Woops, no flash!

So I was trying out my new (new to me) 5D with 50 1.4, but it's dark now and, lo and behold, no pop-up. I was not using the pop-up with my D80 at all, so I'm used to it except... I have no external flash. So I was using the bulb setting and everything else just to get a feel for the images. I tried it on auto everything for the hell of it and could actually see images taken in extremely low-light - is this due to the low light setting that can be used on the 5D? Did the camera just automatically set itself for this? Even though I remember a lot about my 30D, seems I have a lot of re-learning to do about Canon in general. Thanks for any input.

Um...I'm not sure I'm totally following everything you said...but yeah...a 430ex would probably come in handy. I'm not sure what "low light" setting you're referring to.

I don't know if the 5D changes ISO in full auto (I've never used full auto). Even if it does, I doubt it will go into ISO3200 territory while in auto.
You can shoot in some pretty low light with the 5D at ISO3200 and the 50 1.4 wide open and still get usable results while minimizing motion blur, but that doesn't exactly produce the same results that a flash would. The 30D and 5D are very similar in set up and operation, so it should come back to you fairly quickly.

To get ISO 3200, set custom funtion 8 to 1 and set ISO to H. In low light I normally shoot in Av or M with the lens wide open at f/1.4.

Yep, a flash sure would come in handy. Trouble is, I used every last dime from my Noink gear on a used 5D and 50 1.4, lol. I'm sure the results would be much more desireable. I guess what I'm saying is, I was pretty blown away that there was actually a useable image with barely any light. My lovely D80 was barely good at 400 let alone 3200, but I knew that going in. I was close to buying another 30D (as I liked it better than the 40D), but am happy to try the 5D now that I finally have the chance. Just want to learn more about it. I think I was getting low-light confused with high noise resolution or something... sorry, brain freeze. Not uncommon in my threads, lol.

Congratulations on your new camera!

The 5D has a reputation for being a very capable low light camera. It sounds like you have just found out how good compared to your Nikon.

Go have fun with it and when you have the money buy an external flash. It will make a huge difference.

neilwood32 wrote in post #6716786
Congratulations on your new camera!

The 5D has a reputation for being a very capable low light camera. It sounds like you have just found out how good compared to your Nikon.

Go have fun with it and when you have the money buy an external flash. It will make a huge difference.

I agree. I definitely miss having a flash! I'm so used to using one even during the day, that it's not even really fun to shoot yet. Then again, I normally shoot the kids during the day, but they're in school now and it gets dark early. I'll have to practice on some nature/landscape stuff tomorrow.