Nikon High ISO

So...... does anyone use a D700 for sports and what are the results overall?
 
this was my first or second test with a D3S at speedway, 3200ISO in jpg, 200th second at f3.5

That's a great example of how the D3S excels. Defocus areas have noise in them but it's a smooth defocussed sort of noise. Subject area is big and bold as you like. It's not that it doesn't have noise - it has noise that doesn't matter. Nice.

BTW when I click on that pic I get a load of pop ups and a couple of errors...
 
A couple from me

D3
ISO 12800


400mm
1/250 sec
F8
ISO 6400
 
5279966685_28d7abacb6.jpg


D700 with a 70-200mm f2.8 VRII

ISO 8000 no NR :)
 
Great stuff - now we're pushing boundaries!!
 
While some of these are impressive, a lot of them seem to be in fairly good light. Eg the dog at 1/1600 - a well exposed pic in good light is never going to look that noisy at high ISOs.
 
True, but even my D200 in good light at 1600 looked pretty bad.

If I get some night/bad light shots I'll post them too, but I havent got any at the moment.
 
A little more challenging and no noise reduction.
D3
ISO 25600
1/20th
F6.7
16MM VR 0n
 
that's better than I've had from mine at that ISO! pretty impressive
 
that's better than I've had from mine at that ISO! pretty impressive

Must admit I surprised myself on this one, exposed to the right as always on high ISO shots, small contrast lift and a little sharpening but that's it. I posted it really to counter the comments about shooting high ISO shots in lots of good light and very fast shutter speeds. This was hand held with my trusty 16-35 VR. Light source was two energy saving 40W spots at the back of my living room.

I'm very comfortable shooting my D3 up to ISO 8000 anything more and it sufferers too much for me really. Have been thinking of a 3s upgrade to make use of the extra 1.5-2 stops increase in performance but decided that I am in no rush to change my D3 as even though it is a discontinued model :D it is still right up there with the very best anyone can offer at the moment........... some achievement considering it was introduced in 2007. God knows what the D4 is going to be but I think it is going to be rather special with an all new autofoucs system to boot.
 
Last edited:
Ali, that's just CRAZY! :thumbs: Could you post a link to a slightly larger version. I'm just all agog that you shot at 8000.

Sure can :)http://www.flickr.com/photos/47556505@N08/5279966685/

Was balanced on the edge of a balcony so had a little bit of stability but pushed it to ISO 8000 and I think it was somewhere around 1/80 - 1/100 sec, will check the EXIF later.

Not as risky as it might seem though. a) I did check the detail when I recced the venue so I knew the shots were on and b) my second was shooting from below and was shooting with flash just in case :)
 
Last edited:
While some of these are impressive, a lot of them seem to be in fairly good light. Eg the dog at 1/1600 - a well exposed pic in good light is never going to look that noisy at high ISOs.

It only looks like good light because the camera's high-iso capability has allowed the image to be correctly exposed, that's the point.
"Good light" has been extended beyond what we used to think possible.

At 100iso it's still bad light...

A lot of these so-called hi-iso shots I see here from time to time are just underexposed.
 
It only looks like good light because the camera's high-ISO capability has allowed the image to be correctly exposed, that's the point.
"Good light" has been extended beyond what we used to think possible.

At 100iso it's still bad light...

A lot of these so-called hi-ISO shots I see here from time to time are just underexposed.

Agreed, the fact that the sensor can get enough light at 1/1600 proves that. I think where people make the mistake is the shot like that has so much headroom to drop the ISO right down and negate any noise completely, in an ideal world of course. It was the reason I posted the picture of my living room to show even with no headroom a correctly exposed High ISO shot can be usable and could be argued it had good light for a Nikon, Canon users best stick to flash :lol:
 
My shot of the dog: I started at ISO 200 and the shutter speed was 1/10-1/20. Thats not good light! So yes, whilst its not in a dark church, or living room, its still pretty bloody good for a reasonably dark, snowy day. The camera has made it look a lot lighter than it was, with minimal noise. To me, thats the point of the D700's great High ISO ability.
 
