Great subject, Anbesol. And I believe I can provide an opposing point of view

My main subject is sports - you know that. Mountain biking, in particular. And a lot of that action happens in very low light. No matter what the limitations of my gear, I'm always pushing it as much as possible. At one point that meant ISO 200 or maybe 400, if I really wanted to get crazy. But there were photos that I just couldn't make with those ISO limits. I was forced to pan or use flash. And sometimes I don't want to pan or use flash. Sometimes I want a sweet shot of a rider frozen in the natural light. As an example I'm including a photo I shot this weekend at ISO 1600. This photo would not have been possible for me a couple of years ago. I would have been forced to use flash or let the rider blur and it just wouldn't have been the same.



Another thing to take into consideration is the professional image market. Personally, I may not be that concerned with noise in many images. But photo buyers are. A lot of the time I think their expectations are silly, unrealistic and based on outmoded standards (drum scanned medium format film, for example). But that doesn't change what magazines, ad agencies and stock houses want. I think they may actually be the biggest dupes in the megapixel and noise marketing competition. I swear, magazine photo editors and stock houses are the first ones to buy into new camera hype. But if you want their money, you have to play their game.

To summarize - I am happy to have less noise at high ISO settings. It means I can make photos I wasn't able to a few years ago. I'm not a pixel peeper (except by profession). But lower noise really does make a big difference for me. On the other hand, I don't think noise is evil. It doesn't necessarily ruin a photo. A lot of people get caught up in the tech and lose sight of the image. Content is what matters. I think a lot of the people who do the most pixel peeping are the same people who buy a sports car and only commute in it. They are missing the point and probably couldn't take a good picture if their life depended on it. Fair enough. Those people will always be around and their money helps fund better technology for the rest of us. I'm going to do my best not to get caught up in the hype. But if a better camera comes along that will really help me get better photos and that I can afford - I'm buying it.