Monday, December 9, 2013

So the Canon 5D Classic does ISO3200!



What impresses me about the new crop of cameras, especially those Fuji X cameras, is the high ISO capability.  Even today I just read the little Canon Rebel SL-1 (the tiniest DSLR on the planet) can do stupid high ISO like 125600 or something.  I haven't seen any photos done yet like that, but I figure that must mean you'd get photos at least acceptable up to ISO6400, right?

So I had to consult my manual about my classic 5D cameras.  I'm somewhat of an idiot.  When I got the cameras I just pressed the ISO button and turned the command dial to see how high it would go.  It goes up to 1600?  I'm happy!  You have to understand, I cut my teeth on film and 1600 was as high I could've gone with the films I was using.  I have lighting too, so like Joe McNally, the best thing to do is shoot at ISO100 all the time anyway, which is what I've always done.  My attitude has always been that the images get softer and grainier the higher the ISO goes, so I was always about maximum quality - thinking every image had to be able to be printed with immaculate detail up 16x20 ;)

In the 5D manual, Canon has all these "Custom Functions" and one of the functions when turned on, extends your ISO to 3200 on the high end and 50 on the low end.  I can see using the 50 alot.  On the display, you hold down the ISO button and turn the command dial, then it'll read either "H" or "L" depending on which end of the scale you are. 

Excited I could do this, the shots above were shot around the house in the "H" setting (ISO3200).  The lights were dimmed and almost dark.  I wanted to see how well the camera handled in this kind of lighting.  The camera seemed to autofocus well, so long as I was looking at contrasting points, and with the White Balance set to the incandescent light icon, the pictures above are straight out of the camera.  With the exception of the black and white one, that was unsaturated in PhotoShop, but that's it.   If anything, I could shoot ISO3200 in black and white and get some cool art!

Being able to do this is what's holding me off from upgrading to anything new.  Again, I'll learn this gear through and through and drive it into the ground.  What's nice is now I can do a walkabout and shoot indoors without flash - which is what I initially did when I started with an old beat-up Nikon FM with a couple of lenses (a 24/2.8 and a 50/1.4) and ISO800 color film.  My photography was so simple then, I need to get back there.  It's so complicated these days because of the amount of toys I show up with.  Gotta cut that crap loose ;)

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