During my trip to Kuching in May 2010, I have a chance to take the night scenery of The Dome, wondering if I got the spelling correct, of Kuching which was just finish construction not long ago. At the same time, I've also gave my Nikon D3S ISO another testing and came out with the following:



I named it "Spot the Differences". Hope you will be able to understand what I mean.

Anyway, hope you will enjoy it. Cheers.

High ISO testing

Nikon D3S + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G

This testing was done when I was on my way home and I came over a bush fire, so I decided to put my new Nikon D3S to it's high ISO testing. Although it isn't a very good field testing as I forgot to switch off the High ISO Noice Reduction, but it turns up we can experience that how effective the High ISO Noice Reduction helps in eliminating the noise while the ISO-12,800 was used to take this photo.


70mm, ISO-12,800, High ISO NR On, 1/80 sec., f/2.8, Auto WB
(No photoshop editing was made to the photo above)

From the photo above, no noise is clearly visible even on the dark or black area, where normally noise will first appers.


Cropped image from the above photo

From the cropped image, as above, only very slight noise can be noticed on the bright and dark/black area. From this, we can see that the high ISO of Nikon D3S still produces very promising picture quality. Nikon D3S is really famous with it's high ISO capability and it is why it is worth to be invested.

I got my Nikon D3S in February 2010 and doesn't really have time to study and test that DSLR camera in detail as I was busy right after I got it. Everything turns better after I moved to another job and finally, have the time to really bring the D3S and test it. Also, I am lucky that my friend, Samuel Choy bought the new Nikkor 70-200mm VRII and have the chance to borrow his lens to use it together with the Nikon D3S. Here are some of the test shot which I hope will help others to understand the real power of Nikon and will aid those who are interested to invest in any of the equipment that I have tested.

A look of Nikon DSLR D3S

Image extracted from www.nikon.com.my. Photo courtesy of Nikon.

The first I wish to share is the combination of Nikon D3S with the combination of 70-200mm VRII. You may noticed that I am using ISO-1600, which is too high for an outdoor shoot. The reason is that I was doing a indoor shooting which is fairly dark and when we noticed this Komodo Dragon, I rushed over to the spot to take the pictures and I was using Manual mode. Unnoticed by myself, I just adjusted the shutter speed for a correct exposure and snap the shot. Only till I got back home, I noticed the ISO reaches 1600. Anywhere, it still can test the sharpness of the new Nikkor 70-200mm VRII and also the image processing of Nikon D3S.


Nikon D3S + Nikkor 70-200mm VRII @ 200mm, F/2.8, ISO-1600, 1/2500sec., EV+0.7


Cropped from the above image

Only contrast level were slightly adjusted on the above pictures, no other photoshop technique were done.

Although a 100% cropped was made to the original photo, the details of the Komodo Dragon still stay intact. With the enhancement of Nano crystal coating on the new Nikkor 70-200 VRII, it really helps in capturing all the details of subject. So, there is no worry for a photographer to stand far away and took a photo of the subject and crop the photo as sometimes due to certain limitations, we are unable to approach the subject in a near distance. With the introduction of this new Nikkor lens, it certainly enhances the capability of the photographer to take nicer pictures.

It cannot be denied that the new Nikkor 70-200mm VRII has a slightly reduction in the focal length compare with the old Nikkor 70-200mm VR, but the sharpness given by the new Nikkor 70-200mm VRII is definitely surpass the reduction in focal length. With only a slight increase in the price compare with the old Nikkor 70-200mm VR, this lens is definitly one lens worth to invest.