Simon King wrote:
Hi All,
I'm wondering what experiences people have had shooting, specifically
with the *istD, in low light around the 4-7 EV range. I'm interested in
how it effects the capture on the sensor, not focusing. Does the dynamic range stay the same? Are there other problems that come
up? Is it better than film at an equivalent ISO?
Also, has anyone experimented with long exposures of over a minute?
Sorry if these questions have come up before, and thanks in advance for
replies.
Cheers,
Simon
One of the main reasons I bought the *istD is to shoot in low light. The majority of my camera work right now is my eldest son's soccer. In the Fall is his high school season and the varsity plays the majority of their games at night in high school football stadiums which are poorly lit, expecially for soccer. So when the Junior Varsity starts at 6pm I am shooting with a 100-300 f4 usually at ISO 800. Then when the varsity plays at 8pm I switch to a 80-200 f2.8 and start at ISO 800 and progress to 1600 and sometimes 3200, depending on how well the particular field is lit. I get pretty good (sometimes very good) shots at 1600 and usually fair shots at 3200. I try very hard not to use 3200. 3200 is very grainy compared to 800 and 1600 , which I find are comparable, and when I crop the pictures it just gets worse.
Before the *istD I tried 1600 color film (Agfa, I think) and 3200 B&W and hated the results from both. The pictures I get from the *istD at 1600 and 3200 are, in my opinion, much better than I got from film. At 800 film and digital are comparable, I think.
One of the few things that I do not like about the *istD is that there is no ISO indication in the viewfinder. Consequently I have shot pictures at 3200 in the middle of the day by mistake and they were poor, very grainy.
Here are some examples (all taken with an MF lens, don't know the aperture):
ISO 3200 at 1/4000 during the day (about 3pm) http://www.cook-imaging.com/TCHS/gallery/Seniors/Keeneland/2794a.htm
ISO 3200 at 1/1500 during the day (3pm game) http://www.cook-imaging.com/TCHS/gallery/Varsity%20Games/Butler/3506.htm
ISO 3200 at 1/500 at night (8pm game) heavily cropped http://www.cook-imaging.com/TCHS/gallery/Varsity%20Games/Woodford%20Co/3389.htm
ISO 1600 at 1/350 during the day (6pm game) heavily cropped http://www.cook-imaging.com/TCHS/gallery/Varsity%20Games/Bryan%20Station/4155.htm
ISO 800 at 1/2000 during the day (6pm game) heavily cropped http://www.cook-imaging.com/TCHS/gallery/Varsity%20Games/Bryan%20Station/4055.htm
I hope this helps.
Larry
