review: High-ISO performance – Nikon D750 / D4S / D4 / D810 / D610
With the initial quick test of the Nikon D750 high-ISO noise performance, I was quite impressed. But it really is only in comparison to other cameras that we can see how good it is. With that, I took 5 of the current full-frame Nikon DSLRs to compare them against each other to see their high-ISO noise.
- Nikon D750
- Nikon D4s
- Nikon D4
- Nikon D810
- Nikon D610
The Nikon D4s (affiliate) is currently the high-ISO king, so it was specifically interesting to see how the 24 megapixel Nikon D750 (affiliate) would compare. If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to wait until the end of this review, then here’s the good news: to my eye, the D750 is comparable to the D4S in terms of high-ISO noise. Maybe even a squeak better! But you don’t have to take my word for it, there are RAW files you can dowload and check for yourself.
Details about the image at the top
I used the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (affiliate) with the cameras, mounted on a tripod.
Lighting was with a Westcott Spiderlite TD6 and 3’x4’ shallow softbox (affiliate).
Using continuous lighting allowed me to change my ISO and shutter speeds (and eventually aperture), without the hassle of hitting maximum flash sync speed. If I had used flash, I would’ve had to change my flash output for each sequence. Less simple than just turning a camera dial. Also, with this, the lighting stayed exactly the same for each sequence, with exactly the same light output.
High-ISO noise comparison
To compare the cameras, I shot repeated sequences of Melanie in more or less this pose, changing it as little as possible.
Comparing image quality between cameras with different size sensors isn’t easy. For example, the 36 megapixels of the Nikon D810 might print differently than it appears at 100% view on your computer. This is why the I show a 100% crop and 50% crop here. So I am mostly side-stepping diligent side-by-side comparison, by making the RAW files available with the 5 cameras shot at different ISO settings.
Download the RAW files if you want to play around with them yourself to compare.
I checked the exposure for each camera via the histogram, holding up a white paper kitchen towel to give us a spike of white. The histogram was perfectly matched for all 5 cameras.
I started the sequence at 800 ISO. I only went up to 51,200 ISO … which excluded the D610 since the D610 only goes up to 25,600 ISO
Past that, only the D4 and D4S were the only contenders, but the images were so noisy that I don’t think that those ISO settings would be of much use to the vast majority of photographers.
D810 at 36 megapixels showed noise in the dark areas fairly quickly. But again, this will print differently than you might anticipate from a 100% view on your computer, and might compare very well with the D4 or D4S.
The D610 didn’t fare as well as the other cameras.
Please note: the image softness you see in the D810 photo at 800 ISO is camera shake due to my sloppy technique. It’s not the camera being less sharp at 800 ISO than the others.
Here are 100% crops of similar images shot which each camera. The crop is of part of her shoulder, into the dark background.
I am showing the 6400 ISO images here, and should give you a very good idea of the relative merits of each camera at higher ISO settings. And make sure you marvel at how the $2,300 Nikon D750 compares to the $6,500 Nikon D4s.
I added a 50% view of the Nikon D810 file so you can see how the noise changes with the change in resolution.
About the Nikon D750
The Nikon D750 (affiliate), really performed surprisingly well here, especially considering that the D750 has higher resolution. Also, the D4S is still a very recent camera!
The comparison shown here above, is typical for how the cameras stack up against each other across all the ISO settings.
To my eye though, there isn’t that much to chose between the D4, D4S and D750. They are on par with each other. Nikon D810 (affiliate) is an entirely different beast again with its very high megapixel count.
All of this makes the Nikon D750 a very desirable little camera.
Nice to see the top pros recommending this camera. I have it and it has been amazing for me so far, the noise control is amazing and clean!
Great comparisons. I’ll never use my workhorse(s) D700 at another concert now that we have a D750 in the collection.
Nice work! However, I’m wondering how important it is to look at the noise itself (which is actually quite easy to remove). Personally, I’m much more interested in how well the details are preserved when increasing iso sensitivity and I can’t tell that by looking at these samples. Would you care to comment on your observations in this matter?
What do you use to remove noise? I’m to the point where I don’t even bother removing it because I find it softens the image way too much. I use LR5.7, and even like 8% seems to soften details quite a bit.
I use captureone and I don’t remove any luminance noise these days. I only remove colour noise and single pixel noise. Then I add some nice grain in ASE. :)
To me d810 looks way good at retaining details at this ISO. look at the hairs. sharp in D810 and messed up with d750
the eyelashes look sharp in all of the cameras.
Interesting. See DXO still rates the D610 sensor a fraction better than D750, overall, ISO only just a smidgeon better??
https://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Nikon-D750-versus-Nikon-D610___975_915
Still dont get why so many internet forums etc bash the D6XX range, sure they had a problem with D600, but D610 is sublime in my opinion.
All the best.
I am still shooting D3s + D700 condo at the weddings but I am switching to D750 this january… Was thinking to go Fuji but luckily Nikon came out with light and fast FX I like :)
I have been looking with interest at both the D810 and D750 as a possible replacement for my D700. I already have a D800 so know its strengths and weaknesses.
Having just downloaded your RAW files for the D750 and D810 and processing them through ACR in Photoshop i think whilst at 12800iso the D750 has a slight edge in terms of noise and sharpness the fact that the D810 is so close makes the D810 a better proposition for me. I resized the D810 image to D750 size for the comparison. At 25600iso I think they are both marginal and to be honest I cant see myself ever using that setting.
