter than that I do not use any NR, and I never use any NR to the subjects and perches. I use Noiseware and I find the default setting very good for my tastes. Same goes for ISO 1600...

Although happy with the 7D I suspect I would be quite amazed with the 1DX!!

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Originally Posted by David Smith

Daniel.. When you shoot at 800 ISO, do you have a lot of noise reduction to do in Photoshop.. Just curious because I have a 7D and have heard a lot of talk about how noisy the 7D is.. Thanks

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David, I sometimes use noise reduction (LR 4, soon LR 5) even for ISO 400 but with some subjects (e.g. marmot against green/grey BG), I found that even ISO 500 is no problem at all for the 7D. Even with ISO 1600 and a pale bird like a female Ruff it is no problem with a little noise reduction. Of course it is no match for a 1DX/5D III but don't be afraid to go up to 1600 (or when really necessary to 3200) with the 7D.
Better a little noise and sharp than no noise and no sharpness.

See this shot here:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ead.php/112637

Shot at ISO 500. It showed almost no noise on my monitor (RAW, of course).

Markus

Here's what 25,600 ISO looks like at 100% with no NR. The detail is quite remarkable IMO. And the noise is fairly manageable.

Doug, that's pretty amazing. Thanks for sharing.

I got the camera yesterday. Over 400 pages of instructions! It will take a while to really master this tool. The good thing is that I don't need everything and you can customize the camera almost any way you want. It has everything - except a built-in pizza :-)

The AF guides by Arash and Artie and Canon's own AF manual will be invaluable for setting up the AF part the camera.
The manual is not always too clear about some things, e.g. it doesn't always say if some settings only affect JPEGs or also RAW files (at least the German manual doesn't). But most of the time this is clear anyway. I will also be joining a training with experts from Canon in a few months.

Tomorrow or next week I should get the 4/600 II. This will be a dream for BIF. Now all that is left is someone telling the German White-tailed Eagles to be cooperative and not be to shy :-)

Markus

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Originally Posted by Doug Brown

Here's what 25,600 ISO looks like at 100% with no NR. The detail is quite remarkable IMO. And the noise is fairly manageable.

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Which camera was used?

My default ISO setting is 400 for the 7D because I want to be prepared for any bird setting eventuality, whether stationary or moving. For BIF the ISO goes up to as much as 800.. And yes, noise at ISO 800 becomes borderline for the 7D.

The 1D IV and 5D III would be ideal, for birds as well as other wildlife.

I have been using the 1DX for about 2.5 months now. The image quality is amazing.
With landscape/macro I stay with 100 but increase ISO up to 1600 if I want to freeze some movements like plants in the wind or go down to 50 for long exposures (e.g. waterfalls).
For birds I set it to anything up to 6400 and if I really have to I use 12800. I prefer lower but 6400 is definitely very usable with Lightroom or Camera RAW (might be even better with DPP but I have not seen much difference and LR is so much better for managing pictures that I don't touch DPP very often).
If I can I use 100 or 200 for birds. But the 1DX is almost free of noise up to 800. I have not yet played much with Auto ISO but will to some tests. I use AV for some situations and M for many others (particularly BIF).

My 7D is ok with 800 and I also go up to 1600 if I have to but here the difference compared with the 1DX is quite noticeable (no surprise, the 1DX is newer and has a FF sensor).

Markus

Markus, if you photograph BIF setting your camera in M mode, does that mean you have to pre-determine the f/stop and shutter speed? I am guessing so.

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Originally Posted by Dennis Luz

Markus, if you photograph BIF setting your camera in M mode, does that mean you have to pre-determine the f/stop and shutter speed? I am guessing so.

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Yes. I take a few shots and set the correct exposure. Can be very bad shots, sometimes just something that has similar color than the birds. When light changes, e.g. because of clouds I adjust ISO.
I set f-stop to 5.6 or if light allows it to 7.1or 8 because then I get more depth of field.

Markus

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Originally Posted by Doug Brown

Here's what 25,600 ISO looks like at 100% with no NR. The detail is quite remarkable IMO. And the noise is fairly manageable.

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Dear Doug,
i just respectfully think it is not the truth that there is NO!!!! NR used with your example, simply there should be at least chrominance noise visible .
Please clarify what raw converter you used on this one,Exif etc.
I do own the Dx and chrominance noise is starting at 3200 ISO being visible if all NR is turned off in and out of cam.
So if you post an example , be more precise, please.

Regards Andreas

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Originally Posted by Andreas Liedmann

Dear Doug,
i just respectfully think it is not the truth that there is NO!!!! NR used with your example, simply there should be at least chrominance noise visible .
Please clarify what raw converter you used on this one,Exif etc.
I do own the Dx and chrominance noise is starting at 3200 ISO being visible if all NR is turned off in and out of cam.
So if you post an example , be more precise, please.

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Andreas, the EXIF are f/10, 1/6400, ISO 25,600. The body and lens are Canon 1Dx with 600mm II and 1.4x III. My 100% crop that I posted was taken directly from Lightroom so to be technically correct, default LR NR was applied to the image. What I meant was that no additional NR was performed on the 100% crop using any other software. I should have been more clear.

On the other hand, Lightroom is what I use to import images onto my computer so I never see RAW files without default LR NR applied. I stand by my statement that ISO 25,600 performance can be exceptional when you absolutely have to get the shot in extremely low light conditions.

Here's a 100% crop comparison between LR default NR (left) and no NR (right). Chroma noise is present, but IMO detail does not suffer when LR applies default NR.

Hi Doug,
thanks for clarification,think you wanted the high IQ showing that the cam can produce, i am with you.

But now it is clearer for all others who are interested in this wonderful working horse.

Still a question left, sharpening in LR at default? or no sharpening at all ?

I am not using LR or ACR for conversion, simply do not like them?

I use RPP or Raw Developer, depending on the frame.

Thanks again for clarifying, helps against misunderstanding some features.

Regards Andreas

Default sharpening and NR.

Here's a frame with no LR NR or sharpening.

OK got the info and understand now everything, i think.

Thanks again, Andreas

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Originally Posted by Andreas Liedmann

think you wanted the high IQ showing that the cam can produce

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I was not trying to misrepresent the performance of the 1Dx. I (and many others) import RAW files using Lightroom and evaluate those imported images after the images have had LR defaults applied to them. To me the LR import is the RAW file for all intents and purposes; that's why I posted a 100% crop of a LR screenshot.