The joy of a modern DSLR

Sometimes we get some caught up in the pixel peeping and general online complaining about the latest issues with our favourite DSLR brands and we forget to smell the roses.

I got my first toy for the upcoming trip to Kenya the other day, the ever popular Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS L. In having my initial play with it, I came to smell to the roses.

What drugs am I on?? What am I on about??


As per usual my first play with a new lens is inside and at night. Why is this?
Well as noted in Shopping for Camera Gear I am not shy about purchasing online. Hence this lens was purchased online and it arrived while I was out and by the time I got a chance to play it was dark.

This is a f2.8 IS lens so I figured I should be able to play inside with it anyway.
So it was time to annoy the pets under the overtly warm glare of the 100watt globe with no flash, hardly prime conditions.

This is what I got:

Yes its underexposed etc but it is reasonably sharp so I was happy. So why the wonder of modern DSLR. I was looking at this picture in LightRoom and it dawned on me, this was taken at ISO 1250.

Yes there is noise but I was expecting newspaper print noise levels, this shot has less noise than some ISO 200 images from my 10D a few years back.

With a bit of white balance, exposure tweaking and a pass with Noise Ninja I ended up with this:













So lets review the shoot, 100 watt globe, hand held at 200mm at F2.8 with No flash at ISO 1250. I am amazed at the output, we have come along way! We can get results under amazing conditions with these latest DSLRs.

So next time you are feeling a little peeved with you DLSR and your results. Go drag out an old DSLR or maybe even a film body (if you still have one) and take some shots and compare.

Sadly all these great advances don't help us with the 'art' of photography but it sure can help us experiment with it.

I will post my thoughts on the Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS L after the Kenya trip, where it will get a decent workout. I also picked up a 1.4 extender to give it a bit more range if required.

Anyway as always enjoy your photography, experiment and be amazed.