Nikon Z8 High ISO Sample Images: ISO 3200 – 102400 Test Images

Among the many key features of the Nikon Z8 is its impressive low-light performance. Nikon has pitched this camera as the mirrorless successor to the Nikon D850 DSLR, a camera that, for good reason, was also renowned for its low-light performance. And in a lot of the marketing material and reviews, you’ll come across mentions of how good the Z8 is at high ISOs. 

But what does that actually mean in practical terms? And how does it fit with your expectations and preferences? Of course, every photographer is going to have a different set of preferences for when the image quality is too degraded, and it’s also going to vary from scene to scene and the use it’s being put to.

I’ll post a separate collection of high-ISO images, but here are some side-by-side comparisons through the high-ISO range on the Z8. 

The Z8 has a native ISO range from 64 to 25,600.

You can also tap into the extended ISO range, where software takes over to amplify the signal. In extended ISO, you can drop that down to ISO 32 or bump it up to 102,400 (aka +2 EV).¹

Precisely where the threshold between “normal” and “high” ISO falls is obviously a highly subjective judgment. For these purposes, I’m going to put it around ISO 3200 because most decent cameras these days can handle at least up to that without any real difficulty.

I’ve tried to include a range of different scenes and levels of detail and tones in the shots below. 

The original RAW files for the images in this post are available to subscribers to my newsletter on the RAW file downloads page. The page is password-protected; the password is in the newsletter’s welcome email. The JPG versions linked in the captions stay free.

Technical notes about how these images were created

It’s worth explaining exactly how these were generated. These were all shot on the Nikon Z8, and these files are all straight out of the camera without any post-processing.

They were shot with the RAW + JPEG fine* setting in SDR tone mode. The RAW recording is set to the lowest compression (Lossless compression).

The High ISO NR setting is at Normal (the default setting). That’s a particularly important point, because that affects both the JPG files and the JPG previews used within the RAW files. This is the setting that controls the camera’s own internal noise reduction processing. 

This setting does not affect the underlying RAW data in the NEF files. But when you first open a RAW file to view, you’ll most likely see the preview file that’s embedded within it. To get past that and see the underlying RAW file, you’ll need to regenerate the preview thumbnail; whichever RAW viewer/editor you’re using will have a way to do that manually or automatically among its functions.  

You can click on each image below to open a full-size version or use the links in each caption to download the original straight-out-of-camera files. The NEF files range from about 57 to 83 megabytes each. ²

Nikon Z8 High ISO: Set 1

Nikon Z8 High ISO: Set 2

Nikon Z8 High ISO: Set 3

Nikon Z8 High ISO: Set 4

Fixing image quality problems in post

The general rule of thumb in photography is that it’s better to get the shot right at the time of capture rather than trying to fix it later.

That’s a great aspiration, but it’s not always possible to do if you’re shooting in especially challenging conditions or bumping up against limitations or flaws in gear, conditions, or technique.

But it’s worth mentioning that there are some excellent tools available to help address common image quality issues with digital images. And they’re getting better and better all the time as the power of AI machine learning ramps up.

They can deal remarkably well with anything from sensor issues like high-ISO image noise to lens issues like distortion, softness, vignetting, and chromatic aberration. (Note: I’m focusing here on corrections related to image quality, not image enhancement tools — that’s a different kettle of fish.)

All-round image processing apps like Lightroom Classic and Capture One have solid tools built in that are very good places to start.

But it’s also possible to take it much further with more specialized tools.

If you shoot in challenging conditions regularly and find room for improvement in the image quality coming out of the camera, these might well be worth a look (and they have free trials). Some are stand-alone apps; some integrate into image editing suites such as Lightroom Classic.

Some of these work only with RAW files, and those are the ones I’ve had the best results with. But there are also good options if you’re working with JPG or TIFF files.

Fixing image noise & high ISO artifacts

The newest generation of tools can do some pretty remarkable improvements to image noise. These are some of the best tools for reducing image noise in photos. Most of them include a free trial to test out the results for yourself.

• Lightroom Classic’s Denoise tool. This was quietly added to recent versions of Lightroom Classic, and you can find it in the Develop module’s Detail panel. It only works on RAW files. It doesn’t have some of the more advanced features and more granular controls of some of the other apps here, but if you’re already using Lightroom, it’s a great option to have available.
• DxO PureRAW 5. Like Lightroom Classic’s Denoise tool, it only works on RAW files. It has become my go-to app for this kind of thing. I’m consistently amazed at how it can rescue photos with otherwise dodgy image quality from noise. It can also help with lens distortion, lens vignetting, and lens softness.
• DxO Nik Dfine. This product originated with the Nik Collection, and it focuses on the more traditional approach to digital image noise reduction. Something that’s especially notable about Dfine is that you can use U-point selections for precise application of different settings to different parts of the image.
• ON1 NoNoise AI. Its “deblurring” features are particularly notable, with an emphasis on restoring sharpness that is often a casualty in denoising operations. It works on JPG and TIFF files, and you can create sophisticated masks to apply corrections to specific parts of an image.
• Topaz Labs Photo AI. Topaz Labs used to offer its NoNoise AI as a standalone product, but it has now been integrated alongside several other image improvement tools in its Photo AI app.

Fixing lens-related optical issues

• DxO PureRAW. Again offers an impressive suite of automatic fixes that are applied before you start editing the images.
• DxO ViewPoint. Correcting for lens distortion and geometry skews. Lightroom Classic and Capture One also have excellent built-in tools for this.
• Topaz Labs Photo AI. Topaz Labs used to offer its sharpening tools as a standalone product, but it has now been integrated alongside several other image improvement tools in its Photo AI app.

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Notes & References:

1. This is in stills mode with the output as RAW (NEF) or JPG. If you have the output as HEIC for the HLG tone mode, the ISO range is limited to 400 to 25600 when HLG is selected for tone mode. If you’re shooting in video, or movie, mode, you can’t drop it down to ISO 32, but the rest matches the limits when you’re shooting in stills photo mode. [↩︎]
2. The variation in the file sizes is due to how image compression works. Even though the RAW compression is on the lowest setting (Lossless compression), it’s still applying compression. [↩︎]