Canon's 'number' for specifying high ISO

[Pieces Of E]

Does anyone know what Canon's specific number is as far as their consideration of what high ISO is? This is conjunction with the 7D's 'high ISO noise reduction' option in C.Fn II-02 and I wonder if they, as a company, have a specific number at which they consider high ISO.
Thanx everyone.

[neuroanatomist]

It varies by camera model, and is arbitrary based on Canon's visual evaluation of that camera's images.

[Pieces Of E]

Things that make ya go 'hmmmm'  . Neuro, I thought of you when writing this post to see your response, and you didn't disappoint. Thank you for the quick reply. As the 7D is a new model in this household(and still in testing mode), initially we chose to disable this option, but I think we'll go back to the 0:Standard setting and experiment some more.  ps - we upgraded from 40D's and are still trying to get the complete handle on the 7D's optimal settings(all things being relative).
We are seeing noise at higher ISO's, also under 'AUTO ISO', the 7D is quick to use ISO 3200, which made me also go 'hmmm'.

[neuroanatomist]

Agreed. I prefer to keep the ISO on my 7D to 800 or less if possible.  I don't use high ISO NR, I shoot RAW, and I find that DxO does a better job than DPP at NR - ISO 3200 is usable in many shots.

I do wish the 7D had a user-selectable limit on Auto ISO - newer cameras do (including Rebel/xxxD bodies, and even my S95 and S100).  Canon could add that feature via firmware, but that's not how they do things, so I have no expectation that it will ever be available on the 7D (but it will on a 7DII).

[Pieces Of E]

It's hard to believe the 7D's a couple years old now. I also use 800 as my high water mark, but for fun I shot a cedar waxwing under cloudy skies the other day at ISO 6400. The 7D chose a 1/3200 shutter speed and a f18 aperture. Yes, it's quite grainy. 
We also only shoot RAW, and oh, we also have been kicking around the metering, jumping from evaluative to center-weighted...they seem similar. We're strickly wildlife photographers and we run and gun with mostly the 300's and the 1.4's attached. I wondered if the 1.25 level of firmware was gonna be it for the 7D...

[decltype]

I do wish the 7D had a user-selectable limit on Auto ISO - newer cameras do (including Rebel/xxxD bodies, and even my S95 and S100).  Canon could add that feature via firmware, but that's not how they do things, so I have no expectation that it will ever be available on the 7D (but it will on a 7DII).

Couldn't agree more! On the 7D 3200 is a bit high, on the 5D II it's a bit too low (in certain circumstances).

[CJRodgers]

is DxO the best software for removing noise or is lightroom nearly as good?