D800/D4S question

Sudster

I'm a live sports shooter, 80% hockey, 20% other live sports. I have 2x D700s, 70-200 f2.8 and 200-400 f4. I get unacceptable noise at anything higher than 1600-2000 ISO. Will I get a stop or more from either the D800 or the D4? I look forward to your feedback/advice. Suds

perroneford

Your question is essentially impossible to answer. We do not know what is "acceptable" to you. We also do not know if you mean acceptable shot out of camera, or acceptable with cleanup.

I regularly shoot my D800 and D3s (D4 is essentially equal with slightly better color rendition and slightly more dynamic range) at ISO 3200 regularly and get published regularly with those settings. The D4s appears to up the ante a bit.

The D800 will feel quite slow to you coming from D700, particularly a D700 with a grip, but it rewards with some absolutely incredible results when shot well. I absolutely love mine. The D600 offers ISO performance that is noticeably better than the D600 and that is my favorite camera to shoot at ISO 3200. Above 3200, the D3s/D4/D4s are unmatched by anything else with a Nikon badge, save for the DF.

If you would like to see some real world examples of the D3s, D600, and D800 at ISO 3200, you are welcome to visit the following page:

http://perroneford.smugmug.com/Sport-Photography/FSUAthletics/Mens-Basketball

for Volleyball at ISO 3200 on various bodies go here:

http://perroneford.smugmug.com/Sport-Photography/FSUAthletics/Volleyball


Hope this helps.

Sudster

Thanks and more questions
Thanks for taking the time to respond and the link to your images.

My definition of "acceptable" is that the noise should not be obvious enough to take the viewer's attention away from the subject. The context of my original question was "after processing." I do not expect to go directly from camera to Smugmug site.

I see your ISO 3200 results are quite good - some noise in shadows but totally "acceptable." I shoot ice hockey, and I need shutter speed of at least 1/500 or higher to freeze action. What I am trying to get is a little more depth of field so I am not shooting wide open all the time. The action in hockey is very quick, and my client is looking for images where the player is actually striking the puck.

Please take a moment and describe your workflow. Do you use special NR software? I use the automatic functions in Nik Dfine, which gives me great results.

Thanks again for taking time to read and respond. Suds

perroneford

My workflow looks like this...

On deadline:

Remove card from camera > Read card with Photo Mechanic / metadata tag > Select 5-10 photos > Crop & Rotate > Deliver via Dropbox or CD

Off-Deadline:

Ingest cards with Photo Mechanic > Metadata tag all photos > Choose selects and rate them > import all photos into Lightroom > Color Correct photos > Crop/Rotate/Denoise > Deliver

I do no specialized denoising, and in general, apply a standard denoise profile to all photos in one go. If I am doing a deep crop, I'll add a bit more denoise. For basketball and tennis where the light is constant, I have a preset that gets applied at import time which corrects the color automatically.

lifeinfocus

Recent noise comparisons between D4 and D4s. http://nikonrumors.com/2014/03/08/nikon-d4-vs-d4s-high-iso-comparison.aspx/#more-73600

Sudster

Thank you, Gentlemen, for your input.

The D800 difference in noise at ISO3200 is significant to my eye. I think I'm going to have to drum up some more work here to upgrade.

I'm throwing my 2 cents in for Faststone image sorting software. It's FREE - the developer asks for a donation, which I have done.

Suds

DoctorIt

Moved this thread out of flea market to here, the cameras discussion section.

Matthew Saville

If you're shooting hockey, you'll find the D800 to be almost laughably slow. Get a D3s or D4, and never look back! Even though the D3s and D700 have the same core sensor, the D3s does pull about a stop better ISO performance out of the ISO 3200 / 6400 range IMO. Or you could just pony up for a used D4 now that the D4s is out. Or get the D4s, if you really want absurdy amazing high ISO quality and have $6500 to spend. But if you're a working sports pro, the D800 will feel a little handicapped if you're used to 8 FPS.

lifeinfocus

Another ISO comparison Nikon D600, D800e, D3s, D4 and D4s http://nikonrumors.com/2014/03/10/nr-exclusive-nikon-d4s-high-isolow-light-comparison-with-d4-d3s-d800e-and-d600-cameras.aspx/#more-73750