A quick tale: 6400

"Arundel wide receiver Alec Lemon (no.2) keeps his eyes on the ball as he pulls in his first of two touchdowns during the first half against Broadneck at Broadneck High School on Friday, Sept. 6, 2008. Arundel led, 21-7, over Broadneck at halftime."

I am in Ocean City, Md., until this evening, but I figured I'd share a quick tale of 6400.

If you're not a camera person, you're probably wondering what I am speaking of. In contrast, if you're a photographer, you are already one step ahead of the game.

Since getting my Nikon D3 I have not really pushed the light sensitively or ISO (a la old school film speed), but have been wanting to give it a go for a long time.

Here and there I've played around with the setting, yet never on assignment. So two-weeks ago I got my chance at a high school football game.

Now, lights at a prep school are usually horrible. Sure they are fine for the athletes in action and the parents spectating, however, for a camera its always been a struggle and challenge.

Luckily, the Nikon D3 has changed that. Before, typically us photographers would be crazy to push the camera to 1600 ISO. Now we are crazy not to use 6400 without confidence.

The above is a fairly tight crop and at 6400 ISO. The play celebration after the catch ended up running about four-columns and looked absolutely fantastic.

Now, I am giving the camera the benefit of the doubt, as newsprint has always hidden grainy photos since it's like printing on Charmin.

However, this D3 cover shot for Sports Illustrated at ISO 3200 by David Bergman turned out stunningly beautiful. It was even cropped from a horizontal shot and still held up.

Oh, how I love the D3.