K-x high ISO pics from Halloween outing

*skid2964* · 11-01-2009, 10:29 PM

The K-x can make some very useable high ISO images.
All taken hand-held, no flash.

Low light focusing was the best I've seen so far on any Pentax DSLR,
I like the grid pattern the red focusing beam cast on the subject. If my other cameras
had this, I didnt notice!

3200 ISO, un-modified (My wife dressed as a pirate, LOL, she's makes a sexy pirate)

3200 ISO, noise ninja applied

3200 ISO, un-modified (see light shining on bush in background, was getting dark)

3200 ISO, noise ninja applied

12800 ISO, un-modified, was getting quite dark now,
see headlight shine from car in background

12800 ISO, noise ninja applied

To give you an idea of how dark it was, this image was taken within
two minutes of the photo above, 800 ISO, un-modified

6400 ISO, un-modified

6400 ISO, noise ninja applied

12800 ISO, un-modified

12800 ISO, noise ninja applied (I think the original looks better)

pjr · 11-01-2009, 10:40 PM

Wow.. Great pictures..captures the halloween mood.

K-x looks to be an amazing little camera. I can't wait for my kit to arrive k-x with 55-300 kit. The pictures at 12800 ISO look so good.. I can't believe it.

Thanks for posting pictures that shows real-life usage of the camera.

*LeDave* · 11-01-2009, 10:51 PM

12800 shots with noise ninja applied.... Jeeezus... That's notorious, a monster in a little body. Wish I could apply noise ninja on my 6400 shots and still look that clean.

rawr · 11-01-2009, 10:54 PM

Very good high ISO samples.

Some of those looked OK even before Noise Ninja did it's thing, to tell the truth.

But the 12800 pic of your daughter cleaned up really well and the result is very usable indeed.

The noise related grain of the K-x is very fine, isn't it. Any NR happening within the camera doesn't seem to damage detail significantly even at ISO extremes. Which gives a lot of scope for getting good results with secondary NR in PP, as you have demonstrated very well.

*skid2964* · 11-01-2009, 11:01 PM

I agree, the sub 12800 ISO pics really didnt need noise ninja.

I just looked through my menu settings and I have the option "Use NR at high ISO" set to "medium", but I have the "High ISO start level" set to 3200. The menu description states that this means NR starts ABOVE 3200.
So the camera didnt even apply noise reduction to the 3200 ISO photos and they look great as is.

*Ash* · 11-01-2009, 11:55 PM

Another good set of results at ISO 3200 and 6400.
12,800 looks useable for web viewing - looks uncomfortably noisy for print even with NR IMO.
But this is great - the K-x is a little workhorse.
Pentax's next flagship's gotta be a real winner when it comes out!

innershell · 11-02-2009, 07:29 AM

Originally Posted by Ash

12,800 looks useable for web viewing - looks uncomfortably noisy for print even with NR IMO.

Yeah, it is great to have the option to capture something. Always said that I'd rather catch a noisy image, than no image at all.

innershell · 11-02-2009, 07:34 AM

@skid2964: The Pentax K-x is blasphemy! Canon, Nikon, and Sony should start an inquisition. There is no science here ... merely wizardry and witchcraft.

*skid2964* · 11-02-2009, 08:47 AM

Someone just asked me what lens, I forgot to mention, all photos taken with kit lens (18-55mm), did not use a fast lens.

*pcarfan* · 11-02-2009, 09:27 AM

Holy smokes! Your daughters portrait at iso 12800 cleaned up amazingly well, if I didn't see this, I wouldn't beleive it.

Can you tell me what settings you used in Noiseninja?, thank you.

*pbo* · 11-02-2009, 09:28 AM

I like the grid pattern the red focusing beam cast on the subject. If my other cameras
had this, I didnt notice!

Uh-huh... Wait, what??? I've had my K-x for several days now, and never noticed anything like. What are you talking about?

tarsus · 11-02-2009, 10:01 AM

Thanks for the good work. As a newspaper reporter I know that Halloween is one of the toughest shoots there is. Very impressed with the high ISO and the dark exposures. I'm getting a Kx.

*skid2964* · 11-02-2009, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by pcarfan

Holy smokes! Your daughters portrait at iso 12800 cleaned up amazingly well, if I didn't see this, I wouldn't beleive it.

Can you tell me what settings you used in Noiseninja?, thank you.

Well, I can look up settings, but I can tell you they must all be "default". I dont have any special profiles for the K-x, these were all "auto profiled". I used the "image processor" in photoshop to automate the application of noise ninja to all my photos over 1600 ISO.

With the K-x, I may increase this limit to 6400 ISO and above images!

*ytterbium* · 11-02-2009, 10:04 AM

And those pictures look awesome other than noise wise too. I like the colours and analog look of the grain.
The last shot with trees seems so surreal i can hardly imagine it being taken by camera in a classic way (unless you go long exposure with tripod, smear the people and smoke, maybe some hdr). It looks so lifelike, showing the atmosphere of the event. Trees have their texture well rendered, correct colours and no blown highlights.
Amazing.

*skid2964* · 11-02-2009, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by pbo

Uh-huh... Wait, what??? I've had my K-x for several days now, and never noticed anything like. What are you talking about?

I would point my K-x at my wife from chest high trying to get a surprise snapshot. The focusing beam cast a red grid pattern on her face and focused fast and accurately in near total darkness. I dont remember ever seeing this red grid pattern from a focusing beam on any of my other cameras. My Canon S3IS has a green focusing beam but its just a plain beam, no pattern.