Highest ISO You Use with Z Camera

[Bill Ferris]

While I'm especially interested in the thoughts of Z9 and Z8 owners, this poll is open to any Nikon Z mirrorless camera owner.

I upgraded from a D500 and D610 to a Z9 last May and have been pleasantly surprised by the low-light performance. I attribute much of that to the AI noise reduction and sharpening tool in Lightroom Classic. Just the other day, I made this photo at ISO 12800. It was processed in LrC and finished with the Enhance tool set to 30.


Nikon Z9 with Nikkor 800mm f/6.3 VR S

Here's the poll question: What's the highest ISO you'll use with your Z camera to make a quality image?

Apply your best judgment in determining the characteristics and threshold for a quality image.

Answers are grouped so that you can reply as someone who does not use AI noise reduction or as someone who does use AI noise reduction. Please, share any additional comments on this topic in the comments.

 

[cyuill2007]

I usually use the M exposure mode with Auto ISO set to maximum 12800 on my Z6II. I use Lightroom Classic. The Adobe AI De-noise feature or Topaz Photo Ai do a good job with cleaning up noise at ISO 12800. For ISOs of 2000 or less I have success getting the results I want with the conventional noise reduction feature in LrC.

 

[Terrible Photographer]

6400 on the 45MP bodies, 12800 on the 24MP ones.

If you have a good exposure, you're not going to need much in the way of noise reduction. That's just icing on the cake IMO.

People who are scared to go beyond ISO1600, are probably the same type of people who are scared to eat sushi.

 

[PHXAZCRAIG]

Well, when I'm diving, I'm generally at 64 for macro with strobes, and 200-400 for ambient.

But underwater is a high-dynamic-range environment. If I'm shooting subjects with very little dynamic range, I'll go a lot higher (and often be a bit disappointed).

Certainly I'll mostly trust ISO 6400, and sometimes I'll go higher, but I don't do noise reduction post-processing.

It's a long way from my D200, where I really avoided going over ISO 400.

 

[monte12345]

The Z9 does handle high ISO noise rather well but it's limited by it's 46 mp resolution. The King of Low Light for Nikon is the Zf with it's larger Photon Greedy photosites. Add in the -10 EV AF capability and -4 EV metering system and you have a camera that treats Moonlight as a nice warm summers day. Finally Nikon has an absolutely wonderful AI driven sensor specific Noise Reduction feature that is IMO better than lightroom or DxO Photolab 8 for it's detail preserving properties.

Sum it all up and the Nikon Zf is the finest low light commercial camera Nikon has ever created and it may well be the finest low light camera ever made. In addition it does this with class leading Dynamic Range and just wonderful rendering. All together the Zf is clear evidence that 100mp sensors really aren't needed.

 

[Hayden N]

I have Auto Iso set to 12800 on my Z6, Images come out remarkably clean even with using Basic Noise reduction in Nikon NX studio. I have actually got decent results at iso 25600 but it really depends on the subject and Type of light.

 

[LTheWafflePWN]

Though I selected "AI noise reduction: ISO 12800", I try to make an effort not to go above 3200 without trying a very slow shutter speed first. If I can't get the shot because of shake or subject movement at 3200 and whatever shutter speed, I'll try 6400, and lastly 12800. This is also assuming that I'm unable to use some sort of speedlight or off-camera lighting.

I have taken photos at 25,600 - 102,400 just to see what they look like.... and I just don't think there's enough detail left to save an image, even after down sampling. That's just my opinion though, I'm sure some people out there have great images from what I consider crazy-high ISO's.

 

[AlainCh2]

Until my last Film shot, I was quite afraid to reach ISO640 and burn the roll.

Twenty years later, re-entering photo into the digital world, I set ISOmax to 2400.
One month later 6400.

I use DXO in PP, nothing in-camera. I shoot M with Auto-Iso.

Z30 is now set to maxISO 10.000 which I seldom reach.

Zf is set to ISOmax 12.800 after the first tests @ISOmax 20.000



The Zf after 12 months of use as a DX camera,
is still astounding me now that I use its full potential FX with the 24-200Z.

I keep shooting hand-held even at night, down to 1/10.
IBIS is something unexpected, like honey from the sky

( Night shots are a real pleasure even using F14 )

 

[Hal Wilson]

The Z9 does handle high ISO noise rather well but it's limited by it's 46 mp resolution. The King of Low Light for Nikon is the Zf with it's larger Photon Greedy photosites. Add in the -10 EV AF capability and -4 EV metering system and you have a camera that treats Moonlight as a nice warm summers day. Finally Nikon has an absolutely wonderful AI driven sensor specific Noise Reduction feature that is IMO better than lightroom or DxO Photolab 8 for it's detail preserving properties.

Sum it all up and the Nikon Zf is the finest low light commercial camera Nikon has ever created and it may well be the finest low light camera ever made. In addition it does this with class leading Dynamic Range and just wonderful rendering. All together the Zf is clear evidence that 100mp sensors really aren't needed.

Hmm; a lot of hyperbole there. I have the Z6, which has the same sensor. The Zf has poor ergonomics imo. The Z6iii has better ergonomics and low light AF, and is probably the best low light camera that Nikon currently make.

I shoot a lot in extremely low light, so regularly using 12,800 ISO and higher. That's with a Z6, a Z50ii and more recently, a Z8. All perform amazingly, but the Z6 is definitely the winner in this regard. Until fairly recently, I wasn't using any NR in post, but Adobe NR AI is excellent.

