Opinions needed

[petardier]

Which of the following photos do you like best? Don't pick the jumping squirrel; that one doesn't fit with the others. I just put that one in for fun.

I expected the ISO 6400 shot to be less sharp than the others, but it doesn't look that way to me

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I like the last two equally.

[whuffle.livejournal.com]

Crouched down holding/eating the nut. It's the facial expression and watchful eyes that are engaging as well as the good photography and composition

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

That's the one I like, too. He reminds me of "The Thinker."

[petardier.livejournal.com]

The first two photos were hand-held with a 18-135 telephoto, the last two from a tripod using a 100-400 telephoto. So far, I've been very surprised (and impressed) that using ISO up to 6400 on this camera doesn't seem to affect quality much. On my Lumix, I've seen a noticeable loss of detail going from ISO 800 to 1600.

What I've learned is that it's safe to go for ISO 6400 which gives one the benefit of reduced exposure times. I'd been afraid that high ISO numbers were something like digital zoom (a benefit only in theory).