Canon R5 Mirrorless — High ISO

Below you’ll see photographs taken with the Canon R5 mirrorless and the 100-500mm lens with the 1.4x attached. That’s 700mm hand-held.

I thought it would be interesting to photographed at different ISO settings.

ISO 3200

  • Ruby-throated hummingbird at ISO 3200 enlarged 200%+
  • Ruby-throated hummingbird shot at ISO 3200 and cropped

The above photos at ISO 3200 are perfectly acceptable. The first photo is cropped to 100%. The second image is enlarged to show detail. Probably enlarged to 200%+.

ISO 5000

  • Ruby-throated hummingbird photographed at ISO 5000 and cropped
  • Ruby-throated hummingbird at ISO 5000 and enlarged to 200%+

Above is an image from the same session. The first photo is enlarged to 100% and shot at ISO 5000. The second is highly enlarged to show the grain and quality.

ISO 32000

  • Ruby-throated hummingbird photographed at ISO 32,000 and enlarged past 100%
  • Ruby-throated hummingbird photographed at ISO 32,000 and enlarged to 100%

I decided to really push the R5. I raised the ISO to 32,000. The first photo is cropped to 100%. The second photo is enlarged even more to show the grain.

At ISO 32,000 we finally start to see unacceptable grain. Still nice but grain is obvious.

All photos have been processed in Adobe Camera Raw. I used a bit of Noise Reduction. The slider was moved to 25 in the first two images and 50 in the last image.

What do you think?

Author: kathyadamsclark

Professional photographer leading workshops and tours. I use Canon cameras but I'm familiar with all the other brands. Love photography birds and nature. Love talking about photography and gear.

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