D700 ISO

[Bob_Defly]

Anyone know what ISO you start to see grain on a D700? I know on a D300 you can shoot up to ISO 800 without it getting too grainy, but on portraits you can see grain at ISO 400 quite easily, it needs tidying up in post.

I'm wondering if the larger pixels of the D700 allow higher ISO before ANY grain starts to show?

[K12beano]

Absolutely - same sensor as original D3.

How about a look at dpreview noise tests: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond700/ as a starting point?

[itsnotarace]

Bob_Defly said:

I'm wondering if the larger pixels of the D700 allow higher ISO before ANY grain starts to show?

This largely depends on the size of the image and if you are viewing it close to 1:1, and also the distance you are from the picture.

From messing about with a D700 I can still see noise when viewing at 1:1 even at 800 ISO, it's obviously better than the D300 at ISO800 but that doesn't mean it's noise free

[Gad-Westy]

Depends on an awful lot of variables, one in particular being your exposure.

FWIW I went from D300 to D700 and I would say that ISO 800 on a D300 is somewhere similar to 6400 on a D700, maybe a bit better than that but either way, the difference is huge.

Here's a couple of example shots from when I first got the D700.


ISO 4000 by G.A.D, on Flickr


ISO 6400 by G.A.D, on Flickr


ISO 25600 by G.A.D, on Flickr

[Bob_Defly]

Those are pretty amazing results! I was looking to upgrade from a D300 and can't decide between a D800 or a used D700. I rarely print really big, but do like new toys...

[andy-xr]

I tried to get this point across a while ago, and someone blew me out of the water with a D200 shot that looked better on noise than the D300 I was using.

What I found with the D300, if you want to shoot at high ISO in reasonable or slightly low light, it's great. No noise. Say something like ISO1600 F4, 1/250th - looks good. Soon as there's some deep shadows and you need to create light (or instead of flash) it's not nice. D700 I had I have shots at ISO5000 in not far off darkness and there was noise, but nowhere near as much or as 'jaggedy'. In some cases I added noise in

[Cheib]

I don't think the DX bodies are anywhere close to the D700 from the sample images I have seen....I have a D7000 and whilst it's okay at highish ISO's it's not in the same league as those images above from the D700.

I am going to be watching the second hand market with a lot of interest over the next few months....really fancy picking up an FX body.

[GetCarter]

Bob_Defly said:

Anyone know what ISO you start to see grain on a D700? I know on a D300 you can shoot up to ISO 800 without it getting too grainy, but on portraits you can see grain at ISO 400 quite easily, it needs tidying up in post.

I'm wondering if the larger pixels of the D700 allow higher ISO before ANY grain starts to show?

You'll be amazed. I forgot my D3 was set to 3200 ISO last week (dhead)... didn't even notice looking at the results 1:1

[K12beano]

..... And then there's grain and there's grain.

Nikon's noise is quite pleasant.

Funniest thing is when you find yourself adding grain in PP!