C100: How good, with examples, is the C100 above ISO 800?

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

I'm going to be shooting at a location which has very low light conditions. One of the group may be able to use a C100.

My request is, 'how good' is the C100 above 800, say 1600 or 3200, and what examples of shots, with some amount of 'dark area' in the shot.

The location is paneled with a dark wood, and when I took incident light readings, I was getting something like f/1.1-1.8 @ ISO 1250 and 1-3 footcandles worth of light.

So, how well does the C100 perform under such conditions.

The shoot does not call for 'dramatic' light, so I will have to be shooting the talent with a lower light, so that there is less contrast between the talent and the background.

 

[Andrius Simutis]

I'm guessing that most or at least a lot of the C100 footage you see around is shot at 850.

 

[AndreeOnline]

The shoot does not call for 'dramatic' light, so I will have to be shooting the talent with a lower light, so that there is less contrast between the talent and the background.

If you're lighting it, why not light it properly? Throw a light on the background as well if you are concerned about too much contrast?

That said, the C100 should be up to the task with good resolution and maintained color even with ISOs up to 3200.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

If you're lighting it, why not light it properly? Throw a light on the background as well if you are concerned about too much contrast?

That said, the C100 should be up to the task with good resolution and maintained color even with ISOs up to 3200.

The person who arranged the location, only got very limited permission for access. So, we only can set up minimal amount of 'equipment', and have a very limited time.

Do you have any links to 1600 or 3200 ISO examples?

 

[chappelldigital]

Skip forward to the end:
https://vimeo.com/89672775

Everything was bright enough was shot at ISO 850 and either closing the iris, or using NDs
Everything at the end was shot anywhere between 4000 ISO and 8000 ISO (used a bit of neatvideo for some)

I shoot at 4000 for wedding receptions all the time.
1600 and 3200 you won't have a problem with at all.

Edit -> All shot at F2.8, the slo-mo was using the 50i function of the camera, so bitrate is a bit lower (not ideal for lowlight obviously), but didn't turn out too bad.

 

[EIREHotspur]

Nice job on that.

Interesting to seeyur using the 24-70 2.8L II.
I have the excellent 70-200 2.8L II and had wanted that as the perfect companion lens....but now Ihave just bought C100 I am thinking of getting the 24-70 F4 L IS.

 

[Run&Gun]

I'm not sure if there are any major differences between the camera "head" processing of a C100 and C300 (I know there are recording codec differences), but I use ISO 850 as my base for almost everything I shoot. A lot of people consider the native ISO to be 850 because that's what Canon recommends using(minimum) to get the most dynamic range out of the chip when shooting Canon Log. I know I've run the ISO up where I would have never thought "safe" on cameras before this one (or the 5DmkIII) and it's shocked me how clean and useable it was. 3200 and 6400 are not out of bounds.

 

[Policar]

I find the image to look insignificantly worse at 1600 ISO than at 850 ISO and it's useable to about 10,000 ISO. The thing with the C100 is that you might want to use the Ninja (or another external recorder) at higher ISOs and you'll also want to raise your ISO rather than underexpose because of the poor tonality and way noise is handled in 8 bit AVCHD if you don't use a recorder (and really, even if you do); of course you don't want to clip or push too much detail into the knee.

I really wouldn't sweat anything up to 6400 ISO (if you're curious what it looks like, just try for yourself), but I would recommend using an external recorder for extreme ISOs, black balancing with a body cap after changing your ISOs significantly, and not being afraid to push your ISO rather than to underexposing as you might be tempted to do with the Alexa, for instance, because of its fantastic 10 bit Log C. I was working as b cam on an Alexa show and we had a slower lens on the C100 (f2.8 rather than t2.6) and a two stop polarizer on it so the Alexa was being underexposed a bit at 800 ISO and I was shooting 10,000 ISO on the C100 exposing at key or a bit over, and the two matched fine with no noise reduction and this was for 2k DCP, too, so the C100 had to be upscaled. We used a Ninja 2.

Long story short:

For theatrical projection, max out at 4000 ISO (check the Need for Speed ASC article).
For tv, 5000 in a wide to 10,000 for an insert/CU.
For web, 20,000 looks fine usually.
If you need it to get the shot, 80,000, but it looks terrible!

 

[ejdge]

Lowlight on the C100 is amazing, at least for event shoot! Here is a wedding video I shot recently where it was near pitch black during the reception, minus my off camera light.

2:43-4:26 is around 3200 ISO. 4:26 onward is 10,000. 2:43-end is all shot at 2.8 or higher. The image has been graded as well.

https://vimeo.com/97902657

 

[wgtwo]

(check the Need for Speed ASC article)

Oh god, thanks for reminding me. I have three on my desk that I haven't read yet! On that note, do any other ASC articles come to mind that talk about working with Cinema EOS?

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Thanks for the several example clips of high ISO for the C100.

Here's a couple of iPhone shots of the interiors, which may be part of the shooting, and why the 'large dark' areas of the building structure cause me concern about 'noise' in the dark/shadow areas.

Balcony area, shot 1.

Balcony area, shot 2.

Hallway near an entrance.

I watched "Some Like It Hot"(1959) and I am convinced Billy Wilder's solution to this 'problem' was to build a lobby set which was painted 'white' or 'light grey', and allowed any amount of lights to be setup... I don't have that sort of budget... There are a number of shots when the action is outside the hotel which are at the real hotel... but as soon as the talent goes 'inside', I think its sets for the lobby area. I think Wilder did some shots in the bedrooms of the hotel, the halls of the hotel, but they are quite different from the 'real' lobby...

 

[John Y]

My very first shoot with the C100 was at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I was still getting myself comfortable with the camera and shot everything using WDR and no grading. The night shots were at very high ISO since there were only flashlights to work with. The shots near the end at the lava tube and caldera were shot at 20,000 ISO which was the max before the firmware update. Neat Video was used for noise reduction...love that software. I continue to be amazed with the camera's ability to perform in low light.

http://hawaiionthemove.com/big-island-twilight-volcano-adventure/