JPEG Posterization (was: D300 - Terrible banding in dark areas - False Alarm)

[indraneel]

<p>another example at 100%. original on top, picture control neutral at bottom.</p><div></div>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Paul,<br>

I guess I must have missed it.... Sorry</p>

[c_o1]

<p>Comments from the moderator in this post remind me of why I will never pay a dime for looking at this website. </p>

[jphotog]

<p>Tommy,</p>

<p>I can clearly see the posterization (banding) and a lot of noise/artifacts, especially in the shadow areas. It looks quite awful.</p>

<p>My guess is that it is a combination of high ISO and D-Lightening/Sharpening working hard. In conditions with low light and slow zoom lenses you have to accept lower quality. I suggest shooting difficult lightening conditions in RAW, turning off at least the in-camera sharpening and doing some post work. A faster lens would help both image quality and reduce motion blurr.</p>

<p>I agree with Indraneel, Capture NX2 is great working with these kind of pictures.</p>

<p>I am surprised that several people can not see these problems. Perhaps, you should do something about your monitor settings. Especially those who are publishing tests of cameras and lenses.</p>

<p>Hope this may be of some help,</p>

<p>Jonas</p>

<p> </p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Tommy,<br>

now in the dark I can clearly see what you're talking about. Again as we've already established it's posterisation & an effect I have seen now & then out of both Nikon & Canon cameras. It is however not the other mentioned issue.<br>

It comes out of a combination of issues & is not the camera but rather the light situation along with post processing. Noise reduction will make it better as will reducing the sharpening.<br>

Good luck</p>

 

[oskar_ojala]

<p>JPEG is called a <strong>lossy</strong> compression for a reason. Although it's not that bad, the area could be darkened still and it would be dark enough not to be obvious at all.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Comments from the moderator in this post remind me of why I will never pay a dime for looking at this website.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Interesting...could you elaborate a bit?</p>

[BelaMolnar]

<p>You mast have some problem with your monitor. I seeing this on a iBook G4 and everything is o.k.</p>

[martyphotoarts]

<p>What you are describing shows up very clearly on my monitor, and further, I have experienced the same thing at higher ISO levels (even at 800). Even using fast lenses. I don't understand why people get defensive and seem to take even the mere suggestion that the camera is producing less than great results as a personal affront. Are some of you doing R&D for Nikon or what?</p>

[indraneel]

<p>The problem is worse when images are resized down. I guess lesser pixels mean a less smooth gradient. Probably edge sharpening will have a similar effect. Vincent Versace in his capture NX DVD series uses fine monochrome grain to "break up" these blotches.</p>

[walterh]

<p>It might be worth noting that one should first calibrate a monitor (or at least properly adjust a monitor) before commenting on "issues" and "problems".</p>

 

[nsfbr]

<p>So the problem as I see it is that you were using Active D-Lighting at ISO 1600, while shooting jpg. What happened is that areas that were down at the very lowest 8 bit number values were boosted up by the ADL to the point where they were visible, and banded. I wouldn't shoot at ISO 1600 + ADL + jpg under any circumstances, let alone in ones with large flat dark areas.</p>