The Nikon Z9 Pushed to the Edge of High ISO

Remember the days when we eagerly awaited each new camera generation to see how noisy its high ISO photos would be? Not so long ago, ISO 6400 was the absolute limit of real usability. Anything above that was, at best, suitable for special events like UFOs, Loch Ness monsters, or alien landings. Not so any more. Today, I’m going to back the Nikon Z9 into a corner and show you how well it performs at extreme ISOs. How high can you go?

My Process

Before you object to the choice of camera for this article, you should know that I only chose the Nikon Z9 because it’s my main camera. Many cameras of today’s generation have similar high ISO performance. In fact, they may even perform better if they have a little less resolution.  After all, Nikon’s previous flagship, the D6, had “only” 20.8 megapixels but is a low-light hammer. Can a modern 45 megapixel camera compare?

With the help of a few illustrative photos, I’ll try to shed some light on this question. Cameras have come a long way in the last 10 years or so. But also, post-processing software has made a huge leap at high ISOs. Hardware and software work hand in hand. Today, I’ll show you photos that I’ve edited in my usual way. This will give you a realistic idea of the results you can expect from the Z9.

To edit my RAW files, I use a pair of programs that complement each other nicely. First, I run my files through my favorite de-noise software, DxO PureRaw. Then, I fine-tune the DNG “intermediate product” in Capture One. I try to edit with a rather light hand on the sliders in Capture One, especially at higher ISOs. Mostly I just adjust levels, saturation, and – where necessary – highlights and shadows. The less aggressive you are with sliders, generally the less noise you will reveal.

Example Photos

The first pair of photos shows a female and a male White-booted Racket-tailed Hummingbird. Although it was not exactly dark in the Ecuadorian cloud forest, it was necessary to set the ISO quite high. Hummingbirds are small in general, but this species is one of the really tiny ones. As a rule, the smaller the hummingbird, the faster it beats its wings. In this species, the frequency can be around 70 beats per second! So, if you don’t want to capture a wingless hovering torso, you need to set a very quick shutter speed (at least 1/1000th second). Under these conditions, the exposure triangle starts to be merciless. Still, ISO 5600 and 6400 are not numbers that make your head spin.

In my opinion, neither sharpness nor color suffered in this pair of photos. There is a bit of noise, but careful noise reduction lowers it near the point of irrelevance. If you look at the photos magnified, they are quite clean. I would probably believe someone who told me that these are taken at ISO 560 and 640, rather than 5600 and 6400.

Let’s look at another pair of photos. It was very early in the morning, just before sunrise, when I photographed this Black-streaked Puffbird at the slopes of the Sumaco volcano in Ecuador. Its Czech name, Lenivka, as well as its German name, Faulvogel, suggest much about its behavior. Both names could be translated as “Lazy Bird.” Thanks to the bird’s stationary nature, and my stable tripod, I could shoot as low as 1/10th second without motion blur.

This opened up room for a comparison. I took one photo at 1/10th of a second and ISO 800, and another at 1/60th of a second and ISO 5000. It’s a pretty significant difference in the EXIF data. What about in real life?

To avoid hiding any differences in post-production, I applied the same settings in Capture One to both photos. And the result? I can’t help but think that the differences are below my eye’s resolving power. Noise, color, sharpness, and shadow detail all seem similar to me. But judge for yourself. (And if you click one of the images, you can switch between them quickly at a high resolution.)

Quite an impressive result for the high ISO photo!

But what’s this? You’re thinking that the difference between ISO 800 and ISO 5000 isn’t drastic enough? I have to admit, I was wondering the same thing. An early morning photoshoot of kingfishers gave me some great material for a more extreme comparison.

In the first photo, a male kingfisher waited patiently with little movement, allowing me to go as low as 1/30th second at ISO 720. After taking that safe shot, I switched to 1/1000th second – and the ISO jumped to 16,000 – while I waited for the bird to take off. But with this comparison in mind, I decided to take a shot before the bird began to fly. Here is how those two photos compare:

The difference here is finally noticeable in the photo, even to my eye. In particular, at 100% magnification, the photo taken at the lower ISO has more details in the feathers. You may also notice smoother color transitions outside of the depth of field. It seems as if the background in the photo taken at ISO 16000 has more contrast. This makes the bokeh look more distracting than in the first photo. Still, I find the result very usable.

Not a bad result for the ISO 16,000 photo! It wasn’t long ago that such an ISO would look like mush…

Finally, the last two photos have one thing in common. I took both of them in very dim, low-quality light. Before, I wouldn’t even take the camera out of my backpack, but since I was traveling with the best 400mm telephoto lens currently available, my courage grew.

I photographed this Andean Cock-of-the-Rock with a 1/100th shutter speed, f/4, and ISO 16,000. A typically dark morning in the tropical mountain forest. But this time of day is also full of life, and it would be a shame not to photograph some of it. So, here is the photo along with a crop:

In the darkness of the forest, this photo pushes the camera’s capabilities to the limit. Not only the lack of light is problematic here, but also the bright orange-red coloration of the bird. A closer look reveals that the feathers are losing their texture and becoming a bit posterized. But by then, I had pushed the Nikon Z9 to the very edge of its high ISO capabilities, and it still gave me a reasonable image.

Conclusion

The combination of a modern, full-frame sensor and today’s powerful editing tools literally brings light into the darkness. The mindset that ISO 6400 is the limit is outdated. Today, we can capture beautiful images full of details, smooth transitions, and vibrant colors even in very low light.

So, what should your personal “ISO limit” be? I think that no two photographers will have the same answer. But for me, it is – whatever is needed to get the photo. If that means pushing my camera to the edge of high ISO, that is acceptable to me.