Up to what ISO are you willing to set? Aperture?

[jeffabbyben]

I see no sharpness loss until over 12800 on my 5d3, must be lens choice and PEBCAK errors.

Maybe you are just special

[bdunbar79]

I shoot at ISO 5000 and 6400 all the time with a 1DX and 5D3.  There is certainly sharpness loss from 3200 to 6400.  8000 and 10,000 get even worse.  The detail loss is signifcant, especially of someone's face.

[NormanBates]

I see no sharpness loss until over 12800 on my 5d3, must be lens choice and PEBCAK errors.

Maybe you are just special

I'd bet on that 

These are some crops I took from dpreview when the camera was released:
http://www.similaar.com/foto/iso/5d3.html
Keep in mind that I was interested in video, so these crops are not 100%, I first resampled the stills to 1920x1080 and then cropped the area of interest. So, if you're seeing softness there it's going to be huge on 100% crops.

Anyway, this is what I wanted to post...
This is very useful for anybody wondering about this kind of things:
http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/12/reuters-best-photos-of-2012-the-cameras-and-settings-used-to-capture-them/

[extremeinstability]

This should be highly dependent on subject detail or lack of.  I shoot a lot of clouds or fog or just something with a lot of sky and well even the base ISO can wind up annoying.  Where as if I shot something with a bunch of detail the ISO could go far far higher before there's an annoying aspect to it.  Doesn't take long with a digital camera to see what sucks and what doesn't for each type of scene though. 

[jdramirez]

I have a 50mm f/1.4 that I try to shoot at f/2.8 and I have a 100mm f/2.8L IS macro that I shoot at f2.8.  With both, depending upon the circumstances, I can shoot at 1250 and be pleased with the results in an indoor setting.  I'm willing to go up to 2500...

this on a 60D...

[bycostello]

all depends on what you want.. any iso if a picture is better than no picture...

[eninja]

I am using EF 28mm 1.8. As per the sales guy, this is the last piece in stock from Canon.
I don't know if they mean, they stop producing this lens already.

ISO:
From given type of camera and different type of user, I want to learn how they approach in setting their
ISO and aperture. Depending on the results they want, some users (photographers) will push ISO just to capture the scene (Scene dependent). Others like me, most of the time, if pushing the ISO will turn out grainy, then find another way as much as possible.

Aperture:
I came from a G12, and I develop the habit that to shoot at wide aperture as much as possible, because thats the only available advantage using G12.
For a given lens, I want to learn how different user approach to setting their aperture.

Because I am happy to learn from user opinion than from charts.
and I want to use similar approach, from few users.

[nightsky87]

60D:
- I keep my shots at ISO 800 or lower if possible.
- If absolutely necessary I bring it up to ISO 1600
- ISO 3200 is too grainy for my taste

5D3:
- Normal limit is at ISO 3200 for me
- In dire situations, ISO 12800 is still usable

In your case, the 6D should be better at handling noise so the 5D3 should be a close comparison. The settings also depend on what you shoot and for me, I tend to follow certain settings depending on what I shoot.

Portrait:
- I keep ISO at 3200 or lower to make sure there's enough detail
- Aperture is usually 5.6 or wider for me depending on what I'm trying to get
- If available light isn't enough, consider using external lighting (not always possible)

Events:
- This is where I usually have to sacrifice ISO. Just get it as low as possible.
- Aperture usually stays between 2.8-4 (on my 24-70 zoom) for individuals and it can stretch to 5.6 for groups (again, the limits depend on what you're trying to do)
- Consider fill lighting if possible

Landscape/Cityscape:
- LOW ISO! I stay at ISO 100-200 for this one
- Longer exposures + tripod is usually the best solution unless you don't wan't trailing lights at night

That's me of course - and photography is just a really expensive hobby for me. Others might have other preferences.

On your 28mm, it doesn't take much to not have bokeh (assuming you don't shoot your subjects in front of their face ). I don't personally own one, but at 24mm, I get less bokeh starting f/4 (or even f/2.8 ) assuming I'm far enough from the subject.

[digital paradise]

Just curious why you choose 3200 for portraits? That is my preferred setting for my 5D3 and like you will go higher but that is for dark venues while run and gun shooting.

If I set up a couple of lights I shoot at 400. I may have misread what yo mean by portraits.         

[nightsky87]

Just curious why you choose 3200 for portraits? That is my preferred setting for my 5D3 and like you will go higher but that is for dark venues while run and gun shooting.

If I set up a couple of lights I shoot at 400. I may have misread what yo mean by portraits.         

Oh, by portrait I generally meant single subjects even if lighting isn't controlled. So that includes dark locations where 3200 might still be needed. If lighting is an option, I agree with 400. Great quality at those ISO levels!

[oscaroo]

50d:
  - Upto 800 day to day
  - 1600 if i'm desperate.

6d:
   - Normally till 6400.
   - OK to do 12800
   - With a grumble i'd go to 25600
   - If i'm taking happy snaps of friends for non professional uses i'll go up to H2. This quality is good enough for facebook for me.

[V8Beast]

With the 5D3, ISO 6400 is as high as I like to push it. Noise doesn't start becoming objectionable until 3200, and I don't bother with noise reduction on anything shot between 100 and 1600.

[digital paradise]

Just curious why you choose 3200 for portraits? That is my preferred setting for my 5D3 and like you will go higher but that is for dark venues while run and gun shooting.

If I set up a couple of lights I shoot at 400. I may have misread what yo mean by portraits.         

Oh, by portrait I generally meant single subjects even if lighting isn't controlled. So that includes dark locations where 3200 might still be needed. If lighting is an option, I agree with 400. Great quality at those ISO levels!

That was what I thought. Just wanted to clarify. .

[Nishi Drew]

50d:
  - Upto 800 day to day
  - 1600 if i'm desperate.

6d:
   - Normally till 6400.
   - OK to do 12800
   - With a grumble i'd go to 25600
   - If i'm taking happy snaps of friends for non professional uses i'll go up to H2. This quality is good enough for facebook for me.

You're better off post raising exposure unless you're that (Seriously) lazy/out of time for shooting at those expanded ISO settings... and the 'fine for FB' attitude, sure that's a reality, but that iPhone is perfectly fine for FB, wish I had a 6D to treat like a pocket cam- aside

I go 3200 max with 5DII, I would rarely go above 800 on my T1i and by then the image can be ruined in bad light already
 

[oscaroo]

You're better off post raising exposure unless you're that (Seriously) lazy/out of time for shooting at those expanded ISO settings... and the 'fine for FB' attitude, sure that's a reality, but that iPhone is perfectly fine for FB, wish I had a 6D to treat like a pocket cam- aside

I go 3200 max with 5DII, I would rarely go above 800 on my T1i and by then the image can be ruined in bad light already
 

Gday.
I agree that I'm better off doing things in post. But I only postprocess some pics.
The iphone is perfectly fine for facebook, but, at times when a room is lit by only a TV in the corner and my flash is out of juice to flash, but enough to AF-assist beam and someone's kicking a ball around and it's 1am, and I'm drunk and the 24-105 is the only lens I have .... iso H2 was the only thing that would let me take a photo. (attached)

Also! I just realised, this pic i attach shows the exif as having iso set to iso 65535
Lightroom must have truncated the ISO value when I exported me a little jpeg.

Both photos at iso H2 (100k) and 1/15 @ f4 AF assist beam, no flash, 130am, everyone is drunk.