The D750 appears to be extremely good there is no doubt but the overall capability of the D810 is better imho with a higher pixel count for detail and better button layout assuming you are willing to pay more for it in the first place.
After a small plateau it seems Nikon has managed to start the high ISO race again.
Though I’m already very happy with the D800 performance I’m glad to see it getting better in the future.
Thanks for showing comparison between 5 Nikon Cameras and the RAW files too. Ive just notice that D810 is tad softer compare to D4 which is tack sharp.
D810 “D810_00800-ISO_7604.NEF”
D4 “D4_00800-ISO_7900.NEF”
As mentioned in the article:
If anything, my D810 is sharper than my two d4 bodies by a touch. I was a little perturbed by this initially, because I thought my D4 images were very sharp indeed. Then when I thought about it, I realized I add skin softening to the majority of the photos I deliver, so in a way, the D4 images are already too sharp for most of my needs in terms of portraits and weddings.
The D810, like the D800 and D80E will need more careful handling than lower-resolution cameras, because flaws in your technique show up more quickly at 100% view because of the increased resolution.
I just upgraded from the D7100 to the D750, and I’m amazed how great it is in low light. ISO 8000-10000 looks great!
Hi Neil, What did you mean by this
“D810 at 36 megapixels showed noise in the dark areas fairly quickly. But again, this will print differently than you might anticipate from a 100% view on your computer, and might compare very well with the D4 or D4S.”
I just bought the 810 to go along with my D3S, I was a little disappointed at the 810s noise at 1600. It seems my D3S performs better at that range. I’m still learning with this new body so maybe that will change. Are you saying that most monitors will not display the true resolution of the camera since the pixel count is so high??
Thanks!
Bill
Bill … exactly that. It isn’t entirely fair to compare different cameras with hugely different resolution, at 100% view on the computer.
As I showed here …
… once you scale the 36 megapixel image down to 15 or 16 megapixels, the noise appears different. Less obvious.
So you can’t just go 100% on a D4 photo and 100% on a D810 photo and say the D810 is noisier. You have to compare on an equal footing. Print two large images out to the same size, and then see how they compare.
I never really have problems with noise with most new cameras, especially when exposure is perfect and the dynamic range of the scene is small, but for me it comes down to color and ability to correct images at higher ISO. I took your raws at 12800, which is the highest i ever shoot, pushed them up a stop in post, applied my normal presets for calibration and sharpened in LR, and exported to 12 megapixel. I viewed them both full screen and at 100% zoom in Photomechanic.
To me, the D810 stood out as the worst, with purple coloration (amp noise?) in the corners. The D610 looked very flat and lost detail in the skin. The three remaining cameras were a little closer. I preferred the overall look of the D4, but the D4s retained more detail in the hair. The D750 wasn’t the best at detail or color preservation, but it held it’s own. It was really really close honestly. Very impressive.
Thank you for this.
I went ahead and downloaded the RAW files, imported them to Lightroom and applied the exact same picture controls “Camera Portrait” (Which is where I would have started for this shot if I had taken them myself) and did the X|Y compare thing for each of the images, and zoomed in to 1:1 and larger.
I find the same thing you do:
1.) At normal print sizes, they are very comparable.
2.) When zooming in extremely close the results are pretty consistent with the test results by DxOMark and others…..that suggests the D750 is better than the D810 (in terms of noise at high ISO) but not quite as good as the D4s (in terms of noise at high ISO)
I would have liked to have seen one other camera thrown in.
Since according to DxOMark, the D3s should still be better than any of these cameras (in terms of Noise only) at the ISO settings you tested at…I would have loved to have seen it thrown into this mix.
It is quite useless to compare the noise in these crops. To analyze the high ISO performance you rather need to look at the signal/noise ratio. Noise can always be removed in-camera but this always goes along with the loss of detail. Most of the crops do not show any detail to compare though…
… which is why I supplied the RAW files for anyone who wants to check this on their own, in their own way.
D4’s or D750 for weddings what would you say?
Currently got 2 D700’s etc
Kev
Kev … Even though I use two D4 bodies, and find the D750 too small for my hands to shoot for long – I use it for video – I think the logical upgrade for you from the D700 would be the D750.
Kev – I use the D750 as my primary for weddings and love it. It’s light weight, light cost, and large quality. My kind of equation for success. The rest is up to me. I use a D7100 as my back-up, which was a mistake. I will be getting another D750 for my back-up next month.
Hello
The D750 performs better over the D610 ONLY BECAUSE it does apply advanced NR (where the D610 applies standard NR). This is probably because of new expeed 4. So it is only a matter of software processing. Open both NEF files in Capture NX, uncheck NR and you’ll see almost no difference.
… which is why I supplied the RAW files.
For the comparison here, we looked at the RAW files, as seen with ACR / Lightroom. So the same noise reduction was applied. Anyway, the RAW files are there for anyone to make the comparison.
The slight ISO performance improvement of D4s over the D4 is not worth the upgrade.
Thank you for the RAW files. They show things that are difficult to pinpoint through numbers.
I am still having difficulties articulating my observations.
Overall it was easy for me to get D4 file to the condition I liked and rather difficult to do the same with D750 file.
I noticed that I had to drop the highlights in D750 quite a bit more and bump up WB much more.
Here are the global adjustments that looked good to me at ISO 6400.
D4:
WB 5400, Tint +20, Highlights -20
D750
WB 5800, Tint +20, Highlights -40
Even after these adjustments D4 image seams richer to me. D750 still looks a bit flat.
This is not an absolute truth, just one man’s opinion/perception.