2nd Sign: Dispelling my high ISO perception

Up until the recent crop of Nikons, the best high ISO performers were Canons. Now, either Canon or Nikon are great up to (and sometimes through) 1600, and while Olympus has made progress, they're not even in the same ballpark. You can see DPReview's noise comparison test on my E-620 here. Visible noise is there at 200 on my camera and then at 1600, the Four Thirds cameras look like an old TV set with bad reception.

For this reason, I've always, always tried to shoot at ISO 100 whenever possible. Well, last weekend, we went to a Frenchie Frolic for our French Bulldog to play with a couple dozen fellow Frenchies. Obviously, shooting dogs running indoors requires a higher ISO. So, I'd been shooting at ISO 800 before Roxy was tired out enough to stand still for a portrait with Jenny.

I positioned them with the available light coming in the low from the windows on the wall behind me, and left it at ISO 800 with what I consider very acceptable results.

My takeaway is that the high ISO performance of my Olympus isn't really an issue--as long as I properly expose the shot. Too often when I have problems with the noise in my high ISO photos, it's because I underexposed the shot and trying to pull detail out of the shadows just magnifies the noise. Shoot it right to begin with and you hardly notice it. So, once again, maybe it's me to blame, not my camera.

Olympus E-620 with the 40-150mm (my least expensive lens) @ f4.5. ISO 800 @ 45mm and +0.3 EV.