Red - at ISO 32254!
by Brad Hill
Red - at ISO 32254
The technophiles in the crowd may like this one...
Over the past few weeks I've been testing Nikon's new flagship - the D4s. When doing so I normally turn to the subjects that are nearby - like my Portuguese Water Dogs and any critter that happens to be easily found in my yard!
A few hours back - just before sunrise - I noticed a red squirrel following a pattern as it repeatedly crossed our yard (doing very important things only he/she understood). So I decided to set up for a few shots and go a little crazy on the settings and push the camera a bit (or so I thought). This one shot at the mind-numbing ISO of 32254. Not perfect by any means, but...hey...it's ISO 32254!
Subject: Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) doing squirrel things
Location:Findlay Creek, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4s
Lens: Nikkor 600mm f4 VR VR lens supported on tripod. VR on and in "Normal" mode.
Exposure: 1/500s @ f16; ISO 32254. no compensation compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Extremely minor - this is at least 95% of full frame
This one not up on my website yet, but it (along with a much higher res version of it) will be up there early next week.
Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version prior to doing so!
Cheers...
Brad
PS: Nikon-shooting NPN'ers might enjoy my ongoing series of posts on my blog on the performance of the D4s (link below)
Comments
15 commentsAmazing clarity at the high iso..
Enjoy your newest tool !
As you are aware of my having d700 & d600 , I still find the quality Excellent when using them !
Maybe when I decide to upgrade next I'll consider the newest Nikon D4 available at that time.
I had rushed out to acquire the d800 when first available without seeing the reviews and having feedback on it from other Wildlife guys ....... My mistake......
Enjoying the d600 still with its full frame captures.
Bill
Sandy
As this was a raw capture, it isn't straight out of the camera. But, there wasn't much NR done during post-processing - just a moderate amount during raw conversion and it was done globally (i.e., no selective NR). After raw conversion there was a little more post-processing done in Photoshop CC (e.g., some exposure tweaks and selective sharpening for web), but no additional NR.
I have a group of images shot with the D4s at various ISO's (from ISO 800 to ISO 12,800) on my blog that were converted from raw with ZERO noise reduction if you want to look at them (they're on the March 17 entry).
Cheers...
Brad
You asked "How far can you go with ISO on the D4S before you expect it to totally come undone?"
I'm not sure yet. I have shot up to ISO 40637 (1/3 stop beyond this image) so far and have got usable results. But at this point I'm still waiting for my preferred raw converter (Capture One Pro from Phase One) to add D4s support. One of the reasons I use Capture One Pro is that I prefer its NR capabilities for Nikon files over those offered by Adobe (in LR or ACR). At present, the only quality converter available for D4s files in ACR 8.4, and it's just a release candidate. So, until I can run some even crazier ISO samples through Capture One (like at ISO 51,200 or even higher) and assess the results I'm not prepared to declare an ISO limit that will guide me in my own shooting. But right now I'm shooting my D4s using Auto ISO with the ISO ceiling set at 25,600...and I may push that higher.
Sorry I couldn't be more specific...
Cheers...
Brad
PS: And many are arguing that the MAIN gain of the D4s over the D4 isn't the ISO performance, but the bump in AF performance. Too early for me to weigh in on that one.
Nice photo, I like the way you have created some tension by giving generous negative space on the right for him to look into as he leans in that direction.