Bjørn Rørslett has posted a noise comparision for the Nikon D3….
A Nikon / Canon Comparison :-)
December 7, 2007 by Leave a Comment
There is a new Nikon /Canon comparision at Luminous Landscape titled “Oh No! Not a Nikon/Canon Comparison! Yes. I’m Afraid So“. Their bottom line (but do yourself a favour and read the full article):
“Nikon is now back in the IQ game. Canon has enjoyed a deserved reputation for high image quality, especially at high ISO. But now with the D3 Nikon has upped the ante, producing a camera that appears to offer lower noise than Canon (at least against the flagship 1Ds MKIII), and higher available speeds as well.”
Jason P. Odell comparing D3, D300 and D2X
December 6, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Jason P. Odell shared his impressions about D3 and D300 and compared it to the D2X:
“I was playing around last night making some test shots in my basement. I compared a series of images with the D3, D300 and D2Xs taken at different ISOs in horrible light (compact fluorescents). I shot in RAW, NR OFF, and processed using NX 1.3 with identical Picture Control settings. I turned sharpening OFF to minimize any sharpening artifacts in the base images.
I don’t have the crops to show yet, but here are my general conclusions:1) The D300 does a better job with WB in this kind of lighting (cool fluorescents) than the D2X. Images from both cameras required some WB modification in Capture NX, but the end product looked better from the D300 and D3. The D2X images tended to have a yellowish color cast that required significantly more WB adjustment to remove.
2) With respect to ISO performance, I’d say that the D300 is about 1.5 stops better in terms of noise than the D2Xs. Luminance noise becomes visible with the D300 at ISO 1600, but is not pronounced until ISO 2500. I can get an image from the D300 shot at ISO 2500 that looks about as good or slightly better than the D2Xs shot at ISO 1000 (Hi-0.3). The D3 beats the D2X by about three stops— HI-2 images (3200) on the D2Xs look about the same as HI-2 images (ISO 25,600) on the D3!
My conclusions on D300 noise (qualitative, not quantitative):
With the D300, you can shoot confidently at ISO 2500 or lower and your files will require minimal (if any) noise reduction, depending on the final print size. Because the noise is primarily in the luminance channel, be careful with your NR routine so you don’t destroy image detail. I made a 12×18″ print of the ISO 2500 image from the D300– the grain pattern was noticeable if you looked really closely. However, from normal viewing distances, the image looked great and there was no loss of fine details. ISO 3200 on the D300 introduces significantly more luminance (and more chrominance) noise into the image, but again, images are very easy to clean up and they retain excellent color and contrast (something you can’t say about the D2X).
So if you are thinking about a D300 or a used D2X/s, this round definitely goes to the D300.”
Bjørn Rørslett: what the D3 is and what not
December 1, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The highly respected Bjørn Rørslett has posted an answer to a blog entry by Lloyd Chambers:
“I’m having trouble making acceptable photos with the D3, everything seems soft and just not ‘there’ ”
(Source)
The answer:
“The first D3 advantage obviously is a vastly improved noise performance, the second that the combination lens + camera can achieve higher image contrast thus imparting a better sharpness for the “big details” that give the overall impression of sharpness of the image, the third (deriving from the second) is that the files stand much better enlargement. The almost total lack of CA and the even illumination of [some, not all] wide-angle lenses might result from the sensor design or the EXPEED processor, or both.
Now, to the drawbacks. It is clear that with high-performance lenses, D3 might have insuffcient resolution due to its lower pixel density. Whether or not this is an issue will depend on the subject and scene contrast, and also the processing of the file done in-camera. Shooting people with D3 should yield remarkable image quality, landscape shouldn’t.”
Read his full answer at the NikonGear forum.
D3 and 600/4 and a teleconverter…
December 1, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Joshua Buck, a photojournalist at a newspaper in Colorado, mentions that the D3 is even usable for him with a 600mm f/4 and a 1.4x teleconverter at ISO 5000:
“There is nothing like shooting with a night game with a 600mm f/4 and a 1.4x teleconverter at ISO 5000! What an amazing camera”