D2X versus 1DmkIII, what's the verdict?

[yrsued]

Low lowest ISOs on digital cameras are not necessarily good things.  Low lowest ISOs mean that the cameras are inefficient in capturing electrons, and they have similar noise characteristics to higher lowest ISOs with more efficient capture.  An ideal digital camera would be about ISO 250 minimum, with the standard amount of headroom for RAW data (3.5 stops in the green channel).

We used to shoot the Cabelas catalog with ISO 25 Megavision 3 Pass LF Backs!!  They were not more or less efficient, they were just different tools for different uses.

 

The only way that you can have low ISOs with digital cameras without compromise is to have systems that can capture more photons per unit of area than current cameras, and this would require very different technology than what is used for current sensors.
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It all depends what systems you are talking about.  You want to make a blanket statement about ALL digital systems.  Megavision was making effective Digital systems since the mid 90's.  What I was referring to was for Studio use, you rarely need high ISO's for that, at least I never did back int eh Cabelas Studio, and I don't need them at my Home studio now.

[John Sheehy]

We used to shoot the Cabelas catalog with ISO 25 Megavision 3 Pass LF Backs!!  They were not more or less efficient, they were just different tools for different uses.  It all depends what systems you are talking about.  You want to make a blanket statement about ALL digital systems.

Well, if we're talking about an exposure without a literal neutral density filter, and a single exposure, with current technology, then really, what a low minimum ISO is (assuming that it does not have compromised headroom) is the camera failing to capture photons striking its surface.  It is not a quality feature, except that on the same camera, relative to the higher ISOs, you capture more photons.  A camera with a lower minimum ISO does not have less noise than one with a higher minimum ISO; AOTBE, they have the same noise at their lowest ISO, whatever it is, and the one with the higher minimum ISO has less noise at the same ISOs, where the ISOs overlap.

A pixel that captures X number of photons at a certain level of illumination, and has Y read noise, in electrons, has the same DR, same noise, as any other pixel with X and Y, regardless of the ISO.

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You can save electricity with a more sensitive camera, though.