# Nikon D700 ISO Problems



## asunnyphoto (Jun 21, 2010)

I recently purchased the Nikon D700 and noticed something that has made me a bit uneasy about the purchase. Every site seemed to promote it's crisp quality and it's ability to be set on a higher ISO with low grain in the photos. Well, the other evening with the ISO set to only 350, the photos are looking more grainy than they were with my D60! I am using a DX lens until my new full frame lens comes in, but I doubt that would have any effect. IS this a cleaning issue? Or should I check a setting? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have an evening photo shoot this weekend and do not want this happening to a paying customer. Thank you


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## spudgunr (Jun 21, 2010)

Try turning the exposure up more so that it is well lit. Often a well exposed scene at a higher ISO will look less noisy than a poorly lit scene at a lower ISO. I don't know about the d700 though, grain at 350 seems low, but its worth a shot.


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## asunnyphoto (Jun 21, 2010)

yeah, this definitely has never happened though.....in a dark room, with an ISO of about 650 there was no grain. I'm worried I've pushed something wrong or the lens is causing problems. Not sure. Thank you though! I appreciate your help.


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## kundalini (Jun 21, 2010)

First off, there is no ISO350 or 650 setting on the D700.

Although you are limiting yourself with a DX lens, I would think it's operator error. If properly exposed, you shouldn't have any grain issues until you head north of ISO3200.

Have you set up your Shooting Menu Banks? Are you in the appropriate one for the scene? An easy fallback is to reset to factory defaults.


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## Big Mike (Jun 22, 2010)

Changing the exposure wont change how the scene it 'lit'.  You can under or over expose for a dark scene or a bright scene.

I think what they are trying to say, is that noise can become much more apparent when you underexpose a photo...and it you attempt to increase the brightness/exposure afterward, that is when you will really start to see a lot of noise.  

So the moral of the story is that you should learn to nail your exposure to control noise.  Further to that, there is a technique called 'Expose to the Right' where you set your exposure to maximize the signal to noise ratio.  Expose Right


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## KmH (Jun 22, 2010)

kundalini said:


> First off, there is no ISO350 or 650 setting on the D700.
> 
> Although you are limiting yourself with a DX lens, I would think it's operator error. If properly exposed, you shouldn't have any grain issues until you head north of ISO3200.
> 
> Have you set up your Shooting Menu Banks? Are you in the appropriate one for the scene? An easy fallback is to reset to factory defaults.


I was wondering if a D700 could select those values in Auto ISO mode?



> ....in a dark room, with an ISO of about 650 there was no grain....


 
Grain is a property of film and refers to the size of the light sensitive particles in the emulsion.



> or the lens is causing problems.


 
A lens will not cause noise.

Digital cameras have electronic noise which is caused by a poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or heat. Noise is always more visible in underexposed (dark) portions of an image.


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## chrispictures (Jul 26, 2013)

my d700 that i have had for 3 years as been awsome, but recently at iso 400 it is unusable, it looks like iso 12000, this is with an nikon 24-70, raw sh
shooting, not under exposed, ive also noticed it with flash.


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## cptkid (Jul 26, 2013)

chrispictures said:


> my d700 that i have had for 3 years as been awsome, but recently at iso 400 it is unusable, it looks like iso 12000, this is with an nikon 24-70, raw sh
> shooting, not under exposed, ive also noticed it with flash.



Thread is three years old. No need to bump it.


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