7D2 High ISO for the Masses: a Mallard Drake at 4,000

[Doug Brown]

Not everyone feels comfortable pushing 1.6 crop cameras into 5- or even 4-digit ISO's, but the 7D2 makes it pretty painless. ISO 3200 and 4000 are quite clean right out of the camera; I don't hesitate to use either of these settings with the 7D2. Looking forward to using this new body in California for my upcoming duck workshop with Dave Salem!

Canon 7D2, 600 mm II, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 4000, manual exposure, hand held

[Marina Scarr]

The fine feather detail you managed to acquire with this high an ISO is really quite impressive, Doug. TFS.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wow that's good. Just wondering now if I was a bit impetuous in purchasing my 1DX the 7D 11 seems to be delivering my wildest expectations.

[Satish Ranadive]

Absolutely superb close up with great fine details and wonderful colors.

Regards,
Satish.

[William Dickson]

Hi Doug

Great detail for that ISO. I am thinking about getting the Mkii

Did you use any software to denoise the image

[Doug Brown]

Hi Doug

Great detail for that ISO. I am thinking about getting the Mkii

Did you use any software to denoise the image

Thanks William. I use the Neat Image Photoshop plug-in on the TIFF file, in addition to the NR that DPP applies to the RAW file.

[Mike Quigley]

What about the high ISO settings in the camera itself?

[William Dickson]

Thanks William. I use the Neat Image Photoshop plug-in on the TIFF file, in addition to the NR that DPP applies to the RAW file.

Thanks Doug

I used to have the 7D and could never get good denoise like that on high ISO images. I also denoise the TIFF file, but it is with Topaz Plugin. Yes, the Mk 2, is looking a lot better than the original 7D

Cheers

William

[Doug Brown]

What about the high ISO settings in the camera itself?

I have in-camera high ISO speed NR set to standard. I'm not sure that the setting does anything to the RAW file other than give DPP a setting to apply. In-camera long exposure NR does alter the RAW file if I'm not mistaken, but not high ISO NR.

[Mike Quigley]

Doug, does your old "setting up your 7D tutorial" work for the Mk2 model?

[William Dickson]

Hi Doug

Just one more question. What was the weather conditions when you took the image

Thanks

William

[Doug Brown]

Hi Doug

Just one more question. What was the weather conditions when you took the image

Thanks

William

It was late afternoon on a sunny day, but the bird was in the shade. If you were to calculate an equivalent shutter speed at ISO 400, you'd be shooting at 1/100. That should give you an idea of the ambient lighting conditions.

[van bogaert erik]

Thanks William. I use the Neat Image Photoshop plug-in on the TIFF file, in addition to the NR that DPP applies to the RAW file.

so the image is not straight out of the camera !!

[Doug Brown]

so the image is not straight out of the camera !!

I never said that it was. I post unprocessed images in the Photography Gear forum, and processed images here.

[Doug Brown]

Here's a version stripped of all Photoshop processing. Exported to TIFF from DPP, and then cropped and resized in PS.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for that Doug

I have just ordered the Mk2 and really looking forward to using it now

[Jonathan Ashton]

Doug do you use the automatic noise reduction setting sin DPP4 or do you override them?

[Ian Cassell]

It's looking great, Doug! Mine came yesterday and I finally had a little time to get it out of the box today, but no time yet to try shooting. I'm really psyched by your images! I hope you do another setup monograph like you did for the original 7D -- I'm already totally confused by all of the options!

[Doug Brown]

Doug do you use the automatic noise reduction setting sin DPP4 or do you override them?

Hi Jonathan. I tend to leave chrominance NR alone and reduce the default value for luminance NR, sometimes removing it entirely.

[mohammad reza shahab]

Wow, superb.great feather detail,colors and comp.

[David Salem]

Great looking feather detail in this one Doug and it looks pretty darn good for ISO 4000, even without any NR. With NR it looks perfect. Each frame keeps lookin better and better:) See ya soon

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool! common bird but a nice head shot has given him a character! good details and uniform lightning!

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Killer detail Doug. I think this is a great image to show what you can achieve as a final product from the 7D2 (after all, it's the final product that matters!). From the original image, it looks like you didn't have to do much to pull out those details and remove the noise.

Looking forward to more from this series!

[Doug Brown]

Appreciate the feedback everyone!

[MiroslavMaric]

Well done shot and good example what 7DII can give in good hands. TFS and for all details too.

Cheers,
Miro