5D MK IV exposure issues - HIGH ISO necessary... tried two different lenses

[Saraswati0]

Hey. I've been shooting with my Canon for a couple of months now. It's already been back to the factory because of a shoddy touch screen. But recently i've noticed with TWO different lenses, some pretty serious issues with exposure and low light shooting.

I shot a yoga class in a studio with three large windows and in order to be at 1/250th f/5.6 I had to up the ISO to nearly 6000 which ended up being really grainy and almost useless. This was with my Sigma 35mm ART lens.

I JUST purchased the Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens and last night I had to shoot an indoor party event. I found myself getting all the was to f/1.4 1/30th and ISO 2500.

These numbers just DONT seem right.... is there something that could be wrong with the body itself? I just don't understand how two lenses could be having the same issues. I'm considering sending the 50mm back since its brand new and getting the Canon 50 1.2 instead... but thats only if the lens is the issue and not the body.

Anyone?

[Ray-uk]

I think we need more information before anyone can work this out, what mode are you shooting AV,TV, M, Auto, fixed ISO or auto ISO ?

If you suspect one of your lenses then it makes more sense to have them both set to the same aperture and use the same ISO shot in the same lighting conditions, then you can get a sensible comparison.

Have you tried a proper Canon lens, third party lenses are sometimes known to cause problems.

[Saraswati0]

I'm primarily shooting in M mode so everything is manually adjusted including ISO. 

I have a variety of Canon lenses including an L lens that I can try. Tonight i'll test them all in the same lighting situation and see what the results look like and maybe post them here to help the discussion.

I guess a first question to answer is - is it even possible that this could be an issue with the body?

Thanks!

[RobertTheFat]

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@Saraswati0wrote:

I'm primarily shooting in M mode so everything is manually adjusted including ISO. 

I have a variety of Canon lenses including an L lens that I can try. Tonight i'll test them all in the same lighting situation and see what the results look like and maybe post them here to help the discussion.

I guess a first question to answer is - is it even possible that this could be an issue with the body?

Thanks!

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Well, yes, anything is possible. But the 5D4 has a reputation for very good low-light performance, so it's a stretch to see the body as the culprit. It's more likely that you're just bumping up against the laws of physics and that if you need more light, you're going to have to provide it yourself.

[RobertTheFat]

Have you tried other lenses and gotten better results? If not, it may just be that the lighting conditions are worse than you think. Indoor event photography using ambient light is tricky at best, because you can't trust your lying eyes. What you think is sufficient light may just be a demonstration of the amazing dynamic range of the human eye. Three large windows won't be enough unless they happen to be facing the sun. At the city for which I last worked, our City Council chamber had several large south-facing windows. But they were rarely much help, and I usually found myself asking for the TV lights.

In any case, I'm not sure an f/1.2 lens is a potential solution. If you use it at full aperture (the only plausible reason for having it in this case), the minuscule DOF is apt to significantly limit what you can do.

You are, I assume, shooting in RAW mode? That gives you a lot more freedom to jack up the brightness in post-processing and also lets you turn down automatic noise reduction, which sometimes does more harm than good.

[Waddizzle]

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@Saraswati0wrote:

Hey. I've been shooting with my Canon for a couple of months now. It's already been back to the factory because of a shoddy touch screen. But recently i've noticed with TWO different lenses, some pretty serious issues with exposure and low light shooting.

I shot a yoga class in a studio with three large windows and in order to be at 1/250th f/5.6 I had to up the ISO to nearly 6000 which ended up being really grainy and almost useless. This was with my Sigma 35mm ART lens.

I JUST purchased the Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens and last night I had to shoot an indoor party event. I found myself getting all the was to f/1.4 1/30th and ISO 2500.

These numbers just DONT seem right.... is there something that could be wrong with the body itself? I just don't understand how two lenses could be having the same issues. I'm considering sending the 50mm back since its brand new and getting the Canon 50 1.2 instead... but thats only if the lens is the issue and not the body.

Anyone?

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I think shooting indoors without a flash at f/5.6 is why your ISO is so high.  You could have probably shot at f/2.8.

As for the indoor party, that room was simply dark.  When shooting with artificial lighting, you will probably want to enable the “flicker mode” in the camera, especially when working with fluorescent or solid state lighting.

[Saraswati0]

Alright. Here are some shots with three different lenses all at the same settings. To get this exposure I was at f/4 1/10 ISO800

[RobertTheFat]

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@Saraswati0wrote:

Alright. Here are some shots with three different lenses all at the same settings. To get this exposure I was at f/4 1/10 ISO800

[Pix omitted]

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The issue with those shots isn't so much lack of light as their high dynamic range. Using center-weighted (or even spot) metering may help, but the real solution is to dim down the excessively bright window. If it has a shade, pull it down and see if that helps.

Doesn't the 5D4 have an HDR option? If it does, try that. Another possibility is to use a reflector to divert some of the light from the window into the dark area of the room.

[ebiggs1]

"...dim down the excessively bright window"

Thsi is your proiblem.

[ebiggs1]

HDR with bright window.

...and combined.