My shot of the dog: I started at ISO 200 and the shutter speed was 1/10-1/20. Thats not good light! So yes, whilst its not in a dark church, or living room, its still pretty bloody good for a reasonably dark, snowy day. The camera has made it look a lot lighter than it was, with minimal noise. To me, thats the point of the D700's great High ISO ability.

I think you misunderstood my post, not having a pop at you. Your shot does show the abilities of the D700/D3 sensor as I pointed out in my previous post. I was explaining where i thought the confusion that Arkady2 commented about lay.

Your shot for what ever reason had loads of headroom to drop the shutter speed way down and drop the ISO to a level that noise would not be an issue. In an ideal world if you had time to set this shot up that's exactly what you would have done however we don't live in an ideal world LOL so your picture was the result. however people pick up on this and say Ahhhh but the light was good, my shot was to counter that argument and simply show what the D3 can do with little or no headroom and maxed out.
 
I think you misunderstood my post, not having a pop at you. Your shot does show the abilities of the D700/D3 sensor as I pointed out in my previous post. I was explaining where i thought the confusion that Arkady2 commented about lay.

Your shot for what ever reason had loads of headroom to drop the shutter speed way down and drop the ISO to a level that noise would not be an issue. In an ideal world if you had time to set this shot up that's exactly what you would have done however we don't live in an ideal world LOL so your picture was the result. however people pick up on this and say Ahhhh but the light was good, my shot was to counter that argument and simply show what the D3 can do with little or no headroom and maxed out.

Agreed, I know you wern't having a pop! :thumbs:

Thing is, the dog is a fast b****r. The reason I had to go to ISO4000 and 1/1600, is because I tried lower and just couldnt get him sharp. Well actually I had set on auto ISO, so I probably could have dropped it a bit manually, the D700 does tend to go higher even when sometimes its doesnt need to.

I think we agree though that the D700/D3/s are all amazing in low light at high ISO!!
 
My shot of the dog: I started at ISO 200 and the shutter speed was 1/10-1/20. Thats not good light!

The light must have improved to shoot 1/1600 at 4000 ISO or did you mean 1/160th ? Which is a good shutter speed for the 70 mm end of the lens you used to take the shot.

IS0 200 @1/10th = ISO 400 @ 1/20th = ISO 800 @ 1/40th = ISO 1600 @1/80th = ISO 3200 @160th or am I missing something

Anyway I think I want a D700 :)
 
Last edited:
D700 - EXIF should be intact.

5002365038_6c62e4a0c9_o.jpg


6400 ISO

5001764417_12ed938f51_o.jpg


ISO 4500
 
As a Canon user, it will be very interesting to see what they can come up with to Challenge Nikon's D3s in this area. The reality is that the D3s is miles better than anything else, including the D700 for high ISO performance. The D700 is a fair bit better than the 5D mk II, but with the trade off of a significantly lower resolution. Wheras the D3s is so much better at high ISO, the resolution issue is almost not an arguement IMO.
 
As a Canon user, it will be very interesting to see what they can come up with to Challenge Nikon's D3s in this area. The reality is that the D3s is miles better than anything else, including the D700 for high ISO performance. The D700 is a fair bit better than the 5D mk II, but with the trade off of a significantly lower resolution. Wheras the D3s is so much better at high ISO, the resolution issue is almost not an arguement IMO.

Well they haven't really challenged the D3 in this area yet let alone the 3s though have they ? as for resolution not really too much of an issue unless you are printing very large. I do admit they are getting closer and with higher MP but again we are really compairing the very latest Canon's to models that stem from a 2007 design. Both have their plus points and strengths.
 
I thought the 5DII was pretty much equal to the D700 (when downsized to 12mp for fair comparison).
Certainly looks it in this comparison http://www.photographybay.com/2008/12/27/canon-5d-mark-ii-vs-nikon-d700-in-depth-iso-comparison/

Therefore it's also pretty much equal to the same sensor in the D3? of course, ISO performance isn't quite the same thing as low light performance, if you compare the D700's AF with the 5DII's AF in low light.

Of course the D3s remains unchallenged. I don't think there are many photographers out there who wouldn't take a D3s given the money. Canon doesn't seem to split it's 1D series like nikon though, with one for low res/high ISO and one for high res/low ISO, they split 1.3x crop for speed and full frame for resolution. Arguably nikon's system suits many photographers more.
 
