High ISO NR

[Wes]

On the D200 there is a setting for High ISO Noise Reduction, and you can choose LOW, NORMAL, or HIGH. Anyone use this? My fear is that it will soften the images to an unacceptable amount. Thoughts?

[Cope]

I haven't used high ISO much, but everything I have read says to set it for Normal.

[laawaaris]

i just got the D200 and this is what i have found, from testing and other knowledgable sources

the default setting for the NR is Normal

if you set it to HIGH, it will clean the image up quite a bit, however, as a result you will have a combination of loss of detail (especially in your edge transitions), somewhat software picture (again likely in the edge transitions), and jpeg artifacts scattered around throughout your picture

the unfortunate side-effect of going with Nikon is they have a poor High ISO performance, compared with Canon ... i like to turn my flash off at times, but in order to create a nice artistic shot i have no choice but to jack up the ISO - resulting in disappointing noise

as a result, i keep the Nikon setting at Normal and use Noise Reduction software from Imagenomics to exercise more control over what i am doing

[arlon]

What does "high" iso noise reduction mean?
Increased noise reduction at "high" iso settings only or "high" (a lot) of noise reduction at all settings? I'm just not understanding the wording. Maybe I just need to stick with normal and not worry about it.

[laawaaris]

i think i have to check the manual, but i *believe* it is increased noise reduction at higher iso settings

i believe it will do increased noise reduction at anything above ISO 400, but really i have to check the manual (or do more testing)

[Cope]

Originally Posted by laawaaris

i think i have to check the manual, but i *believe* it is increased noise reduction at higher iso settings

i believe it will do increased noise reduction at anything above ISO 400, but really i have to check the manual (or do more testing)

You are correct, and additionally, high ISO NR is automatic over ISO 800. Turning high ISO NR on increases this NR effect. (p34) Using this option decreases your shot buffer size also.

[Daylon]

I just leave mine to "Normal" and run a Noise Ninja pass over everything...