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NATURAL IMAGE NOISE TESTS
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NATURAL IMAGE NOISE TESTS

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This is a continuation from my DSLR Noise and Image Quality Comparison page. Don't read this until you've read the explanations there.

These are 100% crops from much larger images. These show what happens to minute details as ISO is increased and noise reduction (NR) removes image details along with the noise.

All the crops below are transmitted with extremely high fidelity, so these are large image files. A normal web page should not exceed 50kB. This one exceeds 1MB! This is no problem with modern Internet connections, but my apologies to you folks on dial-up connections. On a phone line it may take several minutes for the entire page to load. Clicking the links to other ISOs should be instantaneous once the page has loaded.

Through a miracle of modern science, click each ISO link and the images will magically appear in the same location. This makes it easy to compare any two ISOs.


ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

Here is our base reference - the only ISO used by others when testing resolution. All cameras are on their best behavior.

My D70 doesn't go down to ISO 100, so instead I stuck a perfect version of the image without Bayer Interpolation. I made this by moving closer and not having to enlarge to 100%.

The 30D looks much brighter than the rest because all the cameras were run at their highest saturation settings, my favorite. The 30D has a wider saturation adjustment range, so the bright orange of our skin fires up in the 30D. If I spent another week doing this I'd set the 30D saturation back down to match the other cameras.

ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

Now we see my D70 for the first time, since it starts at ISO 200. It looks bluer because the D70 has cooler color balance than the other cameras. I always shot my D70 set with warmer WB and added an 81A (A2) filter. I didn't for this test.

The 30D stands out because I have its saturation cranked to beyond the range of the other cameras' saturation settings.

These images look the same as they did at ISO 100. There's no reason not to use ISO 200 as you would ISO 100. It looks the same, except with the point-and-shoot. My SD700 looks a bit ratty.


ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

At ISO 400 I see only the tiniest bit of extra noise. It's not worth worrying about, especially if ISO 400 gives you better depth of field or less motion blur.

The D200, D80, 20D and 30D look the same as they do at lower ISOs.

The D70 is starting to lose some details to NR compared with ISO 400. Again, invisible in real photography but slightly visible in controlled, unreasonably magnified tests like this. The D70 started out with the least resolution among the DSLRs.

My SD700 looks bad, which is typical for a point-and-shoot's tiny sensor.

The 30D stands out because I have its saturation cranked to beyond the range of the other cameras' saturation settings.


ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

At ISO 800 the 20D, 30D, D80 and D200 images are a very little bit softer, a common NR trick. They aren't soft enough to notice except in a controlled test like this. The difference is so small you may not notice it, even here. I see it by clicking beteeen the ISO 100 and ISO 800 links.

My D70 has gotten more soft at ISO 800 than the rest. Again, this would be invisible in real photos.

Noise? What noise? Notice how the degradation in fine detail is more significant than the noise that's left after noise reduction does its thing.

As before, if ISO 800 lets you get a better picture, use it and don't worry on DSLRs. Avoid ISO 800 like the plague with compact cameras like my SD700. My SD700 point-and-shoot looks hideous. Even my wife, a normal person, complains about noise from my SD700 in 4x6" prints at ISO 800.

The 30D stands out because I have its saturation cranked to beyond the range of the other cameras' saturation settings, whoops.


ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

At ISO 1,600 things start to fall apart, at least in this silly test where this photo has been reduced to 140 x 90 pixels and peered at in great detail.

The images from the Nikons are getting a bit blotchy from the combination of NR and noise.

The Canons are just getting softer. Canon uses more NR, so we're losing more of the image's details in exchange for less noise.

Look at a Nikon or Canon image and click back and forth between ISO 100 and ISO 1,600. The Nikon images just get noisier, but not much softer. The Canon images get much softer. Look at the granite, too.

Noise? What noise? Again, noise is minimal and less distracting than the effects of NR. The Nikons have variable NR, so next time I run this test I'll bet you cranking the Nikons to HIGH (as in MENU > SHOOTING > High ISO NR > HIGH) will give much closer results to the Canons.

I prefer the Nikons' sharper images to the Canons' softer ones, but this is personal preference.

The 30D stands out because I have its saturation cranked to beyond the range of the other cameras' saturation settings. Sorry.

The D70 also gets softer. The D70 is the worst here, but it's entitled, since it's the lowest resolution SLR.

The SD 700 can't get to ISO 1,600, so I put in the image from the SD700 at ISO 100 which has about the same amount of noise as the DSLRs do here at ISO 800.


ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

Only my D80 and D200 work at ISO 2,000. The 30D and 20D don't work in third-stop ISOs above ISO 1,600. My D70 and SD700 don't go this high.

I never use third-stop ISOs at normal ISOs because they look the same, and using full-stop clicks lets me adjust them faster.

I included my SD700 set to ISO 200, which looks about as noisy but with less resolution, as the Nikons do at ISO 2,000.


ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

Only my D80 and D200 work at ISO 2,500. The 30D and 20D don't work in third-stop ISOs above ISO 1,600. My D70 and SD700 don't go this high either.

As expected, there is as much noise picked up going from ISO 2,000 to ISO 2,500 than there was from ISO 100 to ISO 1,600.

I included my SD700 set to ISO 200, which looks about as noisy but with less resolution, as the Nikons do at ISO 2,500.


ISO 100    ISO 200    ISO 400   ISO 800   ISO 1,600   ISO 2,000   ISO 2,500   ISO 3,200   back to top

At ISO 3,200 I see the most noise in the D80, however it's also the sharpest. I suspect if I cranked up the NR in the D80, which is as simple as going to MENU > SHOOTING > High ISO NR > HIGH, that it would match the other cameras.

My D200 seems a little less noisy in the actual image, with the same sharpness as the D80.

The Canons are less noisy, but softer, too. Compare the palm trees and the granite between the Canons and Nikons. The Canons are wiping out details along with the noise. This is all negligible except at this huge magnification. The Nikon D80 and D200 both have variable NR, which the Canons don't, so you can dial in your preferred look with them. These shots are all with the Nikons set to Normal NR. It's trivial to get better noise-test scores if you blur the image, which is why I included all these items instead of just a blank card.

The D70 stopped at ISO 1,600 and the SD700 stopped at ISO 800. I had two open spots, so I snuck in shots from the SD700 at ISO 200 and ISO 400 for comparison.

The SD700 at ISO 400 looks worse, noisewise, than any of the DSLRs at ISO 3,200, and the SD700 is a little better than most point-and-shoots at ISO 400.

As always, if you need ISO 3,200 with the DSLRs, use it. Normal people won't notice it - see how much cleaner all of them are than ISO 400 is on a better-than-average pocket camera?


Next: Resolution Chart Images


How I Did These Tests

Summary


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Thanks for reading!

Ken

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