5D2 long (15 minute) exposure tests

[brianchapman]

I've posted some long exposure noises test for the 5D2 (up to about 15 minutes)...these were taken inside (obviously when you see them) but the results I've seen from outdoor images are consistent with these results.  Anyway, I'm impressed!

They're both here:
http://www.brianchapmanphotography.com/blog/

But if you want to start with the first one go directly there here:
http://www.brianchapmanphotography.com/blo...e-tests-part-1/

Brian

[jjj]

After looking at your portfolio, I can see why you are interested in long exposure performance. Some lovely work there.
Good testing too.

The first decent camera I ever owned was the Olympus OM2n,  mainly because of it's amazing metering system which was also brilliant for long exposures.

[agavephoto]

I have also been testing long exposures with my 5DmkII: 30 and 45 minute exposures so far. While I have not posted anything online yet, the results were VERY impressive, especially when compared to the 5DmkI. 5 minutes at ISO 800 was also cleaner than I was expecting. I plan to test this against the night sky once it's clear again to see if I find the 'black dot' issue in astrophotography. Hopefully I'll not be bothered by this so I'll be able to keep this camera. I tested my 5DmkI at the same time, and the 5DmkII has significantly less noise for the same exposure.

I was able to get good results from very long exposures (up to an hour) on the 20D, but even when outside temperatures were near freezing the 5DmkI never came close to the 20D with noise performance. Hopefully these tests we are doing will prove the 5DmkII to be an excellent long exposure digital option.

[Guillermo Luijk]

Nice tests Brian. Not only lucky B+W113 owner, but also 5D MKII hehe.

BR

[brianchapman]

How well does the battery perform for long exposures? Have you used the battery info % to get an idea how much juice is used for a 15 min exposure.

Hi John,  

The battery performance is far beyond my Rebel XT (which is the only experience I can base it against).  I've used it for three days doing these long exposure tests, etc, and just charged it today.  It was only about 30% so not too shabby.  

I'll keep an eye out to get an exact percentage when I do some more long exposures...

Brian

[brianchapman]

Nice tests Brian. Not only lucky B+W113 owner, but also 5D MKII hehe.

BR

Hey Gui - I almost lost it on my last trip to the Oregon coast.  It fell out of my pocket and I found it as the tide was coming back in!

[brianchapman]

I have also been testing long exposures with my 5DmkII: 30 and 45 minute exposures so far. While I have not posted anything online yet, the results were VERY impressive, especially when compared to the 5DmkI.

I'd love to see some samples of the 30+ minute shots.  I'm going to Lake Tahoe in a couple weeks which is usually a great place for star trails.

I have a 23 minute ISO 400 exposure (as well as several 15 minute ISO 400 exposures) from the Washington coast with the 5D2 which are also very impressive.  I'll post some samples soon.   The Rebel was good for moderately long exposures but I usually cut it off at 15 minutes and then stacked exposures for times beyond that.

Brian

[agavephoto]

I'd love to see some samples of the 30+ minute shots.  I'm going to Lake Tahoe in a couple weeks which is usually a great place for star trails.

I have a 23 minute ISO 400 exposure (as well as several 15 minute ISO 400 exposures) from the Washington coast with the 5D2 which are also very impressive.  I'll post some samples soon.   The Rebel was good for moderately long exposures but I usually cut it off at 15 minutes and then stacked exposures for times beyond that.

Brian

Brian,

I didn't keep my samples, as they were just some of the first test shots out of the camera to compare to my 5D. i would happily take some more, but i have it currently boxed up to return since my copy has the "black dots" problem. I am curious to know if yours shows this or not. I do a fair bit of astrophotography, and I was saddened to find the black dots around some stars. I hope Canon finds a real fix for this soon.

Drew

[brianchapman]

i would happily take some more, but i have it currently boxed up to return since my copy has the "black dots" problem. I am curious to know if yours shows this or not. I do a fair bit of astrophotography, and I was saddened to find the black dots around some stars. I hope Canon finds a real fix for this soon.

