Canon 6D True High ISO King?

Very interesting and it seems thorough enough. I've been skimming through the initial link, and spent more time with reading a linked page and all the data/diagrams and equations found there.

Thanks for finding such a meaty little treasure, JusSayin! *tips hat*
 
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I've always said the image quality from this latest generation of Canon FF cameras is superb, whether high or low ISO. Posts from 'professionals' who criticise the IQ in non demanding situations is a good way of raising blood pressure.
 
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The IQ of this camera given its price difference with the 5D MKIII is its biggest atribute. I shoot a lot of landscape and the results from this camera far outstrip anything Ive had before and in real world use the IQ between the 6D and 5D MKIII is the same. Definately the bargin camera in Canon range.
 
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All I know is I bought the 6D last Spring after loving my 7D for the years its been around and, even with fewer af points, slower fps, and so on, the 6D is my walk-around, goto body, with the 7D usually in my bag for daylight sports and wildlife, as a just-in-case, or to impress folk by shooting with two bodies. I now travel only with the 6D...
 
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I absolutely love the IQ of the 6D - probably all the more so that it is my first body upgrade in a LOOOOOOONG time. As far as hi-ISO, some of the natural light shots that I've taken with the 6D/35 ART combo were hard to believe. I can only imagine what the output looks like in the hands of someone who actually knows what they're doing!

The amount of data that the sensor preserves is incredible, and really allows for some incredible versatility in post. My only beef is the AF performance pretty much sails out the window the moment the sun drops. Dusk shooting is all about MF in my experience.
 
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I have to say the 6D does look amazing at High ISOs which is incredibly important for me since I often shoot indoor events with available light only (mostly using f/1.2-f/1.4 primes). The 5D3's less impressive performance in this area and its lack of user interchangeable focus screen (huge issue for me not being able to use high precision focusing screen when using 1.2-1.4 lenses) are two things that prevent me from considering that camera.
 
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Ruined said:
I have to say the 6D does look amazing at High ISOs which is incredibly important for me since I often shoot indoor events with available light only (mostly using f/1.2-f/1.4 primes). The 5D3's less impressive performance in this area and its lack of user interchangeable focus screen (huge issue for me not being able to use high precision focusing screen when using 1.2-1.4 lenses) are two things that prevent me from considering that camera.

Once again, I disagree. I don't have any issue taking picture with 5D3 under any lighting condition.
 
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SloPhoto said:
I absolutely love the IQ of the 6D

It;s amazing, isn't it? Smooth, sharp, clean images.


My only beef is the AF performance pretty much sails out the window the moment the sun drops. Dusk shooting is all about MF in my experience.


Now this I'm going to have to disagree with. Using center point AF with L lenses, the lowlight focus is the best I've used on any Canon DSLR.
 
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Dylan777 said:
Once again, I disagree. I don't have any issue taking picture with 5D3 under any lighting condition.

That's probably because you've got fast lenses, try af'ing with a f5.6 lens (70-300L on long end) at dusk and you're happy about the 1 more stop of af capability the 6d provides. It's very slow though in these cases, but nice for landscape and such. It really does af in moonlight, I've tried it with my one fast f2.8 100L lens.
 
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MichaelHodges said:
My only beef is the AF performance pretty much sails out the window the moment the sun drops. Dusk shooting is all about MF in my experience.


Now this I'm going to have to disagree with. Using center point AF with L lenses, the lowlight focus is the best I've used on any Canon DSLR.

Agreed. It's decent at f/4. It's awesome at f/2.8 and faster. With my shorty forty, it focuses down to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/6th of a second at ISO 12,600, which is almost, but not quite, at the lower limit of where I can tell what I'm shooting a picture of.... :)

And well below the minimum light level for me to fully distinguish color.
 
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MichaelHodges said:
SloPhoto said:
I absolutely love the IQ of the 6D

It;s amazing, isn't it? Smooth, sharp, clean images.

My only beef is the AF performance pretty much sails out the window the moment the sun drops. Dusk shooting is all about MF in my experience.

Now this I'm going to have to disagree with. Using center point AF with L lenses, the lowlight focus is the best I've used on any Canon DSLR.

I agree, center point on the 6D is great. In any light.
 
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Marsu42 said:
Dylan777 said:
Once again, I disagree. I don't have any issue taking picture with 5D3 under any lighting condition.

