D7000 noise

[adey_g]

OK, so I'm a bit emotional when it comes to noise in photos.

I recently bought a D7000 largely off the back of the promise of virtually noise-free photos up to ISO 1600. Do the reviews and comments I've read mean when printed out (e.g. 6x4) or when viewed at 100% on a monitor?

I've been a little underwhelmed with the performance of the D7000 with regards to noise, to be honest. I am wondering whether I've got a bad copy or if my expectations are too high / unrealistic!?

Yes, I appreciate that no doubt my photo technique could be better and this will help. This shot was taken on my first outing with my D7000 and I don't think I quite nailed the focus!

Originally, these were shot in RAW. Shift-click the images to load full-size on Flickr and in a new page.

Before


After

 

[maninsuitcase]

Can I ask: before and after what exactly?

The before image has the tiniest bit of colour noise, but I can only see it in the largest image (gone in Large 1600). I suspect a nudge of the colour noise filter in lightroom would clean this up no problem with 0 loss of detail.

I won't comment on image degradation as the shot's clearly missed focus so not a fair fight.

 

[Phil Young]

Ummm

It's not noise free...I don't think there's any cameras out there that are noise free.

You would have to be a bit of a pixel peeper though and zoom in to every shot at 100% to see and judge.

I am perfectly happy shooting with my camera up to 6400 without any noise reduction...but yes there will be noise at 800, more so at 1600 and so on but my advice is to focus on the image rather than the pixels.

Mail the exposure, get your focus right and use the appropriate aperture to ensure a sharp, detailed shot.

Try not to inspect the image at 100% upwards of 800 ISO, you'll be disappointed. If you want to test sharpness and noise then you should do so under studio conditions and base ISO but in my opinion, the D7000 retains very good detail all the way through it's ISO range (assuming you have a good lens).

 

[adey_g]

Can I ask: before and after what exactly?

Sorry, should've been clearer. "Before" is straight off the camera without any PP. "After" has had white balance, sharpening, noise reduction, etc in Lightroom.

You would have to be a bit of a pixel peeper though and zoom in to every shot at 100% to see and judge.

Guilty as charged. I am a definite pixel-peeper and I need counselling! :bonk:

Guess I was looking for reassurance that there's nothing wrong with the camera that I'd just shelled out a lot of money for!

Thanks

 

[specialman]

I think you're expectations are probably too high. When I moved from my D2x I probably made the same mistake but I've quickly gotten used to the noise.

The key thing is that it's not intrusive and it tends to be more luminance noise as opposed to being all chroma noise. Even ISo 200 display some noise but it's very well controlled on the D7000.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

There is a little bit of chroma noise - nothing terrible - that should be cleaned easily by Lightroom. I am surprised the default settings didn't remove it. Is this RAW?

Sharpness comes with focusing accuracy and the quality of lens. 70-300 @ 300mm is a pretty cheap combination. 1/200s didn't help either for a bit of shake.

 

[adey_g]

Yes, shot in RAW with no noise reduction in the first.

Sure, the 2.8 trinity is on the list but when the 70-300mm is a fraction of the price of the 70-200mm sometimes compromises have to be made to save my relationship!

I might look at renting one for special events though and see the difference for myself!

 

[Slaphead]

Guilty as charged. I am a definite pixel-peeper and I need counselling! :bonk:

You don't need counselling, you just need stop it - it's a trap that I think a lot of us have been in.

Realistically the only ISO setting that is, to all intents and purposes, noise free on the D7000 is ISO 100. Above that noise will be visible when pixel peeping, but very well controlled IME up to ISO 3200, and perfectly usable at 6400.

In truth there really is no such thing as noise free, even at base ISO, and remember that once the image is in its final form, be it print, web or whatever, the chances are that noise probably won't be visible anyway.

Edited to add: That photo looks fine for the given ISO (1100) in the flickr EXIF.

 

[V8burble]

The D7000 is an interesting one for noise really... most cameras appear to handle noise really quite well up to a particular iso then noise suddenly starts to rise noticeably. The D7000 however gently increases in noise from base iso really but is very easily fixed up to at least 6400 in PP.

 

[Brachytron]

Try processing your raw files through Nikon's own software. I always use Canon's DPP as the images show lower noise than Adobe Camera Raw.

I would re-iterate the pixel peeping comments. Don't even go there. I have some professional scans of my old transparencies that, at 100%, look far worse than my 7D's, yet look perfect when printed.

 

[Phil Young]

Just to add to the pixel peeping. You will get much better results when you stop due to not worrying about noise this increasing your shutter speed.

For example:

You might want to shoot an indoor pet portrait with your f5.6 lens at ISO 800 and speed 1/60th which will be clean but most likely soft.

Someone that isn't looking at pixels but the image as a whole may shoot 3200 and something like 1/250th resulting in a sharper more detailed image that doesn't belong in the bin.