ISO 102400

Canon and Nikon have both released cameras recently that have ridiculous ISO ranges. My 40D can get up to ISO 3200; the just-announced-today 1D Mark IV gets a full five more stops of sensitivity. I haven’t seen any samples yet, though Vincent Laforet says the camera can basically see in the dark, and that ISO 6400 is at least as good as what we expect from ISO 1600.

And then think of some of the new image stabilization technology. Canon’s new 100mm Macro has a new system that apparently can work well at 1:1 magnification. I don’t know how well, but even if it works respectably well, that might give us another two stops.

I think this is going to enable some tremendously interesting things for macro shooters — it will let us take some of the weight off the camera, which means staying out longer and being able to move the camera easily for better compositions. Imagine a rig designed for daylight shooting, with, instead of a heavy flash and diffuser, a scrim and a reflector on flexible mounts to modify the natural light. Or lightweight flashes with low guide numbers that are working at low/fast power levels. Both of these will still be able to shoot around f/11 or so, without having to pay nearly as much in noise.

Hopefully, this technology will filter down to my personal price range sooner rather than later…