screeny Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 One thing I'm confused about is the minimum iso of 200 for the Pentax DSLR's.Should it be a show stopper? For waht usage/kind of photography/kind ofprinting/print size etcetc does it matter, i.e. will I "miss" the 50 and 100settings?I'm probably silly asking but if I'm correct other brand DSLR have 100 isosettings so there must be a practical use to it or is it just anothermarketing/selling point parameter? any opinions or comments apreciated kind regards, Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godfrey Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 All the DSLRs that use the Sony sensor in the Pentax DSLRs (Konica Minolta 7D, 5D and Nikon D100) similarly have an ISO minimum of 200. That's because this is the native sensitivity of the sensor, where it produces the least noise and the best quality. Attenuating the sensitivity to ISO 100 or 50 does not improve image quality, rather it likely increases noise. Other cameras with other sensors rated to lower ISO don't necessarily produce any less noise or higher quality. The Pentax camera using this sensor produces some of the best image quality and lowest noise on the market for a 6Mpixel DSLR, demonstrably better than even the highly considered Canon 10D. (I own one of those too and have compared them exhaustively, at ISO 100 and ISO 3200 as well as all points in between...) The only time I miss having ISO 50 or 100 is when I want a wider aperture coupled with a longer exposure time in bright sunlight to achieve a particular focus zone/long exposure effect. But ISO 50-100 rarely give enough advantage there to be useful... a 6 to 10 stop Neutral Density filter is more what's called for in those situations, providing ISO settings around 3 or lower. Godfrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screeny Posted July 19, 2006 Author Share Posted July 19, 2006 thx for the answer! I was curious about it allready for a long time. regards, Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray g. Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 <i>"All the DSLRs that use the Sony sensor in the Pentax DSLRs (Konica Minolta 7D, 5D and Nikon D100) similarly have an ISO minimum of 200. That's because this is the native sensitivity of the sensor, where it produces the least noise and the best quality."</i> <p> The KM 7D and 5D start at ISO 100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godfrey Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 Interesting, thank you for the correction. It doesn't change the fact that ISO 200 is the native sensitivity of the sensor, however. They are applying an attenuation. I would be very interested to see a comparison of ISO 100 vs ISO 200 results. The difference is likely insignificant, I wonder if it is measurable. :-) Godfrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen_S Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 If you happen to own a ancient, powerful strobe system without a dial down option, which was calculated for slow film like Kodachrome or APX 25 shot with MF/LF, you might sometimes curse the high minimum ISO of a DSLR, which shows any hint of dust on the sensor at small apertures. For shooting handheld outside the studio I'd even buy a 2nd body starting at ISO 800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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