Acceptable iso on 7D for videography
 

Hey Everyone!
I recently got a 7d and do videography, mainly for weddings. I am somewhat disappointed with it in low light when shooting alongside my NX5u because it seems at least a stop lower, probably two... but that's beside the point....
What would most consider to be the acceptable iso for the 7d when in lowlight situations. I shoot on neutral, 1920x1080, 30p, and use several sigma lenses (30mm 1.4, 50mm 1.8, 70-200 2.8, 24-70 2.8).

I mainly use the Sony hvl-lbpa light with it and still have a hard time on a dark dance floor. I understood from the beginning that the 7d would have it's up's and down's, but need to know to what extent it can be pushed with out getting a grainy awful image. When I say "acceptable" i mean may not be perfect, but doesn't look like crap either. or to those who use the nx5, the same amount of noise that you would see at 6db gain.

Thanks!

We shoot weddings with 7D, 5D2 and HMC 151. No matter what you do, the 7D & 5D2 beats the HMC 151 hands down. I even shot some footage at ISO 6400 on the 5D2 and was 'gob smacked' at the results!

However, ISO1250 is about the limit I use with the 7D. I don't mind pushing the 5D2 to 1600 and 2000, but the 7D gets a little too noisy for my liking past about 1250.

If necessary, I'll go as far as 3200 and, quite frankly, the results are pretty damn good.

1250 on the 7d, 1600 with noise reduction software. On the 5d, up to 3200.

Thanks for the input, any other suggestions?

Make sure to stick with your native ISO's, 160, 320, 640, 1250, 2500. These are much cleaner with less noise. I shot a Kendo class in Japan last week at 2500 ISO under horrible mercury vapor lights and it turned out pretty good.

ISO 800 for me
 

I guess I must be picky. On the 7D, I prefer to use 800 or lower. At 800 the shadows start "crawling". It is easily cleaned up with noise reduction software and looks fantastic afterwards. 400 and below I don't use the NR software. Obviously to get footage, you use what you have to use. Nothing beats adding light, though!

what noise reduction software are you guys using?

I personally use anything I need up to ISO 1600 and never used a noise reduction software. Footage is more than adequate.

1250 is my cutoff point, after that I change lenses or add light.

Neat Video does a very nice job at a reasonable cost. Vincent Laforet used it on Nocturne.

Agree with previous posts, will only go to 1250 and Neat Video make great noise reduction software although don't go too nuts or it will look weird.

I recently purchased neat video as well.... The render time becomes a lot, LOT longer... but the result is beautiful.

I recently shot in the evening under available light - which was pretty much no light. Not much moonlight and just a small light from a nearby house but it is useable footage. Focusing is much more of an issue than noise really, especially filming a martial arts teacher as I was. This is raw screenshot.
I used min 2000 ISO and went up to 3200 ISO.

I notice that no one has talked about sticking with the native ISO's when shooting with the 7D and 5D. These would be 160, 320, 640, 1250 and 2500. The other ISO's introduce noise even when shooting at a lower ISO level. This was documented by Zacuto when they did the Great Camera Shootout last year.

Daniel Weber