Drew,

Mine has shown it on a few occasions so I know it does have the issue but I've found it hard to reproduce regularly.  For astrophotography it would definitely be a no-go but for me it's probably not too much of an issue (although I don't want to own a defective product).

However, since I don't currently have a backup camera (sold it to make up some of the cost of this one!) I'm not going to send mine back [yet].

And I share your hope for a real fix soon!!

Brian

[Daniel Browning]

The battery performance is far beyond my Rebel XT (which is the only experience I can base it against).

Have you looked into any solutions for DC connection to deep cycle marine batteries for 8+ hours of shooting? I'm looking for a solution that I can use for timelapse and astrophotography.

[Guillermo Luijk]

Hey Gui - I almost lost it on my last trip to the Oregon coast.  It fell out of my pocket and I found it as the tide was coming back in!

That is a sign man, it means you have to immediately ship that filter to me since in Madrid I will always keep it far from the coast.  

[brianchapman]

That is a sign man, it means you have to immediately ship that filter to me since in Madrid I will always keep it far from the coast.  

You're first on the list if I decide to get rid of it!

[agavephoto]

I'd love to see some samples of the 30+ minute shots.  I'm going to Lake Tahoe in a couple weeks which is usually a great place for star trails.

I have a 23 minute ISO 400 exposure (as well as several 15 minute ISO 400 exposures) from the Washington coast with the 5D2 which are also very impressive.  I'll post some samples soon.   The Rebel was good for moderately long exposures but I usually cut it off at 15 minutes and then stacked exposures for times beyond that.

Brian

brian,

i have uploaded an image of ~ 57 minutes, ISO100, F/8, LENR OFF, 100% crop. please excuse my crude test subjec, hehe. it's my pillow and headboard of my bed, defocused slightly to try to simulate more diffuse nebula details since they don't always give sharp transitions in detail i found this useful since a large interest for me is astrophotography with this camera. based on these results, i am pretty impressed, and wouldn't feel strange pushing the exposures even longer. i hope to test higher ISO and more real world astrophotography next week when the moon isn't up so early. temperature was 68F for those who may care  (i would).

drew

[brianchapman]

i have uploaded an image of ~ 57 minutes, ISO100, F/8, LENR OFF, 100% crop. please excuse my crude test subjec, hehe. it's my pillow and headboard of my bed, defocused slightly to try to simulate more diffuse nebula details since they don't always give sharp transitions in detail i found this useful since a large interest for me is astrophotography with this camera. based on these results, i am pretty impressed, and wouldn't feel strange pushing the exposures even longer.

Wow, that is impressive.  Thanks for posting it!

Just out of curiosity what would you do to handle that noise that is there?  Hot pixels I'm guessing - maybe ACR would get rid of them automatically.

[agavephoto]

Wow, that is impressive.  Thanks for posting it!

Just out of curiosity what would you do to handle that noise that is there?  Hot pixels I'm guessing - maybe ACR would get rid of them automatically.

This was cropped in Lightroom (no post processing at all other than jpg conversion and crop), and several of the hot pixels were removed automatically, but what you see is what was left. I have not tried the 5D2's in camera noise reduction for long exposure, but if it works as my experiences with the 5D and 20D did, then I wouldn't be able to use it much for astrophotography . . . I found it put lots of black pits in the images (I think others can get ok results, though?). Once Adobe comes out next week with the Lightroom update to handle 5D2 files it might do a little better with the noise, but it's already not bad at all for an hour long exposure.

For noise reduction, I tend to take several dark frames and average them. I then subtract that from the image data before any scaling of the images is applied: basic astro image dark reductions. I do this processing in astro-specific programs, such as Nebulosity.

[brianchapman]

I added another long exposure test.  This one is definitely a more rigorous test for the camera because I underexposed the images significantly (not intentionally) and had to "push" the development significantly - something that rarely results in good images.

http://www.brianchapmanphotography.com/blo...al-noise-tests/

Anyway, let me know what you think...