Nikon D40 and D300 High ISO Comparison

We at IDIC Photo are very happy with the performance of the Nikon D300 -- its tone, color rendition and the 51-point auto-focus are second to none. And while it does not have the unbelievable low-noise performance of the full-frame D3 or the new D700 or the Canon 5D, it does a pretty decent job upto ISO 1600 to 3200. What surprised us is that Nikon's entry-level D40 is no slouch either when it comes to low-light high ISO performance! There are several high-ISO shootouts already posted around the web including Ken Rockwell's comparison. Posted below are some test shots we took with the D40 and D300 at ISO1600 and 3200 that re-affirm the findings.

All shots were taken with very low tungsten light source in the room and in manual mode at f/2.8 and 1/30 sec using the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens.

ISO1600 - D40 image on the left; D300 on the right



Crop from the image:

D300 image on the left; D40 on the right (Note the doll's head is larger in the D300 image due to the higher resolution but it appears to lose some details due to the D300's built-in noise reduction)




ISO3200 - D40 image on the left; D300 on the right

IDIC Photo participates in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk - Aug 23, 2008

I got the chance to join in the D.C. morning Photowalk as part of Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk. Over 200 cities (including Dubai, Karachi, Islamabad, Delhi, Mumbai) around the world hosted photowalks today with over 7,500 photographers signed-up to participate! Per Scott Kelby's advice on gear for the walk, I decided to travel light and just brought the Nikon D300 with 18-200mm VR lens (Scott was walking with the exact same setup).

The D.C. walk was led by Jeff Revell and he was actually gracioius enough to lead two walks (morning and afternoon) due to great interest in the D.C. area. To be clear, the walk was actually NOT in D.C. but Old Town Alexandria -- we started off at Founder's park and weaved our way through streets, waterfront and parks to the Torpedo Factory. The weather was perfect in the morning -- around 72F and mostly cloudy for very soft lighting.

The best part about photowalks is getting to meet other photographers in the area. I noticed that Jeff was shooting with the D3 so I quickly bounced some thoughts off him about the D3 vs the new D700 (both full frame). I had to leave early but I understand that the group got some brunch and coffee at the end while engaging in some vigorous
chimping!

Here are some Flickr groups for D.C. and other cities:

• D.C. (Old Town Alexandria)
• NYC
  
• Islamabad
  
• Dubai
  

Some of my shots from the morning:

Baby photoshoot in Arlington, VA

A few shots from our photo session this past weekend of a cute 3-month old baby boy. He was a champ and even took a power nap during the shoot! Mom and dad did a great job as well (some of the best family pictures we capture are always ones with mom (and/or dad) showing their natural love and affection for the baby in a candid manner.

IDIC Photo recommends Cafe Rumi in Ashburn, VA

IDIC Photo highly recommends Cafe Rumi -- a family-run, cosy little cafe in Ashburn, VA just off Waxpool Rd (about 1.5 miles from Wegman's and the AOL campus). The owner/chef has had French culinary training and they bake all their pastries and bread on premises. Coffee is excellent too. They have delicious sandwiches (all zabihah halal meat) and have recently started breakfast omelettes as well. Here is another glowing review by a blogger.

Some shots we took at breakfast this morning.

IDIC Photo's Cool-Flo Studio Portrait Lighting

At IDIC Photo we often have to travel to client sites for portrait sessions or need to shoot formal bride & groom photoshoots before a reception. Hence the ability to provide a portable, yet high-quality professional portrait studio complete with lighting is of paramount importance to our business. After a lot of research and trials, we decided to standardize on Britek Continuous Cool-flo Daylight-balanced flourescent lighting (they can be purchased from Amazon.com as well). Cool-flo lighting provides a number of advantages over traditional strobe lighting and especially over older "hot" incandescent / halogen lighting. Scott Kelby sings the praises of cool-flo lighting in Volume 2 of his popular Digital Photography Book and mentions how people he meets are amazed by the results of cool-flo and it is the latest rage in studio portrait photography.

Some advantages of cool-flo over traditional strobes and halogen:

• Cool to the touch -- flourescent continuous lighting stays cool even after hours of use. Models do not feel the heat like being in a sauna as compared to halogen lighting.
  
• Green! Use much less power as compared to halogen lights and last much longer.
  
• "What you see is what you get" - while even professional photographers may struggle with flash strobes at times (which go off only for an instance), with cool flo continuous lighting there is no guesswork!
• Daylight-balanced light! They produce beautiful, soft light perfect for portraits.

Here are some shots of what IDIC Photo's portable studio based around cool-flo lighting looks like. We have two lamps with 4x daylight-balanced bulbs each providing a total of 1200 Watts-equivalent Cool-flo Flourescent Daylight-balanced Continuous Lighting (isn't that a mouthful!). One of the lamps can serve as the main light, the second one as a hair-light or fill light. We use Lastolite 36" sunlite / softsilver reflectors as well. Simple black or white top-quality muslin cloth backgrounds with stands are also part of the studio setup.




Another view of the portable studio. The image on the right shows the studio packed-up, ready for easy transport to a customer site. Setup and take-down only take approximately 15 minutes each!






We get really good exposures with this setup -- F: 5/6, shutter: 1/60 with ISO 200 which is about ideal for soft, natural looking portraits:






This is the main cool-flo lamp with the diffuser removed: