I've yet to try 800iso on my d2h, and after reading various horror stories, i decided i ought to spend a day shooting at this rating {even though the conditions didn't require it}.
After tracking down a small group of these chaps, i managed enough frames to satisfy my curiosity.
Personally, i'm quite pleased with the results, and feel it is very similar to 400iso on my D70, and therefore very usable if needed {for my purposes}.
An extremely dodgy shot, as it is full of clutter/ annoying boulders, and a bit tight at the bottom, but its put my mind at ease with regards to noise, and i shall keep it until i track down a similar 'roosting' shot in a more photogenic situation.
D2h
400mm
1.6 tc
800iso
'NO' noise ninja
full frame
Alan
Posted by Rob Howard on November 6, 2007 at 3:01 PM
Hi Alan,
Nice shot. Whilst there is visible noise, it's not that obvious to worry about, Anyway I think with these modern day camera's and noise reduction software, I think noise 100% spoiling an image is a thing of the past.
Regards
Rob
Posted by Graeme Lee on November 6, 2007 at 3:50 PM
I've certainly seen worse Alan at lower ISO's as well. I think if you shot at high ISO and got your metering really wrong, the ISO noise would be more apparent and the image les resue-able, but here it looks as though your exposure was really good and any noise is marginal (on my monitor) and it's an image that very useable..nice shot
Posted by Andy Astbury on November 6, 2007 at 5:51 PM
Hi Alan, looks good
My experience with the D2xs says the same; it's great to use at 800 as long as two conditions are met 1. plenty of light, and 2. No cropping (though landscape to portrait format seems to be okay-ish).
The nikon chips show really bad noise in both dark and OoF areas but even at H1 in good light I get some really crisp images when resizing for web.
But for producing saleable full sized tiffs the thought of even touching 400 iso on my present body fills me with dread
This high ISO noise is interesting subject in itself. I just finished work on 35 mm scan from ISO 100 film and man that's some grain! So in a sense of film days, you know Alan that there is a quality of grain not only size of it that's important. And your photo doesn't look bad at all.
Cheers,
Marko
Posted by Mark Sisson on November 7, 2007 at 3:51 AM
If the conditions need it I always push the ISO - I've sold images at 1600 and they've looked fine.
This is nice light here and a tidy looking image too.
Mark
Posted by John Varley on November 7, 2007 at 2:41 PM
Looks pretty clean to me Alan, mind you on a web sized image noise has got to be pretty bad to be noticeable. I use iso800 a lot for my birdy stuff and as long as I get the exposure spot on, noise is not much of a problem. Good noise reduction software such as NeatImage is very effective - if needed. Applied selectively to a pic one can ensure that essential detail isn't lost.
You've caught a beautiful pose, to me the only thing that spoils it is the rock? in the right hand corner. The lighting lifts the bird so nicely out of the seaweed that I don't think it distracts at all,rather it gives context.
Discussion
6 repliesAfter tracking down a small group of these chaps, i managed enough frames to satisfy my curiosity.
Personally, i'm quite pleased with the results, and feel it is very similar to 400iso on my D70, and therefore very usable if needed {for my purposes}.
An extremely dodgy shot, as it is full of clutter/ annoying boulders, and a bit tight at the bottom, but its put my mind at ease with regards to noise, and i shall keep it until i track down a similar 'roosting' shot in a more photogenic situation.
D2h
400mm
1.6 tc
800iso
'NO' noise ninja
full frame
Alan
Nice shot. Whilst there is visible noise, it's not that obvious to worry about, Anyway I think with these modern day camera's and noise reduction software, I think noise 100% spoiling an image is a thing of the past.
Regards
Rob
My experience with the D2xs says the same; it's great to use at 800 as long as two conditions are met 1. plenty of light, and 2. No cropping (though landscape to portrait format seems to be okay-ish).
The nikon chips show really bad noise in both dark and OoF areas but even at H1 in good light I get some really crisp images when resizing for web.
But for producing saleable full sized tiffs the thought of even touching 400 iso on my present body fills me with dread
Cheers,
Marko
This is nice light here and a tidy looking image too.
Mark
You've caught a beautiful pose, to me the only thing that spoils it is the rock? in the right hand corner. The lighting lifts the bird so nicely out of the seaweed that I don't think it distracts at all,rather it gives context.