Great Grey at ISO-16,000
I have fond memories of taking this image - it was shot on my very first trip out with my new Canon 1DX. I had been watching the owl hunting for some time in the evening and kept having to dial up the ISO to keep up with the fading light. At one point the bird dove down into the deep grass and seemed to be successful in catching some prey. I took advantage of the distraction to crawl out of the car and move up closer to the owl under the cover of the vegetation. When the owl finally popped up and took flight it flew right at me, giving me a great series of images. Unfortunately, with the low light conditions (and corresponding required camera settings) the image quality of the final result wasn't that impressive - fine for a small web-based image, but not suitable for printing.
Fast forward 8 years --> last week I was watching a YouTube video on Glenn Bartley's channel where he reviewed the new DxO PureRAW software. Like Glenn, I have never been too impressed with Adobe's ability to process high ISO files from Canon cameras. While Canon's DPP software does a much better job, frankly, it is just painful to use. After Glenn's review I downloaded the 30-day trial of the software and gave it whirl. Having now monkeyed around with the software for a week, I have to say that in general I am very impressed by the results I have been getting on high ISO files - enough so, that I am going to pull the trigger and purchase the software. This image, shot at ISO-16,000, cleaned up better than I could have imagined - the result are good enough for a large print.
Great Grey at ISO-16,000
I have fond memories of taking this image - it was shot on my very first trip out with my new Canon 1DX. I had been watching the owl hunting for some time in the evening and kept having to dial up the ISO to keep up with the fading light. At one point the bird dove down into the deep grass and seemed to be successful in catching some prey. I took advantage of the distraction to crawl out of the car and move up closer to the owl under the cover of the vegetation. When the owl finally popped up and took flight it flew right at me, giving me a great series of images. Unfortunately, with the low light conditions (and corresponding required camera settings) the image quality of the final result wasn't that impressive - fine for a small web-based image, but not suitable for printing.
Fast forward 8 years --> last week I was watching a YouTube video on Glenn Bartley's channel where he reviewed the new DxO PureRAW software. Like Glenn, I have never been too impressed with Adobe's ability to process high ISO files from Canon cameras. While Canon's DPP software does a much better job, frankly, it is just painful to use. After Glenn's review I downloaded the 30-day trial of the software and gave it whirl. Having now monkeyed around with the software for a week, I have to say that in general I am very impressed by the results I have been getting on high ISO files - enough so, that I am going to pull the trigger and purchase the software. This image, shot at ISO-16,000, cleaned up better than I could have imagined - the result are good enough for a large print.