Best Cameras for Low Light?

WickedWitch · Feb 24, 2013

Hi!
This is my first post. I've been out of the game for a while and recently gotten my spark back. Today I remembered one of the reasons I sat down the camera in the first place. I'm not thrilled with what I'm working with. The issue with my camera is that in low light situations it just doesn't cut it. There is blurring, excessive noise and the hot pixels. I've tried many things, short of getting a flash setup, and I've concluded that I just need to get something else. I shoot a lot of motion and outdoor shots. I love working with available light and I want to dabble in some long exposure as well. I know I cannot get rid of these problems 100% but I'm sure there are cameras that can do better than what I have. I never could get the answer I was looking for from comparisons and reviews on various websites so I finally decided to try a forum to get some better feedback. I would very much appreciate any help you guys can give on what would be a good upgrade for what I'm wanting to do. Here are the specs on what I have let me know if you need any more info, THANKS!

Olympus Evolt E-500
8MP

Exposure Control	Light Metering Mode	Digital ESP/Center Weighted Average/Spot (Approx. 2%)/Spot with Highlight, shadow control
Detection Range	Digital ESP/Center Weighted Average; EV 1 to 20 (50mm F2, ISO 100) Spot/Spot with Highlight, shadow control; EV 3 to 17 (50mm F2, ISO 100)
Exposure Mode	Full Auto, Program with Program Shift/Shutter Priority/Aperture Priority/Manual/Scene Program AE/Scene Select AE
Scene Program	Portrait/Landscape/Macro/Sports/Night Scene & Portrait
Scene Select	Portrait/Landscape/Landscape & Portrait/Night Scene/Night Scene & Portrait/Firework/Sunset/Macro/Sports/High-Key/Low-Key/ Documents/Beach & Snow/Candle/Children
Sensitivity	Auto: ISO100 to 400 Manual: ISO100 to 400, Expandable to 1600 (in each 1/3 EV step possible) (Noise filter is selectable in ISO boost)

MiFleur · Feb 24, 2013

The first question will be: what is your budget?
I have the Nikon D600, it does a very good job with low light but it might be more costly than what you want to pay...

nola.ron · Feb 24, 2013

From the nikon side... d600. If you can't afford that then go for a d7000. I switched to a d7k for this #1 reason and I have yet to be limited by ISO on it.

WickedWitch · Feb 24, 2013

Thanks for the response. This is why I wanted to hear from people who actually use the cameras, CNET showed the D7000 as being kinda noisy. I'm trying to keep it in the 1k range. I'm not against buying used. I mostly want to know what's best and then I can narrow down what I can afford from there.

nola.ron · Feb 24, 2013

With a 1k budget, from the Nikon side the D7000 is definitely your best bet. CNET must have been smoking crack when they did their review of the D7K noise performance. That or they were comparing it to FF noise performance, in which yea it will pale in comparison. Watch photographer reviews of it and reviews done by photography websites.

As far as my experience goes, I don't see real noise until ISO 2000 on it. Even then it is easily correctable in post. I have yet to find anyone with a D7k that speaks badly of it. A lot of people shooting FF have a D7K as their backup. Once I upgrade to FF in a couple of years from now I will certainly still keep mine as just that.

There's a $300 rebate on the D7k until like March 2nd or something along those lines. I picked up mine with a Class 10 16GB card and a lowepro bag for $896 shipped. You can get a refurb from B&H or Adorama for $750 and that comes with a warranty. If you need lenses though that's another story... I think the kit is around $1200 with the rebate.

o hey tyler · Feb 25, 2013

nola.ron said:
CNET must have been smoking crack when they did their review of the D7K noise performance.

What do you think CNET stands for? Cracknet!

goodguy · Feb 25, 2013

WickedWitch said:
Thanks for the response. This is why I wanted to hear from people who actually use the cameras, CNET showed the D7000 as being kinda noisy. I'm trying to keep it in the 1k range. I'm not against buying used. I mostly want to know what's best and then I can narrow down what I can afford from there.

D7000 noisy ? WTF

In the DX bodies the D7000 has the best low light performent and this will be the camera I would recomend for you to get.
I have a D7000 and it opened my eyes in regards to night photography.
I use it on 3200ISO and even 6400ISO and is VERY happy with the results.

BTW if you want the best camera for low light then the answer is Canon 6D.
While being a Nikon owner I can but admire the Canon 6D low light performance.
Its better by 1-2 stops then the Nikon D600 which is on its own an amazing low light performance camera but the Canon 6D is way out of your price.

DorkSterr · Feb 25, 2013

I agree with the above comments the d7000 is pretty good even in comparison to the Nikon d4 in all aspect.

DBA · Feb 25, 2013

IMO best bang for your buck is a used D600 (just picked one up for $1,700), otherwise a D7000 (or D7100) is a great sub $1k camera. I currently shoot with both a D7000 and D600. The D7000 has acceptable noise up to ~2000 ISO and the D600 is very impressive at ISO3200+. Here's an unedited photo straight from the D600 shot at ISO3200.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/nikon/318715-nikon-d600-low-noise-impressive.html

cgipson1 · Feb 25, 2013

Full Frame sensors always have an advantage over Crop sensors for low light sensitivity (this holds true for any brand of body) . But if your budget doesn't allow for an FX body, then the D7000 is one of the best of the DX crop sensor bodies for low noise / High ISO shooting.

emdiemci · Feb 25, 2013

Depends what range and expert level. I have taken beautiful pictures with an S100 on a tripod. My T4i does it better but it all depends.

bratkinson · Feb 25, 2013

Ok, I'll be the first Canon guy with a suggestion...

How about a clean, used Canon 60D with a 50mm f1.4 lens? That's a thousand-ish, maybe a bit more. Good low light body and great low light lens to go with it.

goodguy · Feb 25, 2013

bratkinson said:
Ok, I'll be the first Canon guy with a suggestion...

How about a clean, used Canon 60D with a 50mm f1.4 lens? That's a thousand-ish, maybe a bit more. Good low light body and great low light lens to go with it.

While I recomended Nikon but if Canon is a consideration I would say he can go with the T2i, this way save on cash but still get more or less same low light performance as the 60D.

skieur · Feb 25, 2013

All cameras start showing noise at ISO 1600 and frankly comparing noise using pixel peeping of side by side photos at www.imaging-resource.com means little in the sense that more or less noise is still noise, when it occurs at the same ISO.
Some cameras have slightly better in-camera approaches for reducing noise but it seldom goes away completely. Software approaches to noise reduction help but only within a limited range and there may be a compromise between sharpness and noise reduction.

skieur

WickedWitch · Feb 25, 2013

At the risk of being hunted down and beaten...what are your thoughts on the Sony NEX cameras? When looking for the best low light camera these came up repeatedly. I've watched videos on them until I'm blue in the face. I'm not sure that I want to go the way of mirrorless but I'm also the person that said I would never give up film. I'm also torn by the way that they are marketed as the future of cameras, that the quality is as good as or better than DSLR's yet are not suggested for anyone who wants to take amateur - professional photos WTF? Thoughts?