High ISO Nikon D300 RAW / NEF Sample Photos From Paris

<ol>
<li>I couldn't determine the firmware version of the camera used to take this photos, as the Software EXIF field in Irfanview reports itself as Nikon Transfer 1.0M, which is presumably the software Luca used to transfer the images from the memory card to his computer.</li>
<li>The images were originally shot in Adobe RGB colorspace. If you open the converted JPEGs in Adobe Photoshop, you'll notice that the image profile is reported as Nikon sRGB 4.0.0.3001. What's confusing is that if I view the JPEG in ViewNX, the Color Space continues to show Adobe RGB as in the original NEF file.</li>
<li>Luca currently holds the record for the only individual who shot Nikon D300 test pictures with Active D-Lighting turned OFF -- THANK YOU!</li>
<li>In-camera NR (noise reduction) is also turned off. Your taste and mine could very well be different, but I kinda like the look of the overall noise pattern -- no smearing, and no banding. Once I get my own Nikon D300, I'll have to subject this to further tests to see if NR Low or Normal does a good job of reducing chroma noise without sacrificing too much detail.</li>
<li>White Balance was set to Incandescent.</li>
<li>The level of noise present in these images isn't high enough to obliterate the dude with the hair band -- see him up close and personal in <a href="http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=25166772">another forum post</a> (which shows the effects of having NR ON (Normal) and Active D-Lighting High).</li>