Railfan Technology > The Joy of High ISO's

On the way to work Thursday morning the DS had a westbound lined through the BNSF's Cherokee Sub main at Tiger, just east of Tulsa.  I quickly positioned myself at the crossing on 129th E Ave, thinking what a marvelous blue-hour shot would soon entice my visual senses.  Well the bluephour light was cool (literally and metaphorically), but alas, my 0630 start time didn't permit waiting until my hoped-for train appeared.  Regardless, the dawn of the first day of August began with a beautiful blue shift and I was thankful to be trackside to witness it.  The pic was made hand holding a Sigma 150-600 lens, at 600mm, f6.3 and the crazy low shutter speed of 1/50th of a second at the crazy high ISO of 12800.  Some photographers think the digital noise, or grain at these ISO ranges are unacceptable, but they remind me of my days shooting weddings on Fujicolor 400, or even 200, knowing how grainy those pics would inevitably be.  I'll take digital any day thank you very much!

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Beautiful !  The red signals reflected off the rails in that sag really make it.

You made the best out of a high ISO situation. Considering the circumstances, this is an excellent photo.
Bob

Neat shot!  I am too nervous to hand hold 1/50th of a second.

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

I’m just looking through some shots I took of back head details on Iowa Interstate’s QJ steamer last month. A dark oil can, hanging off a dark bulkhead surrounded by dark piping. Oh, and the engine is in the shadow of a tree, a half hour before sunset. 

Cranked the ISO up to 32,000 and it worked just fine. 1/80 and a vibration control lens for the camera shake, f9.1 for just the right depth of field. Life is good. Remarkably little noise. The sensor on the Canon 5D ( mark IV) is amazing, far beyond anything I could have done with high speed Eccch-tachrome. 

Working in digital is is like discovering photography all over again. Except now, I have a better travel budget. Life is good. 

Very coo! However, always keep a tripod in the back seat. You just never know...

Gary R Clark
Griffith, Indiana

Nice shot Jerry! What do you use for processing and did you use the 'Noise Reduction' filter during processing?

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
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