Playing with ISO 5000

[Fabs Forns]

During Artie's IPT earlier this week. Light was disappearing really fast and I was hand-holding the 200-400/4 VR.
Just for kicks, I added the 1.7X, which took away a lot of the little light we had. I decided to go to ISO 5000 and underexpose to keep a decent shutter speed for hand holding. I remember Chas saying "better noisy than soft" and I went for it. Nothing to loose. I later brought up the exposure in Levels, no scientific reason for this, but I found less noise than adding at the EXP at conversion. Noise reduction applied a few times, with the sharpening option turned off.

Date: 12/28/08
Time: 5:46:28 PM
Model: NIKON D3
Firmware: Ver.1.11
Frame #: 7835
Lens (mm): 650
ISO: 5000
Aperture: 6.7
Shutter: 1/320
Exp. Comp.: 0.0
Flash Comp.:
Program: Manual
Focus Mode: AF-C
White Bal.: AUTO
ICC Profile: sRGB Profile

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Looks terrific Fabs. Can't believe it's 5000!

[Robert O'Toole]

The soft light and colors look great fabs, I like it.

ISO 5000 looks great at this size!

Robert

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent colors, white color is preserved well in pinkish sunset...I am looking forward to use 200-400 with my new D700!

[david cramer]

Quite nice! Very well done for handholding a large lens.

[denise ippolito]

Fabs, The colors are great! Can't believe ISO 5000 that's amazing! Plus HH -really great!!

[Michael Pancier]

those colors are stunning Fabs......

[Milo Burcham]

Amazing for the iso (or any iso as seen in a jpeg anyway)! The post processing looks perfect as well.

[David Lowell]

And they say the D3X will replace the D3 - fantastic photograph and post processing.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Being able to produce this quality image at this ISO means a lot more opportunities out there. Great processing, soft colours and sharpness. Overall an extremely pleasing image, full marks from me!

[Juan Aragonés]

Neat result Fabs, the ISO5000 looks terrific and you did very well following Chas´s advice. I think that noise can be easy to fix if you exposure is correct and I mean correct in terms of photoshop processing. Many times the best exposure for a scene is not the best for a good processing job. On the other hand, a overexposure or underexposure can be perfect for a very good job in PS and a better result.
The light couldn´t be more sweet and I love the saturation and mood of the scene. Very well done

[Raymond Barlow]

really well done Fabs... fantastic image.

[Bogdan Coltea]

Impressive result for ISO5000.
I'm amazed not just by the cleanness and detail, but especially the wonderful colors.
Great work Fabs!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Fantastic light and colors!!!

[Lana Hays]

Fabs
This is so wonderful....and even more interesting. Running it through noise reduction a couple of times certainly didn't hurt the look. If not careful, NR can give a "plastic look". This one had a nice amount of detail and very natural looking. I so want to make the move to Nikon.....but with the economy as it is....I'm going to wait for now and see what the future will bring...in my investments and in Canon. What type of Noise Reduction did you use?

[Fabs Forns]

Fabs
This is so wonderful....and even more interesting. Running it through noise reduction a couple of times certainly didn't hurt the look. If not careful, NR can give a "plastic look". This one had a nice amount of detail and very natural looking. I so want to make the move to Nikon.....but with the economy as it is....I'm going to wait for now and see what the future will bring...in my investments and in Canon. What type of Noise Reduction did you use?

Noise Ninja, Lana, about 6 times, masking the birds in a couple of rounds. I take off the option for sharpening, otherwise you end up like a cartoon. Glad you liked it!

Thanks everyone!