Higher than usual ASA setting

snapper8v

Suspended / Banned
Messages
472
Name
Lawrence CLIFT
Edit My Images
Yes
I've got a Canon 1d MK111 and I seem to be using a higher ASA setting than compared to the 1d MK1 that's now been reduced to a back up. I'm using probably 2 or even 3 stops higher. Now I'm not all that bothered as the lack of noise on todays DSLR's is fantastic, but it's just bugging me. Has anyone else found this. Apologies if this has been spoken about before.

LAWRENCE
 
That doesn't make sense on the face of it, Lawrence, unless one of the cameras is faulty. Why don't you take the same shot with the two cameras, process them identically, leave the EXIF data intact, and post them here to demonstrate the problem?
 
i was exactly the same moving from 1d to a 1dmk2 and then to a mk3

lets put it another way, shooting the exact same scene with the exact same lens with my mk2 and mk3 and looking to acheive a shutter speed of 1/800th, with the mk2 i would need to use ISO 640 but with the mk3 i would need to use ISO 800 to get the exact same shutter speed.
 
i was exactly the same moving from 1d to a 1dmk2 and then to a mk3

lets put it another way, shooting the exact same scene with the exact same lens with my mk2 and mk3 and looking to acheive a shutter speed of 1/800th, with the mk2 i would need to use ISO 640 but with the mk3 i would need to use ISO 800 to get the exact same shutter speed.
That's not "exactly the same" at all.

Lawrence is claiming a difference of 2 or 3 stops between the cameras. That's as if he needed to use ISO 800 on one camera and ISO 200 or even ISO 100 on the other camera.

Your difference is only 1/3 of a stop, and given that it's the smallest increment which the cameras use I'd suggest it is probably not significant. If the exposure that the cameras calculated was actually somewhere between the two values you found yourself using, one camera decided to round up and one decided to round down. No big deal.
 
That's not "exactly the same" at all.

Lawrence is claiming a difference of 2 or 3 stops between the cameras. That's as if he needed to use ISO 800 on one camera and ISO 200 or even ISO 100 on the other camera.

Your difference is only 1/3 of a stop, and given that it's the smallest increment which the cameras use I'd suggest it is probably not significant. If the exposure that the cameras calculated was actually somewhere between the two values you found yourself using, one camera decided to round up and one decided to round down. No big deal.

i menat i suffer the exact same problem, Ok not to the exact same extent but its the same problem.

The figures i quoted were just examples.

And yes it is a very big deal if my camera is already pushed to the max, one week it meant i dropped the mk3 and shot with the mk2, there was no way i was going to shoot for the papers at ISO 6400 with a shutter of 1/200th when i picked up the mk2 and shot at ISO 1600 with a shutter of 1/500th

How many stops difference is that?
 
Stewart, that was the most extreme, but (as Gary pointed out) most of the time it was the next higher ASA setting.

On the 1d MK1, I was shooting my weddings at 400 ASA which was fine, but during September of this year (having just purchased the MK111) I was shooting at 640/800 to get a similar shutter/aperture combination that I would normally use. As you say, it may just be rounding itself up? The MK111's in for a focusing "issue" (it's front focusing) so I'll have a word with the technician tomorrow.

When I get it back I'll post up a couple of photos taken by each camera. What's "EXIF" data please???

LAWRENCE
 
And yes it is a very big deal if my camera is already pushed to the max, one week it meant i dropped the mk3 and shot with the mk2, there was no way i was going to shoot for the papers at ISO 6400 with a shutter of 1/200th when i picked up the mk2 and shot at ISO 1600 with a shutter of 1/500th

How many stops difference is that?
Camera 1 = 1/200th at ISO 6400
Camera 2 = 1/500th at ISO 1600

The difference there is 3 1/3 stops.
Another way of looking at it is that if you'd used ISO 1600 on camera 1, your shutter speed would have been 1/50th - which is 10 times slower than with camera 2.

I'll repeat what I said to Lawrence. That doesn't make any sense at all. No way would Canon engineer their cameras so that they differ by a factor of 10. The only explanations I can think of are:
(A) One of the cameras is faulty;
(B) some sort of "user error" in its widest sense, including the possibility that the conditions which you're claiming were the same actually weren't.

Have you done controlled tests - same scene, same exposure settings - to demonstrate the issue? If so, let's see the evidence.
 
When I get it back I'll post up a couple of photos taken by each camera. What's "EXIF" data please???
EXIF refers to the embedded data within a digital photo which describe the camera settings - date/time, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, ISO, use of flash, exposure mode, etc etc. It's written into the image when you take the shot and is generally preserved by most editing programs. But as Gary says, if you use "Save for web" in Photoshop instead of "Save as" then in will remove the EXIF data.
 
This is a fascinating thread, which I will continue to follow. I have often noted a 1/3 difference between my MK iiN and 10D, but they are very different cameras. I am learning all the time, which is wonderful.
 
You will notice that the camera metering will vary quite a bit if you have a highish contrast scens and just move the camera around a bit. So you really need to take identical pictures with the two cameras with identical metering patterns set and the camera metering areas falling on the same part of the scene to compare settings. Ideally do this with a low contrast scene then setup is not so critical. Can you post some pictures?
 
The MK111 is on its way back from Canon as I type, so will post up a couple of photos ASAP.

A friend of mine, who's just purchased a MK111, says that he's noticed that he has to use a higher ASA setting than normal. Could it be something to do with the sensor on all of the cameras? We all know the basics of taking a great photo, so to get what you're after, you just have to up the ASA, especially as their's hardly any noise issues these days. Just a thought.
Thanks for the replies anyway.

LAWRENCE
 
i regularly shoot alongside a Nikon D3 user and we often discuss the various foybles of both cameras, during poor conditions its not unusual for one to ask the other what settings the other is using and he is always using either a faster shutter speed at the same ISO or a lower ISO for the same shutter speed than i use.
 
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Canon cameras used to actually be a little more sensitive than the ISO setting would indicate and that this has been 'addressed' on the newer models.
 
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Canon cameras used to actually be a little more sensitive than the ISO setting would indicate and that this has been 'addressed' on the newer models.
That's plausible and would account for the 1/3 stop difference that some people have seen.

It doesn't account for a 3-stop difference, though.
 
Back
Top