D500 ISO 28,800

[Amin Sabet]

Surprised me how much detail relative to noise there is at ISO 28,800 on this APS-C camera (default LR noise reduction only).

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[Amin Sabet]

Also impressed by the complete lack of banding this sensor seems to exhibit under duress.

 

[Randy]

I've been equally impressed by what can be recovered in white skies using LR's grad filter (at base ISO)

 

[TonyW]

That is a very impressive example Amin at ISO that no one would have believed readable never mind usable not so many years ago.

Would be interesting to see how it appears in print form, often I have found that the noise signature improves significantly when ink hits the paper in comparison to most people’s monitor resolution. I find I can tolerate more luminance noise than chroma noise YMMV

 

[ijm5012]

I've been equally impressed by what can be recovered in white skies using LR's grad filter (at base ISO)

Yes, I've noticed that the D500 seems to hold on to highlights pretty well, and a lot can be pulled back in post.

 

[Mitchell]

With the histogram pushed to the right and no dark colors, the D500 can produce some impressive high ISO images. Give it a real world test with some low light portraits of your family before you get all sappy.

 

[Randy]

With the histogram pushed to the right and no dark colors, the D500 can produce some impressive high ISO images. Give it a real world test with some low light portraits of your family before you get all sappy.

lol and how true is that.....the human face takes a beating from high iso dx bodies, sometimes bird feathers also, the problem is you never really know when it's gonna get you

 

[Amin Sabet]

Give it a real world test with some low light portraits of your family before you get all sappy.

I’m not new to this and am aware how different subjects and lighting affect these kinds of results. But it was a real world test for a given subject and light and was not overexposed and pulled during processing. Compared with my other APS-C sensors over the years used under similar circumstances, it impressed me.

Here is a family pic at ISO 14,400. Pretty good detail in my younger son's dark hair for this ISO and light:

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This next one was shot in poor light and unintentionally underexposed at nominal ISO 12,800, then pushed about a third of a stop further during processing:

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It's ragged I know, but still better than I was expecting under the circumstances. And yes, my mom's hair coloring came out a bit purple when the light hits it a certain way (not intentional on her part).

 

[Mitchell]

That second shot is more of what I'm used to at these ISO settings. Acceptable noise is the way I look at it. Certainly much better than a blurry photo from a slow SS. You can't fix blurry!

 

[Butlerkid]

Very good indeed. Makes me wonder....I had a D500 and found it's image quality, sharpness just "OK"....and the noise above ISO 1600 was terrible. Very jagged and almost impossible to mitigate with any NR s/w I tried. I now wonder if I just had a "bad" copy of the D500?

 

[Pa]

These photos are indeed impressive, Amin. I think the D7200 can do about as well up to its maximum iso of 25,600.

Note the third picture in this thread at iso 12,800. Unfortunately it was a bit underexposed and I did use DxO PhotoLab's Prime Noise Reduction.

 

[Randy]

Very good indeed. Makes me wonder....I had a D500 and found it's image quality, sharpness just "OK"....and the noise above ISO 1600 was terrible. Very jagged and almost impossible to mitigate with any NR s/w I tried. I now wonder if I just had a "bad" copy of the D500?

me 2 then

 

[BillM]

The D500 is usable within limits up to 6400 for me.

I find that really fine feather detail starts deteriorating around 1600, but that the D500 is quite usable up to 3200 as long as I am not trying to lift the shadow detail too much.

A visiting Ibis taken from our deck looking over the marsh - D500 ISO 2800 - Processed in Capture NX-D Standard Picture Control - Auto Sharpening, Auto Clarity, Auto Contrast, Active D-Lighting Off, Hi ISO NR - Low

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[frdjohns]

Very good indeed. Makes me wonder....I had a D500 and found it's image quality, sharpness just "OK"....and the noise above ISO 1600 was terrible. Very jagged and almost impossible to mitigate with any NR s/w I tried. I now wonder if I just had a "bad" copy of the D500?

me 2 then

me 3. Never really been impressed with the noise level on my D500.

 

[Mitchell]

Perhaps Amin does have a great copy. Never really thought about that as far as the body.
My only available subject to test. Pretty noisy at ISO 12,800 with no NR applied.

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[stphoto]

I find for hockey in my home building which uses LED lighting, I let the D500 climb to ISO 6400 with excellent results.

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1/1000s, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 140mm (210mm DX)

 

[Amin Sabet]

Perhaps Amin does have a great copy.

Your image looks great to me as well for ISO 12,800. I mostly use C1 to process raw, which by default uses more NR than some other apps.

Probably what I am observing here is a combination of three things:

-Incremental improvements in sensor tech since the last time I had an APS-C sensor
-Incremental improvements in raw processor noise reduction since the last time I had an APS-C sensor
-Wearing new camera rose-colored glasses

 

[LyndeeLoo]

Ohhh my! Your images are, indeed, impressive, Amin. I've never seen an 'acceptable' image with the ISO pushed up that high. Those flowers literally explode with color and sharpness on my computer screen. Looks like you made a great purchase!