And the new low noise winner is... Take a peek at these two links over at Imaging-Resource. They recently posted images from Nikon's D3 showing ISO's up to 6400 right here, and Canon's 1Ds Mark III with ISO's up to 3200 right here. I have to say, I was blown away by the Nikon's extremely low noise at that "monster" ISO setting.
I downloaded both high res files and brought them into Photoshop for closer inspection - the Nikon image was amazing. That is not to say that the Canon image at ISO 3200 was bad, but it just was not as noise free. I ran both through one of my favorite noise reduction software tools - Noise Ninja because it shows a relative "noise index" of the image after being profiled. I like to guess what the "noise index" will be before I profile the image. (I know, simple minds, simple pleasures.)I ran the Nikon ISO 6400 image through first, it's noise index showed 36 - a little noisy but not to bad, and remember, we are at ISO 6400!!! Next, I ran the Canon ISO 3200 image through - noise index 50 - pretty darn high, and the Canon image was half the Nikon ISO 6400 image. Canon has been the "low noise, high ISO" leader for quite a while, but the baton now clearly goes to Nikon.
I hope the 5D mkII can take it up a notch.
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder though, what if the Canon image were downsized to the same size as the Nikon file? This may be a case of the noise vs. resolution tradeoff. It'll be interesting to see how the next Nikon full-framer does once the camera is up around 20MP. Either way, the D3 looks pretty magic.
You don't mention that the difference in the resolution of these camera. The Canon has a lot more pixels so its noise levels will be greater than the Nikon. I guess the jump from 3200ASA to 6400ASA tips the balance in the Nikon direction.
ReplyDeleteWhat really matters is how much real detail there is in the images once Noise Nija has removed the noise. The Canon will need more noise reduction but has more detail to start with.