Oh it’s a bird! Those settings make sense then.

My crusty old brain sees that grain level as acceptable and normal. I’ve seen enough film to just expect it. It should take pretty well to noise reduction though if you feel the need to remove some fizz.

Can’t see the pic lol. Put it on imgur or change the sharing settings to “anyone that has the link”

1. Using a manual lens
2. Shooting moving pictures, where certain styles include gentle searching of focus as part of the visual language (also focus pulling is an art unto itself, but I’ve no experience with it)

I’m mostly in the first category. Eventually you get to know a lens well enough you just hold the camera with one hand on the focus ring the whole time and you get there when you get there. Most of my pictures suck though :)

Depends what you’re trying to achieve.

CMOS noise, especially deep in the shadows, sort of clusters in strips. It can be a giveaway or just a slightly undersired look compared to “film” style grain which has some interesting properties on it’s own but is easy to simulate at useful scales.

Shoot to get the picture. If going higher ISO doesn’t hurt your result and makes it easier to get the shot, then go for it.

Careful when adding noise though - I tend to avoid it because it’s not “truthful”, but we’re all just making pictures here. It may not make sense when looking back after a few years