Digital ISO

The ist D starts at an ISO of 200...is it still possible to get a great 16x20 photo with excellent quality..as a Digital SLR with ISO 100?

Hi!
The final print size and the ISO rating are not directly related

What stops you producing great prints is the image size. The *istD is 6.1mega pixel, giving an output image of 3008x2008 pixels. If you print at 20x16" that will give you about 130 pixels per inch. It will look great inkjetted, but may benefit from some Photoshop enhancing. That said, pretty well all the DSLRs at the moment are in the 6 mega pixel range - and I've seen some positively huge portrait prints from DSLRs (but I am not sure of the complete workflow used in those cases).

Back to ISO... at ISO200, the *istD is similar in noise to most DSLRs, and in my experience, there is less "grain" than even Fuji Provia scanned on a Nikon Coolscan IV (ie a good reference). The *istD produces that silky smooth image - you may even want to add noise to simulate film

In addition to ISO200, the *istD performs very well at up to ISO3200, that is to say, compared with an ISO1600 negative film. The digital noise is very managable, and is easily cleaned up with NeatImage. Here's an example of an ISO3200 image, cleaned up - http://www.pbase.com/image/23620188 (check out the whole gallery too)

If you want to know what the *istD behaves like, download one of Pentax's test images (from www.pentax.com, www.pentax.co.jp, or http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxistd/page19.asp) and print one out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the quality

Hope that answers your question,
Matt

Hi Matt, Sorry i forgot to login, when i posted this question... Thank you for answering so quickly... I Did just recently purchase the IST D, But have not printed that large of a photo yet. I guess i was concerned if i made the right choice of camera...you know we did plunk a large amount of money down for it. . You see i usually used the agfa ISO 160 Portrait film on my conventional SLR. I was just wondering if that would make a difference in the quality of the photo. Thank you for your response. I knew i could count on you all here. I did check out the pbase site... great photos.

Rosanna

Rosanna,

(Nice to have a name to a post )

Thanks for commenting. I think you will find the *istD will earn its keep The quality is somehow different from film, but I am finding that overall it's a winner. Being able to quickly check the results and retake immediately, plus the ability to change ISO rating dynamically (without changing film) really pay dividends.

If you have something really special, try finding a Fuji Pictrography (not a typo - it does have an 'r') lab. Apparently they produce stunning results. One of my local labs provides super large format with Pictrography and other methods - all quite expensive just to try, but the results look fantastic.

In addition, there's a local photographer who does portraits and weddings who went digital and they have huge portrait images in their window that look stunning. One of these days, I'll pop down and find out how they output their images...

Let us know if you get an online gallery together
Matt

Hi Rosanna,

I'm also using *ist-D and the biggest print I had so far is 15R (which is about 10" X 15") - that's about 150dpi and all I can say is that the results are really fantastic and virtually grain-free! It is one of my part-time commercial work and my client has been very pleased with the results compared to the ones I took with film printed at 8X12 which, by comparison, is very grainy.

That said, I am sure that a 16x20 should still provide a very good image quality albeit the lower dpi print resolution. I see a portrait sample at my local lab at 16x20 and the quality is stunning.

Cheers!!

Shotgun