Kirk is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and a Technical Trainer. He is also a Professional Wedding Photographer in Windsor Ontario Note: If you would be so kind as to give us a G+ and a Face Book Like- link here (for KW Masters Photography) if you like our posts. You only have to do this once and add your likes and G+ per post. Thanks for dropping by.
Introduction:Today we are reviewing the Canon 5D Mark III verse Nikon D800. These are the two top semi-professional cameras from Canon and Nikon. We will dig deep into the specifications and test results of both cameras. You may go online and find the complete specs for each camera. I am only including a partial list.
- Partial Specification List
Sensor Performance Comparisons:
- Color Sensitivity
- Signal to Noise Ratio
- Tonal Range
Nikon D800 Technical Improvements- Removal of AA Filter (not all)
- Removal of AA Filter
Canon 5D Mark III Technical Improvements (not all):
- New 22 MP sensor with on board Noise Reduction and Digic 5+
Summary:
From the overall scores, The Nikon’s sensor is the clear winner at a rating of 95 verses 81, a very impressive result. I particularly like the elimination of the AA de-blurring filter. If you recall, Olympus E-5 was the first to incorporate this feature into it’s DLSR’s. I expected all other manufacturers to do the same as they have copied the Olympus improvements before. The dynamic range of the Nikon D800 at 100 ISO produces superior results compared to Canon. As I have said before, I believe that the information is there, you just have to have the software to pull it out. My favorite RAW processing software is DXO. Their latest release version 8 has amazing light and contrast optimization. Is that not what dynamic range is all about anyway? By the way, both camera’s sensor data is about equal on 4 out of 5 tests (I left the ISO out this time).
Remember: These are DIGITAL camera sensors. That means 0's and 1's, no color, no DR, just information to be processed by software. So with the right software what can you retrieve off of the sensors?
It appears to me that this fantastic dynamic range of Nikon’s can be seen in your Canon 5D Mark III if you use this release. I have no proof except the below images. What is Dynamic Range but light and contrast anyway. Is it not also about pulling out the details in the shadows and bright areas of an image? Look at the DR of theses images:
- Low Light Images- WOW!
And this one!
- Light and Contrast Capture: IE: Dynamic Range?
Check it out your selves by going to this link and pull the slider to the left. It is amazing and may also exceed that of Nikon’s D800 but that I can not test. It is hard to imagine better results than seen on the DXO’s web site. I recommend the Pro version. It is a poor idea to compare 36 MP sensor to a 22 MP sensor regarding high ISO performance. The less crowded FF sensor will win, as does Canon in this case. You will see that for best image quality as per my ISO blog, shoot 100 ISO. Noise starts creeping in real fast on Nikon. The short pixel height of the Nikon pixels also add noise earlier as compared to the longer Canon Pixels.
So what does one buy? At this time, if you are NOT locked into any system, seriously look at Nikon. Remember though, price out all of your wish list, lenses, flashes, etc and compare the total future costs.
If you are locked into Canon, don’t sell and buy Nikon. Give the DXO module a run first. Nikon users can also give it a run for free for 30 days trial. Magazines tend to want the higher dynamic ranges but you can produce a DNG file from DXO. More resolution is a tricky thing. You must have low, low noise. If you just want more MP’s Photoshop or other programs can upscale your image from 22 MP to 50+ in a blink of an eye.
This is NOT a big scale up, but rather perfect for larger images. Personnally I like the 36 MP but that just might be me. Process both images in DXO and I do not believe that you will see much of a difference.
For shooting large groups of people the more MP's with low noise the better. Most photographers believe or feel that 18-20 MP's +- 2 MP's is the sweet spot for the FF sensors. Interesting fact: Nikon D4 has only 16.2 MP's. Yes, it appears that Nikon realize that lower MP's are better for lowering the noise levels. They also released the D600 with with 24.3 MP's. Remember, you can produce beautiful 24x36 images from 6 MP's.
We still use Photoshop to process images, but AFTER DXO of course.
Masters-Tip:
1.For best image quality shoot 100 ISO and expose to the right of your histogram on most images.
2.Shoot Camera RAW and not JPEG.
3.Process images with DXO and Photoshop.
4.Watch out for Marketing leaving out important information so that you will buy their product.
Hope that you enjoyed this post. Drop us a line with your comments.
References:
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