Wednesday, March 12, 2008
After notarizing our refinance application I headed over to the women's lacrosse game. I was looking forward to seeing how the D3 would perform in the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex. The lighting in there is the best outdoor lighting on campus but I figured that putting the D3 through a true outdoor low light test (even if it was the best lighting on campus) would be an interesting experiment.
I started off at low ISOs (1600) and gradually worked my way up until I was shooting around 3600 or 4000. The noise looks great on the photos and you can hardly tell that I shot at such high ISOs. Even better I didn't have to lighten in Aperture at all!
They charged admission for the game tonight and I was able to sneak in next to my friend who works in the Athletic department. He was on his way there to help someone and we were chatting while we walked in. I need to get on Al to get me a season credential for the LAX and baseball games.
I had fun shooting the Lacrosse game and I took a lot of notes on my voice recorder. I practically filled the thing up recording notes on how the different goals played out. Terps scored 17 goals and took something like 42 shots during the game.
I finished post processing my photos and published my story over on the DC Sports Box. Please go take a read about the Maryland Terrapin women's lacrosse team and how they defeated Richmond 17-9.
Take a look over at the complete photoset.
The images towards the end, most notably this, this, and this were all shot at 4000.
I can email you a guest pass and that will allow you to take a look at full resolution versions if you are interested in looking at the noise in more detail.
Note that I didn't use any noise reduction software or sharpening filters in post-processing. I lightened slightly and cropped but otherwise you're looking at a pure shot right off the camera.
The D3 is a wonderful piece of equipment.