Originally posted by ChristianRock Numbers schnumbers.
As shown by jogiba, all it means is that the camera allows for the photog to embarrass himself with a ridiculous high ISO if he/she chooses to do so. This has absolutely no real world value. The real reason why these manufacturers allow for such high boost ISOs is so they can rank higher in sites like Snapsort... and we all know someone with more money than knowledge who bought a high priced camera based on useless data rather than real world experience.
Why do you say this has no real world significance? I regularly work as a volunteer on a heritage railway, which involves working on a steam hauled dining service running at night. I would love to be able to capture the subtle interplay of firelight on steam with the lighting in the carriages providing extra interest. Currently, even on a bright moonlit night I am struggling to obtain fast enough shutter speeds to freeze a moving train, even with fast glass wide open (f1.4, f1.8)
This shot at 1/60 f1.4 12800ISO with a K5 shows all the problems, noisy, lack of resolution, shutter speed too slow, DR reduced, poor colour rendition. It is a cartonn rendition
Moonlight and steam | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I would love to be able do justice to such a scene, 400,000+ iso may be a gimmick but if it means 12800 becomes more useable, I am all for it!