Canon 5DIII and high ISO

For clips shot at dusk I'm finding I need to go to past 1250 and on to 2500 & 5000.

Just wondering how high other 5DIII shooters are happy go and what results they've had.

Cheers.

Use faster lenses and avoid ISO above 3200. Evey increase of ISO will decrease your dynamic range. You should also check the denoise plugin "Neat Video" it's really worth every penny.

dynamic range vs. iso: select your camera on the right side
http://home.comcast.net/~nikond70/Charts/PDR.htm

Thanks for replying Daniel.

The dynamic range vs ISO graph link you posted is really interesting. Not sure if dynamic range is so much of a problem as noise when light levels drop as the dynamic range of what's being shot is dropping as well.

I also use a 7D and saw a test where there wasn't much difference between 160, 320 & 640 - gave me confidence to shoot up to 640 on that camera. Was wondering about the 5DIII as I assumed it would "take" higher ISOs. I reckon your 3200 is probably about right but not seen any bench tests.

I'd be really interested in the views of other 5DIII users .

i use even 6400 iso, and it was almost perfect. the tricks are
1- make sharpness 0 & contract -4 (lowest values) (so that noise is minimum)
2- never touch video in editing. no color correction nothing. (no level, curves etc)
3- try to export photo jpeg with quality 90 or more. (maybe no problem with 70quality, but whenever buyer try to make color correction, noise will pop-up dramaticly)
4- try to use f1.4, f1.8. if the background is blurry, it is less problem with noise.

I submit more than 10 agencies and after I started to use 5d mark3, i never get rejected in any sites because of noise or quality of footages.

hope it works for you too :)

P.S. try use those iso numbers: 100, 160, 320, 640, 1250, 2500, 3200, 6400. (they called sweetest iso points)

Hi Kagamusha,
Thanks for the reply and considered info.

I also use the "inbetween" ISO values for video.

However if you turn the ISO dial by three (thirds) I get these:

160, 320, 640, 1250, 2500, 5000, 10000

"normal" values for stills would be:

100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 (simple doubling of exposure)

You go from 2500 to 3200 which is not a doubling of exposure. So are you sure 3200 and 6400 are the sweet spots for video and not 5000?
What do you think?

i am sure with 160, 320, 640. but not %100 sure with above, but i think so. Normally 5000 or 6400 are too high iso to be sweet :) try it yourself, but i use 6400 without problem. (always with my prime lens 50 or 85mm f1.4 no zoom lens and f value always at f1.4)

small addition: never ever shot sky and flat color backgrounds (like walls) without making them out of focus. if the wall or sky is in focus, there is no way to stop the noise. (thus don't shoot landscapes with sky)

When i film in clubs/festivals I'm shooting at 6400 with my 5d3 as well. When its really dark i even film wide shots at 12800