Sony A6500 High ISO NR

Sony A6500 High ISO Noise Reduction

The Sony A6500 offers only three High ISO Noise Reduction settings: "Off", "Low" and "Normal" (default). The user manual doesn't say at what sensitivity High ISO Noise Reduction begins to be applied, so we've included crops from ISO 100 on up to find out.

See for yourself how the default and lowest noise reduction settings compare to RAW files with no noise reduction or sharpening applied. Click on any of the crops below to see the corresponding full-sized image.

As you can see, the Sony A6500's High ISO Noise Reduction already has a noticeable effect at sensitivities as low as ISO 100, and the "Off" setting really isn't off (which is often the case), as the A6500 still applies obvious noise reduction.

Overall, the Sony A6500's default noise reduction is a little less heavy-handed than the A6300 (except perhaps in the red channel), leaving more detail intact along with slightly higher noise levels rather than smudging away detail to produce a slightly cleaner image.