Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO. High ISO NR set to High Click here to download larger file   Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO. High ISO NR set to Normal Click here to download larger file

Resized Crop Comparison Below

Nikon D2Hs, 1600 ISO, High ISO NR set to High (Crop)

Nikon D2Hs, 1600 ISO, High ISO NR set to Normal (Crop)

Click here to download a larger version of the above comparison

Looking at the side by side crop above, it is clear that the NR High setting on the Nikon D2Hs is more effective at reducing the overall appearance of image noise. As is common with most in camera NR reduction systems, there is a slight trade-off; as the amount of noise reduction is increased, there seems to be some loss of detail due to the "smoothening effects" of the NR processing itself.

All in all though, the Nikon D2Hs seems to produce a very usable 1600 ISO image, depending on the specific image requirements.

Nikon D2H at 1600 ISO	Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO High ISO NR set to Normal	Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO High ISO NR set to High

Nikon D2H versus Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO (Larger Size)
Blue Channel Crop Comparison with High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Normal and High on D2Hs

Nikon D2H versus Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO (Large Size)
Blue Channel Crop Comparison with High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Normal and High on D2Hs

Nikon D2H versus Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO (Large Size)
Grey Channel Crop Comparison with High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Normal and High on D2Hs

Nikon D2Hs compared to Nikon D2H at 800 ISO (Color Chart)

Nikon D2H at 800 ISO	Nikon D2Hs at 800 ISO High ISO NR set to Normal	Nikon D2Hs at 800 ISO High ISO NR set to High

Nikon D2H versus Nikon D2Hs at 800 ISO (Large Size)
Blue Channel Crop Comparison with High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Normal and High on D2Hs

Nikon D2H versus Nikon D2Hs at 800 ISO (Large Size)
Green Channel Crop Comparison with High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Normal and High on D2Hs

Nikon D2H versus Nikon D2Hs at 800 ISO (Large Size)
Grey Channel Crop Comparison with High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Normal and High on D2Hs

Nikon D2Hs High ISO NR Comparison at 1000 ISO (Color Chart)

Nikon D2Hs at 1000 ISO High ISO NR set to Off	Nikon D2Hs at 1000 ISO High ISO NR set to Normal	Nikon D2Hs at 1000 ISO High ISO NR set to High

Color Channel Comparison D2Hs at 1000 ISO

Nikon D2Hs at 1000 ISO (Larger Size)
Blue Channel Crop Comparison with D2Hs High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Off, Normal and High

Nikon D2Hs at 1000 ISO (Larger Size)
Green Channel Crop Comparison with D2Hs High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Off, Normal and High

Nikon D2Hs at 1000 ISO (Larger Size)
Grey Channel Comparison with D2Hs High ISO
Noise Reduction set to Off, Normal and High

Conclusion:
As can be seen from the above image comparisons, the Nikon D2Hs DSLR definately improves upon its predecessor the Nikon D2H at higher ISO settings. According to Nikon, these improvements are a result of refinements to the D2Hs processing ASIC and revised image processing algorithms.

Based on the color patch comparison below, there is far less observable noise when shooting with the Nikon D2Hs at the higher 1600 ISO (with High ISO noise reduction set to Normal ), compared to shooting with the Nikon D2H at 800 ISO.

In our opinion, there is at least a 1 stop sensitivity advantage for the Nikon D2Hs vs the Nikon D2H when shooting at high ISO. How the noise reduction processing affects the final image quality varies to some degree with the degree of NR processing selected (Normal / High). Once we can get our hands on a Nikon D2Hs D-SLR for a longer period, we will update this preview with additional "real world" image samples at a range of ISO settings, and make a final conclusion regarding image quality.

Nikon D2H at 800 ISO crop compared to Nikon D2Hs at 1600 ISO crop (Larger Size)