Low Light Photography

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

How does your camera perform in low light? Low light is a new buzzword when buying cameras. We have gone from megapixels to sensor size and now to high ISO performance as the deciding factor when buying a new camera. Photographers always seem to need some kind of technical benchmark in order to decide what camera to buy. I prefer size and ease of use, which is why I shoot mirrorless and Micro Four-thirds cameras.

Will a full frame camera perform better in low light? More than likely it will and it will let you make a larger print without showing noise than a camera with a smaller sensor. When I ask people how often do they shoot in low light the answer is frequently “not very often.” I get the same answer when asking often they make prints larger than 16×24 … or do they print at all?

Try a small mirrorless camera, you will be surprised at the high ISO image quality and the camera’s compact size with actually let you carry it around at night.

This photo abovewas taken on a bus at night in Las Vegas at ISO3200 on a camera (Panasonic FZ1000) with a one-inch sensor. That’s half the size of a Micro Four-thirds camera sensor!