Nikon d500 and noise: I have read that the d500 is supposed to be really good at high iso levels and not produce to much noise. I am wondering if my d500 is not working correctly in...

CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT

I have read that the d500 is supposed to be really good at high iso levels and not produce to much noise. I am wondering if my d500 is not working correctly in that respect. Here are 3 shots taken with the d500 in a low light condition this morning. All were Raw files converted to jpeg from Lightroom but I made no other changes to them.

I placed the settings in the description of each - as the iso goes a little higher the noise gets more pronounced. I understand that is normal but I am wondering if the D500 should perform better at these settings.

I did turn the Noise Reduction for High ISO on at the Normal setting for these shots as well. You will have to view the download and zoom in to see what I am talking about.

Anyone have any input? Is the noise in these shots normal for this camera or should it be doing a better job?

Thanks
Cindy

1/400, f8, 300mm 1600 iso
1/400, f8, 300mm 1600 iso...

(Download)

1/400, f8, 300mm 4000 iso
1/400, f8, 300mm 4000 iso...

(Download)

1/400, f8, 300mm 5000 iso
1/400, f8, 300mm 5000 iso...

(Download)

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

Not sure what's going on. My D500 performs perfectly at ISO 3200 and above

captivecookie Loc: Washington state

Never had a d500, but have heard great things about its performance. I was wondering, was there a kind of low level fog or similar weather condition. I have taken pictures in that sort of conditions and the mist in the air itself was actually captured, leaving an illusion of more noise than usual. Perhaps this happened to you.

I noticed there are some chromatic aberrations, so the is further post processing that could be done, and maybe that would help.

CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT

captivecookie wrote:

Never had a d500, but have heard great things about its performance. I was wondering, was there a kind of low level fog or similar weather condition. I have taken pictures in that sort of conditions and the mist in the air itself was actually captured, leaving an illusion of more noise than usual. Perhaps this happened to you.

I noticed there are some chromatic aberrations, so the is further post processing that could be done, and maybe that would help.

Thanks for commenting. I haven't done any post processing on these since I wanted to find out if my d500 is having issues. And I can post other shots taken at the same settings during regular daylight hours and the noise is just as prominent, so it wouldn't be the fog.

CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT

Bob Mevis wrote:

Not sure what's going on. My D500 performs perfectly at ISO 3200 and above

I am thinking the d500 should do better ... that's why I wanted to get other's input. Not sure what I can do about it.

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

Give time for others to reply. It's about time for the forum to slow way down.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Noise occurs where the digital signal is amplified by the camera. It occurs more in the darker areas than the lighter. See the white snow in the screen capture vs the dark areas. The exposure parameters show maybe you could have used a slower shutter speed. At 1/200 sec, dropping the shutter speed by a 1-stop would allow dropping the ISO by a stop to ISO-800. Your VC-enabled lens will support this slower shutter as will a slow moving subject.

As a LR user, you might consider too, the following topics:

Basics of noise processing

Basics of Lightroom Sharpening

And finally, the concept of ETTR applies, particularly to low-light shooters. You don't need any details in the snow peeking through the background where you'd want to maximize the details in the dark turkeys. Capture the brightest exposure without blowing critical highlights, as discussed and demonstrated in these two posts, targeted at RAW shooters:

ETTR in Practice

ETTR in Practice II

(Download)

CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT

CHG_CANON wrote:

Noise occurs where the digital signal is amplified... (show quote)

Thanks! It will take me a little bit to get through all this info, I had already read your post on the LR processing and it did help me a lot, but haven't read the others.

So this much noise in a photo with the settings I had is normal?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

CindyHouk wrote:

Thanks! It will take me a little bit to get through all this info, I had already read your post on the LR processing and it did help me a lot, but haven't read the others.

So this much noise in a photo with the settings I had is normal?

I'll defer to the Nikon D500 owners. This is rather low grey light for a dark subject against a brighter background. It's not ISO-100 performance, but not as bad as older camera types either.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

CindyHouk wrote:

Anyone have any input? Is the noise in these shots normal for this camera or should it be doing a better job?

Thanks
Cindy

Noting that your keyword in the Exif of the first shot is "foggy" that could well be the reason.

In addition, the low contrast flat image also suggests fog/mist.

CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT

Grahame wrote:

Noting that your keyword in the Exif of the first shot is "foggy" that could well be the reason.

That's why I asked ....this camera is supposed to be really good in Low light high ISO situations....I think it is producing to much noise in this type of situation....but I am not sure. I am hoping other d500 users will be able to give me some insight into whether this is normal or not.

captivecookie Loc: Washington state

Now that somebody has mentioned the fog as a serious possibility, id like to double down on that as cause. I've seen the sme thing on other cameras but I've never had the chance to shoot a d500. You could shoot some test pics in clean air and test again.

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

I like foggy pics. I haven't tried my D500 in fog yet. I have a D70s and D7000. They would sometimes give similar results. I think it's weather related.

CO

I have a D500, D750, and D7000. The D500 handles digital noise very well. It's as good as any cropped sensor camera. There seems to be fog in your photos. It's hard to determine how much digital noise there really is.

Lens flare can sometimes create lowered contrast across an image. That's usually under sunny conditions. I don't think that's what is happening in your images.

Take some photos in clear conditions and include darker shadow areas. You'll start to see chroma type digital noise in dark areas at high ISO settings. I did this shot with my D7000 at ISO 2500. There's chroma digital noise in the darker areas.

Colored speckles are chroma digital noise (D7000, ISO 2500)

(Download)

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

CindyHouk wrote:

I have read that the d500 is supposed to be really... (show quote)

Although very capable the D500 based on my experience and DXOMark's rating for noise is not all that good at high ISO. Whom ever told you that had low expectations or was comparing it to something significantly worse.

Try Topaz's AI Clear or Denoise.