D800 and low light performance

Very interesting, I took it from mansurovs.com, who downscaled the jpeg file to the size of a D700 file (12mp). I then applied a noise reduction filter in PS Element 9. Keep in mind that this is a jpeg file, raw files will be a lot cleaner. 

Now I promise I won't patronize you with the usual "any camera is good if you're a good photographer". Although I'll remind you again that is you strive for perfection you should look into medium format film.  

This post is to adress the worries of a lot of people complained that so much pixels would run low light sensitivity.

Well technology evolves. The facts are: 
- The pixels are a bit larger than the D7000, a camera praised for its low light performance.
- To compare VS a D700, you have to downscale to the same size file (as in here)
- Unless you shoot wildlife or warfare at night, you got no reason to shoot at 6400 or above. And in that case, you get a D4.

Now verdict on those samples: 
That is pretty clean to me, more than enough for 99,9999% of what I do. I have to admit the D800 seems to suffer for color noise in particular, but that's the easiest to remove during post processing. Considering the video capabilities of the camera, the large prints for commercial work, the price tag significantly lower than the 5D MK III, Nikon's superiority in lens making, built quality and metering, I think the 5D / D800 match is a no brainer. But once again, go try and see for yourselves. I'll make my final call when I get a chance to shoot both.

You can order your D800 on Amazon.


JPEG ISO 6400 downscaled to 12MP

this is 1:1 view ISO 6400

No comments:

Post a Comment