Photography Life

PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels

  • Lens Reviews
  • Camera Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Compare Cameras
  • Forum
    • Sign Up
    • Login
  • About
  • Search
Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Nikon D3200 Review

Nikon D3200 Review

By Nasim Mansurov 56 Comments
Last Updated On February 11, 2020

«»

ISO Performance at Low ISOs (ISO 100-800)

Let’s take a look at how the Nikon D3200 performs at low ISOs. Here are some 100% crops at ISO 100, 200, 400 and 800:

Nikon D3200 ISO 100 Crop Nikon D3200 ISO 200 Crop

Nikon D3200 ISO 400 Crop Nikon D3200 ISO 800 Crop

The noise levels at base ISO are typically the cleanest, as the above crops indicate. ISO 100 and ISO 200 look pretty much the same to me. ISO 400 picks up a little noise, but it is very gradual and only visible in darker areas of the image. At ISO 800, there is more noise visible across the frame and the image details are preserved very well. Overall, the ISO performance of the Nikon D3200 at ISOs 100-800 yields very pleasant results.

High ISO Performance (ISO 1600-12800)

High ISO performance is a very important measure of DSLR sensor quality. Here is how the Nikon D3200 performs at high ISO levels between ISO 1600 and 6400:

Nikon D3200 ISO 1600 Crop Nikon D3200 ISO 3200 Crop

Nikon D3200 ISO 6400 Crop Nikon D3200 ISO 12800 Crop

ISO 1600 adds a bit more grain when compared to ISO 800, but there is still plenty of detail to work with. Keep in mind that these are 100% crops. I would not hesitate to use ISO 1600 on the D3200 and would probably use noise reduction software if I needed to get rid of the noise at pixel level. At ISO 3200 we are seeing loss of detail throughout the frame and some artifacts show up in the shadows. The artifacts are much more visible at ISO 6400, which looks too grainy for me and ISO 12600 is even worse, with a clear loss of colors and details across the frame. Judging from the above crops and my field tests, I personally would shoot between ISO 100-1600 and push ISO to 3200 every once in a while when needed. Anything higher than ISO 3200 is beyond my comfort level.

ISO Performance Summary

Overall, the Nikon D3200 seems to yield pretty impressive results at such high resolution. Once again, keep in mind that the above crops are 100%, which means that no down-sampling techniques have been applied – this is what you will see when zooming in to images at 100%.

It is hard to judge the performance of the Nikon D3200 without direct comparisons against other cameras. Although I have not had a chance to perform ISO comparison tests between Nikon D3200 and the older Nikon D3100, I did a comparison against the higher end Nikon D5200 and the full-frame Nikon D600 DSLRs, which you can see in the next pages of this review.

Table of Contents

  • Overview and Specifications
  • Image Sensor
  • Autofocus Performance
  • Movie Recording and Dynamic Range
  • ISO Performance
  • Camera Comparisons
  • Summary
  • More Image Samples
  • Reader Comments
«»
Looking for even more exclusive content?

On Photography Life, you already get world-class articles with no advertising every day for free. As a Member, you'll get even more:

Silver ($5/mo)
  • Exclusive articles
  • Monthly Q&A chat
  • Early lens test results
  • "Creative Landscape Photography" eBook
Gold ($12/mo)
  • All that, PLUS:
  • Online workshops
  • Monthly photo critiques
  • Vote on our next lens reviews
 
Click Here to Join Today
 
Disclosures, Terms and Conditions and Support Options

Learn

  • Beginner Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Wildlife Photography
  • Portraiture
  • Post-Processing
  • Advanced Tutorials
Photography Life on Patreon

Reviews

  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews
  • Best Cameras and Lenses

Photography Tutorials

Photography Basics
Landscape Photography
Wildlife Photography
Macro Photography
Composition & Creativity
Black & White Photography
Night Sky Photography
Portrait Photography
Street Photography
Photography Videos

Unique Gift Ideas

Best Gifts for Photographers

Subscribe via Email

If you like our content, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly email updates using the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Beginner Photography
  • Lens Database
  • Lens Index
  • Photo Spots
  • Search
  • Forum

Reviews

  • Reviews Archive
  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews

More

  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Workshops
  • Support Us
  • Submit Content

Copyright © 2025 ยท Photography Life

You are going to send email to

Move Comment