Noise levels - D7000 and D600

<p>I was out with a photographer friend of mine the other week, his work is very good so I tend to take what he says at face value. He is using a D700 and told me he would use ISO's up to 6400 and still have usable images that didn't look waxy after cranking up the noise reduction. This all based on a good exposure obviously.</p>

<p>I was surprised at this as I would get anywhere near that with my D7000. So my question is how much better are higher ISO's on the D600 compared to the D7000, especially interested if you upgraded from a D7000?</p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I can only confirm that with a good exposure, and not too much pixel-peeping, you can get perfectly fine ISO 6400 photos from a D700. I'd expect the D7000 to be ~1/2 stop behind (so OK up to ISO 4000 somewhere), while the D600 will probably be a bit better than the D700. My guestimate: you win about a stop.<br>

But, frankly I am suprised you cannot get near with the D7000. From all I've seen (not owning one myself, though), it can comfortably do ISO 3200 without need for excessive noise reduction and the consequent plastic look. It could be helpful to understand, though, how your friend judges noise, and how you do. Some people are more "sensitive" to it than others, so to speak.</p>

<p>The one thing DxO is good for is sensor performance. If you <a href="http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/%28appareil1%29/834|0/%28brand%29/Nikon/%28appareil2%29/680|0/%28brand2%29/Nikon/%28appareil3%29/441|0/%28brand3%29/Nikon">compare the three cameras</a>, you'll see the D700 is a stop better than the D7000 and the D600 is another 1/2 stop better than the D700.</p>

<p>Thanks Wouter, due to my processing style I sometimes lift the blacks in the shadow areas, not too much but enough to introduce some levels of noise on certain pictures, I can see this sometimes at ISO 800. This is the particular area of interest to me and I am being picky ;)</p>

<p>Thanks Bruce I will take a look at that.</p>

<p>In my Nikon D600 first-impression review: http://www.photo.net/reviews/nikon/d600-first-impressions-review, I have a D600 @ ISO 6400 image sample:</p>

<P>

<IMG SRC="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/16478152-lg.jpg">

</P>

<BR>

<BR>

<p>And below I am attaching a D7000 ISO 6400 image sample. You'll be the judge. Please keep in mind that while I captured both images at the same location, there were from different days. The lighting was certainly not the same, and people there had rearranged the furniture between those days.</p><div></div>

<p>It depends on your criteria for deciding whether an image is good, but I'd say that any of those cameras is quite capable of making a good image at 6400.</p>

<p>Of the two photos above, either would make a paying customer happy.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>I think you always have to bear in mind that the exposure <em>time</em> used affects the amount of noise a lot. If you just pump up the ISO in good light and get shutter speeds of 1/2000th of a second or so, the impression of noise is going to be much less than if you're in really dark conditions using a shutter time of several seconds - all other things being equal.</p>

<p>Looking at Shun's examples above; to be honest I far prefer the luminance noise of the D7000 over the heavy chroma noise of the D600. However, as Shun says, the shooting conditions weren't the same so it's probably not an entirely fair comparison. That D7000 luminance noise could easily be smoothed away with a mild despeckle filter, but the D600's chroma noise would take a bit more blurring to get rid of completely.</p>

<p>Well I would take the D600, that's the kind of result I would expect on the D7000. If you applied a noise reduction on that picture you would lose quite a bit of detail in the fabric. This might matter on a greatly enlarged print. Thanks for the example Shun, although I know the lighting was not identical for both shots.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Dpreview has comparisons available. Go here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/12">http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/12</a> and select the D600 as one of the other cameras to compare noise levels.</p>

<p>To compare images go here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/19">http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/19</a></p>

<p>and here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/21">http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond7000/21</a></p>

<p>and select the D600 as one of the other cameras.</p>

 

<p>I'm curious... how fast an ISO is enough? People's opinions seem to change every time a new camera comes out. It seems to me that if you are forced to shoot at 6400, the lighting is going to probably suck anyway.</p>

<p>I have been to a number of dimly lit restaurants where I can easily need the combination of ISO 6400, f2 and perhaps 1/50 sec. With a 85mm lens on FX, 1/50 sec is not at all a "safe" shutter speed.</p>

<p>In other words, ISO 6400 and 12800 can be necessary. Otherwise, I would have to use flash, and that would produce very different images.</p>

<p>Moreover, if you shoot night or indoor sports and you need 1/1000 sec to freeze the motion. Even though you have a 70-200mm/f2.8 or 300mm/f2.8, you can easily need very high ISO when you are not allowed to use flash. Therefore, ISO 12800 available on the D3S and D4 are certainly not too high if you need to shoot under those dim conditions.</p>

<p>Stephen I have lived in the sunny Carolina's for the past 5 years, now being back in London with the gloomy light of Winter it's a very different ball game, more and more I am having to pump up the ISO and this is in the daytime, which is my reason for posting this topic really.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Just by chance, shortly after I had posted at 9:45pm EST last night (unlike Simon, I currently live in California, so it was actually 6:45pm for me), we went to dinner at a local Cheese Cake Factory (a US restaurant chain), and I captured the following image at the restaurant.</p>

<p>That restaurant turns out to be really dark inside. So I ended up using the D800E at its top ISO 6400, and my 85mm/f1.4 was wide open at f1.4 and my shutter speed was only 1/40 sec. Other than cropping it a bit, I did not alter this image at all, and I am including the histogram from LightRoom. I think it is quite clear that it was underexposed. Therefore, I could have easily used another 2, 3 more stops of high-ISO capability to get my shutter speed up to 1/100 sec for hand holding my 85mm lens.</p>

<p>Back in the "old days" with at most ISO 400 print film, I would have no choice but to use a flash under this same environment.</p><div></div>

<p>Shun,<br>

that's the kind of pictures I love: candids of your loved ones, captured being themselves...I treasure those moments...thanks for sharing!</p>