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I thought I would check out some higher ISO shots to see how the D200 handled noise compared to my D70s.. I, for one, am pretty impressed.

It was blowing a gale so high shutter speeds were essential to even get a half decent shot. I know the flowers aren't in the best of condition, but this was an exercise in ISO performance and I wasn't that concerned about the subject matter.

All were taken using the Sigma 180 macro and an ISO of 800

1/250s @ f/8


1/3200s @ f/8


1/750s @ f/11

im definately impressed! it is hard to spot any noise, especially at this size. whats it like at 100% ?

All great photos
"Perfect" subjects are not important.
These show character & capture a moment in the life of the flowers. One not normally captured.

The lack of noise is impressive
Yet again I regret buying the d70s instead of the d200.
I just couldn't afford the extra $$$ (& still can't )

Still when that D200s comes out....

Greg

The problem with these images is that they are a useless test of high ISO.

Your shutter speeds indicate large amounts of available daylight, which negates the use of high ISO and provides a high signal to noise ratio

A better high ISO test is when you are shooting e.g. 50mm lens, at 1/50 @f1.8 at ISO1600

Shoot in marginal light with the D200 and then look

The problem with these images is that they are a useless test of high ISO.

I can't agree. They may not show as much noise as a photo shot in the dark, but it seems to me to be a perfectly valid use of high ISO to push the shutter speed as far as possible to freeze motion.

The comment in the original post indicaters that was the purpose. (Windy day)

This may not be a complete test, but it DOES indicate that the camera does an excellent job uusing high ISO (thereby enabling high shutter speed) to reduce blur in a moving subject.

Mr Darcy wrote:

The problem with these images is that they are a useless test of high ISO.

I can't agree. They may not show as much noise as a photo shot in the dark, but it seems to me to be a perfectly valid use of high ISO to push the shutter speed as far as possible to freeze motion.

The comment in the original post indicaters that was the purpose. (Windy day)

This may not be a complete test, but it DOES indicate that the camera does an excellent job uusing high ISO (thereby enabling high shutter speed) to reduce blur in a moving subject.

Any modern camera is perfectly ok at high ISO in good light - including the D70, its when the light dwindles the differences appear

Mr Darcy wrote:The comment in the original post indicaters that was the purpose. (Windy day)

Nope. While that was a good excuse to use a high ISO, apparently it wasn't the purpose of taking the shot.

Slider wrote:I thought I would check out some higher ISO shots to see how the D200 handled noise compared to my D70s

I concur with pharmer: these images will not particularly test the noise performance of any camera. Including more "shadow areas" in the images would make any differences between the D70 and D200 obvious.

Unless someone is going to tell me that a D70 can't take images like this in these conditions!
I hadn't thought the D70 was that bad...

ISO 800 gives a nice 'film' effect.

Thanks for the comments folks. Didn't want to start WW III but my point is this.

There are many different purposes for shooting a high ISO. I shoot lots of macro's and use almost exclusively my Sigma 180 f/3.5 Macro.

Great lens but heavy and best used on a tripod. Tripods aren't alway practical if you are chasing a bug or elusive dragonfly so a high shutter speed can be of great benefit.

I took many similar shots with the D70s and they were never as sharp as what I managed with the D200 in the shots presented here. Certainly with a bit of Noise Ninja they were OK but I would rarely venture past ISO 400.

I now feel confident that I will be able to capture many difficult subjects with a much greater success rate at higher ISO settings than I would previously used.