How good is the Nikon D3s

imagemaker46 · Mar 29, 2011

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n11/fmanphoto/iso6400.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n11/fmanphoto/iso6400-1.jpg

I shot these today with a D3s, 400 2.8 at iso 6400. Not great swim photos, just using the new gear. The results are pretty outstanding.

mwcfarms · Mar 29, 2011

From everything I have read, the ISO capabilities of the D3s are outstanding, nice test shots.

molested_cow · Mar 29, 2011

Shot at ISO3200 today with D700. I am very impressed!

sierramister · Mar 29, 2011

Here are mine from a D7000 at ISO 6400 with no ISO (unedited, don't judge me!) https://picasaweb.google.com/sierramister/FortCherryGirls#

Trever1t · Mar 29, 2011

I want a D3

molested_cow · Mar 29, 2011

What does it mean when they offer ISO range from 200 - 12800 with Lo-1 as ISO 100 and Hi-1,2 and 3 being above 12800? Why not just use those numbers instead?

mwcfarms · Mar 29, 2011

Because they are actually out of the range of the sensor capabilities I think. I believe you start to loose dynamic range going under 200 or over. Someone else who knows more will chime in. I just know that you start to lose dynamic range using Hi or Lo so I stick to others.

imagemaker46 · Mar 30, 2011

All I know is that from some of the test results I have done shooting at iso 26,000 it's still pretty amazing. I'll post some photos later this week. The results from iso 105,000 were somewhat flat, but there is still a recorded image that is useable. I'm thinking that Nikon has set the new bar for iso standards.

RockstarPhotography · Mar 30, 2011

mwcfarms said:
Because they are actually out of the range of the sensor capabilities I think. I believe you start to loose dynamic range going under 200 or over. Someone else who knows more will chime in. I just know that you start to lose dynamic range using Hi or Lo so I stick to others.

I've been shooting with my backup body lately and I loose dynamic range WAY before I hit hi-1. But my backup body is total junk. Should just break out the film camera's, they would do a better job.

cfusionpm · Mar 30, 2011

mwcfarms said:
Because they are actually out of the range of the sensor capabilities I think. I believe you start to loose dynamic range going under 200 or over. Someone else who knows more will chime in. I just know that you start to lose dynamic range using Hi or Lo so I stick to others.

Hi1 would be like shooting at the normal max and upping the exposure by 1EV digitally in post.

KmH · Mar 30, 2011

molested_cow said:
What does it mean when they offer ISO range from 200 - 12800 with Lo-1 as ISO 100 and Hi-1,2 and 3 being above 12800? Why not just use those numbers instead?

Native ISO steps are accomplished by the amplifiers circuits on the image sensor chip. Lo and Hi ISO settings are accomplished by using software in the cameras image processor programming and it is not as accurate.

Derrel · Mar 30, 2011

molested_cow said:
What does it mean when they offer ISO range from 200 - 12800 with Lo-1 as ISO 100 and Hi-1,2 and 3 being above 12800? Why not just use those numbers instead?

The nice folks at ISO have standards that nede to be met for an exposure index to be listed as an official ISO; at the extremes of the range, typically the sensor's performance will NOT meet the all of the official guidelines, and so the exposure index settings at the extremes of the range are listed as L- for Low and H- for High.

kundalini · Mar 30, 2011

molested_cow said:
What does it mean when they offer ISO range from 200 - 12800 with Lo-1 as ISO 100 and Hi-1,2 and 3 being above 12800? Why not just use those numbers instead?

Read this post, because I'm not writing it out again. It is from Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the D300, but the LO and HI ISO questions are answered and I'd hedge a bet that it applies to all Nikons that have the feature.