How to reduce Nikon D100's Noise

Nikon D100 has Noise

I guess many D100's users were amazed that Canon 10D, a competitive digital SLR camera for D100, has less noise than D100. It is true that photo images taken by D100 have noise in parts of dark, blue sky, or out of focus.
But you can reduce your D100 image's noise by an easy way.

First of all, all D100 users know that setting D100's sensitivity ISO200 is effective to reduce nose.
In addition, you should cut off "Image sharpen" of the D100's shooting menu. Then D100's noise is reduced drastically.
D100 or NC3.5's "Image Sharpen" enhances not only images but also noise.
I think almost all D100 are set up Image Sharpen "Auto" or "Normal" or "Low" or " High" as the shooting menu.
I recommend to set it "None"
To enhance images, you should use Unsharp mask by Nikon Capture 3.5 or Photoshop. Unsharp mask does not enhance noise so much.
If you work unsharp mask to images taken by D100 being set Image Sharpen on, noise will be emphasized and increased.

An additional merit of reducing noise is reducing Jpeg image file size. As a compression mechanism of Jpeg file, the finer image, the less compression. It means noise is a kind of a fine image.

How to set;
1. Set Image Sharpen "None"of the D100's shooting menu.

2. In case you took photos by RAW mode, select Image Sharpen "None" when you develop NEF files using Nikon Capture 3 or 3.5.

3. Work Unsharp mask to sharpen images using NC3.5 or Photoshop or other photo retouching software.

Noise comparative table The other comparative examples (Click here)

Item	Sample1	Sample2	Sample3	Sample4	Sample5	Sample6	Sample7
D100's Image Sharpen	Normal	Normal	High	Normal	None	None	None
NC3.5 Unsharp Mask	Done	-	-	-	-	Done	-
Photoshop Unsharp Mask	-	Done	-	-	-	-	Done
Noise evaluation	Bad	Worst	Bad	Not bad	Good	Very good	Good
File size (Fine)	2033KB	1903KB	1738KB	1448KB	1340KB	1355KB	1718KB

Whole image of the sample

Each sample image was clapped center as image size 450×300 Pixel at 100% scale.

Sample images to compare noise Watch blue sky, outlines of men and the number cloth.

Sample1	Image sharpen : Normal NC3.5 Unsharp mask Amount 20% Radius 5% Threshold 0 File size 2033Kb There is noise on the blue sky. Image is sharp. File size is biggest. Evaluation : Bad
Sample2	Image sharpen : Normal Photoshop Unsharp mask Amount 50% Radius 1.2Pixel Threshold 0 File size 1903Kb There is noise on the blue sky. Image is sharp, but not so good. File size is biggest. Evaluation : Worst
Sample3	Image Sharpen : High Unsharp mask : None File Size : 1738KB Noise in the blue sky is less than sample1 and sample2. Evaluation : Bad
Sample4	Image Sharpen : Normal Unsharp mask : None File Size : 1448KB There is noise in the blue sky a little. Evaluation : Not bad
Sample5	Image Sharpen : Normal Unsharp mask : None File Size : 1340KB Noise level is extremely low. But image is not sharp. File size is smallest Evaluation : Good
Sample6	Image Sharpen : None NC3 Unsharp mask Amount 50% Radius 5% Threshold 10% File size : 1355KB Noise level is extremely low and image is sharp. File size is small. Evaluation : Very good
Sample7	Image Sharpen : None Photoshop Unsharp mask Amount 50% Radius 1.2Pixel Threshold 0 File size : 1718KB Noise level is low and image is sharp. File size is Not big. Evaluation : Good

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