ROBIN WONG : Shooting ISO25600 Is Not As Horrific As It Sounds

When you hear ISO25600, most people would cringe in fear, but I think that is not the end of the world. I found myself in a position where I had no choice but to shoot with crazy high ISO numbers up to 25600 recently. I attended a play at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC) as an audience and I was shooting from a fixed seat. Since this was not a job, I brought a simpler setup, a small camera, Olympus E-PL6 and a small telephoto zoom lens, the Olympus 40-150mm F4-5.6 R. The compounding effects of smaller lens aperture with dimmer than usual stage lighting and constantly moving actors on stage left me no choice but to shoot with uncomfortably high ISO numbers. You know what? The images come out perfectly fine. Yes, of course there is noise, there is obvious image degradation, but if you don't pixel peep, and if you look beyond the technical flaws, I believe what matters more are the stories, emotions and the moments of the show. I hope I have successfully captured them! Obsessing about high ISO noise won't get you anywhere, if you need to bump up the ISO, bump it up!