What is considered high iso

[digiman]

I have been looking through some of my recent photos with my 1dsii. I am no pro, but I would expect a better quality than I have been getting. A lot of my images have been shot at 400 iso, with tripod, but they are very soft, and quite noisy. Is 400 considered high for this camera? Or is there a problem with it?

Cheers

Garry

[the black fox]

Re: What is considered high iso

Hard one to quantify Gary it's a nearly 17 mp large sized sensor ,so I can't see any reason with the camera for soft images ,noise is treated differently from camera to camera but the acid test is it easily removable with good noise reduction software .i.e I get noise on the 80D but you wouldn't know it once processed .
That in turn leads to what lens are you using ,and are you shooting in raw or j.peg and how do you p.p . Personally I would have thought that you could get up to 1600iso before noise became a problem ..any chance you could post some sample images if possible with exif data intact

[digiman]

Re: What is considered high iso

Cheers Jeff for the reply. I am going to do a couple of simple tests tomorrow to see how they look, I am now wondering if it is actually noisy, or if the images are soft.

Thanks again, watch this space!,

Garry

[steve70d]

Re: What is considered high iso

Fox, out if interest what software process do you use , DPP only or lightroom ? I've read DPP processes noise better than Lightroom ?

Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk

[Nathaniel]

Re: What is considered high iso

Steve70d, Take a look at this photo and then click on it to see it on flickr and check my exif there. This was taken at 12,800 ISO indoors.

Trelawnyd Male Voice choir- Christmas Concert 21st Dec 2014 010 by Nathaniel Ramanaden, on Flickr

[the black fox]

Re: What is considered high iso

Fox, out if interest what software process do you use , DPP only or lightroom ? I've read DPP processes noise better than Lightroom ?

Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk

thats if used as lightroom ,but lightroom accepts plug ins as does elements and a decent n/r software and using it properly i.e applied only where needed will always achieve far better results

[digiman]

Re: What is considered high iso

I am looking through my images at various iso settings, and actually think it is more a softness issue, not a noise issue. I did a number of (quite unscientific) tests the other day, using a tripod and highish shutter speed to try and eliminate all camera movement. I will post a few images shortly and see what you all think.

[digiman]

Re: What is considered high iso

Here are a few shots, straight out of camera. No editing has been applied in any form to these shots. They were all shot with my 1dsii, on a tripod, on a 2 second timer. I have marked the settings on the image so you can refer easily to them. I am not sure if they can actually be zoomed in enough on flickr to get an idea of what I am talking about, If anyone is willing, I could send the original RAW file to you to open, and see what you think
#1
Focus Test 006 by Garry Macdonald, on Flickr
#2
Focus Test 007 by Garry Macdonald, on Flickr
#3
Focus Test 008 by Garry Macdonald, on Flickr
#4
Focus Test 001 by Garry Macdonald, on Flickr

Would be interested to hear your thoughts,

Many thanks,

Garry

[the black fox]

Re: What is considered high iso

The bottom teddy shot is best to judge from ,no apparent noise in the shadows ,so eliminate that . That only leaves a few other things ,it's either the camera ,lens or settings my money would be on one of the latter .
You mention a 28mm lens in those ,I suspect that's the problem ,it's just a simple matter of elimination from here on in use one standard normal setting I.e f8 ISO 800 shoot in a.v mode and the same subject matter each time take 3 shots and then swap cameras,lenses making a note of which you have used each time then compare on screen .this should then throw up what's at fault fairly quickly .
Your samples methods above have to many variables in them to form a honest opinion from .although I do suspect the lens as being the problem .i had similar problems with my old 70D it took months of playing with settings etc to finally nail it down as a camera fault and not a lens fault ,but it's not easy once you lose confidence in a camera or lens

[digiman]

Re: What is considered high iso

Okay Jeff, I'll take a few more. I have used a 70-200 also though, with soft results also. It could very well be my technique. It is very frustrating though! Doing everything properly and getting soft images. My other camera is a 500d so shooting at iso800 may not work for that, but I'll try as you suggest, keeping consistent settings and subject. I did shoot some newspaper shots. I'll try posting those.

Cheers for the input,

Garry

[Columbarius]

Re: What is considered high iso

Garry, your shots re marked "Private" on Flickr, so they can't be viewed.

[digiman]

Re: What is considered high iso

Okay Russell, Jeff could see them! Very strange. I'll check it out soon.

[the black fox]

Re: What is considered high iso

I viewed them on here via my I.pad and blew them up on that . As I suggested just shoot in a/v ,ISO 800 or lower ,and at f8 then make sure your camera is in one shot and that your shutter speed exceeds the focal length I.e depending on the crop factor so for your 200mm lens and 550d you would need a a shutter speed exceeding 1/400th of a sec ,the higher the better really .
If you stick to this formula you will soon eliminate which camera or lens is playing up ,its time consuming but you have to be methodical ,also on the raw files do you check exactly where the focus point is re the target ,you can download a plug in for Lightroom that does this ,surprising how often you can be way out of kilter without realising it

[digiman]

Re: What is considered high iso

Here are a couple from today. Similar settings, different lenses.

The first is 28mm 2.8, f10, iso100, 1/320, on tripod, 2sec timer

Tree by Garry Macdonald, on Flickr

The second is 70-200f4L, f10, iso100, 70mm, 1/125, 2sec timer

Looking to Glasgow from Fereneze by Garry Macdonald, on Flickr

I know it is not quite what was suggested, but it was all I could manage today. I'll definitely do a proper test when I get a chance

Any comments?

Thanks,

Garry

PS I know about the tripod shadow and the dust on the sensor. These are SOOC

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: What is considered high iso

Garry, f you look here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/lens...m-f2.8/review/ you'll see that the EF 28mm, f2.8 which I think is the lens you're using, suffers from diffraction below f8. It may be that what you're seeing is diffraction effects causing the softness. Try shooting the same images, or similar, at f5.6 - adjusting ISO and shutter speed - and see what you get.