ISO 12,800 with the Canon 50D?

[SPL Tech1]

Canon says the 50D can do:

Extension settable (with C.Fn.I-3-1): ISO 12800

What is C.Fn.I-3-1?



They also say:

Automatically set, ISO 100-6400 (in 1/3-stop or 1-stop increments)

Well when I am in the manual mode and I manually choose the ISO I can’t go past 1600 so how do I get the camera to go to 6400?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

You have a 50D? They're not supposed to ship till mid october. nonetheless..

Custom. Function. I-3-1 That's your map to get to the ISO 12k setting.


40D's can't do 6400, it would look atrocious anyway, just like the 50D at 12k, I think it's more of a marketing stunt that it can even do that anyway.

 

[SPL Tech1]

oops lol I was looking at the specs of my 40D then I switched to the 50D and forgot I switched. I noticed it said 12,800 and was thinking I was still looking at the 40D.

Anyway the 40D says ISO speed can be expanded to ISO 3200. How do I expand it to 3200?

 

[Big Mike]

I'm quite sure it's in your users manual.

 

[|)\/8]

I have a 50D, you have to enable ISO expansion in the custom settings (C.Fn1 -3) , it is off by default. This will give you IS0 H1 (6400) and ISO H2 (12800).

 

[ksmattfish]

The regular ISOs are actual changes in the sensitivity of the sensor. At least in the past models the ISO expansions (L, H) have been an in-camera software pull or push.

Whether or not these high ISOs are usable or not depends personal taste and what is the display/use. Low res web and TV images, and small print images (8x12 or less) won't look too bad fro high ISO if processed right. I'm pretty excited about what I'm getting out of my 20D, 40D, and 5D right now, but improvements are always nice. I'm most excited about what the near future is bringing; in the next decade we will be shooting high quality images at 6 digit ISOs.

This shot is from a 5D set to ISO 3200, but I was underexposing 2 stops, so it's really ISO 12800. I used Adobe Camera Raw, CS2, and Noiseware Pro in the processing. I think it looks pretty good as an 8"x12" print. Better than anything I was ever able to get with medium format BW film shooting at ISO 3200.