Bored, shot some night city skyline...

[JohnC]

How are these? I shot these at ISO 800 and the boat was moving, so I expect flaws, but how bad? :confused:

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1.JPG

Nikon D80
2007/07/24 22:03:07.5
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: Large (3872 x 2592)
Color
Lens: 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
1/3 sec - F/3.5
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 800
Optimize Image: Custom
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp.: Auto
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Enhanced
Sharpening: Auto
Long Exposure NR: Off
VR Control: Off
High ISO NR: On (High)

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_1.JPG

Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
1/2.5 sec - F/3.5
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 800
Optimize Image: Custom
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp.: Auto
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Enhanced
Sharpening: Auto
Long Exposure NR: Off
VR Control: Off
High ISO NR: On (High)

These are as shot out of the camera with zero editing and were only resized in PP.

This one is an older shot.

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_Riverfront_07_20_071.JPG

Nikon D80
2007/07/19 22:10:31.9
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: 3855 x 2122
Color
Lens: 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
8 sec - F/6.3
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Optimize Image: Custom
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp.: Auto
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Enhanced
Sharpening: Auto
Long Exposure NR: Off
VR Control: Off
High ISO NR: Off

outty,
John

[Bob-E]

Cool. I like the third for the blue sky and less haze. I've gotta get out and shoot another night scene with my new cam and lenses. There's a new sculpture down there too, that I have to shoot before Hibbs does.

I saw you used spot metering. What did you meter off of?

[JohnC]

Cool. I like the third for the blue sky and less haze. I've gotta get out and shoot another night scene with my new cam and lenses. There's a new sculpture down there too, that I have to shoot before Hibbs does.

I saw you used spot metering. What did you meter off of?

I've seen the sculpture and it's not finished yet. I think it's more of an obstruction than a landmark. The reason is that it blocks the view down Broadway and at an angle blocks the Hard Rock Café and Broadway. I wanted to shoot an angle of Riverfront from the steps of the walking bridge, but that POS blocked the shot. I just hope they don't add anymore clutter up there. :reef:

Spot Metering: I was centering the focus on the buildings. I was just testing the focus modes more or less.

Last night was just all experimenting in Manual mode. I was working on keeping the sky that blue tone as it got darker mainly. Then the boat came along and I focused my attention to that. Getting a night shot with a slow shutter speed and a moving boat is pretty tricky.

I set the thing wide open to F/3.5, cranked up the ISO as far as I could go without severe noise distortion, and set the fastest possible shutter speed. It worked out OK, but not good IMHO.

I really need some better (faster pro-glass) lenses since none of mine go below F/3.5. :\

How do you think those shots are for ISO 800 and a slow shutter speed?

I'm not happy with the distortion you get with high ISO settings on the D80. I'm hoping Nikon brings out a Camera soon to replace the D200 with better ISO performance. That's all they need to get me to fork over the cash for a second body. :)

[JohnC]

If you all like the blue sky, I have moe of those. They're not as sharp as the first two, though.

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_2.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_3.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_4.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_5.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_6.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_7.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_8.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~mtsujohn/Nashville_07_Riverfront_boat1_9.JPG

[Bob-E]

Yeah, looks like the haze I was seeing was noise. I didn't notice it was ISO 800. Unless you're just testing ISO, use 100 on these because the shutter speed doesn't matter. Better high ISO = Canon. Come to teh dark side ;)

[JohnC]

Yeah, looks like the haze I was seeing was noise. I didn't notice it was ISO 800. Unless you're just testing ISO, use 100 on these because the shutter speed doesn't matter. Better high ISO = Canon. Come to teh dark side ;)

I had to crank up the ISO to speed up the shutter speed in order to catch the boat (in the dark). Like I said, it's hard to do a stop action photo when it's a night-shot. :-p

My other shots where I wasn't trying to stop action a moving boat at night were all shot at ISO 100 and are flawless. ;)

Canon, bleh.... This Nikon will do until I can get beter lenses and a better back. I'm hoping the D200 will be replaced by a D300 with better ISO performance and higher image quality. :x:

[JohnC]

Better high ISO = Canon. Come to teh dark side ;)

Oh, forgot to respond directly to this....

The Rebel XTi is the competition for the D80. The D80 has beat out the Rebel XTi in the few articles I've read for color, resolution, and noise. It's one of the biggest reasons I chose the D80 over the XTi; that and the feel of it in my hands.

Example below:

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/3569/10mp-dslr-shootout-and-the-results-page2.html

Image quality
1. Nikon D80
2. Canon EOS Rebel XTi
3. Pentax K10D (tie)
3. Samsung GX-10 (tie)
5. Sony Alpha 100

As all these cameras are capable of excellent overall image quality, our rankings are based on incremental differences in performance. And you should keep in mind that these 10MP cameras give you choices in the look of your images; you can, for example, sacrifice some resolution for lower noise in available-light shots, or add extra sharpening while keeping your shots to low ISOs to keep the noise under control. We gave the nod to the Nikon for its highest resolution numbers at low ISOs and its ability to maintain at least 1700 lines resolution at ISO 3200-still with Very Low noise. The Canon EOS Rebel XTi sacrificed some noise suppression at higher ISOs to maintain high resolution, and it's a good balance. The Pentax K10D and its clone, the Samsung GX-10, also maintain good balance between resolution and noise control. The Sony Alpha 100 has great resolution, but at higher ISOs, digital noise strays into Unacceptable territory.

If you have a Rebel XTi and want to do a fair comparison test, I will shoot side by side with you, same settings, same grade lens, and same Aperture. We'll post them in full .jepg and pixel peep to see for ourselves if the magazines and numerous tests are wrong. :D

Now when talking pro-DSLR's, Canon wins. But, Nikon still hasn't released any updated pro-DSLR's yet. So like the D80, I think the next line of Pro Nikon backs will be > the Pro Canon backs.

If you look at the Nikon D200, the D80 out performs it in noise. The only thing I hear the D200 does better is faster focusing and it has a faster chip, but everything else is basically equal. So if my D80 is almost better than the old D200, expect Nikon to come out with guns blazing in their next line of pro DSLR's. ;)

Here are two shots I made with the D80 (full size). They are as shot with Zero editing.

http://home.comcast.net/~nxnitrousmustang/DSC_0026.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~nxnitrousmustang/DSC_0027.JPG

:cool:

[Moody]

Canon, bleh.... This Nikon will do until I can get beter lenses and a better back. I'm hoping the D200 will be replaced by a D300 with better ISO performance and higher image quality. :x:

The force is strong with you - don't go to teh darkside - they think that they have superior optics and CCD, but they don't! Stick with Nikon - if you shoot, they will come! :lol:

I like the pictures - they look great. It's great to see that you're really learning the curve of the camera by focusing on ISO and metering, rather than throwing the raw's into Photoshop and hacking them up there. :up:

[JohnC]

The force is strong with you - don't go to teh darkside - they think that they have superior optics and CCD, but they don't! Stick with Nikon - if you shoot, they will come! :lol:

I like the pictures - they look great. It's great to see that you're really learning the curve of the camera by focusing on ISO and metering, rather than throwing the raw's into Photoshop and hacking them up there. :up:

What I have been working on is getting the shot right with my settings. I would rather come home to great shots and only need to resize them instead of fixing flaws all day in Adobe Photoshop. :D

[floyd4ford]

Nice photos.. with all the people on here getting good with cameras it should be easy to get on of you to shoot my car..