Thanks Arthur - To me in a lot of ways noise is a taste issue, and for me, using Aperture (which is admittedly pretty crummy in terms of both its RAW converter and certainly noise reduction) ISO 1600 and below in the D7000 is excellent but above that it's not to my taste (i.e. too noisy for my liking). If I can pick up an extra stop, along with the dynamic range benefits etc that it may make sense to "upgrade" to FX. I also use auto ISO but only to 1600. I'm also chasing more than usable photos - these are keepsakes often shot in low light of first milestones (e.g. first steps etc) so I want them to be as "perfect" as possible.
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Hi Andrew - agree 100% with this. Current work horses are the 35mm 1.8 Nikon (which I think is a reasonable lens), and also the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 fine tuned to the nth degree in terms of focus etc. Regardless of change of body next lens will be the Tamron 24-70 VC, but based on the (as mentioned) excellent advice (as usual) I think the D600 would help to get more from that lens. Certainly the range will be more friendly for my purposes on FX. I also have the Nikon 50mm 1.8D but don't use it alot. Sharpness isn't the issue for me - it's been a fussy body re noise I think!
I do think it's high time to invest in some additional noise reduction software or perhaps move away from Aperture (but I've been hanging in for the illusive upgrade and it really suits my workflow) so that is absolutely something I will look more closely at.
Happy to take more advice and be pointed in a different direction - really appreciate all of the time spent and amazing feedback everyone!
Brenden
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Hi Lance, I can't see these from my current Internet connection but will check them out tonight. Thank you for going to the trouble to shoot those shots though!