Noise at high ISO canon vs Nikon

[dbiggs]

Just for ciourisity has anybody used a NIkon like the D70S at hight ISO like 800 and above and how do do VS canon 20D? I Have used a D70 for a few min here and thier but always in good light and never tried with high ISO.

[adas]

A friend of mine has the D70s. At high iso is noisy, much noisier than the 350D, but the real problem is the blooming, when bright lights are in the shot like sun, spot lights etc. It draws huge ellipses with jaggied edges around those lights.

[Emjay]

Yes, the noise with the D-70 is supposedly higher than the Canon 20-D .... i bought the 20D over the D70 because of it's great low light capability (ISO 3200 with very little noise), and for it's speed capability.

[gugu]

how about the D50 vs 350D?

[convergent]

I owned and use the D70 and D2H before I switched to Canon. One of the factors that motivated the move was low light high ISO, specifically when shooting natural light indoor sports. Truthfully, you can accomplish nearly the same end result with Nikon if you are using something like Noise Ninja to scrub the files. It has a batch mode that makes it pretty easy to do, but it is an extra workflow step and I like to streamline that. I was able to capture usable images at 1600 and 3200 with the D2H, and it is more likely to get noise than the D70. Both of them, however, did a lot better if you nailed the exposure. If you were off just a little on the exposure, and shooting high ISO... you paid dearly. I think the D70s is a little better.

None of them compare with the 20D and 1DM2 for out of camera 1600 and 3200 ISO. I shoot 1600 ISO more than anything else, during the winter for indoor sports. I don't even think about it. I just sold $85 worth of prints today to a customer... all were ISO1600, and all I had to do was crop them and apply mild USM and they went to the printer and out the door. This is the kind of workflow I need ... shoot jpeg, get the wb and exposure right when you shoot, make a few mild tweaks in PS, and then print.

[Transonic]

I owned a D70 before I moved to my 20D. I do notice differences is the bodies here & there but when it came to noise the D70 was noticably noiser at ISO 800+... at least to me. To the average Joe they might not notice the difference but I did. Even in the daytime I came across occasional noise in shadowy areas but it was nothing a little Noise Ninja couldn't fix.

[lostdoggy]

Oh No
Another
Canon vs Nikon

To be fair:
20D/30D vs D200
XT vs D70
?? vs D50

There was link a few month ago where a Pro wrote a long article on this issue. A long time Nikon user buying a Canon for low light use.

[Ocean Blue]

There are some good iso noise comparisons on www.dcresouce.com (always the same shot comparing the noise as the ISO range works upward); my experience with Nikon DSLRs is limited to a brief time with a D50. I saw very low noise on that camera at high ISO, which was consistent with a review I read in popular photography (www.popphoto.com) noting that the D50 and D2x had excellent image quality across the ISO range and I've read elsewhere that the noise on that 6 mp sensor is less than that used on the D70s. Meanwhile, even though the d200 is a bit of a baby D2x with it's weather sealed body, higher-end auto focus system, etc., it's reported by folks like www.DPreview.com to have more noise with its 10.x mp sensor than the D2x has with its 12.x mp sensor; although pop photog's review noted "shockingly low noise" so it's not clear if there's a consensus. The upshot, when it comes to noise within a single brand, it depends on the specific body.

[lostdoggy]

Originally Posted by Ocean Blue

There are some good iso noise comparisons on www.dcresouce.com (always the same shot comparing the noise as the ISO range works upward); my experience with Nikon DSLRs is limited to a brief time with a D50. I saw very low noise on that camera at high ISO, which was consistent with a review I read in popular photography (www.popphoto.com) noting that the D50 and D2x had excellent image quality across the ISO range and I've read elsewhere that the noise on that 6 mp sensor is less than that used on the D70s. Meanwhile, even though the d200 is a bit of a baby D2x with it's weather sealed body, higher-end auto focus system, etc., it's reported by folks like www.DPreview.com to have more noise with its 10.x mp sensor than the D2x has with its 12.x mp sensor; although pop photog's review noted "shockingly low noise" so it's not clear if there's a consensus. The upshot, when it comes to noise within a single brand, it depends on the specific body.

Nikon uses alot of in camera Noise reduction.

[adas]

Originally Posted by gugu

how about the D50 vs 350D?

The price paid by the D50 for its low noise at higher ISO is the softer images, compared to a 6Mp crop of the 350D. Needless to say the full 8Mp.
Low contrasted fine detail will make the difference between the two cameras at high ISO. Nikon's aggressive in camera noise reduction washes these altogether with noise.

[convergent]

Originally Posted by lostdoggy

Nikon uses alot of in camera Noise reduction.

I think you mean that "Canon" uses a lot of in camera noise reduction. You have quoted a lot of resources pointing to low noise with Nikon at high ISO, but the reality is that Canon is far and away better at this... 20D/30D, 1DMk2, etc. It is not even close in daily usage. It is possible, in a controlled environment, to take a picture at ISO1600, with the Nikons, and get low noise... but that is only in certain circumstances where the exposure and light are good. With Canon, I shoot ISO1600 a lot and have no problem producing sellable images from JPEGs under a wide variety of conditions, and even when I've had to pull exposure way up in post processing. You simply can not do this with Nikon, most of the time.

[Leorooster]

I have both D200 and 30D. I don't see visible difference between the 2 up to ISO 800 (assuming correct exposures and out of camera images). You start seeing visible difference when you go above 800. In practice, I avoid using any ISO above 800 no matter which camera I use. If I have to choose I would of course choose the 30D over D200.

[digitaljoe]

I have both and would say the D70 is much noisier and I would not care to go above 800. I friend with the D2x flagship uses Neatimage to scrub the pics.
I switched from Nikon to Canon (5D) to gain Canon's noise suppression technology. The 5D is stunning. Each of the Nikon bodies has a different noise response so one cannot generalise.

[Ocean Blue]

I took home a D50 for a few days and spent some time with high ISO shots. I've also now had my 30D for a few days and at this point what I've found is that the 30D produces shots that are so good at 1600 that when looking at them on my Mac, I need to look up the ISO setting to tell they were at 1600 or I'd never know. The D50 was definately a good deal noisier (although very, very good when compared to high ISO film which would have been a mess at 1600).