As I go through my journey to better photographs I find my thirst for knowledge increases as I get further along. I have a fear of turning into a “gear chaser”. I believe it makes the most sense to wring every bit of ability from my current gear before moving on to upgraded equipment.
I love to research. Starting that research so early gives me enough time to make an informed decision when it is finally time to upgrade.
One of the first questions I answered is “how do I shoot?” What kind of photography do I like. Action? Portraiture? Macro? While I might like to do any number of those genres at any time what is my main interest including if it was an even interest across all types.
The second question I needed to answer was what features will best support what I am trying to capture. Not all tools (a camera is a tool) are created equal so finding the best tool for the job is my goal. In this case I narrowed down my final two choices by budget, shutter speed, ISO and noise, quality of photo and finally budget again.
For me, without budget the D4 would have been my choice hands down just because I hate noise and love speed. For my photography though I just don’t need this quality of camera and the ensuing price tag. I shoot for personal enjoyment only. This has led to one of two cameras that have the features most important to me. They do not have all features such as the D600 having a top SS of 4000 and the D7100 having a top SS of 8000. This high SS is important when you are trying to freeze frame hummingbird wings in flight.
My first step in research is to rent both camera bodies and take similar pictures under similar conditions. Having seen so many discussions with a very large majority of people stating “go full frame” due to the higher quality of picture straight out of the camera.
I’ve always said “perception is not always the truth. Show me facts” so in my search for facts I am sharing the results of my tests. These particular shots are focused on the amount of noise only in the picture since this is most important to me.
