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Archive 2011 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Chris B.
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

I currently shoot with a 7D but have become increasingly disappointed with my high ISO (800-1600) results. I'm considering picking up a low mileage 1D MkIII because I've heard that I'll get less noise in that ISO range than the 7D. I realize that we're talking about technology that's now quite a few years old but would like to get some opinions...

Thanks!

Oct 19, 2011 at 11:45 AM

Alanu
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

1dmk3 iso IMO "shows its age".

ISO 1250 in low light is the cusp of what I consider when the files starts to fall apart. ISO 1600 its not that good but useable after noise reduction. Mind you I'm talking full res photos analyzed on a monitor (NOT websize).

7D has the tendency to smooth out skin texture and ISO performance is good.
The 1.6 crop has the advantage of higher MP so you can have more versatility in cropping.

I've seen stellar photos from a 1dmk3. Many photos are used with long tele lenses with majority of the subject filling the frame.

I disliked my perfect 1dmk3 body alot. Exposure in AV mode was extremely twitchy. I lost skin tones real quick in the afernoon sun. This is stuff I never experience with my old xti, 50d, 5d and 5dmk2. Portraits I would not even consider using that body.

I used the 7d and its a good cropper. I found the soft noise and sharpening tasks a pain when editing RAW files. I found sharpening increased noise and reducing noise lost even more details.

Oct 19, 2011 at 12:01 PM

mspringfield
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

I have never been afraid to push my 1DIII to it's limit of ISO 6400.

Oct 19, 2011 at 01:02 PM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

I shoot my 7d and 1d3 at 6400 all of the time.

It is so close that it isn't worth considering.

Oct 19, 2011 at 01:17 PM

Massimo Foti
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Have you considered a 5D II?

I have a 7D and I don't push it over ISO 1600 (use to stop at 800 on 450D). I used a 5D Mk II occasionally and I would use it up to 3200. Reading online I see many people consider 5D II around a one-stop better on high ISO compared to 7D, maybe even a bit more.

Oct 19, 2011 at 01:17 PM

droopy1592
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

pixel level the mk3 is pretty damn good, and has the 7D beat, but at the image level with a bit of noise reduction (both files, a touch more on the 7D) the 7D can have equal or even slightly less noise with better detail retention, depending on your tastes and application of noise reduction. I'm sure someone will come along and show a pixel level tests, but that's not what it's about. Your print is your main concern and if you can have the same noise with better detail go for it, and that is with the 7D. This is especially true in any situation where you're limited by your focal length (sports, nature). I'm sure that one guy will come around and show photos after they have been run through FlexNR, but that's not a fair comparison as that is optimize for 1dmk3 files. Damn I need to get our and start shooting again.

Check out this write up

http://iwishicouldfly.com/iwishicouldfly/journal/pdfs/Canon%207D%20vs%201D%20Mark%20III.pdf

Oct 19, 2011 at 01:27 PM

Chris B.
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Massimo Foti wrote:
Have you considered a 5D II?

I have a 7D and I don't push it over ISO 1600 (use to stop at 800 on 450D). I used a 5D Mk II occasionally and I would use it up to 3200. Reading online I see many people consider 5D II around a one-stop better on high ISO compared to 7D, maybe even a bit more.
I'm really not interested in a full frame body although I have seen some spectacular high ISO images taken with the 5DII

Oct 19, 2011 at 02:30 PM

Chris B.
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

droopy1592 wrote:
pixel level the mk3 is pretty damn good, and has the 7D beat, but at the image level with a bit of noise reduction (both files, a touch more on the 7D) the 7D can have equal or even slightly less noise with better detail retention, depending on your tastes and application of noise reduction. I'm sure someone will come along and show a pixel level tests, but that's not what it's about. Your print is your main concern and if you can have the same noise with better detail go for it, and that is with the 7D. This...Show more →

Thanks for the response... Alan's article was very helpful.

Rather than spend the $$ on another body, I'll start tweaking my technique as well as work more intensely with my NR software (Nik's Dfine 2.0) to maximize the effects...

Oct 19, 2011 at 02:34 PM

garyvot
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

You have to clarify how you shoot. You will get very different impressions of the 1D Mark III from a JPEG shooter than from a RAW shooter.

Shooting RAW and processed in ACR, the 1D Mark III is cleaner that the 7D up to ISO 3200, although if downsampling 7D output to 10Mp the results are comparable. The output from both cameras can be improved by fine tuning the sharpening and noise reduction settings in ACR.

However, shooting JPEG the 7D is significantly better than the 1D Mark III because of on-board noise reduction.

Oct 19, 2011 at 02:56 PM

artsupreme
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

I have them both, 1D3 wins in every department except for weight, video, and MP.

Oct 19, 2011 at 03:24 PM

TeamSpeed
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Working on technique and software tools will yield better results than just switching bodies, in my opinion. The 7D and 1D3 are quite close, I give the edge to the 1D3 through ISO 3200, then the 7D starts to pull up a bit. The 7D low ISO has a bit of a noise dusting that has to be dealt with if you don't like what you see at 100% pixel view.

With proper tools and technique and shooting setup, you can get great high ISO shots out of the 7D. There were several ideas and thoughts tossed around in a thread on another forum, definitely some great pointers.

In the 800-1600 range though, I would give the edge to the 1D3.

Going higher, here is an example ISO 3200 on the 7D, it does well at ISO 6400 as well, 12800 needs more aggressive work.

Edited on Oct 19, 2011 at 05:09 PM · View previous versions

Oct 19, 2011 at 05:05 PM

big country
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

1d iii

Oct 19, 2011 at 05:06 PM

RobertLynn
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Chris B. wrote:
Thanks for the response... Alan's article was very helpful.

Rather than spend the $$ on another body, I'll start tweaking my technique as well as work more intensely with my NR software (Nik's Dfine 2.0) to maximize the effects...

I use LR3 to process the files, and they do quite nicely.

Oct 19, 2011 at 05:11 PM

vchowdhary
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

For anything under ISO 1600 I've found files from the 1D Mark better (to my eyes). This is typical range that I use and find the 7D wanting.

Oct 19, 2011 at 06:32 PM

Aaron D
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

And here I am afraid to shoot over ISO 400 on my XS...lol

Oct 19, 2011 at 06:51 PM

Pixel Perfect
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Clearly per pixel noise is well in 1D III favour and it does very well at ISO 3200-4000. If 7D is sized the same it'll look probably cleaner. Low ISO on the 7D isn't great but it's 100% vies are huge compared to 1D III's. They clean up well in most cases. Some 7D's were clearly faulty and mines just been adjusted for "graininess at low ISO". I hope it's down the trick.

Oct 19, 2011 at 06:55 PM

garyvot
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Re. noise on the 7D, you might want to try out my ACR settings that I shared in this thread from a while ago:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/990111/0?#9398860

Oct 19, 2011 at 08:26 PM

mowensphotogra
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

hell my 1d mkii is amazing at high iso's

Oct 19, 2011 at 08:56 PM

ronone10
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Lightroom's noise reduction is a given when I shoot at higher ISO. Or, get a standalone program like Noise Ninja and see how must of a difference it can make with the 7D before you consider another camera.

I own the 1D Mk3 and always add some noise reduction and sharpening to my photos.

Oct 19, 2011 at 09:04 PM

Chris B.
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · High ISO - 7D or 1D MkIII?

Based on the responses from many of you, I'm reconsidering the purchase of the 1D III since it DOES look like the ISO performance in the 800-3200 range is a lot better than the 7D.

Oct 20, 2011 at 06:54 AM

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