Not enough light? Just crank up the ISO!

I was snapping pictures at my son’s fourth birthday party the other day and rather than use an intrusive flash, I though “Why not just crank up the ISO on the Canon EOS 5D and see what happens?”

So I set the speed to ISO 1600 and let the IS lens do it’s thing, taking pictures at the f/4 maximum aperture with the camera setting the shutter as low as 1/8th second. The only duds were where the subject moved. The picture quality is simply breathtaking. On 35mm film I would be using a Leica with an f/1.4 lens with ISO 400 film and the grain would be obvious on an 8x enlargement. With these digital snaps, 13x enlargements are grain free, pores clearly visible.

When all was said and done I reset the ISO back to 650 and snapped this image of my exhausted wife, Elenia, with Bertie the Border Terrier. There is something amazing going on here.

In this picture of my wife, in the 13″ x 19″ print the details in the window are clearly visible in the reflections on her rather gorgeous American Teeth. At ISO 650. Hand held by window light.

Advertising hoarding seen on the 101 freeway in Silicon Valley, California, with a picture of the Canon EOS 350 digital camera: “Film? History.” Yes indeed.