Simply wonderful, Clive!!

great concert shot. also love the bass man in the BG. well handled ISO 3200.

I see no noise.

I am sure it is there if I look hard enough but it does not intrude upon that which is an excellent image.

I too love the echo of the bass player, the DoF has worked beautifully for you and the image.

I don't see the noise either... I am also VERY impressed at the sharp focus at 200mm 1/40sec and no tripod... VERY STEADY hands.... fantastic dof... magazine quality IMHO.

Clive,great shot...excellent compo and conversion...

Excellent shot all the way around; nothing else needs to be said othenthan: a well deserve 10! -Vaggelis

Thank you for your comments. During the evening of this shoot, I used 3200 ISO for all images of the musicians. The noise levels where the same throughout the shoot.

I did not use any noise reduction software, though after I sharpened the image in PS I used the history brush at 100% opacity on mush, if not most, of the image and particularly the blacks and skin.

Looking at the RAW file, I don’t think this image needed cropping in any way at all, so I am fortunate enough to have a full fill that prints out wonderfully.

It was not easy using this lens at such a slow shutter speed, especially as I was balanced on a chair in my attempt to get a clear view of the artist. So as you can imagine not all the images where as sharp as this one—though fortunately, many were. I also remember having auto focus problems with this lens and under these very poor lighting conditions.

John, thanks for your comments. More often than not I am disappointed with the high ISO settings of this camera and rarely am I very pleased with the results, as I was with this shoot Does anyone know why noise at elevated ISO settings does not manifest itself consistently on the E1?

Courageous.

All has been said I think, superb conversion, great compsoition and mood and amazing results from such high iso.

The only thing I can think of is that high iso's are very susceptible to exposure error, if anything, they need overexposure..always risky with digital. I have just got hole of noise ninja and haven't produced anything as good as the noise levels you have here.

Best wishes- Andy

congratulating on the results! They have said it all: tonality, clarity, composition of the main subject and the bass player, with concentration on the fact, plus the instrument and hands: a real winner. The 1/40 exposure is amazing! May I ask the success rate? Just curious...

Noise: I myself have very good experiences with the E-1's noise at high iso, although stopped at 1600. I see a pattern in it: if the shot is exposed correctly, ie. dark is dark - no attempt to create daylight from darkness - noise is very acceptable. Also homogeneous image parts play very well - you would not have got this noiseless behaviour with a landscape, IMO. Despite this, I find the noise here superbly controlled. The B&W conversion probably helps a lot in itself, as a lot of the E-1 noise is chroma. Wonder how much noise you have viewed at 100%? My experience: iso1600 with Noiseware prints well (at least) up to 30*40cm. Great! (as are your other images, I have to say)

Maybe a competition where only the elevated ISO’s are allowed to be used would be interesting? Perhaps a still life or macro theme would be best—that way everyone could use a tripod and therefore camera shake would not be an issue. People could make careful notes of the lighting conditions etc. and that way we could all learn as a community what factors help to produce consistent results at high ISO’s.

I've been a bit busy with some things over the past week or so and havn't been in a position to participate as much as I am used to doing but just wanted to say that I think this is an excellent image. I play guitar myself and resonate with the both the photographical and musicianship of this image which I think is superb. You captured the musical moment perfectly and the technical aspects of the image are as near perfect as is possible.

I simply can't imagine a much better concert image. Excellent!

I'm speechless (amazing shot and everything already said)!

Excuse me for rambling...

There seems to be universal agreement about the strength of this image, and for good reason. But I wonder if there is something here that we have overlooked.

Comments on many individual images at MFTs have included negative opinions about large borders. (I am generally in the camp of "border haters" for digital images but like conservatively matted prints with borders.) If you look to all the comments about this image, not once has the rather large and conspicuous border been mentioned. Why is this? Is it as I suspect that the strength of the image itself the constraining and glaring white border? Or, does the border serve a good function in this particular image, and if so, why?

I for one like the border as it is and the placement of the image above center is perfect. Anyway, just a ramble and I wonder if anyone else has noticed this...

I too am impressed (shocked would be a better term) with the low level of noise. I'm also extremely impressed that you shot 200mm at 1/40 without a tripod and it is this sharp ... I couldn't get something this sharp at 1/200 even if I were encased in concrete ... :)

And as others have said, aside from the excellent execution, this is a wonderful image. My only nit is that I don't like the way the neck of the base is directly behind the sax. It feels a tad cluttered right there. Apparently that's just me and I hope someone posts and tells me that's a poor observation. At any rate, great work!