It's worth knowing that high ISO performance in relatively good light as in the OP's pic, is always going to look a lot better than that in very low light situations. The sunlight in the OP's image is still brighter than most domestic artificial lighting. I shoot in nightclubs where the lighting is not only often very dim, but erratic. Sensors respond differently to different colours in such a situation, so results can be very hit and miss. Getting the 'right' exposure can be an absolute nightmare. But the Z cameras perform so well; the images I'm producing now just weren't possible even 10 years ago. My D600 could not perform to the same level that my current cameras can; it topped out at 6400 ISO really, for useable images. The D200 I had prior to that went to about 1600 before things turned to mush.

 

[xiao_xiang]

Z6 and Z8 user.

For almost entirely clean JPEGS with minimal noise, 3,200 and 1,600 respectively. That's where I set it unless I need to have the shutter speed high enough to contain motion blur, in which case I will compromise.

Z8 6400-10000 ISO can be cleaned up a lot. but I printed some in A3 after DXO NR and the faces come out....the color and texture was odd. Starting to look like a cheap beautify app look. That make me search for some target values. A lot of people don't print and just use a 2k monitor and aged eyes, so they don't see some of the issues. Also, if the scene has mixed lighting then it's less ISO tolerant as the shadows will be swarming with bees. If it's light balanced, then you can push it more.

6,400 is my ceiling for the Z8 if at all possible. 10,000 for the Z6. That way any NR won't be too extreme.

 

[buildingsights]

this could turn out to be an interesting thread...

i like the different strategies and the limitations one can have (chosen by self/clients/for a specific "look") on ISO.
what i would like to see is (as usual for these type of fora) some examples to illustrate those different strategies, and some explanations of how it was done, for example: in camera - NR or not, with or without NR software; and the general PP practices to achieve those results.
aaaanyway, thanks all for sharing!

 

[BasilG]

I am on the low-ish end of the scale (ISO 3200), but I think it depends a lot on the desired output size. If you can downscale or print small, high values work better than when the goal is to obtain a large print. Given the even 3500 pixel width of the posted example, I presume it is downsampled. What does the original (noise-reduced) shot look like before downsizing?

 

[Shinyschnapper]

It all depends on what I am photographing and the light I am photographing in. I have gone up to 25000 in low light museums with a Z5 it’s worked and cleaned up just fine. I now have a Z8 which is a stop lower for my acceptable ISO. I find that with both DXO and Lightroom on the Z8 if I am photographing people 12800 is the upper limit before the noise reduction algorithms turn faces into wax work figures.

 

[Bill Ferris]

I'll upload a full-sized version when I'm back at my laptop.

--
Bill Ferris Photography
Flagstaff, AZ

 

[jjz2]

When I was shooting events I capped it out at 10,000 on Z6 and still needs some clean up. Only in the most low light situations like a night club type situation w/ no flash and shooting the S primes.

 

[shuncheung]

Typically I don't go over ISO 6400, but in occasions I use 12800.

This is straight out of the camera and converted to JPEG, without any denoise: Z9 with 24-70mm/f4 S @ 34mm, f4, 1/25 sec and ISO 12800.

 

[buildingsights]

Typically I don't go over ISO 6400, but in occasions I use 12800.

This is straight out of the camera and converted to JPEG, without any denoise: Z9 with 24-70mm/f4 S @ 34mm, f4, 1/25 sec and ISO 12800.

that's pretty good, excellent... the z9 is something else it seems, and ofc a good exposure. btw, was there an in-camera NR on?
nice one!

 

[michaeladawson]

The Z9 does handle high ISO noise rather well but it's limited by it's 46 mp resolution. The King of Low Light for Nikon is the Zf with it's larger Photon Greedy photosites. Add in the -10 EV AF capability and -4 EV metering system and you have a camera that treats Moonlight as a nice warm summers day. Finally Nikon has an absolutely wonderful AI driven sensor specific Noise Reduction feature that is IMO better than lightroom or DxO Photolab 8 for it's detail preserving properties.

Sum it all up and the Nikon Zf is the finest low light commercial camera Nikon has ever created and it may well be the finest low light camera ever made. In addition it does this with class leading Dynamic Range and just wonderful rendering. All together the Zf is clear evidence that 100mp sensors really aren't needed.

Hmm; a lot of hyperbole there.

I agree. And some of it is a bit untrue. At least in the way it's worded. The Zf does not have photon greedy photosites. This was true with older sensors. It just isn't really true any more. At least not the part about "photon greedy". Viewed at the same output size the Z8 and Z9 are close to the same as the Zf/Z6. Where the slightly higher noise comes in on the higher MP sensors of the Z8/9 is from higher read noise due to faster electronics in the stacked sensor to read all the pixels at high frame rates. But the photon sites themselves are no more photon greedy on the Z6/Zf than on the Z8/9.

 

[AlainCh2]

this could turn out to be an interesting thread...
i like the different strategies and the limitations one can have (chosen by self/clients/for a specific "look") on ISO.
what i would like to see is (as usual for these type of fora) some examples to illustrate those different strategies, and some explanations of how it was done, for example: in camera - NR or not, with or without NR software; and the general PP practices to achieve those results.
aaaanyway, thanks all for sharing!

Z30 maxISO = 10.000
Zf maxISO = 12.800
M Shooting

I try to stay lowISO, but not much important.
I care more about Aperture to get a DOF when needed and Shutter over f1/10 to avoid shakes or high enough to avoid moving people.
I use DXO standard noise reduction.















--
___.............................!............................ ___
-------- Mid of French/Italian Alps --------- I Love my Carnivores. >https://eu.zonerama.com/AlainCH2/1191151
.
Photography ... It is about how that thing looks when photographed..
( Avoid boring shots )

 

[j_photo]

I shoot a lot of stage-lit productions and protecting highlights is often a challenge. For this reason, I don't shoot above iso 3200. Since I'm shooting raw, I can increase brightness in post. For my work, I don't see any benefit to raising iso while shooting.

And yes, I generally use AI noise reduction.