I made these high-ISO tests for a friend who's considering upgrading to a newer Pentax DSLR, like the K-x. And then I thought they might be interesting to others. Even if you don't consider a Pentax, they will be similar to other contemporary DSLRs with a reduced sensor (which is pretty much all of them under $2000). Albeit the K-x, surprisingly considering size and price, is near the top end, according to reviewers.
I chose subject with shadow areas, since these tend to show noise more. And low depth-of-field for the same reason.
Note that I have
turned off the noise reduction the camera does by default, since I've found that computer software does a better job (not surprising, given the demands of the tast). I have used Nik's Define, but others are good too.
If you leave the in-camera NR on, you'll probably get a quality which is in between what I show here before and after.
You have to click on them to see the differences.
Something which may not be clear in the resolution Blogger allows is that high-ISO downsides are not only about noise, but also less sharpness/detail. And noise-reduction, while it makes for smoother pictures, tends to make this worse.
ISO 1600, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlu8tp-KxvUWIM2yuBpryofKcQ3_jc5BVDc_YyQIYeBCzfW_i4xPSjkLqBD6r8H8CgbER6HaFV2vkxQX_qGibZ5xBuiF_B0tqW9J_Kg7F5HiMZ4s_LHa2qB65YtK8B9y8E657Zgg/s400/1600iso-a.JPG)
ISO 1600, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnHoAsRbtEeaNl-_LvFXMfvCpGzdgxRUHu9xHwIHPzSO86dwZXfkwNj-izFI7sjecezD9Gl_g1-Vnofn102JYMRkx8mnQJ3y-8rdshOz7__zX-5QegowvRwoyqGU-GKT8UvCNwAg/s400/1600iso-a-nr.jpg)
ISO 1600, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLq4Sj8U3-D4u5SuHtDSz9ccdyd2mAm42ww-J2Kf5hLyZL9aqNSFHfqWdyHg4AyY6jpfR_pshbAMGfJMX3X3QlEfhfHJvOnWrv-82asEfEoKwdg5-CJ1qOlxe9ZldD-9EbNWcc4Q/s400/1600iso-b.JPG)
ISO 1600, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJKuI2ihi96RPyqxhsTFXsSRlgTpl_l6QUQzMJMjts0QsQgpBcsjjMtH-3WJB2Q04S4FqkpKLF79Pg0w4WT5T8KVS6uNjf1sBP1QUmrVWa6PP6DdNFO9K7D87WJdwQCo3kl9lxog/s400/1600iso-b-nr.jpg)
ISO 1600, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8uaPn5t9mU1CRK59XoLhCcW2uxgBPTH0iJeNUTC7JnaWMNpQg6zH6YQbI2CY0DkLLnzmE-5wKO9MKdZqfPhUtPfAGC6Mu_BMV2mo1roUJAiTNvW3a-UgCyg3UsxUpiqzzCZ_8ww/s400/1600iso-c.JPG)
ISO 1600, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifuzW81MZ4Wxph4pQ-pmXg-rS2VaZcEYNcAMKLELw_YdtHYB4WR67wMQOU8GDldagzx8JjewkNwNeiOV00oWbDr1xVHxz20sQd5Hztk0Yb7ORAgppVTmRhhrsgsdfXU69yEZbhQQ/s400/1600iso-c-nr.jpg)
ISO 3200, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpve5mtKDKcGIPMexSiijqqLERjb1y4qk4WPFGRUO0FlbukNOfZ6LybhbwHPqH3aboRHDdFdR5DiOtwM3keX6VEbcZJ0lvqYM1GOXRbf8C61uJ9W97dUBwzM6tUH0h0ftaJ4bEuw/s400/3200iso-a.JPG)
