More Nikon D3 yapping

Friday, 23 October 2009 19:03

Nikon D3 ISO6400

Obviously I'm quite aware that I'm yapping about the D3 again, but you see, I just have to (grins). I'm just sitting down to test Lightroom 3 Beta on some high ISO shots from the D3, I'm still stunned by the quality that the D3 delivers, this is what ISO 6400 looks like from the D3. I know ISO 6400 is not really a lot these days, considering what has been announced by the camera manufacturers the last few weeks. First the Nikon D3s, with ISO boost up to a 102,400, and then a few days later, the Canon EOS 1D MarkIV, also with an ISO boost to a 102,400. ISO 6400 on paper seems like a toy now.

I'm really looking forward to see what comes next, I think the ISO race is getting ridiculous, this is the megapixel race all over again. What's next?, I'm guessing video resolution, we now have cameras shooting 720P and 1080P, what comes after that?, film resolution?, 2k?, 4k?, that is the most logical path to take, I think we'll see that for sure. And when so happens, that again will be another race and huge amounts of money lost and spent on old and new hardware. I think it's about time to look what one really needs, and instead focus on taking pictures. This is too much of an tempo to really be a part of. I quit!, I'm not going to take part in this tiring survival race any more. Enough is enough!

The first image is of course resized, so you eliminate a lot of noise that way, below is a 100% crop from the same file, no noise reduction is applied to this file. What is really stunning about this, is the noise handling in the shadows, I can honestly say that there is no noise there to talk about. I remember back to the D70 just a few years ago, this kind of quality was unheard of back then. I know now that I have all the equipment I need now—and in years to come. I can say I will keep my D3 for many years, and enjoy it as much as I can.

So I'm done venting some frustration, puh! :)

Nikon D3 ISO6400 100% crop