Photographing at ISO 10,000 with the Canon 7D MK2

After nearly a year photographing with the Canon 7D MK2, I think the 7D MK2 has lived up to quite a bit of the hype.  Due to light conditions, I have been pushing the higher ISO on the camera.  Never thought I'd even try ISO 10,000.  However, using careful exposure I have gotten some decent results.  I would avoid using 10,000 if I could as you want the best image quality but the 7D MK2 does a pretty decent job.  And if you must catch action in low light, pushing the higher ISO may be the only option if you choose not to use flash. 

After the rains let up but still under overcast skies, I decided to try a few more ISO 10,000 shots.  After cleaning up a bit with Neat Image, the images look quite good.  Yes, the white fur doesn't produce as much noise as a darker subject.  Still, I am happy to shoot at a higher ISO than my comfortable limit of 1,000 to 1,600.

No regrets with the 7D MK2 after 10 months of use.

http://www.pbase.com/golfpic/image/161279929/original

That's a nice pic. Never would've guessed it was an ISO setting that high. Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's encouraging as I've got a 7D2 on the way.

Was that shot in day time?

What happened to the EXIF info? It would be interesting to see it and also see the image before "cleaning up".

Even your subject seemed shocked that you used ISO 10,000 in a Canon body!!! My 7DII is a major leap forward over my 7D in just about every aspect except high iso. I should take another look. Unfortunately, Neat Image is not available for Lightroom so I will need something else for dealing with the noise.

Cheers,

Jim

hullyjr wrote:Even your subject seemed shocked that you used ISO 10,000 in a Canon body!!!  My 7DII is a major leap forward over my 7D in just about every aspect except high iso. I should take another look.  Unfortunately, Neat Image is not available for Lightroom so I will need something else for dealing with the noise.

Cheers,

Jim

Jim, you may wish to try Noiseware from Imagenomic it works very well. According to a pro I did a workshop with, it is better than most though I've not done the comparison myself.

Their lifetime free upgrade policy is great. I had bought it originally over 5 yrs ago, but they happily gave me a free upgrade last month. I like it.

BTW, I also think the 7D2 is a great camera, with a 100-400 MkII lens on it, it just about covers everything.

Pradeep

Srcan wrote:That's a nice pic.  Never would've guessed it was an ISO setting that high.  Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's encouraging as I've got a 7D2 on the way.

Hope you enjoy your new 7D MK2.  The 7D MK2 is not known for its high ISO (it depends on how you want to use the image and how picky you are) and there are reasons for that.  It's not a Canon 6D which is a camera I would like to get for high ISO use.  But in a pinch, the 7D MK2 can produce very useable higher ISO shots once you clean it up with noise reduction software and/or resize it (I'm stating the obvious here).