Noise with D70s at 1000 ISO

<p>I have been attempting to shoot pictures at my daughter's swim lessons without flash. Today I shot with my D70s at ISO 800 and ISO 1000. The shots at 800 looked ok, but at 1000 there was a lot of noise. A week earlier I shot with my D60 at 1600 (slower lens) and again there was a lot of noise. Would any of the newer models handle the higher ISO without as much noise?</p>

<p>The D3, D700, D300(s), D90, and D5000 are all very good at high ISO, esp. the D3(s) and D700.<br>

D5000: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond5000/page16.asp<br>

D700: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/NikonD700/page17.asp</p>

<p>The D5000 should be similar to the D300 and D90, while the D700 should be similar to the D3 in terms of noise.</p>

<p>The D90 or D300 would indeed be cleaner at 1600. The main thing is to not underexpose. That noise is always most evident in the shadows.<br /><br />But: what lens(es) are you using? Because it may be that the best move (for now, and because it won't go bad!) would be to faster glass. If you're shooting with a kit lens at, say, f/5.6, you'll be pulling in way, way more light if you can lay hands on a lens that will open up to f/2.8. It may be that something like an 85/1.8 would change your entire experience ... since it would allow you to raise that shutter speed <em>and</em> lower that ISO. Speculating, of course, without hearing about your current lens rig.</p>

<p>it would be cheaper to process pics through noise ninja or a similar program than to get a D3s for your daughters' swim team pics.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>What you are describing is consistent with what I would expect from the D70s. Noise reduction at high ISOs is something that has been improved upon with newer cameras. I shot this yesterday at ISO 3200 on my D700 at dive practice. It's not a great photo and if blown up you would see more noise than you see here, but you if should give you a feel fro what's possible.</p>

<p>Here is the ISO 3200 shot.<br />http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp147/Zhetiga/3200.jpg<br /> Here is the ISO 5000 shot.<br />http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp147/Zhetiga/5000.jpg<br /> <br /> Both with 70-300mm AF-S VR lens.</p>

<p>John, you need to upload the file after you submit the text.</p>

<p>/edit/</p>

<p>[okay - seems to be a forum error. My upload fails too. Maybe the image is too big for the forum.]</p>

<p>Couldn't get normal uploads to work...</p>

<p>Server errors.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the responses so far. Today I was shooting with a nikon 70-210 fixed F4 lens. Last week I was shooting with a Nikon 70-300 vr (4.5-5.6). I'm considering picking up a Sigma 150mm 2.8 lens for macro, but it would also help in low light.<br>

My daughters are into indoor sports/activities that often must be shot without flash (dance, swimming, piano). I really like my D70s, but I'm wondering if it would make sense to upgrade to the D90 for better low light performance. The D90 seems to be going for about $780 these days.<br>

I've never used a program to reduce noise. How do they work if you are shooting RAW?</p>

<p>I have no problem uploading an image. Perhaps you guys can try again.</p><div></div>

<p>The D60 has similar sensor technology as the D200, D80, D40X and the current D3000. If you move up to the D5000 or D90, you can gain approximately one stop. I am not sure it is that worthwhile. If you want even better high ISO results, you'll have to move up to FX for a lot more money.</p>

<p>I think Matt Laur's suggestion to get faster lenses would be a more effective approach, but you will lose auto focus on the D60 with some lenses.</p>

<p>I have used my D70s for photographing my son's indoor swim meets using a Nikon 70-210 f4-5.6 AF-S with much difficulty without a flash. There just isn't enough light and, as you have found, high ISO is very noisy. A flash makes a huge difference. The only problem is that some meets don't allow flash. Most do but NOT at the start as they start the heats with a strobe. Also, the D70s has difficulty locking focus under these low light conditions. </p>

<p>For outdoor meets, the D70s works ok but still has difficulty focusing. It tends to get confused with the foreground splashing. I borrowed a friend's D200 and used it with my lens and it worked great. It tracks focus even with my screw drive lens very confidently. I felt like I couldn't miss a shot. However, for indoor, the D200 will also have considerable noise.</p>

