Nikon D700

Noise
Image noise is the electronically-generated speckling of an image, much like clusters of silver particles in film stock used to create a noticeable texture that wasn’t present in the original scene. And as with film grain, image noise is most noticeable in areas of flat color, and under low lighting conditions.

Since noise inevitably increases as ISO settings rise, we test cameras at each available ISO setting, from the lowest to the highest. With the D700, that’s a whole lot of ISOs – while most cameras we test have six or seven setting, this Nikon offers 23 ISO settings. Of these, ISO 200-6400 are considered "official" settings, identified by numbers in camera menus (with information that gets stored in the EXIF image data). There are also three settings below 200 (labeled Lo0.3, Lo0.7 and Lo1, roughly equivalent to ISO 100, 130 and 160 respectively) and four high settings from 8000 up to an astronomical 25600 (Hi0.3, Hi0.7, Hi1 and Hi2 respectively). Nikon engineers separate the official settings from the outliers based on their belief that the sensor performance is most reliable within its sweet spot. We went ahead and tested the entire range, and found the results impressive nearly across the board. The Lo settings produced excellent noise results and, on the Hi side, we didn’t cross the 2% threshold until we’d pushed to Hi1, the ISO 12800 equivalent, making even this level usable in extreme shooting conditions. We’re less jazzed about the 4.27% noise in our Hi2 (ISO 25600) setting, but if it’s so dark that you need that high a setting, you probably can’t see what you’re shooting at anyway.

Noise – Manual ISO (14.32)
The extraordinarily noise-free look we got from our low-light shots in the field weren’t an optical illusion: the cold statistical light of Imatest analysis bore out our enthuasiastic response. One interesting side effect of excellent overall noise performance is the hit-and-miss effect of high-ISO noise reduction. These digital processing systems attempt to recreate the underlying noise pattern under current shooting conditions and then remove those minute specks from the actual captured image. Problem is, since image noise is a random effect, noise reduction can actually have a negative effect on image quality, particularly when there’s very little noise in the original image. The only test images where we found high-ISO noise reduction produced a significant positive effect was at extremely high ISO settings (ISO 2000 and up).

In head-to-head comparison, the Nikon D700’s noise performance significantly surpasses its competitors. Turns out those marketing claims weren’t just smoke and mirrors.

Auto Noise (7.13)
This test has an odd pitfall to it, and the Nikon fell in. We set cameras to Auto ISO, leaving the setting to the camera, and shoot the resolution chart with the same bright illumination as the manual ISO test. This makes the test partly about noise performance, but mostly examines the setting smarts of the camera: the chart is bright enough to shoot at ISO 100 or 200 with optimal results. The D700 was much more aggressive,though, consistently choosing a setting of ISO 800. The resulting shots look fine, and in real-world handheld shooting situations the relatively high sensitivity setting would gain you some shutter-speed latitude and better depth of field. In the lab, though, the auto setting cost the D700 points.

The other cameras in our comparison all chose more conservative ISO settings in auto mode and, as a result, turned in better scores, except for the Sony, which fell into the same trap as the D700.

Low Light (9.44)
The ability to shoot in low-light conditions without blasting away with a flash is clearly a highly desirable feature. To determine camera performance under challenging lighting conditions we conduct two different tests. In the first, we shoot the standard color chart at four carefully controlled light levels. At 60 lux, the illumination is roughly what you'd find in a room in your home. At 5 lux, it's closer to the illumination from a single candle.

Here again, the tested color accuracy using standard settings is adequate but not great, while the noise levels are superb: even at 5 lux, noise levels barely topped 1%. The really striking feature on this test, which you can glean from the images reproduced above, is the consistency of the results across the board. Colors barely budged as light levels and noise reduction settings changed, and noise levels remained remarkably consistent as well. This is vital in a camera like the D700, which offers extensive options to tweak settings to match your personal preferences. The ability to alter settings for saturation or hue, for example, doesn't do much good if the photos taken at those settings are going to appear inconsistent based on shooting conditions. The D700 takes an extraordinary latitude of lighting conditions in stride, delivering a high level of predictability.

In our second low-light test, we examine noise levels at extended exposure times, with and without long-exposure noise reduction enabled. In this case, the noise reduction processing had virtually no effect, since the levels were so low in the first place.

Averaging the performance on our two low light tests gives the Nikon D700 a respectable performance against the competition, though it does somewhat mask the strength it showed in the low-noise elements of our testing, as revealed both here and in the noise performance rating section above.

Nikon D700 Low Light Scores

Still Life
In each review, we shoot the same two still life setups at every available ISO setting, providing the opportunity to compare results for a single camera across different exposures, and to cross-compare from camera to camera. Since the D700 spans more than 20 available ISOs, we chose a sampling ranging from the lowest to the highest settings available. The lighting is standard household fluorescent, the camera settings automatic. Clicking on an image will bring up a full-resolution, but be forewarned: these are large files and can take awhile to download.