Milky Way D800E

[Phil Hart]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I think Peter the D600 will be quite similar with the D800E having a slight edge but not massive. They are both Sony Exmor sensors - same as the Sony A99 and RX1.

I shot panoramas again last night and ISO12800 turned out very well which was surprising. I am thinking it is the best ISO for this camera for this work. ISO6400 is very clean on these cameras and D600 from sample photos released looks very clean. 12800 is starting to break down a bit though with D600 but with some careful noise reduction it might still be good. D800 still holding on at 12800 but I'd say that's as far as it will go. D4 may go ISO25600 but then again maybe not.

Greg.

Greg.. I'd still love to see you do some objective tests of these different ISO settings. Until you stretch some of the lower ISO images (eg 1600), you won't know whether you're gaining anything with the higher ISO settings - how they look on their own is not all that meaningful.

Here's an old test I did with the 40D: http://philhart.com/content/astropho...xposure-length

It's hard to tell the difference between any ISO setting once you process them! I know this is true for the 5DMKII as well. Very little to gain going above ISO1600/3200 when shooting RAW, but a lot to lose in dynamic range IMO.

Phil

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by philiphart

Greg.. I'd still love to see you do some objective tests of these different ISO settings. Until you stretch some of the lower ISO images (eg 1600), you won't know whether you're gaining anything with the higher ISO settings - how they look on their own is not all that meaningful.

Here's an old test I did with the 40D: http://philhart.com/content/astropho...xposure-length

It's hard to tell the difference between any ISO setting once you process them! I know this is true for the 5DMKII as well. Very little to gain going above ISO1600/3200 when shooting RAW, but a lot to lose in dynamic range IMO.

Phil

I took a sample ISO3200 and ISO 6400 and ISO 12800 the other night as you suggested. I'll post them soon.

Yes I am mindful of that dynamic range curve of these DSLRs where the higher the ISO the worse the dynamic range. There must be a sweet spot though and in my use so far I would estimate that to be ISO6400 on this camera. But looking at the tests I might be surprised. ISO3200 seems a sweet spot for 5D2 judging by posted images.

Greg.

[CometGuy]

Hi Greg,

This a great image with the hill in the foreground, nicely done! As other's commented reminiscent of scenes from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in which they used Devil's Tower Wyoming as a backdrop.

Regarding actual Quantum efficiencies you can find some good data on Christian Buil's site and on the Point Grey site. The Sony CMOS sensors have very high quantum efficiency as you mention - although I haven't seen anything on the 5D mk3 or 60D yet. I'll dig-up some links if your interested.

Terry

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by CometGuy

Hi Greg,

This a great image with the hill in the foreground, nicely done! As other's commented reminiscent of scenes from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in which they used Devil's Tower Wyoming as a backdrop.

Regarding actual Quantum efficiencies you can find some good data on Christian Buil's site and on the Point Grey site. The Sony CMOS sensors have very high quantum efficiency as you mention - although I haven't seen anything on the 5D mk3 or 60D yet. I'll dig-up some links if your interested.

Terry

Thanks Terry.

I checked Christian's site and he only has a few Canon models there. But he does show 5D2 QE at around 28% averaged across the colours.
I tried to find that post of the various camera models from both companies and their respective QEs but no luck yet.

Greg.