Last edited:
I thought the 5DII was pretty much equal to the D700 (when downsized to 12mp for fair comparison).
Certainly looks it in this comparison http://www.photographybay.com/2008/12/27/canon-5d-mark-ii-vs-nikon-d700-in-depth-iso-comparison/

Therefore it's also pretty much equal to the same sensor in the D3? of course, ISO performance isn't quite the same thing as low light performance, if you compare the D700's AF with the 5DII's AF in low light.

Of course the D3s remains unchallenged. I don't think there are many photographers out there who wouldn't take a D3s given the money. Canon doesn't seem to split it's 1D series like nikon though, with one for low res/high ISO and one for high res/low ISO, they split 1.3x crop for speed and full frame for resolution. Arguably nikon's system suits many photographers more.

I stand by my claim I don't think a 5d Mk 11 or any other Canon can produce a clean picture like the one I posted earlier at the same settings at near 26000 ISO with no noise reduction applied. Both great camera makers but different strengths. DXO shows this to be the case in just about every area as does the lack of really high ISO shots from a canon posters around various forums.
 
The new Pentax K-5 is also reputed to be rather good at high ISO too.

Would like to see comparisons between the Canon 60D , Nikon D7000 and Pentax K-5
 
I stand by my claim I don't think a 5d Mk 11 or any other Canon can produce a clean picture like the one I posted earlier at the same settings at near 26000 ISO with no noise reduction applied. Both great camera makers but different strengths. DXO shows this to be the case in just about every area as does the lack of really high ISO shots from a canon posters around various forums.

It's certainly impressive, but I wouldn't call it clean! Look at the noise in the telly and the speaker at the back for example ;) I know, I'm being picky, but I'm still a Canon user :lol:
 
It's certainly impressive, but I wouldn't call it clean! Look at the noise in the telly and the speaker at the back for example ;) I know, I'm being picky, but I'm still a Canon user :lol:

That is amazing quality! Hey - that is nothing to be picky about, I'd be over the moon with that time of quality at such an insane speed!
 
It's certainly impressive, but I wouldn't call it clean! Look at the noise in the telly and the speaker at the back for example ;) I know, I'm being picky, but I'm still a Canon user :lol:

I mean clean in the sense of a shot at 25600 and no NR, still cack but impressive even to me and I've owned the camera for 2 year :lol:
 
Was going to ask how you guys/gals got such crisp sharp focus at the high iso.

I'm gonng guess its the lenses you used because the ones I have don't seem that sharp at 1600 iso (did some shots recently of people, no flash). Might be my post processing tho...

Usually capture nx and gimp, but now its pse and gimp. Just gonna search the forum on post processing and high iso lol ... tutuorial would be handy...

btw very nice shots in this thread. Makes me want to upgrade the d300 to something.... more... ;)
 
I stand by my claim I don't think a 5d Mk 11 or any other Canon can produce a clean picture like the one I posted earlier at the same settings at near 26000 ISO with no noise reduction applied. Both great camera makers but different strengths. DXO shows this to be the case in just about every area as does the lack of really high ISO shots from a canon posters around various forums.

But it comes closer than you might think
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/slrs/5d-mark-ii/iso-25600-d3.htm

The banding noise from the older generation of canon sensors shows up at this ISO, but it looks fairly close! On the other hand, Ken has left it in jpg mode with NR and sharpening on default (:cuckoo:), so it's arguable that that test doesn't count for much. Use RAW Ken!

Anyway, I'll shut up now and stop hijacking this thread. More drool worthy high ISO shots please :D.
 
Last edited:
Was going to ask how you guys/gals got such crisp sharp focus at the high iso.

Well now that's the whole reason I moved from Canon to NIkon. Autofocus!

The Nikon 51 point AF in my D700 works as well as the 51 point I had in the 1Ds. In low light there is no hunting for focus, it just nails it pretty much first time every time.

The only time I have missed focus with the D700 is when I'm standing on a chair, holding the strap in one hand and leaning over the dancefloor shooting with the other. I think I can forgive the occasional missed focus then. :D
 
how'd I miss this :D

straight from the D3 :)

 
Back
Top