ISO 3200, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFkEMA7Nsf1a6-IAIJp1AGIhyANnV1Xd2RtI-zCw3_4pFz6AmENCJX59zH4jJMIDeDZpCgLCj1D6X3pihixc-haFpAVhCm9OM0W6b02WQ13o2v7ynfEXdGdxP4q3vDH6-gY1hcQ/s400/3200iso-a-nr.jpg)
ISO 3200, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0s0yThjiI7wRB2IjJfsHtdDIfJBs5jOuobti5bePrsZt53ZGaYVslOSbxQS0tpUP0a8ehy0VRVb0xZGMau2ljj1uDOCy-Tdp7h_S6X6mcVuxC-AcgSaP91SgT28pn_LF95alBQ/s400/3200iso-b.JPG)
ISO 3200, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0RjCy5YIv-1SF1vbNFMgcEEIEiAOrG8TO-EXNe7fBFh6EQU4hAj3nERQg67LZ1ZUO8aR8Uk7_bdmqMAkbUCZeNGFg9E13YNfH_Zju88kb-ZkzLiRoHPMu3b0bn-EW_441A3-E3Q/s400/3200iso-b-nr.jpg)
ISO 3200, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW5Uu97eJG9Mlpai_S2wEHV-8HFAq-yBdzIC4JOqDuP3Ch7TapbD8Oy3m_7cdtPCnzQ9n7PP34gReQkmJ1z4Alv4Upyabgn2kdDHUM0H8728aK6s0kUFWZae8gGFQtwQlfEROMaw/s400/3200iso-c.JPG)
ISO 3200, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2Xsd0jm05fr_Tom1xwMbGoDRKm9GiQxXkimtb86rufeF7qsgKZQfKdT_4Xap26Vy_olRGXeOwvXZayEa8SKztPxeNm11lajDrjWV1IEJVh10qbX2r8TwZLaGEAdYYTJ-0bi2zQ/s400/3200iso-c-nr.jpg)
ISO 6400, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNpqpDGaMKpFu9ge3G7EzY9fAyGxJQ6Xxu19bGqOvviNw4s0984pLVnZeyot2Tn-7l4ZKniCdRsAV6PjOqxrKj58iGsamfyoj_TYoWFSp5ZO1POPT5bQ0mY0YEKk17n07jDsZlA/s400/6400iso-a.JPG)
ISO 6400, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG0YSTeyCOrXg-NZEVUdDKaPfHuPX6DjFCSOYBtKwLBLl7HchtAMtuWJ5KPixjYOfig9Z57p75RZiHyeOQnuyFiAzbEsmdxZue8bvtSZZI2DtLzo7W-Zg_8jagf1602jyi9Bk2qw/s400/6400iso-a-nr.jpg)
ISO 6400, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVo3GDnO3goM3YwBDaDAn_5lvxLU5IIhx1NMNNrf3QF1410WICQRacIQr4BLwvrnLAEhjuKFh9Dc-Ovekl2t8oSXQfBNZ3nAYjGpPiJvaOlXVw8bn5EQLTipzOS7879pV8rSVcg/s400/6400iso-b.JPG)
ISO 6400, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSa93EiDmTd2VvZikoA5-DQBJP5r4U9kAi5-BJGshBRcN1qDJBGRpMJ26QoaTIuxSfsFRECvWyhBgSiWWfnSQAjwC7u43TV-5J6vrSdMEhyphenhyphenAgpwnfsOYMJhTNkSsaRJqTMhtVpsg/s400/6400iso-b-nr.jpg)
ISO 6400, no noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1uZi7Vj20kI8qmm6NBIaX8dS0UosuwZPpQhMXIIKTYLH48SBednJjIiTPRGjyTgSh0_KM1EXYH1lEyWTPT3Ov50ZYL8bAZ_C-_6OIMf6j2tyCQhdlPJIF6b5AmHmCR0YbL0U6_g/s400/6400iso-c.JPG)
ISO 6400, with noise-reduction:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf3kBjyecg_CxAV4bUlJbZWAww-UoCfZDCSj1Xl5K4_NXKRYQRJ8mbR6zk8bhCqkdNl3XgellsywbxiDNrZR2gLvWhXX-br4henP5Zd7NH7_HNnJS9XAOgWfFQ9VB0J6iPnLj4Bw/s400/6400iso-c-nr.jpg)
I have put the link to the 28MB zip file of the
full sized pictures in Comments.)
----
If you want comparison to other cameras, I recommend DPreview.com and imaging-resource.com for that. Also just googling around.
And 1001 has just posted links to a couple of
similar tests.