[Leica] Re: Noisy digital shadows

[jonathan at openhealth.org (Jonathan Borden)]

B. D. Colen wrote:

> I'm sure I can't explain it correctly, David, all I can tell you is  
> that my
> standard iso with film and digital is 800 - I do a tremendous  
> amount of
> shooting in crappy light. And I am getting more shadow details with  
> digital
> than I got with film.

You are correct. This is the flip side of the noise/ISO picture. The  
better DSLRs have less noise at higher ISOs than film (the same isn't  
generally true for consumer digital P&Ss).

Let's assume that you are putting up with a given amount of noise  
(whatever that be). Now let's assume that for film that amount of  
noise is produced by an 800 ASA and for digital the same noise goes  
with 1600 ISO ... what that means is that with this digital sensor  
you are doing the equivalent of a 2x overexposure, which we all know  
improves shadow detail.

Hence given a fixed amount of noise, with digital you get better  
shadow detail.

On the other hand, the place where the M system excels is with fast  
lenses. That means that for the very best shadow detail at a given  
amount of noise you'd use a Noctilux on a digital M :-))

Jonathan