|
|
|||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Standard Test Scene |
To give an impression of what some of the combinations of image size and quality produce the table below is a cross reference of some of them:
Settings: ISO 125 / Exposure: 1/10s, F8.0 / Sharp.: Normal / Tone: Auto / Colorspace: sRGB.
Crops below are of the same 240 x 120 area of each image nearest neighbour magnified 200%.
| 3008 x 1960 | |
| HI TIFF RGB |
 17,360 KB (Not available for download) |
| HI TIFF YCbCr |
 11,601 KB (Not available for download) |
| HI RAW - NIKON CAPT2 |
|
| JPEG FINE |
 2,774 KB |
| JPEG NORM |
 1,433 KB |
| JPEG BASIC |
 705 KB |
| 2000 x 1312 | |
| JPEG FINE |
 1,225 KB |
| JPEG NORM |
 650 KB |
It's interesting to note the difference in contrast between the TIFF/JPEG images and the RAW converted image. We converted the NEF using the standard 'Neutral.Set' adjustment settings (basically, this is no adjustments), saved as a TIFF and then cropped out the required area. Colorspace was set to sRGB. Otherwise it's clear that quality is excellent (we'll talk about this in more detail in the Image Quality section of this review), the lower quality JPEG compressions provide relatively good quality (although artifacts become apparent at BASIC). The smaller 2000 x 1312 image size provides a super-crisp yet economical (storage wise) option.
In addition to the image quality and size options you can also select B&W instead of colour. In this case the camera only outputs a grayscale image, all colour information is discarded.
Settings: ISO 125 / Exposure: 1/10s, F8.0 / Sharp.: Normal / Tone: Auto / Colorspace: sRGB / Large FINE JPEG.
 |
 |
| Normal colour (sRGB colorspace) | Black & White |
The D1x allows you to choose from 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV steps betwen ISO 125 and 800, at 1/3 EV steps this provides a total of 9 different ISO equiv. sensitivities. Additionally there are two additional sensitivities accessible through the ISO boost custom setting (CSM 31) which are equivalent to ISO 1600 and 3200. To give an impression of noise levels at different sensitivities the same scene was shot at 1 stop (1 EV) steps from ISO 125 to ISO 3200 (HI-2) in both good and low light situations.
Settings: Sharp.: Normal / Tone: Auto / Colorspace: sRGB / Large FINE JPEG.
| Good Light | Low Light |
 |
 |
| ISO 125, 1/20 sec, F8.0 | ISO 125, 20 sec, F7.1 |
 |
 |
| ISO 200, 1/40 sec, F8.0 | ISO 200, 10 sec, F7.1 |
 |
 |
| ISO 400, 1/80 sec, F8.0 | ISO 400, 6 sec, F7.1 |
 |
 |
| ISO 800, 1/160 sec, F8.0 | ISO 800, 3 sec, F7.1 |
 |
 |
| ISO 1600 (HI-1), 1/320 sec, F8.0 | ISO 1600 (HI-1), 1 sec, F7.1 |
 |
 |
| ISO 3200 (HI-2), 1/500 sec, F8.0 | ISO 3200 (HI-2), 1/2 sec, F7.1 |
An amazingly good performance, almost no visible noise all the way up to ISO 400, at ISO 800 there's noise but it's nothing too distracting. Yes, there's noise at even higher ISO's but look, it's random noise, not pattern noise as we saw on the D1. This will be of great relief to most D1 owners / users as they will appreciate how difficult it is to remove pattern noise, but how natural and almost 'film grain'-like ranomd noise is.
