D5000 shadows grainy

adam500

New member
Hello All,

I have had my D5000 since they first came out. Recently I have noticed that when I take pictures of sunsets that the darker clouds come out very grainy.

For example take the following image: Florida Sunset | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I did apply noise reduction to this. I will get some better samples straight from the camera later but this is all I have at the moment.

As you can see in the picture the detail in the top right corner is very grainy even after NR. With a low ISO and fast shutter speed I do not understand why I am getting this noise.

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: Nikkor 35mm 1.8G
Mode: Manual
Aperture: f4
ShutterSpeed: 1/160s
ISO: 200
Flash: No

You can take a look at the other pictures on the photo stream they are all taken with the same camera. Most pictures come out great but the sunset ones seem to really have an issue.

If anyone has experienced this or has any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,
Adam
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
Hello All,

I have had my D5000 since they first came out. Recently I have noticed that when I take pictures of sunsets that the darker clouds come out very grainy.

For example take the following image: Florida Sunset | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I did apply noise reduction to this. I will get some better samples straight from the camera later but this is all I have at the moment.

As you can see in the picture the detail in the top right corner is very grainy even after NR. With a low ISO and fast shutter speed I do not understand why I am getting this noise.

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: Nikkor 35mm 1.8G
Mode: Manual
Aperture: f4
ShutterSpeed: 1/160s
ISO: 200
Flash: No

You can take a look at the other pictures on the photo stream they are all taken with the same camera. Most pictures come out great but the sunset ones seem to really have an issue.

If anyone has experienced this or has any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,
Adam

How large of a crop is this cloud photo?
 

adam500

New member
It was about a 40% crop. Had to get trees out of the way. I will upload the original later tonight night. It was grainy before the crop.

Thanks,
Adam
 

Dave_W

The Dude
It was about a 40% crop. Had to get trees out of the way. I will upload the original later tonight night. It was grainy before the crop.

Thanks,
Adam

I suspect this may be part of your problem, along with the additional exposure settings that Geoffc is hinting at.
 

adam500

New member
I did use the D5000 built in Picture Manager and had it set to VIVID. And I think I had +2 on the sharpening. I will have to check. Once I upload the original it will be easier to tell. Also this was shot as FINE JPEG not RAW.

I did underexpose the shot just a hair to get the colors I was looking for (1/2 stop). I know this can cause noise but I would hope not as bad as what I am seeing.

Adam
 
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adam500

New member
I did have ADL enable to auto. I have read up on it and ended up disabling it.

Here is the original.
original.JPG
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I did have ADL enable to auto. I have read up on it and ended up disabling it.

Here is the original.
View attachment 39447

I think you'll be glad you did. In my limited experience with ADL the trade off (and there's *always* a tradeoff) is the noise it produces and specifically in shadows. ADL, I think, can be a good "tweak" on occasion, but it's not the overt solution for particularly high-contrast shots like it's advertised to be.
 

adam500

New member
So I have been taking some shots with ADL turned off and really like how they are turning out. I would suggest to anyone noticing this same issue to try it out.

Adam
 

JudeIscariot

Senior Member
Just as a matter of statement, this issue is the biggest issue the D3000 and the D5000 had. As others have said, turn off ADL and it should help. I've had a D3000 camera for over 3 years, and it's always been my largest issue with it, and I've read plenty of reviews that say the same thing. It's almost always better to slightly overexpose with these cameras so you don't end up with shadow problems. My friend has had the D5000 for almost as long and it has the SAME EXACT issue. It was something about the sensors, I guess. I think they rushed to production on them, to be honest. Notice how fast both were replaced by the +100 models.

And notably, the issue with grainy shadows makes for rather "meh" HDR photos (which is something I don't really care for to begin with, but I would never make one with my D3000).
 
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