Owlet ISO Challenge: Answer Now Revealed

[Doug Brown]

I posted an ISO 20,000 frame recently of a GHO parent feeding 3 owlets. Here's another owlet image taken on a different day. I'm curious as to what ISO you all think this was shot at (I used a 1Dx and a 600 mm f/4 lens).

[arash_hazeghi]

what a nice shot of this cute owl. I say ISO 16K

[Doug Brown]

Forty four views and only one vote???

[Joe Subolefsky]

I take a guess and say 8,000

[Doug Brown]

I take a guess and say 8,000

Does it look like 8,000 or are you just guessing 8,000 Joe?

[Joe Subolefsky]

Like I said just a guess Doug. It looks cleaner then I would expect for 8000 but I know it's not 1or 2000. What's the reflection I'm seeing on the outer edge of each pupil?

i almost asked on your post of the 20,000 to see the exposure histogram as I think it would add to the discussion/education.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Doug I guess it is a high ISO but I would honestly not have a clue because any noise would depend upon how well exposed the image was and also if you have used subsequent noise reduction at the raw stage and or TIFF stage, and indeed if the image was cropped.
But my guess would be 20,000 as it is the 20,00th post

[Satish Ranadive]

Very cute looking owlet with beautiful wardrobe of fur.
I guess ISO is 8000.

Regards,
Satish.

[Girish Prahalad]

12000 would be my wildest guess.

[Jim Neiger]

I think the point is that you can't tell what ISO it is after processing. My guess is 2000.

[Dave Johnson]

Doug I think this is fairly high possibly 8000? I really haven't got a clue though - I do know one thing and that is it's a cracking shot. One which I'd love to have captured. Enjoyed viewing, thanks.

[Doug Brown]

I think the point is that you can't tell what ISO it is after processing.

Exactly Jim!

[Doug Brown]

I'm not going to reveal the actual ISO yet. But as Jim pointed out, the entire point of this thread (and I see it repeatedly in the comments) is that you can't really tell what the ISO is. You have the benefit of a bit of context with this post (the ISO 20,000 shot), but would any of you have commented about how noisy the image was if I'd listed the ISO as 800 in my techs?

[Doug Brown]

Here's the histogram of the unaltered RAW file Joe. The image you see was pushed about 1/2 stop to the right in Lightroom.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The days of calling ISO 800 or 1600 "high" are going, going, gone (or disappearing fast). Not long ago seeing an image of a perched bird with ISO 800 with a SS of 1/2000s would have seen comments like "why such a high ISO - the light seems to indicate you could have lowered it". Not so anymore. I'm going to guess ISO 8000 here, but it is really difficult to tell.

[Marina Scarr]

I have voted 8,000 but this is just a guess b/c with the high ISO capabilities now of the new cameras and the post processing gurus around here, you just can't freakin' tell.

[David Salem]

I voted 2000 just caue you might try to drag us around the block with this but it's probably 8000. Just shows to go ya that you can't tell that much in this kind of a setting. This will be great to know. Last night I shot the owls at IOS3200 and that was as high as I have ever shot in the last few years.
Gona look at them tonight. I will send you a few.

[Doug Brown]

The photo was taken in extremely low light at ISO 16,000 (f/4 and 1/80). To me the photo stands on its own merits; noise is not an issue. I ran a single round of NR on the BG and did a bit of selective NR on the bird. I don't see significant noise in the version of the image that I posted above. There's clearly quite a bit of noise at 100% but it becomes entirely manageable when the photo is downsized and viewed at considerably lower magnification.

Ambient lighting is very appealing (even when there isn't much of it), much more appealing than flash as main light IMO. Don't be afraid to explore high ISO photography; the results will likely surprise you in a good way!

Here's a 100% crop of the RAW file.

[Lorant Voros]

Yes, a "Post Processing Guru" for sure. Thanks for this nice thread, Doug. I enjoyed it very much.

[William Dickson]

Great thread Doug. I have been using high ISO for quiet a while now, mainly due to the dull weather over here, but only on my 5D Mk3. I find it handles up to 3200 easily and I use Topaz to clean it up.

Lovely image

Will

[Joe Subolefsky]

Thanks for sharing Doug.

[Doug Brown]

Thank you all for participating in this thread!