ISO Noise

dohc46 wrote:
Real situation test/question:

I'm in a Gym at a cheer competition (rah rah rah) with my Digital
Rebel XT and my 70-300 IS USM. To reduce the blur i inch up the
shutter to 160. Of course too dark,therefore on my current camera I
increase the ISO 1600 max. While taking pictures I say, "cool, enough
light and not too blurry". When I put them on computer....snow/noise
is very pronounced...bad enough that in my view not acceptable for
prints.

Are you just using the camera maker's noise reduction? If so, one
thing that has improved a LOT recently is software noise
reduction. Check the reviews, find out what product does especially
well on the noise your camera produces, and try it out. I've been
amazed and impressed at how good the best of this stuff is. From
refusing to use ISO 800 because it looked crap I've now graduated to
happily using ISO 3200 in dim conditions.

--
Chris Malcolm