Nikon D60 ISO Comparison 100-3200
By Ryan Ward | March 12, 2010
This is the first time I have sat down to “pixel peep” at the different ISO settings on the D60. The ISO range is 100-1600 with a Hi setting that simulates 3200. I shot with the AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1.8G ,which, is my favorite lens. The auto focus is accurate and wide open there is no comparison to the kit lens which is f5 at 35mm. 35mm is convenient enough to take a couple of steps forward or backward to frame your shot since it’s a prime lens with no zoom. Don’t let it scare you. It’s a fantastic lens on a DX body.
All images were shot at F/8, white balance set to incandescent, sharpening +1, noise reduction off and D-lighting off. JPEGs converted from RAW with no processing in Capture NX 2.
Here is the subject. It’s a hand painted (by my daughter who was 3 at the time) and a glazed ice cream cone inside a dirty old terracotta pot. There should be different types of detail in the pot and on the ice cream cone so it should give us lots to compare. The original image is 3872 X 2592 and 3.66 megs:
All of the shots below are 100% crops:
ISO 100 @ 2.5 seconds
ISO 200 @ 1.3 seconds
ISO 400 @ 1/1.6 (.625) seconds
ISO 800 @ 1/3 (.333)seconds
ISO 1600 @ 1/6 (.167) seconds
ISO 3200 @1/13 (.077) seconds
My Conclusion
I have 8 X 10 prints hanging on my wall shot at ISO 400 @ f8 of some extremely sharp photographs taken with the kit 18 X 55 lens and there is only visible noise if you are within 6 inches of the print so keep that in mind when you look at the pics above.
To me, ISO 100 & 200 look very clean with no detail loss at all. When we step up to ISO 400, there is very clearly visible noise, but, it isn’t distracting – remember, this is a 100% crop and represents about 18% of the full photo. Reduced to a size that would fit on your screen, there would be little to no noticeable noise. By the time we get to 800, there is definitely noise and my experience with this camera is that you can typically shoot and print a 5 X 7 at ISO 800 without too much noise. The problem is that by the time you get to 800, you are loosing some detail and saturation. Both can be corrected in post processing. Most of the time, I have found that ISO 1600 can be corrected for smaller sizes, but, there is hardly any use for the “hi” setting of 3200 on the D60. I’ve used it, but, I don’t think I have many keepers.
RAW Files Edited in Lightroom
I took the ISO 800 & 1600 RAW files and edited them in Lightroom. The only settings I changed was luminance noise 65, saturation +10 and vibrance +5
ISO 800
ISO 1600
Let me know what you think in the comments! The ISO 800 photo looks useable to me although it is soft due to the noise reduction.
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