Well...I have been trying to get all the detail I can out of my D300 at higher ISO's as I do not yet have enough $$ saved to go buy the D300s, yet:wink:
So, I have tried to expand my previous limits on ISO, which was 800 for me. I am happy to say, I have gone beyond that and am fine with the results. We have been socked in with some cloudy weather for a long period of time. This weekend however, offered me a window to get out and do some testing on REAL subjects.
While working the other day burning some brush piles at my folks place, I saw that one of their Lilac bushes was busy with birds. A quick glance over there and I saw several Tufted Titmouse and Black capped Chickadee's. I happen to want KILLER shots of both of those and decided I would try my luck there.
These two shots were shot LATE that evening. Sun was about to set, but was already behind the trees, Both shots were taken at ISO 1600, in low light, and these are HUGE crops. I wanted to do something that would normally worsen the noise...big crops...with high ISO generates copious amounts of noise, and that is what I wanted:smile:.
No NR was applied to the subjects at all, the background recieved my normal work flow for removing noise, and more could be done to clean that up more. I am very pleased with the final result. Pixel peepers would not be so happy, but all I am worried or concerned with is how it will print. These will print up big and be fine, thus I am quite happy.:biggrin:
Taken with D300, 600VR, 1.4tc, f/7.1, ISO 1600 , 1/800th SS, and more importantly, this is a 81% crop
#1
#2 82% crop
Then, the next morning, I was there in my blind again trying to get a truly killer shot with a clean background. I will admit, in the pre dawn I stuck this branch into the bush so it would stick out into the open. I hoped one would perch on it and offer the shot I wanted. I picked the angkle of light, perch location to line up with this background, which is natural. I thought the colors would compliment the target species for this morning, which was a Tufted Titmouse.
I made one mistake...I was set up too close and my DOF was much too thin. I measured the distance and it was 16 feet. I did the math (Thanks Flew) and calculated the DOF and it is only 1/4" thick with the settings I had. Thus, I did not get all the bird in focus. My next outing there I hope to remedy that:wink:
Taken with a D300, 600VR, f/4, ISO 400, 1/1600th SS, nearly full frame, crop for composition only.
#3
Sorry for the long post. Wanted to show, though it may not be the best images above, that high ISO shots can indeed be done while retaining a high degree of feather detail with the D300. I will continue to work on this and try to get cleaner files yet. Lastly, all post work was done in NX2:biggrin:.
Oh yea...not done as this shot was close but not what I wanted due to the extreme narrow DOF. So will try again for this one AND the BC Chickadee...got to love back yard birds!
So, I have tried to expand my previous limits on ISO, which was 800 for me. I am happy to say, I have gone beyond that and am fine with the results. We have been socked in with some cloudy weather for a long period of time. This weekend however, offered me a window to get out and do some testing on REAL subjects.
While working the other day burning some brush piles at my folks place, I saw that one of their Lilac bushes was busy with birds. A quick glance over there and I saw several Tufted Titmouse and Black capped Chickadee's. I happen to want KILLER shots of both of those and decided I would try my luck there.
These two shots were shot LATE that evening. Sun was about to set, but was already behind the trees, Both shots were taken at ISO 1600, in low light, and these are HUGE crops. I wanted to do something that would normally worsen the noise...big crops...with high ISO generates copious amounts of noise, and that is what I wanted:smile:.
No NR was applied to the subjects at all, the background recieved my normal work flow for removing noise, and more could be done to clean that up more. I am very pleased with the final result. Pixel peepers would not be so happy, but all I am worried or concerned with is how it will print. These will print up big and be fine, thus I am quite happy.:biggrin:
Taken with D300, 600VR, 1.4tc, f/7.1, ISO 1600 , 1/800th SS, and more importantly, this is a 81% crop
#1
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#2 82% crop
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Then, the next morning, I was there in my blind again trying to get a truly killer shot with a clean background. I will admit, in the pre dawn I stuck this branch into the bush so it would stick out into the open. I hoped one would perch on it and offer the shot I wanted. I picked the angkle of light, perch location to line up with this background, which is natural. I thought the colors would compliment the target species for this morning, which was a Tufted Titmouse.
I made one mistake...I was set up too close and my DOF was much too thin. I measured the distance and it was 16 feet. I did the math (Thanks Flew) and calculated the DOF and it is only 1/4" thick with the settings I had. Thus, I did not get all the bird in focus. My next outing there I hope to remedy that:wink:
Taken with a D300, 600VR, f/4, ISO 400, 1/1600th SS, nearly full frame, crop for composition only.
#3
Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Sorry for the long post. Wanted to show, though it may not be the best images above, that high ISO shots can indeed be done while retaining a high degree of feather detail with the D300. I will continue to work on this and try to get cleaner files yet. Lastly, all post work was done in NX2:biggrin:.
Oh yea...not done as this shot was close but not what I wanted due to the extreme narrow DOF. So will try again for this one AND the BC Chickadee...got to love back yard birds!
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