Get less ISO noise at higher ISO sensitivity

This has been verified by me with EF bodies from 2003 EOS 10D up to 2015 EOS 5Ds R.

RF bodies like the 2020 EOS R5 & 2022 EOS R7 may have this. Owners may want to verify.

To reduce whatever ISO noise Canon has a weird ISO increments of every ISO 160.

So ISO

- 160
- 320
- 640
- 1250
- 2500
- 5000
- 10,000
- so on and so forth

These ISOs are cleaner than the next 1/3rd bump or bump down

How did you determine these values? What methodology?

Capn Jack wrote in post #19419502
How did you determine these values? What methodology?

Trial & error.

Pointing it out as a courtesy to others

This is kind of a weird thing Canon did for a while, but they seemed to have dropped it with the most recent cameras. The EOS R does this and pretty much all older cameras do it. ISO 125 is nosier than both ISO 100 and 160 with 160 being the cleanest (and having slightly more dynamic range). Canon's newer cameras, like the R5, use a dual-gain process similar to most Sony sensors. Photons to Photos has a chart where you can view this easily, just select a camera from the right hand side to see it. (https://www.photonstop​hotos.net/Charts/RN_AD​U.htm) .
For example here's the EOS R:

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Yeah; it's a nice reminder for those that are still coming in to or holding on dSLRs. I remember there were several threads for this a good number of years ago that helped me out quite a bit with the 7DI, which was notoriously finicky around underexposure. It seems to be less of a thing with the more modern sensors, and particularly the newer mirrorless models. None the less; it's worth having a current mention, IMO. Thx

Best answer is to shoot RAW, shoot on the Full Stop ISO values, and just expose to the right by 1/3rd Stop. Then pull the exposure by -1/3rd stop in the RAW converter. The ISO 160 and multiples there of, is doing just that when you are shooting JPEGs. All the camera is doing when you shoot at ISO 160 is to expose at ISO 200, and pull the exposure back.

Now if you use a good converter, In my case the Adobe one, then you can go further, as it will allow you to pull the highlights more than the shadows, so that you can get nice clean, but lifted, shadows.

In the above situation when using an incident lightmeter, I will set ISO 80 instead of 100, and the multiples of those.

Alan

when i shoot high school football, its pretty dark in some areas of the field and others not so much. i use Auto ISO (based on information from my friend who shot the Seahawks for UPI) it will 'top out' at 12,400 (12,800? not sure what it is off the top of my head).

are you saying that 16,000 is cleaner than 12,800? i could definitely use the extra 1/3 stop and if i can get cleaner images too, well thats just a bonus!

Ltdave wrote in post #19420224
when i shoot high school football, its pretty dark in some areas of the field and others not so much. i use Auto ISO (based on information from my friend who shot the Seahawks for UPI) it will 'top out' at 12,400 (12,800? not sure what it is off the top of my head).

are you saying that 16,000 is cleaner than 12,800? i could definitely use the extra 1/3 stop and if i can get cleaner images too, well thats just a bonus!

These are ISOs are cleaner than their 1/3rd stop less sensitive counterpart

ISO

- 160
- 320
- 640
- 1,250
- 2,500
- 5,000
- 10,000
- 20,000