Hi Folks,

Once a year, I shoot a dance performance for a local dance group. It’s rather dark on the stage they perform on and while I get some good shots, most are blurred due to movement (after all, they are dancing). I shoot with a Canon 5D (on a tripod, with remote release, IS off) and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. I set the ISO between 400 and 640 and don’t like to go faster than that due to degrading quality at 800 and above. The aperture is usually at 2.8.

For those with experience using both the 5D and the 5D Mark II, is the low light performance that much better on the Mark II that it would be worth renting one for the weekend? By the way, I don’t charge for the pictures or my time so the cost would come out of my pocket. I’m willing to do so, but only if the Mark II would produce substantially better images at ISOs faster than 800, which would allow me to use a faster shutter speed.

You do not say what program you use for your PP. I use both Lightroom and PS Elements. I also use Topaz DeNoise and Neat Image Reduce Noise plug-ins. When doing PP in PSE I prefer the Neat Image plug-in. The reason is it allows me to use a mask so I only reduce the noise in the areas I want to instead of doing the entire photo. DeNoise will not allow you to do that; it reduces noise over the whole photo.

Noise reduction and then sharpening should be the last two steps in PP. There are often areas you do not need to reduce noise in because it will also reduce the sharpness in those areas. There may also be areas you do not want to sharpen because increasing sharpness will increase noise. When using Elements, or programs like it, you can select the area you want to run Neat Image Reduce Noise on instead of doing the entire photo.

The other reason I prefer and Neat Image Reduce Noise over Topaz DeNoise is it will do both, reduce noise and sharpen, in that order. Sharpening should always be the last step in post processing.

Jim D

You do not say what program you use for your PP. I use both Lightroom and PS Elements. I also use Topaz DeNoise and Neat Image Reduce Noise plug-ins. When doing PP in PSE I prefer the Neat Image plug-in. The reason is it allows me to use a mask so I only reduce the noise in the areas I want to instead of doing the entire photo. DeNoise will not allow you to do that; it reduces noise over the whole photo.

It is quite possible to mask an area of a photo in PSE and then run the image through DeNoise and DeNoise will only act on the area that is not masked off. It is not unusual for me to shoot people and their dogs in very dark arenas at f4.0, 1/500th and ISO 10000 to 12800. This can result in quite a lot of digital noise. I mask off the dog so as to not blur the coat on the dog, then run the picture through DeNoise. The program works on the whole picture except the dog that was masked.

Noise reduction and then sharpening should be the last two steps in PP. There are often areas you do not need to reduce noise in because it will also reduce the sharpness in those areas. There may also be areas you do not want to sharpen because increasing sharpness will increase noise. When using Elements, or programs like it, you can select the area you want to run Neat Image Reduce Noise on instead of doing the entire photo.

Same thing applies here. Simply invert the masked area and then you have all but the dog masked. Apply sharpening to the whole picture but it will only take on the dog. So, either program will work with masking.

The other reason I prefer and Neat Image Reduce Noise over Topaz DeNoise is it will do both, reduce noise and sharpen, in that order. Sharpening should always be the last step in post processing.

Can't argue with that. I have to use Topaz InFocus for the second run through to sharpen the non-masked areas of the picture.

Jim D