D80, D90, D7000 ISO Test

Above from left to right, Nikon D80, D90, D7000


Nikon D7000

It's finally here, I've been waiting since the announcement to get my hands on it and I have finally done just that! It's a exciting camera for me for many reasons but it stands as a solid step up from my D90. I'll give a more complete review of the camera and comparisons to other cameras that you might be thinking about soon. But for now I just want to do a quick ISO test. The increased ISO performance was one thing I wanted to keep a close eye on.

The test was done in a controlled environment with constant lighting. The left part of the image to where the focus was to show detail and the right is a navy blue background. The blue background is behind the target and is blurred out. The test was conducted with a Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR I @ f/4 on @ 135mm a tripod. The test was done with a remote release for the D80 and D90 and mirror up remote release with the D7000 (more on that later).

D80, D90, D7000 @ ISO 800

D80


D90


D7000



D80, D90, D7000 @ ISO 1600

D80


D90


D7000



D80, D90, D7000 @ ISO 3200

D80


D90


D7000


My initial conclusion from this test is there doesn't appear to be a significant improvement as far as noise at high ISO. However, when you look a little closer you see that the D7000 is getting more detail from the subject at the same ISO while retaining equal or slightly better noise levels. It is a little difficult to see in this test but the D7000 also has less color noise than the D90.

There were many comparisons after the announcement of this camera. It was thought that the noise levels could be equal to or close to the D700. My experience with the camera shows that comparison is not accurate. Also, there is a big jump from the D80 to the D90/D300 in terms of ISO. There does not seem to be as big of a leap in ISO performance from the D90/D300 to the D7000.

After conducting this test and using it in the field a bit I still believe this camera overall is a big improvement over the D90. The build quality, customizable settings, features and image quality were all improved.

More D7000 review and comparison's to come...