D300 vs. D200 high ISO comparision

sellis

D200 vs. D300 at high ISO gallery

I got my D300 tonight and thought I would post some boring pictures to compare the high ISO quality. I've seen some examples, but hadn't seen any direct comparison to the D200.

I tried to control the results as best as I could. I shot in Program mode, same lens, Fine JPEGs, same light. I didn't do any Photoshopping and didn't adjust the D300 at all out of the box. The D200 is set to vivid colors, which may account for the color difference.

I did this FOR MY OWN BENEFIT, but thought I'd share the results. If you're not impressed with my quality control, ignore my test. FWIW, I've seen people here and on other forums bashing the validity of comparisons. I hadn't seen anything comparing the two cameras at high ISO side by side and thought I would offer it to people trying to decide. I shoot weddings, so the ability to go to higher ISOs on occasion is important to me.

By the way, I ordered my camera at the Ritz camera store the day after Thanksgiving and it arrived tonight (Wednesday).

Sam

Giphsub

handles quite well eh!

HarveyMushman

The D200 shots are all underexposed, which increases noise levels.

sellis

HarveyMushman wrote:

The D200 shots are all underexposed, which increases noise levels.

Harvey,
According to the camera's meter, they were dead on. Like I said, I shot both cameras in Program mode, auto everything. Is the meter off or was this just darker than the camera can handle? I intentionally shot these in very low light since that's where the camera's weakness is and what I wanted to compare to the D300.

HarveyMushman

sellis wrote:

Harvey,
According to the camera's meter, they were dead on. Like I said, I shot both cameras in Program mode, auto everything. Is the meter off or was this just darker than the camera can handle? I intentionally shot these in very low light since that's where the camera's weakness is and what I wanted to compare to the D300.

The D200 metered the scene differently, that's all. Your job as the photographer is to make adjustments. You can't compare ISO performance with these shots because the D200 examples are underexposed, which, as I said, increases noise levels. Make the exposures correct for both cameras and then compare.