By Ellis Vener
From the L1 setting (approximately ISO 100) to ISO 800, Nikon D300 resolution remains near constant and virtually unaffected by noise. With the onboard High ISO Noise Reduction function turned off, at ISO 800 the visible noise-to-signal ratio starts to change to the point of becoming noticeable on a good monitor, but it is nowhere near the problem present in the D200 or D2X. If you are forced by circumstances to go to ISO 1600 and higher (the top end is 6400), the resulting images are still very usable but are softer and more freckled with noise than what you see with the D3. The ability to easily go up to ISO 800 with only a very marginal loss in quality has big implications with the way we work: not only can we work in dimmer ambient light, but it has broad implications for our choice of lighting tools.
Following is a series of targets showing the Nikon D300 performance through its ISO range. The images were shot using a Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. Click any image for a larger view.
ISO 100
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
Comments (4)
Were these shot in raw, JPEG, or TIFF? Was any in-camera noise reduction applied?
Posted by Bill Rogers | February 23, 2008 12:45 PM
Posted on February 23, 2008 12:45
Hi Bill,
All were shot as NEFs. No in-camera , processing (Lightroom), or post pprocessing (Photoshop CS3, Noise Ninja, Noiseware, etc.) noise reduction applied.
Posted by Ellis Vener | February 27, 2008 12:40 PM
Posted on February 27, 2008 12:40
addendum: These were sent to ppmag as JPEGS and apapparently the space info was stripped out. on my display using Firefox as a browser, the colors are way off.
Posted by Ellis Vener | February 27, 2008 12:44 PM
Posted on February 27, 2008 12:44
Sorry for not noticing the color issue. These were sent to me as 16-bit Tiffs in ProPhoto. I must have used a Convert to JPEG action that stripped out color space.
These have now been converted to 8-big, sRGB JPEGs. You may have to hit refresh or ditch the cache info in your browser to see the new pics.
Posted by Joan Sherwood, senior editor | February 28, 2008 11:07 AM
Posted on February 28, 2008 11:07