Honest ISO with a D3

Stangman98

Senior Member
Ok, so I am looking at maybe getting a used D3 down the road. I want honest feedback in regards to shooting ISO's in the range of 3200 and 6400. How grainy is it?
 

LensWork

Senior Member
It is going to depend upon the final output of the image. If it is for web or newsprint publication, up to ISO 5000 or 6400 is very acceptable. If you will be printing 13"x19", then anything over ISO 2500 can be marginal.
 

LensWork

Senior Member
Here is a 100% crop at the resulting resolution of a 24"x36" print from a D700 @ ISO 5000 (the D700 & D3 have equivalent high ISO performance).

_ACT9757.jpg
 

Snap Happy

Senior Member
ISO 3200 Only editing done from RAW file. Tonal Curves, Unsharp Mask. NO noise reduction or anything like that done. This Jpg was exported from Adobe Lightroom 2.5 as a TIFF and saved as JPG with Jasc Paintshop Pro.

_DSC5093-mcdonalds-roadchallange.jpg
 

Eye-level

Banned
I would wager that any 35mm format camera body film or digital consumer or pro is gonna be grainy or pixely when made into a 24X36 print even at lower ISO or ASA settings...if you want resolution in big prints you need to go to a larger format. Leica S2's start at $25K without a lens and the 60 mega pixel Hassy's are around $40K I think... :)
 

Snap Happy

Senior Member
I would wager that any 35mm format camera body film or digital consumer or pro is gonna be grainy or pixely when made into a 24X36 print even at lower ISO or ASA settings...if you want resolution in big prints you need to go to a larger format. Leica S2's start at $25K without a lens and the 60 mega pixel Hassy's are around $40K I think... :)

Yep, I was thinking Medium Format as well. If I wanted to do anything over 11x14inch, I would be using my Bronica, then scanning the Negs. Still don't have a Phase one ...... Yet!! LOL
 

fotojack

Senior Member
Holy crap look who's back! :) Nice to see ya again, Snappy. :) Where ya been? It's been awhile. Been busy? Fill us in on what's been happening. :)
 

Snap Happy

Senior Member
Holy crap look who's back! :) Nice to see ya again, Snappy. :) Where ya been? It's been awhile. Been busy? Fill us in on what's been happening. :)

LOL Hey there. :)

Yep, I have been busy, doing this and that, as well as doing some photography work/jobs... Plus my Voluntary work and my Uni studies now. So I have been keeping busy, not necessarily out of trouble though. LOL
 

gqtuazon

Gear Head
I would wager that any 35mm format camera body film or digital consumer or pro is gonna be grainy or pixely when made into a 24X36 print even at lower ISO or ASA settings...if you want resolution in big prints you need to go to a larger format. Leica S2's start at $25K without a lens and the 60 mega pixel Hassy's are around $40K I think... :)

Just my hunch and no need to wager (I'm already broke! :eek: ), I think Damon is not interested in getting a MF camera. When he posted "used" D3, it tells me that he has a limited budget for that price range which is way below of the MF cameras. A D800 might be able to meet his requirement based on the sample images from this guy below. You can probably download the full size and have them printed to see if the sample image meets your expectation before you commit with the D800.

D800 @ ISO 6400

D800 Test Shot 7 (ISO6400) | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 

Eye-level

Banned
I'm starting to hear reports on the net that the D800 is gonna be able to make large size prints that are so detailed it is gonna be better than any drum scanned 35mm film format...that is frigging impressive...they say the 35mm landscape folks are fixing to have a revolution!

I have also read that the sensor in the 800 has the same size pixels as the sensor in the 7000...I bet you will be able to shoot in the dark with the 800 using a 3.5 lens!
 
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Snap Happy

Senior Member
Just my hunch and no need to wager (I'm already broke! :eek: ), I think Damon is not interested in getting a MF camera. When he posted "used" D3, it tells me that he has a limited budget for that price range which is way below of the MF cameras. A D800 might be able to meet his requirement based on the sample images from this guy below. You can probably download the full size and have them printed to see if the sample image meets your expectation before you commit with the D800.

D800 @ ISO 6400

D800 Test Shot 7 (ISO6400) | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Instead of spending 12K on Medium format digital, the solution I have is to use my existing Medium format gear, my trusty Bronnie! Process the negs and use a good neg scanner to get the files and sizes I need on the computer. The plus side is that I can do this even cheaper if I shoot in Black and White and process the Negs here. For E6 I have to go into town though. But until I can get another $15,000.00 and the justification, I go about making my high res/large sized prints this way.
 

Snap Happy

Senior Member
Oh and you can get a Medium Format camera, with lens, and everything for under $500 now. If you take the time to look around.
 
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