Mini-Review: Trying To Get the Most out of the 7D High ISO Images

TeamSpeed wrote in post #13665045
Here is one from this morning on the 1D4 at ISO 6400 when I was getting some shots from a Sigma 50 1.4 that I am selling.

Then a partial crop from that.

Why are you selling it? I just got mine and I love it.

Here is 12800 from the 1D4 from a 2 game series of high ISO shots.

your results with 7D and your mini reviews have been a godsend. It took me a while to work out the set up for my 7D which seems to need so much more processing than the 5DII but the finished shots are great. I now send friends with 7Ds straight here when they have problems

You clean up those 7D files nicely. Too bad I was already selling mine by the time you posted this (I think, lol). The 1div is super clean though, wow! I shoot with it for the first time tomorrow, I'm excited!

Can I assume the process would be similar for my 60D?

Yes the same process would for the 60D.

Higgs Boson wrote in post #13666088
You clean up those 7D files nicely. Too bad I was already selling mine by the time you posted this (I think, lol). The 1div is super clean though, wow! I shoot with it for the first time tomorrow, I'm excited!

The actions I built for the 1D4 actually have more PP (gasp) than the 7D. There are more steps and it takes a bit longer to execute once I hit the RUN button. If you had both cameras at the same time and shot the same material, you might be surprised how more similar they are than different. The larger sensor with lower density with perhaps a slighter weaker AA filter makes the difference.

Try this on for size, it might blow your mind, nothing was done special to either one, whatever differences there are would be due to sensor and firmware/software in-camera (or DPP). Where the 1D4 (and 5D2) excel is that they are more forgiving if you blow exposure. I have said that many times before, they leave you latitude for improper exposure, where the latest APS-C will penalize you for that. It is not that they require more processing, just different (different setting values, etc), if you nail exposure. If you drop below -2/3 exposure on the 7D (and others) at high ISO, you are left with noise that is very, very difficult to remove without really doing damage to the photo.

IMAGE LINK: http://teamspeed.smugm​ug.com …39526&k=xjwgsNG​&lb=1&s=X2

TeamSpeed wrote in post #13666745
Yes the same process would for the 60D.

Thanks very much.

Thanks TeamSpeed for your hard work and dillgence. I'm obtaining very similarly clean results from camera raw on a 7D at high ISO, with a DxO Optics flow. But I think the +2/3 EV ETTR trick you are describing might well work even more favorably.

TeamSpeed,

Can you elaborate on the following please.

"- Use DPP to tweak saturation and exposure back down 2/3 as needed, etc."

How do I expose back down in DPP?

Thanks,
Frank

StarTzar wrote in post #13679089
TeamSpeed,

Can you elaborate on the following please.

"- Use DPP to tweak saturation and exposure back down 2/3 as needed, etc."

How do I expose back down in DPP?

Thanks,
Frank

Slide the exposure slider at the top of the DPP tools area down accordingly, think of it as post-shot +/- EC.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #13679382
Slide the exposure slider at the top of the DPP tools area down accordingly, think of it as post-shot +/- EC.

Excellent... That is what I was doing but was not sure.
This works perfectly.

Thanks for the information.

This message thread has been very helpful for me. (Even though I just have an XS, it gives me newfound confidence in the 7D I hope to have soon.) I have some questions about your workflow, if you don't mind.

- Raw
- EC of +2/3 (I use this for 6400+, and +1/3 for 3200)
I am assuming if you are in manual mode, then just expose until the meter shows 2 clicks to the right?

- Picture style that has uses landscape as the basis, but contrast down a notch, and sharpness down 2 notches
- High ISO NR set to standard
If I shoot in Raw, then what do the above settings do? I use ACR to process.

- Use DPP to tweak saturation and exposure back down 2/3 as needed, etc.
I understand what you mean by bringing exposure back down as needed, but what do you mean by tweak saturation?

- Convert to JPG and open in CS3
- Quick Noiseware run, actually quite minimal NR levels, very conservative
- a bit of added contrast and saturation
I don't have noiseware, so would the noise reduction in ACR be adequate? If so what values would you recomend?

- USM, not quite as aggressive as Canon calls out, 150/.4/1 are the settings I use

Also, is there anything else you do in photoshop for more advance NR?

Thanks

Tim, you can think of exposure compensation as offsetting the camera's metered exposure. The principle applies more to Av and Tv modes, as well as AE Program (any mode that allows you to dial in exposure compensation will work) - you do not need to be in fully manual mode to use EC.

In fact, in manual mode you are ignoring the camera's metering (except for ISO, which is automatically selected by the camera per the meter, if you have that set to Auto; otherwise that also is ignored). In Manual mode, and a camera like a Rebel T1i, holding the Ev +/- button and dialing in is how you select the other component of exposure (aperture, I think; not holding down the button you'll just change the shutter speed, or vice versa). This is just a clue for how Exposure Compensation works; the difference is that you are providing the actual values for the exposure in Manual, whereas in a partially automatic mode like Av or Tv you are using the meter.

1) If in manual mode, yes, you would just gauge your exposure by where the light meter was (to the right of zero).

2) ACR most likely ignores the camera settings in the Raw file (DPP honors them). The picture style that I described there would height certain color hues, and a bit more saturation. I don't sharpen the raw output until I clean up the noise first.

3) Saturation can be adjusted up or down to get whatever desired effect you want.

4) I am not sure what ACR NR can or cannot do.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions!