highlight priority mode and 160 iso

dvollrath

Active member
I've tried searching all over for the answer to this, but couldn't find it. Does anyone know why the camera won't allow the iso to go below 200 when highlight priority is enabled?
 
I actually read last night that ISO below 200 is disabled when the highlight priority is on. It seems to just be a function of the camera and I believe is stated in the manual.

Canon probably has some technical reason for it and it just might be that the highlight priority doesn't function well with any iso lower than 200.

Best,
Andy
 
Because ISO 200 with HTP is actually ISO 100. So there's nowhere lower for it to go.

When you enable HTP, the camera cuts the ISO in half, then applies gain to the darker end of the scale to boost the brightness back up. But it is effectively operating in ISO 100 at that point.
 
Because ISO 200 with HTP is actually ISO 100. So there's nowhere lower for it to go.

When you enable HTP, the camera cuts the ISO in half, then applies gain to the darker end of the scale to boost the brightness back up. But it is effectively operating in ISO 100 at that point.

Oh wow. That's interesting. But now I'm confused. http://prolost.com/blog/2009/8/3/flatten-your-5d.html recommends that I have highlight priority on to flatten the image. I'm guessing that will be beneficial in situations where I can't control the lighting and need more dynamic range, but if I can control the lighting, I should probably keep highlight priority off then right? Doing so would give me a higher quality image than having highlight priority turned on right?
 
Careful control of the lighting and of the image should always result in better final imagery than using electronic trickery such as HTP.
 
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