I have little experience with having to do any noise reduction in my images. I have my 810's iso set to its native number and don't shoot any images where noise has been an issue. Having said that, a buddy is seeking advice on this particular topic. He shot a number of long exposure night images (raw) on a recent trip where he had his in-camera (Nikon d600) noise controls turned off. Some of his images seem to be quite noisy (reminds me of serious grain back in the old days on film scanned images) and is asking for my input on how to best mitigate the noise. He used Lightroom to process. My initial thought was to re-process the images using the Nikon software and introduce the noise reduction control(s) during that stage. Is this the same as having the noise reduction turned on in-camera and, if not, can anyone point to a decent noise reduction tutorial (Lightroom)?
Thanks
Marv
Marv there are quite a few points that you raise.
I personally think that Jeff Schewe does the best expose on noise - cause, prevention, and post-processing treatment.
The tutorial series available on this site: "Camera to Print and Screen" is probably the most extensive "how to" that I am aware of that Jeff has done.
I understand that this enquiry is on behalf of another but there are several points that you raise about your own workflow that interest me.
I am not sure if you shoot raw or JPEG's.
If you shoot JPEG's then the camera does the noise reduction in creating the JPEG.
If you shoot raw then no in-camera settings with respect to noise reduction will work.
Obviously, settings that affect the actual amount of light hitting the sensor influence noise generation, as does ISO settings which can amplify any noise that is present.
Noise is present at any ISO setting, even base ISO.
The sensor in the D810 is absolutely one of the best as far as noise limitation is concerned but, again, that does not mean that noise is not present.
I shoot with a Sony A7R as well as it's mark II which uses the same, or similar, sensor, and every image needs attention with respect to noise, even if that attention is minimal.
No matter how good sensors become, which reduces noise caused by the sensor itself, shot noise will always be with us.
Shot noise is caused by subtle variations in incident light hitting the sensels on the sensor.
I would suggest viewing that tutorial and learning how easy it is to deal with noise (along with sharpening as they are actually two sides of the same coin).
Tony Jay