Nikon D7000 low light examples

[Eberbachl]

Hi Guys,

Took a quick walkaround tonight with my new D7000 to check out how it goes in low light!

I'm pretty thrilled with the camera's low light performance - this thing really turns night into day

All shots hand held using my slow 18-55mm kit lens - not the ideal night time lens, but it's all I have with me at the moment in China until I get home.

The shots are pretty well as they came out of the camera. A little white balance adjustment on one before converting the RAW files in View NX2, then resized and a little unsharp mask in GIMP. Oh... I cropped the scarf shot a touch due to my poor framing of the shot... a distracting bit of tarp in the bottom left hand corner just had to go.

Here goes:

Mop and bucket stall in the local street market. An hour after sunset under streetlights. Sorry... it should be sharper... my shoddy handholding technique and VR had our work cut out for us! I probably should have pushed this shot to 6400 just for fun. ISO3200.




Neon restaurant facade after dark. ISO3200.




Ceiling in local restaurant. ISO3200.




My friend Scofield enjoying dinner with me in a local restaurant. ISO3200.




RT Mart Supermarket facade after dark. ISO1600.




The trolley sea at the local RT Mart Supermarket under street lights. ISO 3200.




Scarves on the street in a local market under street lights. ISO3200.

I hope you enjoyed the pics...

Cheers,

Luke.

[wolffman]

I'm beginning to get the feeling of envy. I read ken rockwells review and he mentioned something very strange. He said that the meter sensitivity is no good for really dark places, ie no moon and too dark to read text. He reckons the Meter Defaults to 1/6s and 6400 iso and won't run you down into multiple seconds exposure time. I guess he is running auto-iso for this to happen. It sounds like too weird a problem to have made it through testing though. Have you seen this with yours or does the meter work ok with a selected iso instead of auto

[arthurking83]

I doubt there is a human on Earth that can understand any of Ken's reports to be honest!

Camera meters work within a specific Ev range. As I understand it, full moon Ev is about -2. That is, without any extra artificial lighting this condition is not within the Nikon's ability to read(or that it may do so, but with accuracy issues).

If he's using an f/2.8 lens, then the reading he's getting 1/6s @ ISO6400 is about correct considering the Ev for the conditions(as a neutral exposure).

I had to have a quick read of his comments on this (on his site) and he doesn't specify an aperture value anywhere either(so I'm assuming he's using an f/2.8 lens).. But we all know Ken has preference for kit lenses and they all seem to top out at f/5.6.. so maybe Ken is under exposing by 2 stops
Also considering that he uses "Auto Everything" almost excluxsively(his words!!) then I'd say he may have not configured the D7000 correctly. Almost all Nikon's that I know of, minumum possible shutter speed is 1sec, so you can't get "multiple second exposure times" in Auto ISO, under any circumstances!! He'd need to switch to the more technical Aperture (or Shutter) Priority mode if he wants multiple second exposures in a semi auto mode.

So two problems with that section of his 'review' .. he hasn't specified an actual (Ev)Exposure Value (or Light Value as he prefers to call it) for the conditions, and any artificial lighting will increase the Ev value to more than a straight full moon in the middle of nowhere!, and going by his exposure calculations of 1/6s and ISO6400, he hasn't specified an aperture value to complete the Exposure Value triangle. That is, if he's using f/4, f/5.6 ..etc.. then the camera is simply not going to give him a faster shutter speed! It'll give [Lo] indication on the top LCD display to warn that it's technically out of the camera's metering range... as all Nikon cameras (with top LCD displays) will.

Funny thing is to tho. With both my D70s and D300, even though you may see this Lo warning, in 99.9% of instances the camera is still quite capable of exposing very accurately( for any given ISO and aperture values, up to a 30sec maximum of course).

anyhow!.. Ken is always good for some early morning entertainment. I needed some comic relief today

[Eberbachl]

Hi Wolffman,

I read that on Ken's review as well. I think the guy's a blast and I love reading his website. Very entertaining... I like his sense of humour. His 'reviews'?... I don't agree with everything, but I have learnt some things there too I reckon his 'user guides' are better than the camera manufacturer's, and he's put me onto some great books I would otherwise not have found.



I think he's using auto ISO in regards to his moonlight comment. From memory he was saying that his Nikon D7000 can't meter below moonlight...

Mine was fine last night, I was shooting Manual ISO in Program Auto... they were all really just grab shots. Assitionally, they were all lit sufficiently to get a decent (almost) enough shutter speed for handholding too.

If the meter won't automatically go down below 1/6 sec in less than moonlight, I'll just switch to manual. I'm not too fussed by that.



Cheers,

Luke.

I'm beginning to get the feeling of envy. I read ken rockwells review and he mentioned something very strange. He said that the meter sensitivity is no good for really dark places, ie no moon and too dark to read text. He reckons the Meter Defaults to 1/6s and 6400 iso and won't run you down into multiple seconds exposure time. I guess he is running auto-iso for this to happen. It sounds like too weird a problem to have made it through testing though. Have you seen this with yours or does the meter work ok with a selected iso instead of auto

[judybee]

Congratulations on your new camera.
The trolley shot is great. Simple idea, but very effective.

[old dog]

hey great results at that low iso range Luke. I want one......bwaaaaaah.

[Eberbachl]

Here's a quick update with a snapshot from inside a shopping mall last night at ISO6400.

Yep... ISO6400



Obviously a little noise there, but still lots of detail. Quite usable in low light!

[Dylan & Marianne]

they look like fantastic results for high iso! I think I can only really start seeing some noise/degradation at 6400 at this size anyway (the purples of the guitar and the browns in the stairwell)

[Eberbachl]

Yes... very true.

I don't think with a little effort and some layers that it would be difficult to smooth out that noise either. It's great that there's still good detail, so you at least have something to work with.

[AmPhot]

So, you've had your D7K for 2 or so weeks and now you're selling it ? I'm curious, was there something about it you didn't like to make you sell it ? Gotta be the shortest period of camera ownership I've seen.

[Eberbachl]

That's me... always buying and selling gear

... to answer your question - no - really nothing I didn't like about it at all to be honest. It's a great body, and I love it.

But - I don't need three camera bodies , and if I'm honest with myself - my D5000 and D90 really do everything that I want to do extremely well. The D7000 cerainly has an edge with it's stunning low light capabilities and a better AF system, but those things aren't deal breakers for me. For all of my photography, image quality between my D5000, D90 and the D7000 is the same. If you're really pixel peeping you might find a difference in favour of the D7000, but who's looking that closely?... not me In real viewing circumstances there's nothing in it.

So, out goes the D7000 to someone who can really enjoy it.

I might get another one when I feel the need to upgrade in a year or two... or who knows what will be around then - maybe I'll be shopping for the D700 successor, or even a Pentax?

[AmPhot]

Yep fair enough, as always it comes down to personal choice.

[bugshutter]

i dont need a D7000 bu ti want 1.
cheers, i like your shopping trolley pic, it looks great.
Bug

[notahonda]

awesome shots with the D7000. How does this camera handle low light when using video mode? is it any different?

[LJG]

I watched a video of a revue on it and even as a dyed in the wool Canon shooter I have to say the low light capability of this thing is nothing short of amazing. I was a bit gobsmacked actually!