First try with new Nikon D40X

[seansod]

This is my first attempt for closeups using my new Nikon D40X and the included 18-55mm lens.



Is the picture so grainy because of the ISO setting?

ISO 800 1/80 F4.5

[reefman13]

That would be correct, as well as the quality of the starter lens, as well as the possibility for fine particles in your water.....For real close ups, you will need a macro lens.

Pretty good first close-up though.

[purplereef]

Not a bad first picture. I am in the same boat as you Seansod. I just got a Nikon D40X as well. I think everyone would agree that a Sigma 105mm would be a good Macro lens to get. What will be good settings for this camera once this lens is bought? Thanks, I didn't mean to derail your thread Seansod.

[Phyl]

definitely grainier because of the high ISO. Try it between 200 & 400.

[Engine 7]

I think it looks great for a first pic

[seansod]

Allright I tried a few more shots today.

These are in my frag tank under 2 X 20K 400W MH

ISO 400 1/200 f5.6 +3EV 52mm focal length


ISO 400 1/400 f5.3 +3EV 46mm focal length


ISO 400 1/200 f5.6 +2.7EV 55mm focal length
The milli was sticking out of the water because I turned off the return


Thanks for any coments

Tony

[seansod]

Originally posted by Engine 7
I think it looks great for a first pic

Thanks, I can only hope to get as good as half of the people here.

[ssbreef]

Nice pics.
One question. Is it normal to have so much noise at ISO400.(Nikon Users)

[maxalmon]

Try putting the camera in "A" mode, then set the iso @200 and the fstop at 14-18 (this depends on how much depth of field you want). Autofocus OFF, Tripod is a MUST if you don't have the remote, then use the timer feature.

[purplereef]

Here is my first attempt with my new Nikon D40X.

[seansod]

Originally posted by maxalmon
Try putting the camera in "A" mode, then set the iso @200 and the fstop at 14-18 (this depends on how much depth of field you want). Autofocus OFF, Tripod is a MUST if you don't have the remote, then use the timer feature.

Thanks I will try that.

[seansod]

Here is a picture of one of my Blue Tort frags



ISO 100 120 F11

I know still a little dark trying to work on that

[juniormc8704]

ive found that using exposure compensation can add to the grain. use a tripod, and the self timer, and longer shutter speeds. i shoot almost everything at iso 100, but yes nikon does suffer from graininess at rather low ISO. IMHO thats where canon really putsw the screws to nikon. But i still love my d80

[beerguy]

The best protection about noise or "grain" as some have called it, is to expose the shot properly. Any time you try to brighten an image, even if you start with a RAW file, you're going to add noise.

In practice, you want to have the histogram as close as possible to the right edge without touching it.

You should also apply noise reduction prior to any sharpening to prevent the sharpening from exaggerating the noise.

NoiseNinja and Noiseware both have PS plugins to help with this stuff.


Even when you have an extreme noise problem, like in that first shot, there's often much improvement that you can do:

[seansod]

How did you get the noise out of the shroom shot?

You are right the noise was caused by compensating for exposure in post processing.

Thanks

[beerguy]

I did a couple of things.

1. Ran it through Noiseware at the default setting. That helped but the top half of the image was still very noisy.

2. I used a gaussian blur with a mask to soften the rest of the noise.

[seansod]

Thanks, I downloaded a trial version of Noiseware and ran the filter after playing with some of the settings.

Here is the orginial picture with my filtering attempt.



Thanks again

Anyother software that I should tryout

[beerguy]

I've got NoiseNinja too but Noiseware seems to work better for me.

Cheers