Author Topic: Playing with E-P3 in available light and ISO2000 (Read 2992 times)

peterb666 · « **on:** August 16, 2011, 01:53:27 AM »

I went to a night-time photo exhibition of 'art photography' last night but it turned out to be just 12 photos of small sections of body parts so that was all over in 10 minutes. Hmm, what do I do next?

I strolled down to Sydney's Darling Harbour and got my Olympus E-P3 with the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens, set the ISO to 2000 and snapped away. Even though I could not use my favoured Camera RAW, I got to say the low light noise handing of the E-P3 left me gob-smacked. Here are some shots...

#1

The Pumphouse iso2000 by peterb666, on Flickr

#2

Waterfall under the motorway iso2000 by peterb666, on Flickr

#3

Stepping Stone iso2000 by peterb666, on Flickr

#4

Darling Harbour iso2000 by peterb666, on Flickr

#5

Darling Quarter iso2000 by peterb666, on Flickr

#6

Darling Harbour at Night ISO2000 by peterb666, on Flickr

CC welcome.

lisandra · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2011, 02:06:00 AM »

That first and last one are stunning. Very detailed. Where's the obscene amount of noise everybody complained about when it came out?

cosinaphile · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2011, 04:07:11 AM »

IM STRONGLY CONSIDERING THE EP3 , and these examples of
respectable high iso perf out of that sensor are very encouraging

love the last shot too

can you get a useable file out of 3200 too?

peterb666 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 16, 2011, 04:58:29 AM »

I didn't try ISO3200 as I was getting hand-holdable shots at ISO2000. I would expect that if processed properly from RAW images, you should get respectable images at ISO3200. Detail is sacrificed to get low noise images but I left these with the 'standard' noise reduction. You should be able to get better results out of 3rd party noise treatments.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2011, 05:36:47 AM »

Sydney is a great area to photograph from what I have seen... The night colors are so nice.
I like them all, the harbor at night, though is my favorite. The OOF harbor is also a nice one.
The E-P3 and 20 are a good combo.

tlucmpla · « **Reply #5 on:** August 16, 2011, 06:25:15 PM »

i love your first and last shot.
that's quite an achievement at iso2000.

count_zero · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2011, 06:35:21 PM »

I love how there is absolutely no banding noise. The noise that does exist is very film like.

Em5 Pete · « **Reply #7 on:** August 17, 2011, 05:57:03 AM »

Quote from: count_zero on August 16, 2011, 06:35:21 PM

I love how there is absolutely no banding noise. The noise that does exist is very film like.

and to me, that's fine....
These are great night photo's. I doubt my Contax G1 with the G-45mm f/2 and a 1600 film pushed to 2000 or a 3200 film pulled to 2000 could produce a less grained photo....

The detail is rich and the grain is very small and UN-obstructive....

peterb666 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 17, 2011, 06:34:30 PM »

I would agree you would not get results this good from ISO1600 film.

BTW, I wouldn't expect banding - even the quite noisy E-P1 delivered images at ISO3200 without banding - but lots of grainy noise.

Rck · « **Reply #9 on:** August 18, 2011, 05:45:13 PM »

Very impressive shots. Love the way this handled the available lighting.

Rick

acidfood · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2011, 01:37:14 AM »

Maybe my eyes are starting to deceive me, but if you had told me the first one was at ISO400 I would probably have believed you.

tom-ep1 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 19, 2011, 02:07:21 AM »

E-P1 has similar noise on 1600 i would say

peterb666 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 19, 2011, 03:39:56 AM »

Quote from: tom-ep1 on August 19, 2011, 02:07:21 AM

E-P1 has similar noise on 1600 i would say

I haven't tried them side by side but I would be inclinded to say ISO800 at best.

tom-ep1 · « **Reply #13 on:** August 19, 2011, 07:03:36 AM »

I think at least on the last picture you did use HDR right?

ISO2000 from E-P1

peterb666 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 20, 2011, 04:28:07 PM »

There certainly is a big difference between the E-P1 at ISO2000 and the E-P3.

Yes, the last one is HDR so as to recover the blow-out from the street lamps. HDR normally adds noise too.

Playing with E-P3 in available light and ISO2000