On Thu, Feb 21, 2013, Mark C wrote: > On 2/21/2013 9:57 AM, Aahz Maruch wrote: >> >>Gotcha. That does make the K-01 a little more tempting. I like TAv >>because I want to control shutter/aperture without thinking. I >>spent yesterday afternoon with a professional photographer [*], >>and he made a 13x20 print (on 17x22 paper) of a K-5 shot I took at >>ISO 6400 because he wanted to see how much camera sensors have >>changed over the last few years. You literally can't see any noise >>(partly because the glossy paper itself is a bit stippled). >>There's just no reason to pay much attention to ISO. > > I agree that senors and processing has come a long way, but I would > not agree that there is no reason to pay attention to ISO. While > noise is remarkably restrained at higher ISO's it is still there. If > I want it there that's great (I do still use Rodinal and film, > after all), if it is a necessary compromise I can live with that, > but if I can get the shot without it I will. I shoot snow crystals > at ISO 100 or 200 simply because the noise of higher ISO's would be > a distraction. There is not enough visual "stuff" (signal) to > counter the noise. I can see the difference between ISO 400 and 800 > for birds and bugs, but would not hesitate to go to ISO 800 to get a > shutter speed fast enough to freeze the subject. But I would be very > reluctant to shoot nature stuff above ISO 800, even with the K-5.
Out of curiosity, how much testing have you done with high ISO? I don't mean 100% blowups where you can see every blemish, but full-image shots on a large monitor or large-ish prints (like the 13x20 I have). I wouldn't have believed how little noise there is at 6400 without this test. I do believe DxOMark, so I'll probably still try to stick below 1600, but given a situation where I need a higher ISO to get a shot, I'd rather get the shot -- the amount of detail and lack of noise is amazing. -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
