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[OM] Re: E-1 ISO 800 Acceptability

Subject: [OM] Re: E-1 ISO 800 Acceptability
From: Wayne S <om4t@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 08:56:24 -0500
At 07:23 AM 3/9/2006, you wrote:
>...
>I can't say that I see any unnatural tinge in the hair.  The color
>looks warm but pretty good to me.  I certainly take your point about
>the effect of reduction.

really?, not sure how to explain that, but the purple tinge is there.

>In your example, I would wonder a little about movement and blur as
>contributing some negative effect.  And perhaps I am just insulating
>myself from the devasting Heartbreak of Noise, but viewing at 100% is
>not natural to me.  At 100% ISO 800 will definitely suffer in
>comparison.

> http://www.zuik.net/E1/800iso_A147882.jpg
I'm sure there was some movement - shot with 14-54 at 54, iso
800, 1/8 speed, f/4, spot metered, and using manual focus,
handheld. It was this experience, one week before my daughter's
wedding, that caused me to pull the plug on the E-1. I just couldn't
live with the uncertainty in the performance of the camera. This is
on the more extreme end of shooting, but an important one if shooting
events.

Of course, if you reduce the viewing size then you don't see as much noise.
But I know from experience that if I were to print this at 8x10 size 
the noise will be an issue compared to one with less noise. Blacks
are really hard to print right.

We've know from the beginning that the E-1 noise at iso800 had
these issues, especially in the dark regions of the photo. So you either
work and live with it, or choose something different.
One of my beefs with Olympus: I have not seen any real progress on
noise performance, leading me to suspect that the 4/3 sensor size
will never catch up.

I'm sure there are many that would beg to differ and I love Olympus
cameras as much as anybody. But I needed results I could depend
on. So, one week later, at my daughters wedding,... here is a similar
exposure with the 5D (again 100% crop):

http://www.zuik.net/E1/1600iso_MG_0276.jpg
5D, Iso 1600, F/4, 1/2 sec at 38mm focal length with 28-135 IS lens.

This is 1 stop faster iso and the image is perfectly usable. The
E-1 would have to be iso 400 or lower to match the performance.
You combine that with IS and that is a lot of difference for this type
of shooting. The 5mp versus 12mp is not that big a deal to me
compared to noise performance.

I personally think evaluating at 100% crop is the only way to really
compare noise performance. You can always improve a photo
with lower noise (at 100% crop) more than one with higher noise.
You just can't recreate what isn't there. Whether you don't believe
in evaluating at 100% is a moot point to me, I can always do more
with an image with lower noise. A scratchy record is a scratchy record.

And my final results are what matter also. Which include the ability
to get the shot in the first place. "Owner of a  lonely heart is better than
an owner of a broken heart..." I've had to sell or give up a lot of
Olympus gear this past year, I can hardly stand to open the dry
box that contains the last of my OM gear. Fortunately I had help
selling the gear so I did not have to anguish over each piece
as it left my collection. I owe that person a gratitude of debt for
saving me the anguish. Life moves on, I guess. I need a kleenex.
Maybe if I had just stayed with Nikon, back in the 70's...

Wayne


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