So, today Canon has introduced a new digital SLR style camera, called the Canon 6D. Buried (or maybe not) in the specs is the hidden little “gem” that this camera has an ISO range of 100-25600. ISO 25600? That just makes me ask a whole bunch of questions.
I mean, for starters, who in their right minds needs an ISO of 25,600? Most dark subjects, even dark things at night, don’t need that much of an ISO. What are there a bunch of black velvet-wearing people who run around taking pictures of themselves in darkened tunnels that I don’t know about? Because, if they are out there, heck, I want to find them. Taking pictures of black things in darkened tunnels at night sounds like my kind of fun! Maybe they are sort of like “film vampires” who run around only on nights when the moon is not full, wearing black velvet and ducking and hiding in these deep underground tunnels taking pictures of each other, as sort-of vampires would do, only without all of that messy “blood” stuff. I mean, seriously, I take about half my pictures at night or in low-light and I don’t need an ISO range that bumps up to 25,600. Who is going to possibly use this feature?
First we had the megapixel wars, everybody was “I got to 4!” Oh yeah, “Well, I go to 6!” Then it was to 8! To 11! to 14! and, oh my God, hold me down, we hit the 18 and even the 20 mark! 20 megapixels. Now, that’s a lot. But, little by little, people slowly realized 20 megapixels is indeed a lot. It’s so much, it’s more than what most people need. Most people are smart enough to figure out they really don’t need 20 megapixels. I mean, sure, having it is nice, but, come on, there’s more to life than 20 megapixels. Nowadays, most people can make due with about 4 and even 6 or 8 is nice but we’ve figured out we don’t really need to go much beyond that (well, not unless we’re doing something “special” anyway.)
Now it seems like we are repeating this trend with the ISO numbers. Mine goes to 12,000! Mine is 25000! Oh, can the 100,000 thousand barrier be far behind? Heh. Trouble is, it don’t get that dark, folks. Nobody *needs* that kind of an ISO, really, they don’t. Not even the vampires. Truth be told, you won’t be able to use much more than 800 anyway, so get over yourselves. Bah! (Maybe I’m just grumpy today? Nah, I’m grumpy everyday. 25,000 is too much ISO for one photographer to use or for anyone sane to claim to need.)
How much you want to make a bet the same folks who run out an buy these cameras, the ones with ISO’s that go to 25,000 (or whatever) still cannot name 10 photographers and still don’t have a portfolio worth sneezing at? Mmmm. Thought so.
For those of you thinking about buying a new Canon 6D, I hope you get one. I hope you get one and that all of those 25,000 ISO’s do you wonders, really I do. But, if you want to be serious (attention: for the rest of us humans!) check out some of the new books just released over at PhotoEye books. That might help you out a lot more than those extra 24,000 ISOs. (That’s free advice, and worth every penny you paid for it!)
Apart from the 25,000 ISOs running around beneath the Canon chair, it’s a small, compact full-frame camera that offers up GPS and WiFi connectivity. It comes with an iPad app that allows you to control the camera from an iPad and allows you to do stuff like stream video right up into web video-hosting sites. Those, now those are some good features, so please don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking Canon and I’m not knocking the need for technology to advance our camera gear. New gear is always great, I love it too. But, please, for the love of all things holy, do not try to convince me you actually need an ISO range of 25,600 because I know that, well, really you don’t.
Some of the other features on the new Canon 6D are nice, very nice, although I still can’t quite justify the $2100 price tag. It’s still a nice full-frame camera with some nice connectivity features that will allow you to do more with less (it’s lighter and smaller!) so that’s all good. Yeah, I’d have to say, once I read the specs and got past the 25,600 part, I was down with this new Canon 6D. I guess you could say, vampires be damned, I like it and would recommend it, but not on account of the ISO range. And, if you do happen upon those black velvet wearing people who hide in tunnels, heck, you have my email address!
Until the vampires roam again…
Author
that seems to be the name of the game in electronics-bigger, better and faster…lol!
Author
Yes, this new beast is also more connected. Now we are going to have our iPhones controlling our cameras and every picture we take "zapping" itself around our own personal networks. How fast technology moves.
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Well aren't you the smart cookie for telling everyone what they need/should need, and whether or not those people are any good.
I'm so glad I have someone who knows what I need more than me. You generalizations strip all credibility from your blog post I'm sorry to say.
Author
Anonymous, if you need the camera, go get it. As far as "you generalizations" (I think you mean "your") you're wrong about that. I'm not the only person who has noticed a trend in camera manufacturers now trying to sell a host of new cameras based upon ISO capability. This is nothing new, it's been happening for years, in fact, they used to try to sell cameras for megapixels and even back in the film days they had other features they were trying to push. Manufacturers do that-try to sell us new cameras by convincing us we need something when we really don't. It's their way of marketing and it's what they do to help them stay in business and push out new product lines. On some level, I'm happy they do this, as I want new camera features too. But, that doesn't mean I'm not going to poke fun at them for doing it as well. In fact, they deserve to be poked because, if we didn't poke them, they would get lazy and not give us anything at all we can use.