it is not becos of the kodak sensor thats why its noisy, its becos Oly has less noise reduction than, eg., canon. u really think the CMOS is less noisy? go dig up other forums & u will find techincally incline people (esp forums related to sensors) praising the FFT sensor designed by kodak. have u ever come across canon users saying that at ISO 800-3200, there's a lack of detail no matter how much sharpening was done later? seriously, u can't just use only noise as a yardstick to measure any brand of DSLR.
before i bought the E1, i was also very skeptical about Oly's noise issue. after a few hands on in exhibition, it won me over. the image just speaks for itself (& thank kodak for their FFT sensors). now that i have tried ISO 800, i wud say its very acceptable, and after noise ninja, its brilliant.
just for the discussion sake, what others r comparing in the sensors deptbased on technical papers from manufacturers:
1) MF CCD digital backs (eg, leaf valeo)---- 12 stops
2) Oly's E1 FFT CCD ---- 11 stops
3) Canon 20D/1D mkII ---- 9+ stops
4) Canon 300D/10D ---- 8 stops
5) Sony CCDs (those that give u min ISO200) ---- 7+ stops
these r based solely from what i read. i m in no position to verify its accuracy & Sony has since withdrawn their technical papers from their site.
if Oly's sensor is not good enuf, i guess the rest is even worse.
by saying astronomical photography, there r many types. if u want those shots with arcs of light, u need a film camera, cos' every DSLR after 1 min will heat up & hot pixels formed. its up to the manufacturer to mask it, & that masking will trade off with details. remember to look for the north star if u want light trails to be in complete circles. also u have been warned of shortening the lifespan of your sensor considerably by keeping it 'hot' for mins/hrs.
before i bought the E1, i was also very skeptical about Oly's noise issue. after a few hands on in exhibition, it won me over. the image just speaks for itself (& thank kodak for their FFT sensors). now that i have tried ISO 800, i wud say its very acceptable, and after noise ninja, its brilliant.
just for the discussion sake, what others r comparing in the sensors deptbased on technical papers from manufacturers:
1) MF CCD digital backs (eg, leaf valeo)---- 12 stops
2) Oly's E1 FFT CCD ---- 11 stops
3) Canon 20D/1D mkII ---- 9+ stops
4) Canon 300D/10D ---- 8 stops
5) Sony CCDs (those that give u min ISO200) ---- 7+ stops
these r based solely from what i read. i m in no position to verify its accuracy & Sony has since withdrawn their technical papers from their site.
if Oly's sensor is not good enuf, i guess the rest is even worse.
by saying astronomical photography, there r many types. if u want those shots with arcs of light, u need a film camera, cos' every DSLR after 1 min will heat up & hot pixels formed. its up to the manufacturer to mask it, & that masking will trade off with details. remember to look for the north star if u want light trails to be in complete circles. also u have been warned of shortening the lifespan of your sensor considerably by keeping it 'hot' for mins/hrs.