Fuji x100 low light

Miskec wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Miskec wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

Miskec wrote:

nysteveg wrote:

I am looking on a 14 inch screen on my Mac Book. Your pictures look GREAT given the lighting limitations. I also have a 100F and while trading up is tempting, how much would your pictures improve if they had been taken on a 100V instead?

Thank you. As i wrote, the noise did not bother me at all. I would say 6400 was perfect and 10000 really acceptable. Only two highhest settings were a bit too noisy The most challenging part was the focus. I used singe focus and back button focusing tehnique. I presume that switching to V would get you slighty better AF and sharper pics due to new lens. And tilt screen would make me even less noticable. Next time I will shòot iso 8000 max and maybe close the apperture only a smidgen. I will underexpose and brighten in post.

Thank you for looking

Neven

The V is definitely sharper a f/2 and at close range, but the F's sensor is a bit better in the noise department. As far as AF goes, I think you'd be well served to forget about BBF and just use AF-S single point, AF box on the subject (face sized in low light) and full-press the shutter button all the way down (no pause at a half-press). You will get the snappiest AF response and the exposure at the moment of focus acquisition not a split second later after you or your subject has moved enough to screw things up - this works on moving targets as well and is miles better than AF-C in low light with that camera too. Did you use Acros with or without a color filter? Your images look very nice and punchy, whatever you did. If you can turn off the artificial grain that is normally a part of Acros, that might be a good idea as you'll get plenty without it in that kind of light. I don't see ISO 12800 really being an issue with these kinds of shots, the noise looks OK in B&W and could certainly be cleaned up quite a bit with the RAW files if you wanted to. Your shots came out great in any case. Well done.

I'm not saying this necessarily looks better (you'd get better detail, less plasticky skin and fewer artifacts with the RAW) , but even these noisy jpegs can clean up pretty well if you want to dial down the grain a bit (yes, maybe dialed down a bit too much here)...

A few tweaks in Lightroom with a little Topaz DeNoise

Oh boy. This looks fantastic. Thanks. And I will use the full press method next time. I do think that V would do better despite worse high iso. That new lens, tilt lcd...

Neven

The V's lens is better, the tilt screen is great, and the EVF is a significantly improved, but I don't think it would have done much (if any) better here (though its AF is better too). I definitely prefer the old sensor in crap light, and though I do OK without the d-pad (the V has just enough customizable buttons), I still miss the d-pad too.

As far as ISO goes, just remember, it doesn't make the noise it just makes it brighter along with everything else. If you intend to process RAWs you can back off on the ISO a bit for more dynamic range and selectively brighten in post where the noise won't be as obvious. Judging by the character of the noise, I'd guess that the Acros sim piled on some simulated grain on top of the noise here which might have overdone the crunchiness a little.

This is the ISO 25600 shot. The noise doesn't really look any worse, but the very high ISO setting blew out some of the highlight detail.

The whole idea was pick a b&w simulation (acros, i am not sure about the grain), auto iso with broad range and have fun. I am really happy. The partygoers (mostly women) complained about lack of colour. I simply had no time or will to adjust white balance every minute or so. Black and white looks very special to me.

I like the B&W too, it's definitely the way to go in bad light with jpegs. Color always needs some work in crummy light and is often impossible to get right with a jpeg (whether you try to tweak it before or after the fact). If you shot RAWs as well, you could always do a few to make people happy, The RAWs wouldn't have any pseudo grain either. Some folks just don't get B&W, And yes, they're often women, but I'm not sure why that is. Aside from all the technical discussion, they are terrific shots that look to have captured the feel perfectly. I'd say your mission was a complete success.

I took some wedding shots recently (just as a guest) - all in B&W too. Just like you, I got a request for a few color ones too - from some women, I obliged, but the color ones took twice as long to get right as the quality of light was terrible.

You are right about the dpad. Very usefull. That is one reason strong enough not to get the V.if the next x100 itteration improves the high iso and returns the dpad i would get it. I know that xe4 or xt30 is a smarter choice but lens options would pull me deep into a rabbit hole.

The X100V has more customizable options than the X-E4 or X-T30. I wouldn't be happy with either of those (and why I still prefer the X-T20).

Erik