Higher ISO

[mindforge]

I love the d90 and I don't know how the d80 performed but the d90 is amazing at 3200. I never regret having to crank up my ISO. I would rather do other things first but in the past when I had to risk noise over getting the shot I wanted I always turned to flash. I never turn to flash now. I literally only use flash on bright days now or in the studio. I can't wait till I get my D3 or D3x - not sure which one right now.

[Ben H]

I can't wait till I get my D3 or D3x - not sure which one right now.

If you don't know whether you need the D3x, then get the D3 imo.

Decent resolution, fast camera. The D3x is much slower, the filesizes are bigger (hence you computing/post-processing will take longer and use more computer resources) and do you *really* need the godzilla-like mega-giga-woppa-pixels..?

[edbayani11]

do you think we can ever get rid of noise completely? it's like film, higher iso, more grain. i think it is better to have a good picture even with noise than a bad picture with no noticeable noise.

[jjeling]

Ok, I do not hesitate to take an image at 800 iso. Rarely will I go up to 1600. To me that is just desperation and would only use such a high speed if I am forced to. Knowing there will be thousands upon thousands of shots coming from my camera, if the noise is even a question I throw it into the 'almost' folder. Its the folder of images that are good, but just don't make great. To me, if there is one thing that ruins a picture, its noise. Noise to me is really only acceptable in black and white images for added effects. It takes away any depth the picture might have and is generally used at the lowest f-stop because light is needed. How many images has anyone seen that are considered great, with noise in them? Generally the only ones I can remember are pre digital, and are about 40 years old. As far as getting rid of noise completely, I would love to see what happens in the new Sony HD camera. It is 24 megapixels. That is HUGE! A higher megapixel sensor inherently will have more noise but I am not so sure in this case. Anyways, that is just my take on things.

[Ben H]

Having come from a P&S with dreadfull noise performance (dreadfully bad at 200, unusable at 400) I was initially hesitant to go up on my new DSLR, and wouldn't go above 400, until I bit the bullet and did some tests to work out what I was and wasn't acceptable on my camera.

I recommend doing this. Now I will bump to 800 without worrying about it, and I will go 1600 if I need to and the images aren't super important. I always have the option of tackling some of this noise in camera and/or in post.

[Barefoot]

I love the d90 and I don't know how the d80 performed but the d90 is amazing at 3200. I never regret having to crank up my ISO. I would rather do other things first but in the past when I had to risk noise over getting the shot I wanted I always turned to flash. I never turn to flash now. I literally only use flash on bright days now or in the studio. I can't wait till I get my D3 or D3x - not sure which one right now.

I'll echo those thoughts. I love the D90 and find it an amazing camera for the price. Not ready to move up to the D3 just yet as the D90 still hasn't finished teaching me.

Do you ever travel over to The Nikonians website and have a listen to their podcast by The Image Doctors? Great stuff for the Nikon shooter. It can be subscribed to in iTunes as well.

[Travis]

When having to increase ISO one of the tricks is to be aggressive with it(raw shooters). Try to keep the shadows and lowlights as far right on the histogram as possible (without clipping hightlights). More tonal data is available on the right side of the histogram. Then adjust back down in post.

Sometimes people are too afraid to push the ISO and end up with combined noise from an underexposed image and increased SNR from the ISO amplification.

Experiment with overexposing your high iso shots (without clipping). You will be pleased.

[tomorrowstreasures]

Yup ISO 640 is the max IMO. The noise becomes noticeable (to me anyway) at ISO 800. Noise reduction software helps A LOT.

Which software do you recommend? No matter how nice the shot, digital noise KILLS a shot - unless artistically intended! This is what I have to deal
with :

[Ben H]

That's pretty bad. My 450D is *way* better than that even at ISO1600...

Is that taken with your 40D? Should have the same noise performance as mine more or less...

[tomorrowstreasures]

I think at this time in the ceremony, I was using the 5D... I think i will go hunt down the original files to see the data... brb with uploads - i hope!