I wanted to see if noise would be an issue for the D70 on ISO-Auto under indoor lighting conditions, such as that found in the Orchard Centrepoint shopping mall. I was also curious to see how the colors would turn out under my general everyday WB setting.
To reiterate, my D70 settings were AWB -3, Hue -3, +0.3EV, ISO Auto. All the shots were taken hand-held, and without flash, except for the shot outside Centrepoint -- to contrast the afternoon daylight exposure. None of the photos were post-processed for WB, and only USM was resorted to for sharper pictures. The series of shots are shown below:
D70, kit lens @70mm, ISO 1600, 1/30s@f8
Above was shot at MacDonald's. Noise depicted was well-controlled despite the high ISO used. The color nicely captured the ambience at the time.
Concerts and indoor live performances -- which frown on the use of flash -- usually have brighter stage lighting than the above. This implies I should be able to shoot such events with the D70 and kit lens without flash, at within a reasonable distance from the stage.
D70, kit lens @70mm, ISO1600, 1/40@f/8
Candid shot taken outside Cold Storage Supermart inside Centrepoint. Nice colors to my eyes.
Note that noise per se is more clearly defined in darker areas of the photo, such as the guy's pants, and the hair of the two ladies in the photo above. Areas that received adequate light were quite noise-free and smooth. See other photos below.
Does this suggest that noise is the result (= outcome) of insufficient light photons hitting the sensor? Will a more "sensitive" sensor be able to capture more photons at the same ISO setting and produce noise-free photos as compared to another sensor? Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest so.
D70, kit lens@18mm, ISO900, 1/60s@f/5.6
Centrepoint Atrium
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO1600, 1/60s@f/5.6
Prima Deli at basement
D70, kit lens@18mm, ISO1000, 1/60s@f/5.6
Passage way to foodcourt behind Centrepoint
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO640, 1/60s@f/5.6
Highly successful Peranakan pastry outlet established by Indonesian chinese migrant
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO720, 1/60s@f/5.6
Shot a photo in the direction of daylight coming in from the far end..
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO720, 1/60@f/5.6
..then turned around to snap another photo! Found that AF-C and AF-ON works well for me.
Overall, I am pleased with the noise performance of the D70 at ISO 1600. Noise seems well-controlled at this ISO up to 8x10" prints -- which serve my needs pretty well. I also believed my +0.3EV exposure compensation helped in producing pictures with noise well-controlled at ISO 1600.
For bigger prints without flash I would use a faster lens. Or wait for sensor technology to develop to a point where noise-free pictures can be produced at ISOs up to 3200. Which may not be far off.
Colors produced by my general everyday WB settings seem fine to me under the mixed lighting conditions at Centrepoint. The colors reproduced -- in particular the light quality -- seemed to capture the ambience of the places at the time the pictures were taken, at least to my eyes. Although some photos could benefit from a bit of WB fine-tuning in post-processing, WB was not tweaked for this series of photos.
To reiterate, my D70 settings were AWB -3, Hue -3, +0.3EV, ISO Auto. All the shots were taken hand-held, and without flash, except for the shot outside Centrepoint -- to contrast the afternoon daylight exposure. None of the photos were post-processed for WB, and only USM was resorted to for sharper pictures. The series of shots are shown below:
D70, kit lens @70mm, ISO 1600, 1/30s@f8
Above was shot at MacDonald's. Noise depicted was well-controlled despite the high ISO used. The color nicely captured the ambience at the time.
Concerts and indoor live performances -- which frown on the use of flash -- usually have brighter stage lighting than the above. This implies I should be able to shoot such events with the D70 and kit lens without flash, at within a reasonable distance from the stage.
D70, kit lens @70mm, ISO1600, 1/40@f/8
Candid shot taken outside Cold Storage Supermart inside Centrepoint. Nice colors to my eyes.
Note that noise per se is more clearly defined in darker areas of the photo, such as the guy's pants, and the hair of the two ladies in the photo above. Areas that received adequate light were quite noise-free and smooth. See other photos below.
Does this suggest that noise is the result (= outcome) of insufficient light photons hitting the sensor? Will a more "sensitive" sensor be able to capture more photons at the same ISO setting and produce noise-free photos as compared to another sensor? Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest so.
D70, kit lens@18mm, ISO900, 1/60s@f/5.6
Centrepoint Atrium
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO1600, 1/60s@f/5.6
Prima Deli at basement
D70, kit lens@18mm, ISO1000, 1/60s@f/5.6
Passage way to foodcourt behind Centrepoint
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO640, 1/60s@f/5.6
Highly successful Peranakan pastry outlet established by Indonesian chinese migrant
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO720, 1/60s@f/5.6
Shot a photo in the direction of daylight coming in from the far end..
D70, kit lens@31mm, ISO720, 1/60@f/5.6
..then turned around to snap another photo! Found that AF-C and AF-ON works well for me.
Overall, I am pleased with the noise performance of the D70 at ISO 1600. Noise seems well-controlled at this ISO up to 8x10" prints -- which serve my needs pretty well. I also believed my +0.3EV exposure compensation helped in producing pictures with noise well-controlled at ISO 1600.
For bigger prints without flash I would use a faster lens. Or wait for sensor technology to develop to a point where noise-free pictures can be produced at ISOs up to 3200. Which may not be far off.
Colors produced by my general everyday WB settings seem fine to me under the mixed lighting conditions at Centrepoint. The colors reproduced -- in particular the light quality -- seemed to capture the ambience of the places at the time the pictures were taken, at least to my eyes. Although some photos could benefit from a bit of WB fine-tuning in post-processing, WB was not tweaked for this series of photos.