<p>Here is the take away:</p>

<p>The D90 has the same AF sensor as the D200 which is very good.<br>

If you use the older screw drive lenses, the D100, D200 and D300 have a higher torque AF motor than the D70s, D80 or D90 and will have better control over the lens. </p>

<p>If you use AF-S lenses then it doesn't matter since the AF motor is in the lens. A D90 will serve very well. Or a D5000 if you only use AF-S lenses.</p>

<p>The D90, D5000 and D300 use the same CMOS sensor (i believe) and will have much lower noise at higher ISO than the D70s.<br>

Good Luck<br>

Stan</p>

<p>for one stop of ISO it probably makes more sense to get a better lens more suited for sports first, unless there are other considerations as to why you'd get a new body. you also get a brighter viewfinder with a 2.8 lens, which helps in framing shots.</p>

<p>since you're using one body without a focus motor (d60), you need a sports lens with a silent wave motor or equivalent. that kind of rules out the 80-200 nikon af-d. if you have the cash, you can get the 70-200 VR II, but for that outlay, you could upgrade your camera and the lens.</p>

<p>also, sports and macro lenses are generally mutually exclusive. the sigma 150 is well-regarded as a macro lens, but its AF speed is slower than sigma's other HSM-enabled 2.8 zooms. i would think it would be pretty limiting to use a prime for a sport like swimming unless you have multiple bodies with pro glass.</p>

<p>i've gotten good results with action stuff with the sigma 50-150/2.8, which goes for about the same price as the sigma 150. if you need more reach there's the sigma 70-200 HSM, which also has 1:3 macro, and is not quite as sharp as the 50-150. that one is also Fx compatible...</p>

<p>if i were you i'd invest in a good lens and wait for the D3s' high-ISO performance to trickle down to a d300-sized body. if you start saving now you might be able to buy one when they're released.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>you can get the sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 and you will get excellent results with a D70s. the D70s will perform well with any f/2.8 lens. as mentioned above, that might be a good route to go. that way when you upgrade to a better camera, you already have a very good lens.</p>

<p>i believe that the D90 is a big upgrade from a D70s.</p>

 

<p>What is "a lot of noise?" I shot lots of photos with my original D70 at 1600 iso. When well exposed the noise was not a problem. Here's a shot of one of our cats at 1600 with the D70.</p><div></div>

<p>Here's a 100% crop</p><div></div>

<p>I guess my question is if you are shooting in raw and if so, what raw conversion program are you using. If you are shooting jpgs, you will have more problems with noise, of course. I use ACR in CS4 here and make sure the chroma noise is minimized, but not the luminance noise. </p>

<p>I also shoot a D70s at 1600 with a Sigma 50-150 and Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4, and with proper exposure, get very acceptable results.</p>

<p>I've used my D70s with the Nikon 70-210 f4 constant at 1600 in poor light with the lens fully open, and have been pleasantly surprised with the results. Indeed, the outcome has often been rather brighter and clearer than I could see with the naked eye! Generally, noise has not been a major issue.</p>

<p>Mervyn</p>

<p>If you are willing to shoot RAW and do some post processing on your computer, your D70 can produce noise free ISO 1600 and even ISO 3200 images while retaining very good detail. There are numerous software programs available to handle this task.</p>

<p>There are numerous stand-alone programs that will do a good job or reducing noise from your JPG files although you will loose a small amount of detail from your files. For 8x 10 and smaller prints, this will not be an issue.</p>

<p>If you are strictly a JPG shooter and want noise free out-of-the-camera files, there are many choices as detailed above.</p>

<p>Download the trial version of neat image and give it a try on your pictures.</p>

<p>i also use d70s, what i am not satisified is the iso and dymics range, you can upgrade to d3s, iso 6400 is also same as 800 on d70s, but too expensive, it costs 30000 RMB in china......</p>