Question about Noise

[Stephane]

I received my D30 last week with the 16 MB card, right now i have a pretty hold laptop so i am waiting for my new computer very soon. All this to say that because of memory reason i don't shoot in RAW mode as we speek and i have been shooting MPG's fine resolution so far. The question is that have been noticing some compretion art effact in my images even at 100 ISO and i was wondering if it should all go away when i will be shooting in RAW mode with a workflow applyed to the images?

thank you in advance for your help.
Stephane

[oops]

In my experience, trying to shoot .jpg on the D30, while possible, does not result in the best that the D30 can produce. It will, however, result in very nice images compared to most digital cameras.

You say you have a old laptop. Even new laptops are not the best way to view your images. You may be getting all sorts of strange effects on your images because you are using a laptop and especially an OLD laptop. Your actual images may be magnificient but you can't see it. Try loading an image to a floppy and viewing on another computer. Also, be sure to check the settings on your display. Right click your desktop, go to "settings", and see what your display is capable of producing. If it isn't at least 24 bit, no wonder you see artifacts. 16 bit is horrible and may be all your laptop can do.

Now, to your most important question. If you shoot RAW, have PhotoShop v.6 where you can apply a good sharpening action (I assume you have followed the Linear Sharpen threads), have paid attention to focus and histogram displays, the D30 will absolutely take your breath away if you have a computer that will show what you actually have. Trust me.

If you havn't followed the threads, just post back here when you get your new computer and we will step you through it, no problem. 8)

If you can't afford or don't have Photoshop v.6, that is ok, too. Just indicate what you have and how much you need to know and somebody (probably several) members will give you some tips.

Good Luck,

Chris

[soumya63]

Are you shooting with slow shutter speed (less than 1 sec)? D30 generates noise at slow shutter speed especially visible at the darker areas. You can however eleminate this by enabling Custom Function 1 (Long exposure noise reduction).

JPG compression will provide a blocky pixilation effect, visible only at 1:1 or more magnification, but that will not look like noise. So probably it is your laptop LCD screen. Why not try to see the output on your TV screen till you get your new PC?

Also try to shoot a uniformly lit and colored surface like blue sky, white sheet of paper etc. Do you still see the noise? It will also show if your camera has any dust on the CMOS sensor.