Low Light Event Photography with Canon 5D Mark IV
Just wanted to share my first impressions of Canon 5D Mark IV performance in low light with high ISO settings. This is a field test of the new camera and my thoughts on how it compares to my 5D Mark III that I’ve been using for the past 4 years.
I photographed an annual Love in the Garden event in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden Sculpture Garden using the new camera with one lens - Canon EF 35mm f2 IS USM.
5D Mark IV ergonomics is basically the same as 5D Mark III, so there was no learning curve for me. I didn’t use the extra button below the joystick yet, but I can see that it would be useful for changing different types of focusing. I know some people configure it as their ISO button, but I’m so used to having “Set” button in combination with the Main Dial for changing ISO on my 5D Mark III that I configured it the same way on the Mark IV. The new camera is a little lighter, and I don’t know about others, but I can tell a difference.
The first thing that was truly striking about this camera was focusing speed in live view. Compared to the older model, it was night and day difference. If you shoot in live view mode, this will be enough to buy the 5D Mark IV. I was so used to using the joystick for moving the focusing point in live view that I kept forgetting about the touch screen focusing functionality. Even then, I was still impressed how much faster I could focus.
As far as single point (non-tracking) viewfinder focusing goes, I could also tell that there was improvement, although not as dramatic as in live view. I would say it’s about a 20% better than 5D Mark III, which is quite good. It is not as apparent until there is practically no light in the scene, then, you can tell that 5D Mark IV grabs focus better and faster.
High ISO performance is about the same as 5D Mark III or a little better. In practical use, I couldn’t tell a difference. The fact that the files are larger will make a greater difference for how much you can enlarge the photos though. Overall a good thing for people who make large prints.
One other thing that I’ve been waiting for, which is very important for my wedding work, is a faster SD card slot that was a problem for me on the Mark III. Since I shoot to CF and SD cards simultaneously, there have been some candid moments that I had missed with the Mark III because it would lock up while dumping its buffer through a slow SD slot.
I will add more observations to this post as I spend more time with this camera. Would I recommend buying 5D Mark IV? If you use live view and need larger files, definitely YES. Otherwise, 5D Mark III is still a very good camera.
Photos below have been processed with Adobe Lightroom CS. No noise reduction or sharpening applied. Several photos exposure adjustment was increased by half-a-stop or a full-stop.
P.S. July 2017
Now, 10 months after getting the 5D Mark IV and photographing dozens of events and weddings with it, I still observe the same things I wrote about above; however, a few things changed in the way I photograph.
Firstly, I use the rear LCD screen a lot more often than I thought I would, with its fast dual pixel focusing system. It's particularly useful when I put the camera above my head to get a high perspective shot or if I need to get a closeup shot low to the ground.
Secondly, I am getting more and more used to metering for highlights and pushing the shadows in post production to increase the overall dynamic range of the image. With 5D Mark III, I was usually recovering highlights since the shadow detail of that sensor wasn't as good when pushed 2-3 stops. The way I do it now with 5D Mark IV seems like just another way to get the same thing as before, but I do get better results now in terms of overall information in highlight and shadow areas.
Finally, I definitely notice a bump in focusing speed between this generation camera and the previous one. It's quiet noticeable when I use my 5D Mark III as a backup to the Mark IV.
The one thing to keep in mind if you're considering purchasing a 5D Mark IV, is file size and post production. My mid 2012 Macbook Pro with a
quad core I7, 2.6 Ghz processor and 16Gb. of RAM has taken a pretty big hit in performance. My desktop system with a quad core I7, 4.0 Ghz and 32Gb of RAM doesn't have any issues, but that's a lot of processing power. Just something to keep in mind if you're running on an older system.
Venue: Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden
Organizer: New Orleans Museum of Art
Music performances: Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Mojeaux, and DJ Nikki Pennie
Photographer: Roman Alokhin
ISO 5000, +0.5 Exposure in Lightroom
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ISO 6400, +1 Exposure in Lightroom
ISO 6400, +1 Exposure in Lightroom
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ISO 8000, +0.5 Exposure in Lightroom
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ISO 5000, +1 Exposure in Lightroom
ISO 6400, +0.5 Exposure in Lightroom
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ISO 8000, +0.5 Exposure in Lightroom
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ISO 12800, +0.5 Exposure in Lightroom