Every time I push my Nikon Z9 to the limit, I think…that’s as far as it can go. But then it SURPRISES ME!!!

This weekend I joined my brother and his family, to celebrate their oldest daughter graduating from Beavercreek High-school near Dayton, OH. The school is so big that they used The Nutter Center, which is a Wright State University facility, for their graduation.

Knowing it would be a huge venue, with relatively tight security, I brought my trusty Nikkor Z 400 f4.5 lens. This gave me the reach I wanted! However, at f4.5, I had to crank the ISO up to freeze the action. Many of these shots, including the ones of her crossing the stage, were shot at ISO 16,000. You read that right…SIXTEEN THOUSAND!!!

While the out-of-camera images were a little noisy, they still preserved an amzaing amount of detail and dynamic range. So that after running them through Lightroom’s AI Noise Reduction, they looked INCREDIBLE!!! While pixel-peeping on the computer, they look like they were shot on ISO 400. The technology in these cameras, and in the editing workflow we have these days, truly is remarkeable.

CONGRATULATIONS to Katie on graduating with high marks! She truly is an amazing, inteligent, and talented young lady.