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Preview - Nikon D3 and Nikon D300

By Justin Ong, Adrian Chan & Ng Chong Seng - 24 Aug 2007

It's All in the Noise

It's All in the Noise

Recalling the D200 that was launched some 18 months back, one of the disappointments that was most talked was the noise levels at 3200 ISO. Since then, many comparisons had been drawn between the Nikon D200 and the Canon 5D at 3200 ISO, with the Canon 5D receiving most of the votes for ISO performance, as it just performed better at retaining color accuracy and details as ISO increased.

A closer look at the information panel.

Suffice to say, Nikon has solved the noise issue with the D300. Multiple test shots at 1600 ISO and 3200 ISO confirmed that the D300 is able to produce noticeably "cleaner" images without the exponential jump in noise from 1600 ISO to 3200 ISO as seen in the older D200. This is encouraging news granted the D300 we had was a prototype. Full production models should have the same, if not better noise handling capability. The ISO sensitivity ranges from ISO 200 all the way up to ISO 3200 in base mode with a higher stretch to 6400 ISO under the H setting via the multi-selector. Nikon's new feature with the ISO is that you may now alter the ISO to one full stop, in 1/3rd stop increments, above and below the base settings to give you more precise control over the sensitivity of the image sensor.

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