If I don't own a D7000 what should I do to get the best IQ?

[Marc-Etienne]

I'm not the biggest fan of architectural photography (I usually go for wildlife), but I don't know, the lighting on that Gothic church was too appealing not to shoot it!
I shoot with a D90. Unfortunately, I don't have a D7000 and the incredible high ISO capability. My D90 gets pretty noisy past ISO 400. I taught that the best way to achieve a decent picture is to shoot with a lower ISO to avoid noise and then postprocess (PP) it. If there is too much noise, my PP gets out of control and can't achieve good IQ (this is why I limited the ISO).
I would like to know what you guys had done (or would have done) in a situation like this.

Here is the original

And here is the PP version

Camera : D90
Lens : Nikkor 18-200mm VRII
Focal length : 18mm
Aperture : f/9
Shutter : 3s
Stabilized on a tripod (obviously)

 

[bluetibby1]

I would be interested in hearing the opinions as well.
Blue

 

[Geaux]

Tripod, longer exposure, low iso.

 

[Stradawhovious]

If you're on a tripod, you don't need a higher ISO, just keep it at 100. Try a larger aperature, and/or longer shutter time. See if there is a parking ramp or structure around to try shooting down at the building instead of up at it.

Also, this looks like a prime candidate for light painting! Crank that f-stop down to 22, set the shutter to 20 seconds or so, get a nice powerful flashlight, and go to town!

Also, take a few steps back and/or turn your camera 90 degrees to get the whole structure. It kind of sucks that the spire got chopped off.

 

[KmH]

The key to successfully shooting at high ISO is to nail the exposure.

It even has a special term - It's called ETTR, or Expose-To-The-Right on the histogram.

When you have a scene like the church where the light values are so variable, you want to be sure and expose for the highlights.

While the D7000 does have better high ISO performance than the D90, the D7000 has incrementally better usable ISO performance, not 'incredible' high ISO performance.

 

[Marc-Etienne]

Thanks for the answers. Should have thought that ISO 100 on the tripod would have been better... Learning experience! That church is not going anywhere soon! I have to go back and do better!

turn your camera 90 degrees to get the whole structure. It kind of sucks that the spire got chopped off.

This brings me another question. I bought my tripod head (Manfrotto 128RC) initially for digiscopy and screwed up on choosing a versatile head that would allow me portrait shots. Is there a cheap way (either than getting a new head:thumbdown to safely mount my camera portrait on such a head?

When you have a scene like the church where the light values are so variable, you want to be sure and expose for the highlights

So from what you said, I must make sure that I don't burn the highlights and clip my white? So I can PP it and still have colors? Does that mean that my exposure wasn't to bad in term of avoiding clipping?

 

[Stradawhovious]

This brings me another question. I bought my tripod head (Manfrotto 128RC) initially for digiscopy and screwed up on choosing a versatile head that would allow me portrait shots. Is there a cheap way (either than getting a new head:thumbdown to safely mount my camera portrait on such a head?

I'm not familiar with that head on your tripod, so forgive me if this simply won't work, but whats stopping you from mounting the camera 90 degrees from the "normal" position on the quick release plate and using the pan tilt to turn the camera 90 degrees to vertical? Any other adjustments can be made by adjusting the length of the legs....

 

[orb9220]

Well as pointed out Nailing exposure is first priority.
What metering were you using? and mode you were in?

For tripod did you use the 2 sec delay where the camera waits for the mirror to retract and then trips the shutter? and did you use the ML-L3 remote or timer mode?

Next lens.. The 18-200 is a jack of all trades master at none kind of convenience lens.
In this situation would have shot with the Sigma 10-20 or 35mm f1.8 or used my Tamron 17-50 f2.8 for superior Image IQ.

As even get decent Image IQ at 3200 iso and no post NR at all like this shot.


Heading Home by orb9220, on Flickr

So shooting at only 200 or 400 iso is not mandatory just preferable. As can get decent image up to 1600 no problems if you nail exposure. If exposure is off just a tad like my shot was then will start to show the signs of noise. As in my shots the noise is just starting to bloom in the darks.
.

 

[ababysean]

your d90 gets too noisy past 400 iso?

 

[Marc-Etienne]

whats stopping you from mounting the camera 90 degrees from the "normal" position on the quick release plate and using the pan tilt to turn the camera 90 degrees to vertical

If you refer yourself to this link, you might have a better idea of the head I'm using. It doesn't allow the head to flip in a portrait orientation. I can only horizontally rotate and tilt in a vertical plane, but the camera can only be positioned in a landscape position since I initially bought it for digiscopy. Thanks for trying to help me, but I think my explanation wasn't clear.

What metering were you using? and mode you were in?

I started by trying in Aperture priority (I almost always shoot Aperture priority) with the aperture I was looking for (f/8 - f/10), but I thought that I clipped way to much highlights and switched it to manual to reduce shutter (from 14s for f/10 in aperture priority to 3 sec for f/9 in manual)

Picture taken in Aperture priority (f/10 & 14s)

Should have done something else in order to improve my exposure and avoid clipping?

Next lens.. The 18-200 is a jack of all trades master at none kind of convenience lens.

I which I had another lens for such a picture. I started photography last year with this lens exactly looking for convenience and learning opportunity on a wider focal length range. I bought new lenses recently (macro and super tele-zoom), but not the wide angle yet. It's on my wish list. Thinking Tokina 11-16, but it won't be before a year. I still have to recover from that 1400$ that left my bank account.:er:

your d90 gets too noisy past 400 iso?

Like Keith pointed out, I probably don't nail my exposure. I will have to practice this to reduce noise in pictures like this one.



Thank you all for your help. Very appreciated