Hairy at ISO 4000

Again, here is a close-up repost to help you view the noise and resolution of this image. It's pushing this image quite a bit but I think it works.

That is pushing it ,but the results are acceptable Good for emergencies
Being soft in the head normally helps a lot to be a nature photographer

Incredible shot with the 7D and the settings used.

Steve, it still amazes me that you can take such wonderful photos with such high ISOs! What type of noise reduction program do you use? Looking at the second post, you can tell that you have pushed the noise reduction up quite a bit and you are starting to loose the clarity of the photo. Still, another great post!

Carlette Bragg

Thank you all for your interesting comments. I'll say more later about this image. However, at this point I just want to be sure that you all realize that the small version repost head view is exactly the same image as the original (small and large version). Any differences you see are either due to more cropping or just magnification.

Maybe a hair soft but very acceptable. Especially at those settings. I've been pondering upgrading and the 7D is one of my options. This helps me see what it's capable of at high ISO and Pretty large crop. Also I woud be interested about the noise reduction as Carlette asked. Is this straight from the camera or was additional NR software used. Any other pro's or con's about the camera you would like to share?
Sorry I dont mean to make this about me fishing for camera info. Great shot.

Looks like I should say more about this image right now. First of all, regarding motivation: I just want to be able to walk around the woods, even on cloudy days, with reasonably light camera equipment and capture good images of birds. High iso potentially means no tripod, no motion blur and a light (relatively inexpensive) lens.

Here is a repost close-up of the original, unprocessed image. This is a tiff image obtained from using software supplied with the camera to convert the raw file with all sharpening and noise reduction in that software turned to zero. You can see that it’s not bad as is. The relatively small aperture and very low exposure time really helped by providing an image that doesn’t need much post processing.

Post processing included noise reduction using “Neat Image”, sharpening using “Sharpener Pro” and noise reduction again at the end using “Dfine”. Applications (this time!) were to the whole image. Sounds like a lot, but it’s fast and if you compare the original with the final product you can judge for yourself how much change was implemented. [Also, I cloned out a distracting branch and tuned exposure a bit too.]

In the image that I posted just previous to this one (“Red-breasted Nuthatch”) you can see the origins of this approach. It’s been thanks to the encouragement, suggestions and very perceptive observations of members on this site that I’ve gotten this far. Of course, development of a suitable procedure is a never-ending effort for me. I consider it part of the fun of being a nature photographer. So, all comments welcome, positive and negative!


P.S.: Regarding this camera. No problems with it so far. It's a real pleasure to use. I hope that these postings do help with purchase decisions. I know that I've been helped in such decisions from postings here. In this case, it would be nice to see someone with a Nikon have a try at high iso image capture too!

Hi Steve, nice shot, in terms of comp I would have liked to see more room on the right and the bottom. In comparing the 2 head images, one which has had nr applied and the other which has not I can see a fair amount of loss of detail (and noise) in the image in which nr has been applied. I don't mean to belabor the point, but again this is why I only apply the nr to the bg or in very light doses to the whole image when there is a lot of noise in the feathers.

Nate, thank you. I will work more on using selective NR. So far the main problems I run into with not applying NR to the bird are (a) some loss in color saturation (noise does more than conceal detail) and (b) the appearance of "hot pixels" of noise that get caught by the sharpening program. Another problem of course is my ability to see image degradation! Anyway, I'll keep trying.

Steve, the head of the bird is quite soft in the larger version, but looks pretty good in the smaller version. To get a usable image from ISO 4000 is a feat in and of itself, but I do think the quality would be much higher under better conditions which would allow a low ISO. You really should not need SS of 1/2000s to get a sharp image of a static subject at 400mm, so it is nice to know you can shoot at such high ISOs, but I would drop it down whenever possible I am sure ISO 400 would look awesome. I really like the painterly BG in this image too.

Quite impressive again - though I agree with what Ron said about it being unnecessary in this situation. I've taken some photos at ISO 3200 with my D300s (comparable in price and specs to the 7D) and the noise was pretty heavy...if you look at my gallery I have a photo of a kayak on a beach that was @ 3200 and I did some noise reduction and sharpening in PS3. I'll try to take more photos at extreme ISO's under cloudy conditions, as when I have shot at high ISOs before, it's been at dusk which I think will have different results.

- Luke

Steve,

In your original post I can see some color noise in the chest of the wp, near the foot, tree trunk and in some of the fluffy white feathers near the tail. That could be caused by using the high ISO and as mentioned I would probably have dialed back to ISO 400 or thereabouts for this shot.

I've shot at ISO 1000 with my D200 and have some decent images taken in that range, but they lack the nicer detail I am used to getting from my camera at lower ISOs and I am a stickler about detail in my images.

I do like the soft & muted background in this image, it looks great with the WP on it. I'd like to see a crop where there is room for the whole bird.

I'm enjoying your testing of the 7D out and sharing the info here, but I won't be switching from Nikon

Steve, I do think it's a little soft in the head. I think at this angle the bird gets a bit lost in the white background--I'd prefer either a view with more of the dark back, or a darker/more colorful background.

Thank you Ron, Luke, Lia and Brian for the additional comments. The question of what exposure time will avoid motion blur is something I'm trying to deal with. Tripod sellers mention that even 1/1000 s is sometimes insufficient to stop camera motion in a hand held shot. So, the guideline of 1/400 s for my 400 mm may not be sufficient even to cancel the effect of my motion. Also, as you all know, our subjects are usually not stationary for long! However, the high burst rate on the 7D should increase the odds of obtaining a sharp shot. More to think about. To be continued. Thank you all again.