Originally posted by carolina_sky My need for low light is for indoor sports (specifically horse show jumping), where I need minimum 1/1600 shutter speed to crisply catch the horse "in flight". On my K3ii with Pentax 60-250 F4, I only dare go as high as 6400, and even then I find the noise pretty much unacceptable. I get way more noise than the Bunny picture above shows. Maybe it's difference between k3ii and k5ii, though this seems like more difference than I would expect. Maybe lens comes in to play and 60-250mm doesn't like low light. I'm really hoping that the K1 with 70-200 will allow me to get much more usable pics at 12,800.
based on my a7r results, i wouldn't be looking forward to shooting at iso12,800, but it'll certainly be better than crop at every iso setting, this is a textbook case where it's a good idea to go ff.
Originally posted by carolina_sky I'm not sure if there's technically any difference in noise between using exposure enhancement in LR or just shooting at higher ISO, but it's always been my perception that shooting at 3200 or 6400 and boosting in LR is less noisy than shooting at 12,800.
it depends on how well the shot looks like it's exposed, although you certainly don't want to ettr it... increasing iso doesn't increase exposure, but it might help retain details in dark muddy areas better, you are going to have to experiment... software like dxo pro will totally clean the noise in your shot up, it's much better than lightroom, but of course there will still be a loss of resolution and dr, nothing can fix that.
i would never use af in that horse jumping shot, you should be able to magnify liveview on the middle of the top bar, focus, possibly take a step or two to the right, and have perfect focus every single time... chimp it to be exact.