Why this obsession with high ISO?

[Ben_Egbert]

No text.

If you can see noise at 100%, you need to apply some more NR.

Not all noise is created equal, or processed equal. Electronic artifacts and over-ambitious demosaicing algorithms tend to emphasize noise by increasing its grain size. Any synthetic random noise or simulated shot noise, when demosaiced, has finer chromatic noise than conversions from digital cameras, so the more objectionable aspects of digital camera noise are not necessary.

You are also looking at 100% crops on monitors which have huge pixels. Your 21MP images, when viewed at 100% on your monitor, represent an image 4 to 5 feet wide, and gives too much voice to individual pixels. What if your monitor was 300 PPI instead? Would the same noise be as objectionable at 100%?

Not sure, but I would like to have such a monitor. I see noise in prints sometimes, and when I do, I don't hang them.

--
John

--
When you can't focus, nothing else matters
Once you can, everything else does.

http://ben-egbert.smugmug.com/

Ben

 

[Teila Day]

I will shoot at 1600 to 3200 all day with my 5D2. I have no issues shooting at 6400 if I have to.

6400



--

That's actually an excellent example of one of the few venues where really high iso can be useable (quite often) without the photographer having to sweat like a pig.

The same result usually doesn't work out that nice (as your photo) in a convention hall, or church, where you're shooting at 6400 iso and the entire hall is under the same level of dim lighting, and instead of processing the dark areas to black, you're trying to save the detail of people's faces, various colored fabrics, food, prizes/gifts and decorations. In that case, most of the time I think 6400 iso is too much of a mess, even with a D3s, unless you spend a lot of time processing the heck out of the file and who's got time for that when you've a hundred (or more) to go through?

I like that photograph you took by the way; 6400 worked out really nice there! I'll be glad when we can have that quality at 6400 under any condition.
--
Teila K. Day

 

[lawdog]

I have a 5DII, as well, but have not really tried out the high ISO capabilities. I'm usually shooting a mountain or a waterfall or something

 

[lawdog]

say hello to your head while you're down there.

 

[lawdog]

at what point do you find that AF (as opposed to merely ISO) becomes the real limitation?

 

[ZAnton]

this means it is relatively bright in there.
I shoot iso3200 or 6400 only when exposure time gets like 1/20 sec or lower.

2. show us the 100% crop

 

[commiebiker]

High ISO extends the conditions under which you can take decent pictures....the "magic time" now includes those hours after dark