5d mark2 photo.net review question

<p>Hello.<br>

In the 5d mark 2 review by photo.net (http://www.photo.net/equipment/canon/5D-mkII/review/), I have problems understanding the following chart. which is mentioned under "Image Noise" Please can someone explain what does this cart mean. </p>

<table border="1" width="60%">

<tbody>

<tr>

<td width="33%" bgcolor="#C0C0C0">ISO setting</td>

<td width="33%" align="center" bgcolor="#C0C0C0">EOS 5D MkII<strong > </strong></td>

<td width="34%" align="center" bgcolor="#C0C0C0">EOS 5D</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">100</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">0/0</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">2/0</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">200</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">0/0</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">2/0</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">400</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">1/1</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">2/0</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">800</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">2/2</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">2/0</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">1600</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">3/3</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">2/0</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">3200 (H on 5D)</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">4/4</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">2/0</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">6400</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">5/9</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">-</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">12800 (H1)</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">6/11</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">-</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td width="33%">25600 (H2)</td>

<td width="33%" align="center">7/13</td>

<td width="34%" align="center">–</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

<p ><em>Noise reduction is given as X/Y where X is luminance noise reduction (LNR) <br />and Y is chrominance noise reduction (CNR)</em>.</p>

<p>In 5 d mark 2 which is the higheest ISO one can go upto , to make the noise equivalent to the noise of a file of ISO 100 from 400d. Please can someone let me know. Thank you. </p>

 

<p>Ask the author Bob.</p>

<p>I'll defer to Bob, but I'm pretty certain that the chart refers to the default amount of noise reduction applied to RAW images by the DPP software that Canon supplies with the camera when noise reduction is set to "off" in the camera. The chart isn't going to help you answer your question directly, but it does make the point that it's not simple to rigorously compare noise performance from one camera to the next.</p>

<p>The simple answer to your question, though, is that overall noise is roughly proportional to sensor area--all other things being equal. (I believe that Canon makes incremental improvements to noise performance from one generation of sensor to the next, but these are small compared to the difference resulting from overall sensor size.)</p>

<p>The 5DMk2 has a sensor that is about 2.5x larger than the 400D, so you should expect to get somewhere between two and three stops better noise performance. That means that if you were satisfied by noise performance at ISO 100 on the 400d, you should be equally happy (probably more happy) with ISO 400 on the 5DMk2. You may be delighted with ISO 800 performance. This assumes that you are looking at enlargements of the same size. If you look at different sized enlargements (e.g., view images at 100%) then you will see noise that has more to do with pixel size and the amount of noise reduction applied by the camera or the DPP software.</p>

<p>This fits with my experience moving from the 30D to the 5DMk2. On the 30D, indoor shooting was frequently a challenge: I would shoot at ISO 1600 at f/2.8 , but too often I got blurry images due to subject movement at the inevitably slow shutter speed that these exposures needed. On the 5DMK2, I find I can shoot at ISO 6400 at f/4 with a faster shutter speed and more reliably get sharp images.</p>

<p>Thank you very much WT and Ken. </p><p>Thats great, that I can go upto 400 or even 800. (assuming, histogram,

exposure etc is good) Can I give images to a stock agency from  iso 800 on 5d mark ii. </p><p>I am just getting into

commercial photography. Currently with the 400d I assume I can only go upto iso100 to keep the pixels fine (assuming

exposure is good). For commercial work, I have heard photographers going onto higher iso's with the newer cameras

(5dmark 2 , d 300 etc). Please can you let me know. Thank you very much. </p>

<p>I don't shoot commercial work, but I doubt that there are hard and fast rules about this. For situations where you would need higher ISO to get the shot at all (editorial, reporting) I would expect content to trump such technical factors, at least up to a point. For controlled shooting, quality expectations are of course very high, but I think that ISO is the least of your concerns. There are some commercial photographers who contribute to photo.net and maybe one of them will answer your question authoritatively. If not, try posting again with the question in the subject--it will catch the attention of someone with first-hand knowledge.</p>

Thank you very much Ken. I will wait for some time and post this question in the subject. Thank you once again.

<p>Hi, I'd like to amend my comment by saying that I miscalculated the number of stops that you can get from a 2.5x increase in sensor size. It would be about 1-2 stops, not 2-3 stops. So, you can shoot around ISO 200-400 with the 5D2 if you were satisfied with ISO 100 with the 400D. Sorry!</p>