To noise reduce or not to noise reduce?

[brett_shama]

I am new to the DSLR world and I have just bought the D40 w/18-135mm lens. I a

hobbiest and not much more, but as a creative professional who works with video

I am obsessed with getting the best possible image that my equipment allows. So...

 

Within the camera settings I can opt for "Noise Reduction" (which comes in the

OFF position), as well as "Dust off Ref Photo". Should these be on or off, and

if that depends on my environment than which environments would I use either

setting in?

[ronald_moravec1]

If you have Nikon NX software, the program will correct sensor dust imperfections. For that you need the reference photo.

 

Noise reduction is best handled in a photo editing program. If you do not want to get into that, and you use high ISO settings, let the camera do it.

Cheap easy noise reduction, will soften the pictures some. There are better ways to do it that do not significantly soften the image.

[michael_kuhne]

I thought that noise reduction control is only activated for very long exposures!!?

[geoffs]

The noise reduction option is for long exposures.The image takes twice as long to show once taken as the in-camera reduction takes as long to complete as the original exposure.

Leave it switched off if taking exposures less than three seconds long.

 

Ive never bothered with Dust off Ref.My opinion is its better to keep the sensor clean,by using swabs or not to worry about dust as its often not seen unless small apertures are used.

[enriquegonzales]

I'm not sure about the D40 but on my D80 I have two types of noise reduction. There's High ISO NR (which I think can be replicated in Capture NX) and Long Exposure NR (which can't be replicated). If you shoot RAW and have Capture NX you can decide later what you think of high ISO noise reduction. If you shoot long exposures though I usually find it's best to use LE NR. It does double the time to process each exposure in the camera though.

 

I tend not to use much NR though so I'll let the pros give you more info on software options.

[hans_janssen]

For high isoos I use DxO 5 as RAW converter, try a free trial, you will be surprised....

[elliot1]

If you don't want to do post processing, turn noise reduction on.

[markko]

You should take multiple shots with NR on and off and see what you think. Get prints

made, don't rely on your monitor. Your camera should be like every other Nikon.

There is a high-iso NR and a long exposure NR. I use neither but I prefer grain to

smeared details.

 

I haven't tried the dust ref feature. Personally, I find the healing brush in Photoshop

really easy to use.

[nsfbr]

For me personally, I've found that using NX to do noise reduction is the ONLY way to

do it, though ymmv. Since most of the offensive noise in both my D70s and my D300

(though at vastly different ISOs) is Chroma noise, I use the noise reduction function

set to different Chroma and Luma percentages. Depending on the setup I'm using, it is

something like 30% for Luminance, with the Chroma at 100%.

 

I've also found the using NX's ability to use the paint brush to select only certain areas

is very useful. I typically only use noise reduction on areas with low detail content,

such as out of focus regions.