joe | profile | all galleries >> Lens Tests / Galleries >> noise >> Pushing vs Increasing ISO | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
All images are from a Canon 5D + 50 / 1.2L at f / 1.2. They were converted from RAW using BreezeBrowser Pro, normal, custom white balance, aRGB, normal saturation, -4 contrast, +3 sharpening, Neutral Picture Style, HQ Sharpening (75), and saved as 90% jpgs. An important note is that if using auto white balance, as opposed to a custom white balance, the colors are very different between the base ISO pushed and high ISO images. What these images demonstrate is that for the same exposure, where exposure is the density of the light on the sensor -- thus independent of ISO (see here for more on this), the higher ISOs result in less noise than the lower ISOs when the images are displayed at the same brightness (not true for all cameras, by the way, but many, if not most). Note that ISO 3200 on the 5D is simply ISO 1600 pushed one stop in camera, so the noise for the ISO 3200 image and the ISO 1600 image pushed one stop is the same. Similarly, ISO 50 is ISO 100 pulled one stop, and, depending on the dynamic range of the scene, will result in more blown highlights. However, ISO 50 is a convenient method of +1 stop ETTR. |