Highest usable ISO on 7D for weddings

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

I don't shoot weddings, but I have regularly shot at ISO 1600 and 3200. With good software your images will come out good.

What size print.. color or b&w?

Both necessary questions to answer before anyone here can (well should) hazard a response.

Steve

joshnl said:

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

joshnl said:

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I use 1600 and 3200 very often. Lightroom can easily reduce the little amount of noise that's there. I used 6400 sometimes and then convert to B&W in Silver Efex....using the Tri-X and Fuji Neopan 1600 settings.....looks great.

With a 30 f1.4 a 20 f1.8 and a 50f1.2....you can shoot in the dark!!!

Don't go above ISO 3200 unless you're converting it to b&w.

joshnl said:

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

That's actually a very hard question to answer. How much noise is too much noise? There's colour noise and lum noise. Will the image be severely cropped and/or printed 30x40 or mostly 8x10,12? How much detail loss is too much?

OK, beyond all the variables you need to consider, I'd say that I've gotten decent results at 800 to 1600 and will push to 3200 for a few shots depending on subject matter and output. Noise doesn't show up in a print so much but loss of detail is the issue. Get a good exposure, and be careful in post especially with any NR software you may use and you'll be fine. And don't forget it also depends on the subject matter. If you're filling the frame with the Bride's head and you truly want every hair to pop out at you, then you may want to rethink things. A wide shot of the church's interior is something else again. YMMV

If you truly want to know for yourself what's acceptable or not (rather than just reading what I or anyone else can guess at what you do think is acceptable), then go beg/borrow/rent a 7D for a few days and shoot away. No matter how many replies you get here, that's the only way you'll know for sure.

Osiris30 said:

Both necessary questions to answer before anyone here can (well should) hazard a response.

Steve

joshnl said:

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Both colour and B&W, but mostly colour.

Let's say up to 8x10 prints.

Thanks.

The issue might be if you are caught in a no flash allowed wedding. Happens often. Here is comparison between 5d-1 and 7d at iso3200. I was able to shoot with 5d 70-200 f2.8 at f2.8 in candlelight wedding at iso3200 and keep the color. Looks to me like B/W might be the option for 7d in a crunch to handle the color noise.

joshnl said:

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

joshnl said:

Osiris30 said:

Both necessary questions to answer before anyone here can (well should) hazard a response.

Steve

joshnl said:

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Both colour and B&W, but mostly colour.

Let's say up to 8x10 prints.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Then you'll have no problem at even 6400iso. The slightest amount of NR in Lightroom will make an 8x10 completely clean at 6400. Nice to have the option.....old cameras like the 5D don't even have a 6400 or 12,800 to choose from. I've done 8x10 album prints at 12,800 with a slight bit of NR in Lightroom that had only the slightest amount of noise in print....almost invisible. Work like this couldn't even be done with old cameras like a 5D.....and that wouldn't even focus in a dark situation. The newer cameras, 7D, Pentax K5, Canon 1D series are all able to achieve focus in those low light.

For B&W, it's easier.

Best thing is to look for advice from those with the camera.....unfortunately, you'll get a lot of tips from those who don't own one....but wish to be perceived the expert.

Run some test images in real life situations. Charts are useless.

8x10 I would say feel comfortable with 3200 easy... 6400 in a pinch with proper post processing (or b&w)

Steve

joshnl said:

Osiris30 said:

Both necessary questions to answer before anyone here can (well should) hazard a response.

Steve

joshnl said:

I'm considering buying a 7D, and was wondering what wedding photographers out there currently using this camera consider to be the highest ISO with which they feel comfortable.

Is it reasonable to shoot weddings at ISO 1600, for example, with the 7D? Or will the loss of detail/presence of noise be too great?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Both colour and B&W, but mostly colour.

Let's say up to 8x10 prints.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I am really demanding about noise level, so i never use ISO higher than 800.

jm67 said:

Will the image be severely cropped and/or printed 30x40 or mostly 8x10,12?

Click to expand...

Wedding photos are virtually never printed larger than 8x10. In fact, most people buy wedding photo albums, in which the pages are less than 8x10, and may contain several photos per page.

Wedding photos are keepsakes more than they are general-purpose decoration (which is what most mounted and hung photos are).

--
Canon since 1969

you will not make it then in many weddings. Some churches require no flash during the religious ceremony

Dmatter said:

I am really demanding about noise level, so i never use ISO higher than 800.

Click to expand...

Thanks everyone!

Sounds like the 7D will be a good choice, considering I'm sort of a jack of all trades when it comes to photography.

joshnl said:

Thanks everyone!

Sounds like the 7D will be a good choice, considering I'm sort of a jack of all trades when it comes to photography.

Click to expand...

Yup, it's been an awesome body for me for both weddings and landscape work. As it's not the high iso photographs that normally get picked for prints at 16x24, the high iso issue is normally overblown. Those who like to try and make comparisons with FF bodies, etc, haven't yet figured out that small point.

I've produced 16x24 prints from iso 800 captures at weddings without any noise being visible. So really, the 7D is a perfectly good choice. As an aside, high iso is great....but a camera like a 5D2 will hunt in AF in situations were the 7D locks on. An out of focus shot with slightly lower noise does no one any good ;-)