Full-sized, High ISO Nikon D300 Samples

These "leaked" (for want of a better term) images are not mine, but shot by "Peter", who first shared the photos in a German forum thread.

The photos were not shot with a production-level Nikon D300, and take note of the following:

1. The D300 was set to shoot RAW + JPEG – these are the Large, Fine JPEG files.
2. Active D-Lighting is ON for all photos, which might increase noise and result in posterization in the shadows.
3. Sharpness was set at 6. The D300 has Auto, 0 to 9 for sharpness, so judge the noise in light of this fact.
4. High ISO NR (noise reduction) was set to ON (Low) for the ISO 3200 and higher photos. My preliminary conclusion is that in-camera NR at this setting does a nice job of reducing chroma noise without any apparent destruction of luminance data.
5. Peter made it clear that he did not have time to set up the D300 given the circumstances – don't worry Pete, we understand, and are thankful for these photos.

Pending the availability of ISO 800 and 1600 JPEG samples, I'm quite sure my 6MP D70 would be beaten flat by the D300 in the high ISO department (anyone still wants to see an ISO 1600 shot from a D70? What about an ISO1600 photo from a D200?).

For comparison purposes, Dexter Santucci, in this forum post, provided a Nikon D2X ISO 3200 photo. Although not taken under the same circumstances, you get a pretty good idea of the differences in noise characteristics between the D2X vs. D300.

Here then, are the links to the photos and screenshots of the EXIF data as displayed in Nikon View NX (click to read an article that has download links for the program). Use this method to determine equivalent ISO, and prepare enough bandwidth before proceeding:

• ISO 100 (1 EV under 200), EXIF, RAW / NEF
• ISO 3200, EXIF, RAW / NEF
• ISO 4000 (0.3 EV over 3200), EXIF, RAW / NEF
• ISO 5200 (0.7 EV over 3200), EXIF, RAW / NEF
• ISO 6400, 1st photo (1 EV over 3200), EXIF, RAW / NEF
• ISO 6400, 2nd photo (1 EV over 3200), EXIF, RAW / NEF

Lens used was the Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX