Canon EOS RP RAW editing flexibility?

• Sgt_Strider wrote:

• If you shoot landscapes and properly use ETTR (exposure-to-the-right) with your RP, you may get good results comparable to someone who doesn't use ETTR with an R or even R5. Although you'd get much better results had you used an R5 with ETTR.

  Lowering 'exposure' in Lightroom after ETTR doesn't increase visible noise. Sitting at base ISO and using ETTR is the way to squeeze the possible dynamic range out of your camera.

  But if you can't use ETTR (say because it's too dark or you can't use long enough shutter speed), yes you'd better use higher ISO 3200 right in the camera rather than ISO 800 plus 2-stop exposure lifting in Lightroom. That's because the RP is not 'ISO-invariant'.

• Thank you! That's what I was asking!
• I have to admit, I'm still confused with the ISO-invariant terminology.

So called ISO-invariance is just as described above: your shots at some high ISO have the same visible noise as shots taken at lower ISO plus 'exposure' lifted by corresponding amount in a photo editor.

The R5 is practically ISO-invariant from ISO 800, but the RP is never ISO-invariant:

https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR_Shadow.htm#Canon%20EOS%20R5,Canon%20EOS%20RP

The invariance starts where the graph goes flat which unfortunately is never for the RP.

That means, with an RP, it's best to lift the ISO in camera. However note the dynamic range generally reduces by 1 stop when you raise the ISO by 1 stop.

I'm also aware that the R and the R5 have superior sensors. I'm just trying to understand how to extract every possible performance out of the RP sensor.

I mainly shoot on a tripod. Can't I just go on bulb? How well does the RP handle long exposure noise when shooting at base ISO?

That's a bit different from what those charts may show. When shooting long exposure you may get non-random thermal noise, plus hot pixels. Tbh I haven't seen long exposure comparisons across different cameras. But I guess the RP shouldn't be too bad in that regard - you may do your own tests to see if it provides satisfying results.