Canon EOS 1D IV High ISO letter readability test

Photographer: ©Per Inge Oestmoen
Number of images: 31
Created on: Saturday 26 December 2009

These were all made from original JPEG files. The images are therefore representative of what can be expected from the camera's JPEG files in similar circumstances. High ISO noise reduction was turned off in all cases. (I have RAW versions too) There is no major loss of quality until well after ISO 12800 - a fact that bespeaks the 1D IV's eminent capabilities.

As you can see, letters are easily readable even at ISO 51200. Moreover, even the colors are kept surprisingly accurate even at this extreme ISO value. At ISO 12800 the image quality is still reassuringly high, and 25600 and 51200 are useful and fully sufficient for many purposes. At ISO 102400, quality is severely reduced, but detail is kept to a surprising degree, as shown in image _F6C2930. The Canon EOS 1D IV is no doubt capable of unprecedentedly successful capture of images in dark circumstances where photographying was previously impossible, provided a fast lens is used. To fully utilize such a tool's potential in available light photography, slow zoom lenses of the 4.0-5.6 type cannot be recommended. Be mindful of the fact that no matter how brilliant a camera's high ISO performance may be, an aperture of 2.8 is always going to yield a shutter speed four times faster - that is four times as short - than 5.6 in the same situation. Naturally, the specific lens and its focal length is determined by what subjects one is shooting, but fast lenses (2.8 or faster) are necessary to handle low light situations optimally.

With the exeption of picture _FC60004, all images were taken with the EF 135mm 2.0 at aperture 2.8. This lens is optically superior to all the 70-200 zooms I have tried and just a tad behind the extreme EF 200mm 2.8 II which is fantastically sharp but was not used in this test because of space considerations since it has a longer close focusing distance than the EF 135 2.0.

With an EOS 1D IV attached to a lens with an aperture of 2.8 or better, it is feasible to take pictures of moving subjects in dark rooms only lit by a candle or outdoors by the moon. This camera by Canon is suitable for many types of available light photography, since it more often than not obviates the need for a flash.

_F6C0004_ISO_12800_cut_srgb.jpg 2394 x 2532 (1421 KB)	_F6C0004_ISO_12800_cut_srgb_800.jpg 756 x 800 (210 KB)	_F6C1659_ISO_3200_cut_srgb.jpg 4896 x 2076 (1219 KB)	_F6C1661_ISO_6400_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (224 KB)
_F6C1661_ISO_6400_cut_srgb.jpg 4795 x 1892 (2741 KB)	_F6C1662_ISO_12800_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (249 KB)	_F6C1662_ISO_12800_srgb_cut.jpg 4884 x 2078 (3611 KB)	_F6C1663_ISO_25600_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (368 KB)
_F6C1663_ISO_25600_cut_srgb.jpg 4878 x 1902 (2671 KB)	_F6C1664_ISO_51200_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (354 KB)	_F6C1664_ISO_51200_cut_srgb.jpg 4891 x 2073 (3089 KB)	_F6C1665_ISO_102400_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (552 KB)
_F6C1665_ISO_102400_cut_srgb.jpg 4896 x 1896 (3516 KB)	_F6C2922_iso_200_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (1898 KB)	_F6C2922_iso_200_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (194 KB)	_F6C2923_ISO_800_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (1973 KB)
_F6C2923_ISO_800_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (198 KB)	_F6C2924_ISO_1600_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (2107 KB)	_F6C2924_ISO_1600_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (205 KB)	_F6C2925_ISO_3200_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (2200 KB)
_F6C2925_ISO_3200_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (211 KB)	_F6C2926_ISO_6400_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (2506 KB)	_F6C2926_ISO_6400_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (232 KB)	_F6C2927_ISO_12800_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (2921 KB)
_F6C2927_ISO_12800_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (248 KB)	_F6C2928_ISO_25600_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (3715 KB)	_F6C2928_ISO_25600_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (302 KB)	_F6C2929_ISO_51200_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (5118 KB)
_F6C2929_ISO_51200_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (381 KB)	_F6C2930_ISO_102400_sRGB.jpg 4896 x 3264 (5890 KB)	_F6C2930_ISO_102400_sRGB_1000.jpg 1000 x 667 (548 KB)