alphonso49uk

The sony handheld low light mode which the rx10m4 has and also the rx100 series is excellent too if you dont have much time to adjust settings etc.It usually defaults to 1/30 of a second shutter speed and takes 3 shots at different exposures and then stitches them into a single image.Ive used it a few times with great success.

LA Loc: Little Rock, AR

Those are wonderful shots, Gene.

User ID

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I looooove working in miserable illumination.

High-ISO noise is neither my enemy nor my
friend. Therefor, as its non-friend I would not
mourn its disappearance. But, given that it's
not likely to disappear very soon I often have
to "keep company" with noise. So I get kinda
choosy about "the company I keep". Noise is
not some monolithic demon. There's noise,
and then there's noise ... it's not alike. If you
religiously shun noise or always avoid noise,
you will never get to know noise. Some you
can work with, accept its personality and let
it be an aspect of your low light imaging. I'll
not deny that, OTOH, there is some noise to
be assiduously avoided.

Unfortunately, when you pick your camera,
you lock in your choice of noise. Some users
are basically low-ISO tripod toting IQ geeks.
Their cameras might be worst offenders for
the ugliest types of high-ISO noise, and that
is no problem at all for that type of user but
that same highly prized ultra high IQ camera
would be a disaster machine for my needs :-(

Here's a request I don't recall ever seeing on
this forum: "High, I need the features on a
Model X camera, and I need to work at high
ISO. Could 2 or 3 helpful owners please post
a few detail crops of its shadow noise at ISO
25,000 and up ? Thank you !"

FWIW, the noise I avoid includes streaks and
blotches, etc. Noise I can work with is kinda
"gritty" and/or involving some loss of detail.

.

tomcat

I wish I could post you some images from 18-20k ISO, but they are kids from high school sports and I can’t do that. But suffice it to say that the Nikon D3s is incredible at these high ISO values. Virtually no noise and sharp images

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Great suite of images for ISO 800.

I've shot low-light targets at up to ISO 6400 with reasonable success. Much easier to handle a bit of noise rather than motion blur!!

bwa

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I shoot raw so none of the picture modes are available.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks! I don't like the results I get with higher ISO, but I am a pain in the neck as far as image quality is concerned.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

These are all downsampled to 2048 on the longest side. Are you aware that you can get the camera for a day for free from a Sony Store? I did that with an RX10M3 and was so impressed with the IQ that I waited a few weeks until the M4 was released and bought it sight unseen. It addressed my main complaint - the AF system.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks! That sign is an example of what happens when the maintenance person is denied his/her OT - The S letter was not lit.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I often push the ISO to 3200/6400 for low light wildlife. Example attached.

bwa

Heron at 600mm, f/4, 1/320sec., ISO 6400

(Download)

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I your target is REALLY dark and not moving, use a tripod, shoot multiple long subs and stack them to reduce noise, i.e.: standard practice for astrophotography.

bwa

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I agree, I have shot at higher ISOs, but even your blue heron shows considerable luminance and color noise. BTW, using Capture One Pro Sony will mitigate most of that noise. This is what I used for the lower Manhattan set I posted the link to. One of the problems of using the Sony (or any other camera that does not do that well with noisy shadows), is that night shots, which have lots of dark areas, end up being very noisy.

Here is a test I did at 6400 ISO and though the uncropped image isn't completely horrible, it totally lacks detail and still has a lot of noise, and certainly isn't anything to write home about. I love my camera, but I do so in full appreciation of it's limitations.

(Download)