# 1Dx real life low light high DR scenes performance - ISO1000 and ISO100



## Neutral (Oct 25, 2012)

For those who are interested are examples of 1DX low light performance in high DR environment.

Also this is illustration why high DR performance is required for those who keeps repeating " why on earth your need high DR and why you need to underexpose images"
Image RAW conversion is in LR4.
Screen snapshots for posting by Win7 Snipping tool - to be quick

1. Image "AS IS" from 1Dx - evaluative metering - camera is trying to protect highlights so average weighted image exposure shifts to the left (to the shadows) - so most part of the image is underexposed 
2. 1Dx Image is normalized as close to human vision - image DR compressed in LR using basic tone sliders
3. 1Dx ISO1000 crop 100% - no NR
4. 1Dx ISO1000 crop 100% - NR Lum=20
Please observe noise in shadow recovered areas and sky and what we could do with it in LR
Next post is the same for ISO100


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## Neutral (Oct 25, 2012)

Here is the same as in pervious post for ISO100

1. 1Dx Image normalized as close to human vision - image DR compressed in LR using basic tone sliders
2. 1Dx 1SO100 crop 100% - no NR
3. 1Dx ISO100 crop 100% - NR Lum=22
4. 1Dx ISO100 crop 100% area 2 - NR Lum=22

Though overall all is not too bad we still see noise in shadow recovered areas which actually we do not want to see at base ISO.
So for shots in high DR low light conditions at base ISO we can get images from 1Dx suitable for printing at A4 but for bigger prints noise and image imperfections in shadow areas becomes noticeable - especially on flat sky areas.
This though could be improved by additional processing - local adjustments in LR and some additional work in Photoshop - but this is something that is very unwanted. 
" By doing regularly physical exercises you can extend your life by 5 years.
The problem though is that you need to spend 5 years in gym for that" )))


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## Neutral (Oct 25, 2012)

And here is 400% no NR crop from ISO100 shot - so that noise at base ISO100 in shadows would be more visible here (in previous post for 100% crop it is smeared by Win7 snipping tool high JPEG compression )
Actually noise here looks like film grain.

I think that could be reduced by using 1Dx multiexposure feature (very nice one)- by making 9 fast shots with mirror lock-up - averaged in the camera in final RAW file so noise will be averaged over 9 shots which could improve noticably noise performance in shadows - well known method for that


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## RLPhoto (Oct 25, 2012)

Thats some nice performance from the 1Dx. Too bad I'll never Own/use/need a 1D series camera. Maybe a New 1Ds might sway me.


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## Neutral (Oct 25, 2012)

RLPhoto said:


> Thats some nice performance from the 1Dx. Too bad I'll never Own/use/need a 1D series camera. Maybe a New 1Ds might sway me.



I think it is acceptable for most situations except for the cases when you need to create image for very big prints. What is interesting at ISO1000 noise is not too much worse compared to ISO100 - still tolerable and managable.
Hope that might be able to squeeze more out of 1Dx for such kind of evening/night city shots - have not fully tested yet everything that could increase shadows SNR when shot from tripod. When hand-held there not much could be done more to this


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## Viggo (Oct 25, 2012)

Thanks for posting.

Do you also have a shot that is exposed more to the right, say, enough to blow the highlights so they can just be recovered nicely? That way you can keep the shadow more "as is"


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## Neutral (Oct 25, 2012)

Viggo said:


> Thanks for posting.
> 
> Do you also have a shot that is exposed more to the right, say, enough to blow the highlights so they can just be recovered nicely? That way you can keep the shadow more "as is"



Intention was not to blow highlights - so that content in the illuminated windows and showcases is not lost and could be normally seen on normal size print. Lost are are only things that could be sacrificed- sources of lights itself - very small areas on the image . ETR rule is not applicabale for such kind of shots unless this is only for postcard size prints


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## Neutral (Oct 25, 2012)

Neutral said:


> Viggo said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for posting.
> ...



Also could add that 1Dx does a very good job in preserving highlights in evaluative metering mode - almost nothing is lost - only sources of lights itself. Still need to see behaviour when highlight protection mode is turned on - but usually that shifts histogram slightly to the left making image even more underexposed - at least on previous bodies


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## Neutral (Oct 25, 2012)

Neutral said:


> Neutral said:
> 
> 
> > Viggo said:
> ...



Actually highlights were recovered on this image to be just on the right side of histogram - before they were out. 
Whites were moved to (-100) ,
highlights were set to (-50)
and exposure was moved to EV +1.5 
and shadows were set to (+40)


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