Nikon D3000

Noise Reduction (6.21)

The noise reduction system on the D3000 is unsual for an SLR. A single On/Off setting controls both high ISO noise reduction (over ISO 400) and long exposure noise reduction (longer than 8 seconds), and there are no noise reduction level settings. When shooting at settings above ISO 800 some noise reduction processing is used, even if you’ve turned it off.

Noise reduction has no effect below ISO 800, and makes a significant difference at the two highest ISO settings. When shooting at ISO 100 and 200, image noise is about 0.6%, a decent performance. The blue noise is somewhat elevated above the rest, which could make it more visible even when the overall noise level is relatively low, depending on the colors in your photo. More on how we test noise.

Our image noise tests show that the D3000 isn’t overly prone to annoying speckles and imperfections, though our test images were marginally noisier than three out of four comparison cameras (the Olympus E-620, with its smaller Four Thirds format sensor, had particular problems with this test). To measure noise performance we shoot the X-Rite Color Checker chart under bright studio illumination (we turn the lights down for our separate Long Exposure testing), at each available ISO and with noise reduction processing at each available level (in this case, that’s on and off). Digital noise reduction will supress visible imperfections, but at the expense of image detail.

ISO Options

Available standard ISOs range from 100 to 1600, plus an extended range Hi 1 setting equivalent to ISO 3200. This represents an increase on both ends of the range compared to the Nikon D40.

There’s an Auto ISO mode available for situations where the user-defined setting won’t allow a workable exposure. Maximum and minimum acceptable values can be set.

Focus Performance

The D3000 uses 11 autofocus points, versus just three for the D40 and D60, making continous autofocus more practical. Focusing speed feels a bit sluggish with the kit lens, though. There’s a noticeable pause between pressing the shutter halfway and hearing the focus confirmation beep. On the plus side, the autofocus assist lamp is bright and effective: we found about the same AF speed in sunlight and dim indoor lighting, and never failed to achieve focus even when shooting in the dark.

The camera supports four focus modes: Single-servo, Continuous-servo, Auto-servo, and Manual.

Long Exposure (10.52)

The D30000 performed reasonably well in our long exposure testing, which combines marks for color accuracy and image noise when shooting in low light, for exposures between 1 second and 30 seconds. Color accuracy still wasn’t great, and even under low light colors were oversaturated, but noise was quite low, with and without noise reduction processing.

The color error is substantial; by way of comparison, the Nikon D5000 color error measured roughly 25% lower. However, there isn’t much variation in color reproduction as the shutter speed increases, which is a desirable result.

At an illumination level of just 20 lux, the D3000 noise performance is solid at under 0.8% across the board. Noise reduction didn’t have much effect one way or the other (on some cameras, the digital processing actually makes the situation worse). More on how we test long exposure.

The Nikon D3000 trails the Canon Rebel XS and Nikon D5000 in our long exposure testing, but not by a wide margin, and entirely due to mediocre color accuracy. By contrast, the Olympus E-620 received the lowest score despite decent color accuracy due to very high image noise.