I guess I am just still hung up on sites like DXOmark, because their testing and comparisons are so useful. I look forward to their findings on all the new cameras, especially the D800 and 5D3. In using the 400mm f/5.6 lens I rented this week, I am finding that shooting in low light, really means a need for ISO 6400, 12,800, and beyond…so that would cause me to lean more toward the 5D3 than the D800. The D800 would absolutely rule when using wide angle lenses though, it seems to me (detail-wise anyway). And the D800 would benefit most from being able to store files at less than 14 bits, since there are so many pixels.

You would think the entire camera industry would pursue it, if Daniel’s opinions are even leaning toward correct. Yet instead, they keep finding ways to increase file size, rather than reduce it. Most would probably just tell you to shoot jpegs, if you’re worried about file size…which isn’t really a good solution!

Thanks for taking the time to share what you’ve learned.

About three years ago, I shot pics at near sunset, of friends’ kids riding their dirtbikes…with a cheapie manual focus, Pro Optic F/6.3 500mm “mirror lens” (mounted on a monopod). The pics turned out fine. Sure there was noise, but PS took care of most of it. The shots might not look sharp at 14×20 inches, but nobody wanted prints that big. They looked fine as 8×10′s.

To get the shots I simply focused on the location where I was going to snap the shots, then as the kids rode through the creek and splashed water (using 6 frames per second), I got some decent shots…with the splashed muddy water stopped mid air in the pictures. I think I used ISO 1600 or 2000, and the shutter speed was around 1/800. The ambient light was about dark enough that you would begin to consider turning headlights on, to drive a car (not so much to see, as be seen).

I will admit that selling this lens wasn’t so easy; I wound up letting it go for under $90. The image quality really wasn’t terrible, it just didn’t compare to a ~400 to 500mm lens costing over $1000. But if it sells for $160 new, and weighs only a fraction of those, why should it?

Anyway, it’s really just the loss of AF that would hinder an f/6.3 lens for sports action, and not necessarily the lack of a fast shutter speed at low ISO. Certainly I got shots of 1/2000 and even 1/4000 second at ISO 200 and less, during very bright sunlight for mid afternoon shots.

Of course “pro bodies” will usually AF somewhat down to F/8, but since much of this discussion centers around consumer zooms, it’s not relevant…other than if using a TC on a supertelephoto.

I rented the “often overlooked” Canon 400 f/5.6L “prime”, and plan on trying my 2x TC on it, for an 800mm f/11. It also has no IS. I probably won’t attempt to shoot sports…or hummingbirds in the moonlight…or rather, bats…with this combo, though!

To conclude, I suggest you build your own camera from the ground up, and make it better than everybody else’s. Then after a couple of years of us moronic photographers making fun of all your innovations, we’ll suddenly stop playing angry birds, and buy your design hand over fist…making you rich…so you can go off and buy more gadgets that annoy you
.
I guess it’s good this isn’t twitter. Obviously I can’t express a thought in under 18k characters…but then, does anyone actually express anything on there, other than the verbal equivalent of passing gas?

The only real criticism I have read that has interested me, regarding the difference between what film could do, and what digital sensors can do…is that digital sensors supposedly lose color saturation in the brighter third or so of the picture, where film supposedly didn’t. And yet this is where most of the bit depth is. It really should have a broader range of color tonality as brightness increases, it seems to me. But I’m sure there’s a theoretical, mathematical explanation which will include the word “cosine” and a lot of formulae…with some guy like tv’s “sheldon cooper” telling me if I was only a bit smarter, I would “get it”, and my life wouldn’t be such a waste!

I’m more like foghorn leghorn…”But how did you…?…I know boy, but don’t bother…I wouldn’t understand it anyway”.