Mini-Review: Getting The Most From High ISO 7D2 Files (No Masking Needed)

There were requests for this in the past, and I had some time to get the info together for this new mini-review. The in-camera JPG engine is quite good, much better than the 7D, and for me to get the most out these myself, the recipe is quite a bit different for this camera.

The settings here is a basement scene with low light, at ISO 12800, using the 100L macro lens at 1/125 f2.8. As you can tell, this is very low light.

Camera settings:
= High ISO NR set to Low
= Contrast turned to -1
= Sharpness set to 1
= Reset the white balance
= Processed through DPP to honor camera settings

You can use Lightroom if you like, and you will have to play around a bit to find your recipe there, this is more for those with DPP, or want to try something new.

Raw File: https://www.dropbox.co​m …87snak/7dhighis​o.CR2?dl=0

Here is the full-size before shot direct from the camera.
https://teamspeed.smug​mug.com …ics/7D2-Tests/i-cqhT9zK/O

Here is the full-size after processing.
https://teamspeed.smug​mug.com …ics/7D2-Tests/i-6MZ2Q3z/O

Here is the scene direct from the camera, then brought into DPP to reset white balance, and verify the camera settings above.

"Camera settings:
= High ISO NR set to Low
= Contrast turned to -1
= Sharpness set to 1
= Reset the white balance
= Processed through DPP to honor camera settings"

I am confused, or perhaps ignorant of DPP. FYI: I use LR 5.7. The first three settings suggest you are shooting JPG; they don't matter in raw files. The last suggests you are shooting raw. If not, what is there to 'honor'? I thought you had to shoot raw to have the choice of Picture Styles (what I believe is being honored) in DPP.

And thanks for posting the originals. Gives me something to play with.

Bassat wrote in post #17990429
"Camera settings:
= High ISO NR set to Low
= Contrast turned to -1
= Sharpness set to 1
= Reset the white balance
= Processed through DPP to honor camera settings"

I am confused, or perhaps ignorant of DPP. FYI: I use LR 5.7. The first three settings suggest you are shooting JPG; they don't matter in raw files. The last suggests you are shooting raw. If not, what is there to 'honor'? I thought you had to shoot raw to have the choice of Picture Styles (what I believe is being honored) in DPP.

And thanks for posting the originals. Gives me something to play with.

My goal is to minimize time. Therefore I set up the camera for subsequent processing. DPP honors in-camera settings, so I can bring raw files in, make any minor tweaks I deem important, but still keep all other settings the same. I almost always shoot custom WB as well so that the files are correct in-camera. I just didn't for this example. DPP has come a long way and does some very nice things to the Canon raw files.

Many times, I can just work with the JPG files from the camera as-is. I shoot raw+jpg, but rarely these days ever go back to the raw, using these settings above. This means I have the filters set up in an action file in Photoshop, and just run it in bulk on all JPG files from a session. The only time I spend on files now is to crop for composition and tweak contract/saturation, when shooting ISO 6400, 12800, and the rare occasion at 16000.

For those that don't want to spend the time in LR or elsewhere, this gives them a recipe for cleaning up files very quickly without any masking or massaging each file individually.

Ok, thanks. I understand that explanation.

I played with your 'before' photo in LR. The 7D2 file at 12,800 is surprisingly clean and easy to work with. I got printable results in just a few (2-3?) minutes. I also saw none of the high-ISO yellow splotchie-ness that plagued my 7D, 60D and 70D at 6400 and higher.

With your permision, I'll post my B/A.

You and everyone else have permission to do anything they want with those files, our cat won't mind at all. Just be sure to post your steps and software used so others can emulate.

I stated this before in a thread, but I think I see the same thing happening with my 7D2 as I did my 7D bodies in the past. The more I shoot at high ISO, the cleaner the files seem to come out over time. Almost like there is some sort of electronics "burn-in" that helps?

Files at 12800 when I first got it last year aren't quite as clean as they are now, from what I can tell.

Again, my goal is always to spend as little time as possible on high ISO files. If I get the camera settings correct, I can run the JPG files from camera through a single action file in Photoshop that has these steps above stored. I go get a coffee or drink, and snack, and come back to files that I just have to crop and tweak contrast/saturation. Any that look funky, then I go back to the raw....

Thanks for another great writeup, TS. Once I'm home I will have to play around with LR a bit and see what I can get it to at that level of ISO. I've found up to 6400 to be a complete non-issue and not need any special steps; but once I move into 5 digits the files likely need more attention.

I agree, 6400 is very clean, and requires little cleanup. What we can do with the last couple generations of APS-C is amazing when compared to the days of the 40D/50D.

My quickie results on TS's files. Before and after. Full res and 100%.

These files are impressively easy to work with. Close examination will reveal that I was a bit aggressive with the Luma NR.

Looks good, and I put a link to the raw file in the first post if you wanted to start from raw. The JPG that I supplied is from DPP where it had some NR set. DPP NR is quite good, IMO, but I try to keep the slider values down a bit when doing my own processing. I have used LR in the past, but this recipe I posted seems to save substantial time when I come home with 200+ files from a game over using LR or trying to manage each file individually.

ISO 16000 poses a challenge. The red channel is a disaster. Green is pretty clean, blue needs some work.

So here is the same type of workflow, but a couple of extra filters thrown in, order rearranged on some, and I used more aggressive values in a few cases.

Before post processing and 100% crop...

Post processed results... Again, I would only use this in an emergency. For the 1DX2, this would be child's play!

I tried a procedure that I've used successfully on other crop cameras. Worked pretty well, I think:

1. Used DPP to correct WB, exposure, camera-set NR, etc., converted to TIFF.
   
2. Used Noiseware default NR.
   
3. Used PS to paint out blue tint and paint in a little more NR in the shadows.
   

Side by side 100%:

Thanks for the .cr2. I'll play with that when I get a chance. Just curious.... Which version of DPP are you using? I have 3 & 4 loaded. I just can't seem to get the hang of 4. I work mostly in LR, with some PSE 12, when I need it.

This is not really relevant to the discussion. My EXIF viewer shows post #10 photo at ISO 16,000 as stated by OP. The EXIF tag above the photo is showing ISO 12,800 on my end. What's up with that?

We just need to report to Pekka that his exif importer needs to go up in 1/3 increments past 12800. I am using the older version, even though I have the newer one loaded too.