High ISO Tests

Background:
While the D300 does not have the larger pixels of its big brother, the D3, it does a remarkable job at higher ISO's.  I have yet to see a better performer in a DX size sensor.  Granted I am not a pro, nor have I personally tested every camera out there, but I have yet to see samples that indicate any cropped sensor out there is doing better.  My guess it is part CMOS (new to the D300 vs. the CCD used in the D200) and software updates.

Base Test with Standard Camera Settings:
In short, you get about one stop better performance on the D300 as compared to the D200 between ISO's 800-1600, and about two stops better beyond ISO 1600.  Of course - this is totally subjective, as we all have a difference tolerance for noise.   I am especially impressed with the D300's ability to reduce noise but not sacrifice sharpness while doing so. 

Here's ISO 1600 on the D300...very useable for sports/everyday situations (much like ISO 800 on the D200)

 The array of images below are crops of the same set-up shown above.  I have the D200 on the left and D300 on the right.  All images were taken with an AF 85 f1.4 at f 5.6.  Saturation was set to +1 on both cameras, all other settings (including noise reduction) were left at their defaults.  Play close attention to the shadow and out of focus areas - these are the areas where the D300 really gained ground.  The images are unprocessed crops.  The source files are located here for those of you that want to load them into your own image processing application.

ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
n/a

Results with No In-Camera Noise Reduction:
I also tested the cameras side be side with all in-camera noise-reduction turned off.  Note that Nikon always adds some NR at higher ISO's regardless of the user setting.  Both tests had the cameras on auto exposure at an aperture of f/8, using a 85mm f1.4 from the same distance under the same lighting.  All controls were set to factory default except NR (which was turned off) and color space (I always shoot in AdobeRGB and then let Lightroom spit out sRGB for the web.)  Again I have the D200 on the left and the D300 on the right.  The D300 is clearly the winner.  But again, I don't think the difference is so revolutionary as to bench the D200's out there.  If you need uber-quality high ISO capture - save them pennies and get the D3.  For the fanatics, the full source files are located here.

ISO 1600
ISO 3200

Chicago at Night:
Enough contrived shots - here's Chicago at night, taken through my hotel room window.  Nikon D300, 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 AFS-VRII lens @ 18mm, ISO 1600, 1/6s @ f3.5.  No tripod.  Very cool indeed. 

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