The Nikon D800 has a native ISO range from ISO 100 to ISO 6400. You can go a little lower and higher than that into what’s known as extended ISO, which goes beyond the native capabilities of the sensor hardware to ranges boosted by software. In the extended range, you can go down to the equivalent of ISO 50 (LO-1) and up to ISO 25,600 (HI+2).
All of the photos here are focusing on the high end of the ISO range. “High ISO” is, of course, subjective. For the purposes here, I’m treating it as ISO 6400 and above.
I shot all of these in RAW. I’ve processed them in Lightroom, but I haven’t applied any of Lightroom’s noise reduction tools (or applied other noise reduction apps, for that matter). And because these are processed from the RAW files, they don’t use any of the camera’s built-in noise reduction algorithms that are applied to JPG images straight out of the camera.
It’s worth noting that I haven’t applied any external noise reduction to these, either. There are specialized image editing apps available that can do pretty remarkable things in cleaning up image noise at high ISOs (eg. DxO’s DeepPrime and Topaz Labs’ DeNoise AI are good places to start; and if you’re shooting RAW, DxO’s PureRAW works a bit differently and isn’t only focused on image noise, but it can yield impressive results).
Sample Images Taken at High ISOs with the Nikon D800
I’ve included the ISO for each image in its caption.
Price & Availability of the Nikon D800 DSLR
The D800 has been discontinued and has become harder to find new. But it’s relatively easy to find used copies in good condition. My first stop for used gear is KEH; you can find their D800s in stock here, which is where I often buy when I’m looking for used gear.
The D800 was replaced by the ~D810. While that model has also been replaced (by the D850), it’s easier to find D810 cameras new or refurbished.
