Joel wrote:
>I tried with the fish, Chuck. I'm just glad I wasn't shooting film ...
Fish is usually improved upon with a bit of tarter sauce. :)
You mention that you were glad you weren't shooting film. I'm not so quick
to agree with you there. Kodak has been quietly improving their consumer
films too, and a very very recent shoot with a new batch of Gold Max 800 has
stunned me with the quality of the scans.
Why am I spouting off on the benefits of film in low-light situations?
Because the exposure latitude of these high-speed films is remarkable. A
digital camera has gobs of dynamic range when shot at the "ideal" ISO of 100
or so, but increase that ISO and dynamic range starts to decrease--sometimes
quite dramatically.
Will ISO 800 still be too slow for aquarium shots? Possibly. But when you
combine a decently high-speed film, such as ISO 800 with larger-aperture
optics in the F1.2 to F2 range, and we're back in the game again.
Furthermore, when comparing full-frame 35mm film to crop-sensored cameras,
such as your E-3 kit, we have a pretty good leveling--even with the film
underexposed one-stop (ISO 1600 equivalent).
While I'm not one of these "grain/noise is evil" types, I feel that Grain is
good, Noise is not so good. Grain is character or texture, noise is a
defect. Film, even grainy high-speed film, maintains decent skintones and
tonal gradients. Digital isn't quite so good. This is especially true once
you whack noise--digital skintones generally turn an ugly plastic look with
a slight cadaver cyan cast, film skintones--even after cleaning, are a bit
warmer and healthier looking.
One other thing--the high-speed color films are naturally higher-saturation
and contrast. With the digital image, we usually (varies with camera
brand/model) have to up the saturation and add an S-Curve to high-speed
images.
AG (defeating digital, one film image at a time) Schnozz
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