D50 vs D80 and D200 in low light

I had a D50 once but swapped it in for a D200 for various reasons. I
believe the D50 had nicer color and better grain when shooting handheld
in low light at 1600 ASA. Anyone else with this opinion? Considering
the smaller pixels on the D200, it would not seem surprising. I am
looking into getting a cheaper backup for the D200 for these low light
situations. Should I go with the D50 or D80? I have no experience
with the D80. Any thoughts appreciated.

Tien

I think you are in the minority on this one.

According to DP Reviews tests, the D80 and D200 both have lower
luminance noise at 1600 than the D50.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/page18.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond50/page17.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond200/page21.asp
The graphs are not to the same scale so you have to look at them
carefully.
Peace,
-chasfs
http://chasfs.com

chasfs wrote:
According to DP Reviews tests, the D80 and D200 both have lower
luminance noise at 1600 than the D50.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/page18.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond50/page17.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond200/page21.asp
The graphs are not to the same scale so you have to look at them
carefully.
Peace,
-chasfs
http://chasfs.com

Sure with JPEG. Nikon woke up to the fuss made about noise, and did more
in-camera NR.

Tien wrote:
I had a D50 once but swapped it in for a D200 for various reasons. I
believe the D50 had nicer color and better grain when shooting handheld
in low light at 1600 ASA. Anyone else with this opinion? Considering
the smaller pixels on the D200, it would not seem surprising. I am
looking into getting a cheaper backup for the D200 for these low light
situations. Should I go with the D50 or D80? I have no experience
with the D80. Any thoughts appreciated.

Tien


Tien,

Sensor analyses for a D50 and D200 are he

http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...ensor_analysis

The read noise for both cameras is on the order of 7.4 electrons,

The the ISO at unity gain, shown at Figure 6 at:
http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...el.size.matter

shows the D50 at ISO ~1500 versus the D200 at ISO 800.

So with raw files, which gets you to the sensor performance,
the D50 outperforms the D200 with its larger pixels.
Amateur astronomers have found the D50 to be a good performer
for astro photos.

Roger

"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)"
wrote in message ...

Sensor analyses for a D50 and D200 are he

http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...ensor_analysis

The read noise for both cameras is on the order of 7.4 electrons,

The the ISO at unity gain, shown at Figure 6 at:
http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...el.size.matter

Any plans to analyze the D80? I'm curious to see the results.

Bill wrote:
"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote
in message ...


Sensor analyses for a D50 and D200 are he

http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...ensor_analysis

The read noise for both cameras is on the order of 7.4 electrons,

The the ISO at unity gain, shown at Figure 6 at:
http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...el.size.matter


Any plans to analyze the D80? I'm curious to see the results.

If someone wants to bring one by, or take the data for me.
I have data for a D70, I'll analyze when I get time.

It takes an hour or so to take the data, including some setup.
If interested, I can add it to a web page for instructions.
Then it takes me a couple of days of work analyzing the results,
so, having a real job, I can't do too many of these.

I'd also like to do the new Pentax and Sony. I'm also looking for
a 4 megapixel camera to fill in the hole in Figure 6.

I would also like to get a smaller pixel camera than the S70
(2.3 micron pixels) to see what happens at the low end.
The camera must have raw output.

Roger

"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote in
message ...
Bill wrote:
"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote
in message ...


Sensor analyses for a D50 and D200 are he

http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...ensor_analysis

The read noise for both cameras is on the order of 7.4 electrons,

The the ISO at unity gain, shown at Figure 6 at:
http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedeta...el.size.matter


Any plans to analyze the D80? I'm curious to see the results.

If someone wants to bring one by, or take the data for me.
I have data for a D70, I'll analyze when I get time.

It takes an hour or so to take the data, including some setup.
If interested, I can add it to a web page for instructions.
Then it takes me a couple of days of work analyzing the results,
so, having a real job, I can't do too many of these.

I'd also like to do the new Pentax and Sony. I'm also looking for
a 4 megapixel camera to fill in the hole in Figure 6.

I would also like to get a smaller pixel camera than the S70
(2.3 micron pixels) to see what happens at the low end.
The camera must have raw output.

Roger

If you lived locally I would be happy to bring around the Pentax.

In article . com,
says...
I had a D50 once but swapped it in for a D200 for various reasons. I
believe the D50 had nicer color and better grain when shooting handheld
in low light at 1600 ASA. Anyone else with this opinion? Considering
the smaller pixels on the D200, it would not seem surprising. I am
looking into getting a cheaper backup for the D200 for these low light
situations. Should I go with the D50 or D80? I have no experience
with the D80. Any thoughts appreciated.

Tien

If you're planning on using the camera to take pictures of actual
subjects instead of measurebating, perhaps this review might help you
decide on the D80:

http://nikongear.com/v3_Nikon_D80.htm

--
www.nikongear.com
Share, learn, win.

DD wrote:
In article . com,
says...

I had a D50 once but swapped it in for a D200 for various reasons. I
believe the D50 had nicer color and better grain when shooting handheld
in low light at 1600 ASA. Anyone else with this opinion? Considering
the smaller pixels on the D200, it would not seem surprising. I am
looking into getting a cheaper backup for the D200 for these low light
situations. Should I go with the D50 or D80? I have no experience
with the D80. Any thoughts appreciated.

Tien


If you're planning on using the camera to take pictures of actual
subjects instead of measurebating, perhaps this review might help you
decide on the D80:

http://nikongear.com/v3_Nikon_D80.htm

Well, that is about the most useless review I have ever seen.