Help! D90 has a lot of noise...

[john_schmidt5]

<p>Hello!<br /> I recently got a new D90 and I was using my 18-200vr lens on it and I noticed quite of bit of noise on the pictures coming from it. I've heard that it may be an oversharpening problem so I used the Neutral profile with 0 sharpening in RAW then I set my ISO to 400. I still noticed a fair amount of noise. I was hoping someone could help me troubleshoot the problem...<br>

<br /> Here's an image shot at f7.1 and shutter of 1/40 with VR on, cropped to 100%. <br /> <img src="http://cogent14.com/~ayl/test.jpg" alt="" /><br /> Thanks!</p>

[photo5]

<p>Do you have Active D-Lighting turned on?</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>Could it be a bit of under exposure ? Experiment with compensation and bracket to see if the noise gets smaller or removed with better exposed pictures.</p>

[peterafle]

<p>How does the whole image look? Did you notice any noise issues before you zoomed in to 100%?</p>

[iwong]

<p>Is Auto ISO on and what is the minimum shutter speed set? You may have set ISO manually to 400, but auto ISO could bump it up to whatever value necessary.</p>

[john_schmidt5]

<p>I do have Active D-Lightning turned on. Would that be responsbile for this much noise?</p>

<p>The whole image looks pretty much like this crop. I've noticed it on most of my shots.</p>

<p>The Auto-ISO is turned completely off. <br>

Thanks for all the responses so far!</p>

[StuartMoxham]

<p>How big are you going to print these? The noise will likely not be visible unless you are printing very large.</p>

[peterafle]

<blockquote>

<p>The whole image looks pretty much like this crop. I've noticed it on most of my shots.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br />Just to be clear, I was wondering how the image looks overall at less magnification -- did you look at it on your screen at, say 8x10 size and say "Gee, that's an unacceptably noisy/grainy image!" or did you only spot the noise when you zoomed in to 100%? <br>

Another thought -- if you are shooting RAW/NEF, is there any noise reduction applied to this image at all?<br>

The bottom line is that for a 100% crop, that doesn't look overwhelmingly noisy to me, especially if it's a little underexposed at ISO400. But everyone's line between "OK" and "Too Noisy" is different.</p>

[lukerossknecht]

<p>Don't forget that when you look at a 100% crop it's the equivalent of blowing up the picture to many feet wide. I also recently got a D90 and while it may seem noisy, in fact it's far more useable than say, the D40/70/80, by a stop or two. It's really very easy to clean up in LR.</p>

[lukerossknecht]

<p>Also, IIRC Active d-lighting works by underexposing to protect highlights and then pulling up shadows/darks (which increases noise in those areas).</p>

[ramon_v__california_]

<p>it looks like your D-lighting was the culprit</p>

[luke_kaven]

<p>Active D-lighting or just D-lighting? Using *D-lighting* will try to boost your shadow tones selectively. This will reveal noise, sometimes a lot. I'd recommend you turn it off unless you are salvaging. Same with Active D-Lighting. In fact, I'd recommend you zero out your picture controls, learn to use UniWB (neutral setting, daylight WB at minimum) and get the most out of your camera. </p>

[tony12tt]

<p>John,<br>

speaking strictly from my experience and judgement on the shot you posted, it seems to me that1/40 may be too slow a shutter speed for ISO 400. Of course I dont have a clue what the scene looked like before the shot so Im just guessing. Im using a new D90 as well and try to keep the ISO as low as possible. If I go past 320 it has to be because light is very low. Experiment with the various shutter speeds and ISO combinations. I've seen super clean shots with the D90 and Id hate to think the camera shoots dirty. Just some thoughts, hope they make sense.</p>

[photo5]

<p>Yes, <strong>Active D-Lighting does indeed increase noise</strong> because it operates by reducing exposure at the time of capture. I used to use it but have since turned it off permanently on the camera. If I need D-Lighting I do it in post processing with Nikon Capture NX2.</p>

[luke_kaven]

<p>Definitely agree Active D-Lighting raises the noise level in trade. Was just asking which between DL and ADL was responsible in the OP's case.</p>