D80 noise question

[domromer]

The D80 comes with a High Noise reduction function, I haven't messed with it much but I have some questions.

1. Are you better of using this than say reducing the noise in photoshop?

2. The stetting are normal, low and high. Would normal be the default setting?

3. If shooting at IS0 1600 and having the noise reduction set to high, would the camera detect if I switched to IS0 100? and not try to reduce the noise at 100? Or would it make a shot taken at 100 look soft and muddy?

4. Sort of related to my last question, how does the noise reduction setting react with the auto iso settings? Can the camera see the difference between 100-1600 and react accordingly?

 

[Garbz]

Check the manual but I'm sure the noise reduction in Nikons only comes into play above ISO400. And no you're not better off using in camera systems. It uses the same method for ever picture yet anyone who's done noise reduction before should realise quickly that different NR methods suit different pictures, different colours, and different types of noise. Frankly many of the photoshop noise reduction features are very poor too. This is the only area really where Coral PaintShop Pro have photoshop beat.

 

[domromer]

I was not aware paintshop had a noise reduction feature. I've got a long drive today. Maybe I'll read my manual some more.

 

[Garbz]

It doesn't have a, it has many.

Let me short list some here:
- Reduce Noise Filter
- Despecle Filter
- Dust and Scratches Filter
- Smart Blur
- Surface Blur

Now take these and take into account you can apply them individually with different strengths on selected layers only. Like a blue sky plagued with noise may be best dealt with a surface blur on the blue channel.

Better options exist though. For serious noise 3rd party plugins like Noise Ninja and NeatImage can reduce noise by forming a noise signature of the picture using an area of the picture with constant shades. These are more like the paintshop pro plugin and work much better for really high-ISO images.