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Nikon D3 low light, high ISO

I paid a visit to a few places in Houston today and had an absolutely wonderful day of it. We first went to the Houston Center for Photography, a great little gallery, library, classroom environment that I never knew existed. There was an exhibition called The Kid Collection and they were showing works, all children related, by photographers such as Ansel Adams, George Tice, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Weegee, as well as many others.

Next we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The traveling exhibition from the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition was there and it was stunning and awe inspiring. It contained all of the winning photographs from the 2007 competition.

We then jumped over and saw Lucy's Legacy, the magnificent exhibition on Ethiopia, the cradle of mankind, and the discovery of the Australopithecus Afarensis skeleton, later named Lucy, that is one of our most famous ancestors. It really made me think about who we are, where we came from, and where we seem to be headed. If the exhibit comes to your city I suggest it highly.

Finally I came to the part of the day that triggered this post in the first place. I took my Nikon D3 to the museum with the express intention of trying it out in some of the low light exhibit areas that they have. I had tried these shots before with my D200 and the results were dreadful. Today however they were much better. The D3 is really quite amazing under these conditions. These, as well as all others found here ... http://www.pbase.com/jnewmanco1/latest_outing were all taken at ISO 6400 and handheld. I used my 50mm F/1.4 and my 105mm f/2.8 macro lens for these shots. There is grain evident, that's for sure, but they are still very usable images in certain situations. I am extremely pleased that I bought this body.

0620_Museum_4453.jpg


0620_Museum_4530.jpg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
James,

Super impressive description of the Center in Houston. I'm so sorry I missed it!

Yes the D3 is a magnificent instrument. Have you some ISO 6400 faces?

Asher
 
You seem to have pretty good depth of field in these pics despite the dim-light ...

What aperture / iso / shutter is represented here?
 
Edward - The first was taken with my 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/9 ISO 6400 shutter speed of 1/100

The second was using my 105mm f/2.8 macro lens again at f/9 ISO 6400 1/30 sec
 
Thanks James,

105mm @ 1/30th... you must have the VR version?

The D3 seems to render with an excellent color / grain balance - the color fidelity remains quite good even at high ISO, no?

So when are you getting a D700? :)
 
Yes I have the VR version of the 105mm. It comes in very handy in situations like this. I will leave the D700 to others. I could not be happier. It always happens this way it seems. I started with the D40 and a month later Nikon announced the D40X. Then I bought the D200 and a month later they announced the D300. The D700 is not quite the same announcement when compared to the D3 but I still fully expect them to announce the D3X any time now to make it a perfect three for three.
 
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