Posted by John Neukirch on January 1, 2013 at 7:03 PM
I was wondering what the consensus is from all you D300 users out there regarding the camera's high ISO nr feature. Do you use it or have it set to the off position? If you're using it for higher ISOs what setting (Low, Normal, High) do you find works the best in the 800-2400 range? 3200 and above?
Thanks!
John
Posted by Richard Ditch on January 1, 2013 at 7:26 PM
Both my D300's have NR set to OFF. I'll go as high as ISO 1600 with decent results and rarely have to apply NR in post processing. And since I shoot in raw (not jpeg) and process in ACR and Photoshop (not Nikon Capture) I think that any NR settings in camera don't get applied to the image anyway.
The key to minimizing noise with the D300 (and all cameras) is proper exposure so you don't have to increase exposure in raw conversion or other post processing steps. Plus avoiding severe cropping. And finally using the minimum amount of sharpening and only on the subject (so avoiding blur and getting focus spot on is also important).
If you do end up with annoying noise in the smooth areas of the image then selectively apply the minimum amount of NR with a photoshop plugin like NoiseWare or Noise Ninja.
Posted by Luke Ormand on January 1, 2013 at 7:42 PM
I have the D300s and it's quite similar to the D300 - I agree with what Richard has to say. However, It's my understanding that the High NR only applies itself to jpeg's and the in-camera jpeg display during playback. It has no effect on RAW images. Anything beyond 1600 is useless basically with my experience. With spot-on exposure though you can do ISO 1000 or 1600 and get away with it. See my most recent image which was shot at ISO 1000 and used no noise reduction
Posted by John Neukirch on January 1, 2013 at 8:45 PM
Thanks for the information guys. I have always had it set to OFF. A few days ago I switched it to Normal to see if I could notice a difference. Since I shoot RAW however I have switched it back off.
Thanks again!
Posted by Dan Roberts on January 1, 2013 at 11:55 PM
Ditto what others have said. OFF and do NR selectively in post. I read somewhere (Hogan?) that NR is hardcoded into the camera firmware for ISO above 640.
NR is one thing that has always amazed me. One would think that no one would understand the noise characteristics of a given camera better than the manufacturer. And yet after market software consistently does a better job than either in camera NR or manufacturer's software. Strange.
Posted by Rick Diffley on January 14, 2013 at 9:07 PM
Confirm what has been set. I never go above ISO 1200. Nik software Dfine works very well for removing any noise.
Posted by Dan Roberts on January 15, 2013 at 8:52 PM
Re-reading this thread, one caution regarding camera NR setting and NEF files. NR does not get applied to the RAW image IF you use a third party RAW converter. If you use Nikon ViewNX or Capture NX to export a tiff or jpeg, then all of the in-camera settings DO get applied to the conversion.
Discussion
6 repliesThanks!
John
The key to minimizing noise with the D300 (and all cameras) is proper exposure so you don't have to increase exposure in raw conversion or other post processing steps. Plus avoiding severe cropping. And finally using the minimum amount of sharpening and only on the subject (so avoiding blur and getting focus spot on is also important).
If you do end up with annoying noise in the smooth areas of the image then selectively apply the minimum amount of NR with a photoshop plugin like NoiseWare or Noise Ninja.
Thanks again!
NR is one thing that has always amazed me. One would think that no one would understand the noise characteristics of a given camera better than the manufacturer. And yet after market software consistently does a better job than either in camera NR or manufacturer's software. Strange.