Photography News Issue 40

Photography News | Issue 40 | absolutephoto.com

Camera test 47

Performance: ISO

Original image

The D3400’s ISO range covers 100-25,600 and also gives you the option to select auto ISO so the camera will choose the best ISO for you. I took some test shots on an overcast day and set an aperture of f/8 shooting in aperture- priority mode. At ISO 100 the image is crisp and clear and it isn’t until around ISO 800 that we can start to see some evidence of noise, with much more of an increase at ISO 3200. At the top of the range at ISO 25,600 the noise is extremely grainy. Choosing to look at the image taken at ISO 3200, which had a reasonable amount of noise, I used the Noise Reduction slider in Lightroom to see how easy it was to remove the noise. Moving the slider until I was happy left the image looking fairly soft having lost some of its detail, so I’d personally aim to keep the ISO below 1600 where possible.

The D3400’s ISO range covers 100- 25,600 and also gives you the option to select auto ISO

Right The Nikon D3400 performed well at low ISOs with noise becoming evident at around ISO 1600. At around ISO 3200 this increased more, and that carried on through to its top ISO 25,600.

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12,800

ISO 25,600

Verdict

Features Built-in guide mode to offer help and assistance for beginners, SnapBridge for photographers who want to share their images instantly, creative filters and Full HD video Performance Great low ISO quality and able to shoot handheld at around 1/10sec with no camera shake or blur Handling It’s lightweight and portable, but a touchscreen would be handy Value formoney For just £409 with a kit lens it’s a great price for a beginner or family camera that’s easily portable for days out and social events Overall A great camera for those starting out in photography or those who want a helping hand with shooting Pros Lightweight and portable, ideal for beginners, great price for an entry-level camera Cons LCD lacks touch-and-tilt ability 23/25 23/25 22/25 23/25 91/100 family use. An entry-level camera, its key features include the guide mode, SnapBridge, five frames- per-second shooting and Full HD video recording. Being Nikon’s first entry-level DSLR to feature SnapBridge the D3400 is sure to attract those who want to get better quality than shooting with a phone, but still have the ability to upload their images instantly to social media platforms. Being so light and portable it’s ideal for travelling with and thanks to a built-in guide mode and integral filters you can do everything in camera before transferring the images to your smartphone, which also makes it great for

Performance: exposure latitude

-1EV

-2EV

Metering a correct exposure at ISO 100, aperture f/5.3 with a shutter speed of 1/30sec I took a correctly exposed image and then took eight more shots adjusting theexposure compensation from-4EVto+4EVin1EVsteps.When correcting the under and overexposed images in Lightroom the overexposed images were much easier to correct. The +1EV and +2EV corrected images were similar to that of the original, with hardly any change in noise, but a slight difference in colour/tone. As the +4EV image was too overexposed to capture any detail in the sky, no details could be recovered when correcting the image. Moving on to the underexposed images, the image taken at -1EV was easy to correct with minimal noise, while the -2EV image started to display more noise and a slight change in colour. This increased further moving through the -3EV and -4EV shots.

-3EV

-4EV

Original image

+1EV

+2EV

+3EV

+4EV

Correct exposure

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