Canon 5D Mark IV brings dramatic dynamic range improvements to the 5D line

[bholliman]

...I must add, ,,in general, the fact that canon had a 'DR issue' and it was mentioned in various reviews in itself is a good thing in my opinion.

No question that Canon sensors prior to those introduced in 2016 had somewhat lower dynamic range than those from SoNikon. Certainly it should be mentioned, but DR is just one of hundreds of factors that a camera should be judged on, and to me its not even an extremely important factor. To me that doesn't mean Canon had a "DR issue" any more than Sony or Nikon has a "menu issue" or a "autofocus issue" due to their camera's not being as good as Canon products in those regards.

...I have yet seen any photography genre that clearly shows the need for 4-5 stop pushed shadow areas which couldn't be achieved with either a superior technique (exposure blending / HDR) or better understanding of exposure metering. Sure we all pull a bit of exposure in Post Prod. But if we consider a 4-5 stop pull as necessary then that points to very poor metering or just being lazy and leaving it to be fixed later. If we then blame a camera for not being able to do this so well...that really points to the photographer's lazyness / lack of skill and then passing the blame onto the camera / tool.

Just remember folks that massive DR isn't the be all and end off of photography. Too much DR and silhouettes become impossible.

+1

 

[bholliman]

Personally, the 5D mark IV meets my DR needs. Balancing the Lights & darks so that finished edits represent what my eye saw is what I want. The improvements in shadow information is noticeable- especially color noise.
The other thing I have noticed is that I'm not having to mess with color temps as much. I think the RGB metering is a huge improvement.

As soon as LR updated to support the Mark IV, I ran this shot as a test for bringing up the shadows.

Canon 5D Mark IV test LR6 3255 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

One thing I noticed in this photo is that the metering system nailed the skin tones despite the yellow light cast from the canopy over the pit area.

Reno 2016 Steve working on Voodoo 4255 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

And just because I was curious, the 5-stop push...

Canon 5D Mark IV 5 stop push LR6 3379 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

I was actually a bit surprised that the deep shadows pulled up that well. In the past, I would have had to use DXO to pull it up that much- with a noise penalty.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the 5D MkIV.

Love you air show pictures! How does the new body compare with your 5DsR for air show photography? Does the improved DR make up for the fewer pixels on target? Is the 5D MkIV auto focus better at apertures under F/8?

Thanks

 

[Jack Douglas]

I sense plenty of SPS in this forum...

Standard Positioning System?
Special Services?
SocioPolitical Sciences?
Special Protection System?
Standby Power System?
Single Photon Source?
Solar Powered Sattelite?

I'm curious... No, honestly I don't know, yes I'm that dumb.

Not the only one!

Jack

 

[dak723]

Some examples of what I am referring for clarity :

http://petapixel.com/2014/11/24/creative-underexposure-nikon-dslrs/

Welcome to this world, Mk IVCanon shooters, I can't wait to see what you start producing.

To my taste, many of these look to "HDR-like"...

Me too

Funny that the article is talking about 2 stop lifts! Welcome to the new world indeed all you 6d 5d3 5ds/r owners ;D

OK, I admit that I have not been following the thread that closely, but I took a look at these pics and was also a bit surprised by the comment that at how wonderful these sensors are that they can handle 2 stops underexposure. 2 stops? My 6D handles 2 stop underexposure and shadow lifting with absolutely no problems. Being "old-school" - where we exposed for the highlights - many of my pics with more extreme lighting are underexposed 2 stops. My 300D could handle it. That's why some of us folks have never been disappointed - or shocked - or furious with Canon for its "lousy" sensor. It may have had less DR than the competitors, but it was a non issue for many.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi IglooEater.
I'm glad you asked.
I googled it too, I think I found the same site you did, but I was going to copy and paste the whole darn list and get them to pick one, then it hit me that maybe I was to far out of touch with modern culture (dumb) so I didn't bother! ;D

So Roman, what is the correct answer, enquiring minds need to know?

Cheers, Graham.

I sense plenty of SPS in this forum...

Standard Positioning System?
Special Services?
SocioPolitical Sciences?
Special Protection System?
Standby Power System?
Single Photon Source?
Solar Powered Sattelite?

I'm curious... No, honestly I don't know, yes I'm that dumb.

 

[Zv]

Some examples of what I am referring for clarity :

http://petapixel.com/2014/11/24/creative-underexposure-nikon-dslrs/

Welcome to this world, Mk IVCanon shooters, I can't wait to see what you start producing.

To my taste, many of these look to "HDR-like"...

Me too

Funny that the article is talking about 2 stop lifts! Welcome to the new world indeed all you 6d 5d3 5ds/r owners ;D

OK, I admit that I have not been following the thread that closely, but I took a look at these pics and was also a bit surprised by the comment that at how wonderful these sensors are that they can handle 2 stops underexposure. 2 stops? My 6D handles 2 stop underexposure and shadow lifting with absolutely no problems. Being "old-school" - where we exposed for the highlights - many of my pics with more extreme lighting are underexposed 2 stops. My 300D could handle it. That's why some of us folks have never been disappointed - or shocked - or furious with Canon for its "lousy" sensor. It may have had less DR than the competitors, but it was a non issue for many.

I agree. I do 2 stop lifts with my EOS M. Ain't no big thing at all.

I also came late to this thread, why are we talking about this??

 

[mmenno]

I must say very valid points are made here in regards to the actual usefulness of DR. I could have been more specific about my own personal gripes with it, but I thought it would be more useful to generalize.
What has always annoyed me most about my own 7D1, is it's high amount of low ISO noise, and the banding that comes with it, apparently due to the design of its sensor. For instance I've tried lowering noise by shooting several frames at ISO 100, and averaging them in PS, only to be left with very distinct vertical bands across the whole frame, at all tonal values.. So for me it's really not about the number of stops of DR, or their practical usefulness, it's about the sensor technology that made for obvious image quality shortcomings, atleast for me personally.

 

[Viggo]

Anyone with a 5d4 tried the old Multiexposure with 9 shots to eliminate noise yet?