That's probably because you've got fast lenses, try af'ing with a f5.6 lens (70-300L on long end) at dusk and you're happy about the 1 more stop of af capability the 6d provides. It's very slow though in these cases, but nice for landscape and such. It really does af in moonlight, I've tried it with my one fast f2.8 100L lens.
The only time my 5d iii didn't focus was when I had lens cap on. I can really see how 6d iq in -3ev lighting condition, since it focus well with f5.6 lens.

I do not think 6d is bad camera. 6d is great ff body for those looking to shoot high iso with no need advance AF. I do not believe the theory 6d af has more adv. AF in low light over 5d iii. Just because specs showed -3ev...it doesn't mean is useful. Can the center point focus properly in -3ev is a bigger question.
 
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My 6D reliably autofocuses at LV -6. I think it's light value and not exposure value that is the important quality in this discussion, but if I'm incorrect let me know.

I just did some handheld shots of the Milky Way on Mauna Kea using my 50mm f/1.0 that turned out great, and the camera easily auto-focused between near focus dark objects like my kids and correct infinity focus for the sky. Most of the shots were f/1, 1/10th s, ISO 25600. Noise is very apparent upon examination but not obvious in the shots.
 
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mastreb said:
I just did some handheld shots of the Milky Way on Mauna Kea using my 50mm f/1.0 that turned out great, and the camera easily auto-focused between near focus dark objects like my kids and correct infinity focus for the sky. Most of the shots were f/1, 1/10th s, ISO 25600. Noise is very apparent upon examination but not obvious in the shots.

Man, I so wish Canon would release a new version of that lens. I'm dubious about buying one because the focusing motors eventually fail, aren't readily replaceable (no parts available), and are required even for manual focusing. But if Canon released a new version of the 50mm f/1.0 lens with ring USM, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
 
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Marsu42 said:
Dylan777 said:
Once again, I disagree. I don't have any issue taking picture with 5D3 under any lighting condition.

That's probably because you've got fast lenses, try af'ing with a f5.6 lens (70-300L on long end) at dusk and you're happy about the 1 more stop of af capability the 6d provides. It's very slow though in these cases, but nice for landscape and such. It really does af in moonlight, I've tried it with my one fast f2.8 100L lens.

Photo below was taken today, around 8:30PM California time. 5D III + 40mm pancake, Av mode @ f5.6, shutter 1.3sec, ISO12800. SOOC, no edit, only resized to post here.

I closed all window blinds and main door - completely darkness. I lit up a small candle and left it in the middle of 17x20 feet office. Set my camera to 2sec/remote and left it on a office chair. I shut off the office light - the office was extremely dim. Looking through the view finder, I wasn't able to see any text on those book at all. Pressed the shutter, heard beep sound from AF confirm instantly. Without looking through view finder, I moved the camera slightly left and right. Pressed the shutter, again... the beep sound was on instantly.

I prefer to shoot with flashes under this lighting condition.

EDIT: my wife gave me a funny look when she saw me walking into the office with a candle, lighter and a camera :o
 

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Dylan777 said:
I do not think 6d is bad camera.

Well, I have it and I do, at least in comparison to the 5d3. Though the reduced banding vs. 5d3 is very nice, the af system simply isn't adequate for this day and age and price tag. The -3LV focus capability of course is a marketing stunt by canon to give people the feeling they don't have the all out inferior product, they usually do this (flip screen on 60d vs 7d, nice colorful paint on Rebels...).

mastreb said:
My 6D reliably autofocuses at LV -6. I think it's light value and not exposure value that is the important quality in this discussion, but if I'm incorrect let me know.

Ugh? It's the same, you can calculate the LV from av/tv/iso/ec exposure values. See http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/ev.htm

Dylan777 said:
Photo below was taken today, around 8:30PM California time. 5D III + 40mm pancake, Av mode @ f5.6, shutter 1.3sec, ISO12800. SOOC, no edit, only resized to post here.

This is also a fast lens (f2.8, the af system works wide open), as for example the 70-300L @300mm really autofocuses at f5.6.

As for the scene: Focus capability not only relies on the LV calculated by the exposure, but you also have to have some edges for the af system to lock on and an *even* light distribution. The enhanced 6d af system is beneficial if you for example af on a landscape scenery in ambient moonlight (and not on the moon edges itself).

In your case, you had more than ideal conditions - the candle center would be rather bright, and the book provide good edges - that's why the af worked so fast. If it would have really been the 5d3's ev limit, I suspect the af would have been much slower. The LV calculated from your very uneven exposure doesn't tell us anything.

It's unfortunate nobody ever did a real comparison 6d vs 5d3 on the *same* scene so we could tell if the 6d superiority here is a myth or not.
 
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