[Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

[Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

The Nikon D800 has been much criticized for its enormous megapixel count. And some have worried that packing 36 megapixels into a full frame sensor might lead to decreased low-light performance. These samples, however, push those worries aside. It’s no D4, but for 36 megapixels, I think Nikon should win an award for this. Canon took a different route with the 22-megapixel 5D Mark III, but that paid off, too. See for yourself in the full post!

These Nikon samples are thanks to this source. The Canon samples are thanks to this source. Click on any image for the full-size file.

Nikon D800 iso sample overview 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

Image Overview

Nikon D800 iso400 sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 400 Sample from the Nikon D800

Nikon D800 iso800 sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 800 Sample from Nikon D800

Nikon D800 iso1600 sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 1600 Sample from Nikon D800

Nikon D800 iso3200 sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 3200 Sample from Nikon D800

Nikon D800 iso6400 sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 6400 Sample from Nikon D800

Nikon D800 iso12800 sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 12800 Sample from Nikon D800

Nikon D800 iso25600 sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 25600 Sample from Nikon D800

Nikon D800 iso25600 wNR sample 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 25600 Sample from Nikon D800 w/ Medium Noise Reduction

ISO 50 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 50 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 100 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 100 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 200 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 200 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 400 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 400 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 800 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 800 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 1600 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 1600 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 3200 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 3200 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 6400 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 6400 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 12800 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 12800 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 25600 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 25600 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 51200 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 51200 Sample from 5DMkIII

ISO 102400 5DMkIII 150x150 [Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

ISO 102400 Sample from 5DMkIII

Update:
Nikon equivalents for the Canon shots below are too large to load here, so please visit the site here for images taken with the D800 in the same conditions, where you can find examples with noise reduction as well!

Gear

« [Pics] Flickr Spotlight #8 – Depressed Clowns

The Wednesday Rundown 3.14.12 »

http://twitter.com/int3nsive Int3nsive
Canon is clearly the Winner.
http://www.facebook.com/jordan.ritz1 Jordan Ritz
The Canon image is also more properly lit and exposed. Very hard to tell which is the winner, wish they were shot in the same conditions..
http://twitter.com/Brian_Hawkins Brian Hawkins
Can’t really compare unless they are under the same conditions.
http://twitter.com/MarkOneStudios Mark A. Kathurima
I agree. This is not apples for apples, but on their own merit, I think the 5D Mark III images are shockingly good, noise-wise.
Steven Lawrence
unless you are printing huge sizes the noise will not show up…
http://twitter.com/photobyleighton Jr. Miller
All talk…many people ditch about hi-iso and in the same conversation say “I rarely go over ISO 800 personally”.. just read a few so-called pro reviews and their blogs. Most will say on the sly that ISO 800 is their top end unless they really need to get a shot (sports shooters and wedding pros aside). The conversation is moot beyond ISO 3200.
Kevin Crocker
Well this is retarded… You don’t even have the same shot to compare. Fucking clown shoes…
DanThePhotoMan
Waiting for a test under the same conditions. Also, you must keep in mind that when making a large print, the Mark III will need to be enlarged much more than the D800 files.
Kevin Crocker
Yeah! You are right on that one. Must be nice to have money.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WZFNDSQFYXL2TP3NP2AVEQV32U RUSS
i’ve always been annoyed at comparisons of two cameras or lenses or whatever, each one, seperately used under totally different conditions and then people saying how one is far superior to the other. It’s F&*(KIN ANNOYING!!!!!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FJ2REIXLXEZZA7RRPC4ELF57JU Dwtex
‘…in the same conversation say, “I rarely go over ISO 800 personally…”‘ I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, I’ve have never heard that; from any one…ever. In fact I did a shoot this weekend with 4 other photographers, no one was shooting below 1250. One of them was shooting at 1600 but would have gone a bit higher were it not for fear of inducing too much noise. Low light and lots of movement is certainly an issue. Unless you want creative photos with lots of motion blur, lower ISO is fine. However, for crisp, clean images shot handheld (a tripod often isn’t practical for indoor photo-journalistic photography) high ISO and low noise bodies are a god send. Your quote sounds like something Ken Rockwell would say. If this is the case, I can understand your state of confusion.
http://id.makemagic.gr/ Gregory.K
the word “comparison” is misleading and I dare to say provocative (considering the samples, in favor of the Canon)
Please provide us photos with exactly the same testing conditions and at least two different scenarios.
Juan Carlos Ayala
Take a look at the D800 samples from this link. This should compare against the 5DMKIII pictures above as the subject is the same:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d800/nikon-d800A7.HTM
http://desherchobi-ideasrbulletproof.blogspot.com/ Ideas_R_Bulletproof
this is for those pixel peepers!!
real life photography doesn’t require such reviews…. ever!!
Juan Carlos Ayala
Take a look at the link I posted below. The same subject was taken with both cameras.
http://www.facebook.com/johnpesina John Pesina
Why would this even be a comparison, it’s slated for the Nikon to lose. The canon is obviously better lit, so how can we tell what it picks up in non-studio conditions?
Robert Koren
with the same pictures look nikon much better ….. thanks
Juan Carlos Ayala…
http://twitter.com/connywa Conny Wallström
Comparing the same pictures I detect more noise even as low as ISO 100 on the Nikon. Though both do look amazing.
http://www.facebook.com/martinpbooth Martin Booth
If you want hi-ISO then go for the D4/D3s/1Dx.
D800 will perform well, but it’s not meant to be a sports body being shot inside a dimly lit gym.
More and more I’m moving away from Hi-ISO in my general shooting and starting to learn flash properly to make the most out of my images. In a studio I don’t really see a need to go higher than 800ISO when you have full control over the lighting.
http://twitter.com/Jensthetraveler Jens Marklund
The 5D seems to have a lot of NR on it, while the D800 doesn’t. Details are lost, and you can clearly see the artifacts.
http://www.facebook.com/sergio.alonsorodriguez Sergio Alonso Rodríguez
We clearly see that 5D MIII apply a lot of noise reduction, let´s see what camera preserve the textures better when we apply the same amount of noise reduction at the D800 sample. At Iso 1600.
I crop a 100% pic of the 5D photo directly from the sample.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y201/sergio_45/auxiliar/1da7d2f0.jpg
Then i took the same 1600 iso sample from the D800, the same 100% crop. And i have applied an automatic noise reduction plugin, Dfine 2.0 from Nik, to equal the level of noise reduction of both samples.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y201/sergio_45/auxiliar/daef26df.jpg
Not only the D800 sample got more resolution, it also got more detailed textures and more quality.
The results for me are clear, D800 is the winner.
http://twitter.com/ozcancelik Özcan Çelik
Canon says “I have 25600 Native ISO”. Nikon says “I have 6400 Native ISO”. But interesting thing is both 12800 ISO almost same.(In same condition) As a canon user for me Canon ISO values are just inflated.
http://www.facebook.com/tiensicum Nguyen Hong Tien
Hello all,
Please, compare the images of Canon 5dmk3 about with the images Nikon d800 in link below:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d800/nikon-d800A7.HTM
http://www.facebook.com/nicholas.gonzalez3 Nicholas Gonzalez
Too much pixel peeping. The good news is that both cameras are much improved over the previous ones, which is a major feat since both companies made awesome cameras in the past three years that still hold up in image quality.
http://www.facebook.com/svedle Christer Svedle
Go here please. http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
Even if you scale the nikon images down to canon size the Canon outperforms Nikon regarding the ISO. For me personally I really need the high ISO quality more often than I need the super big prints so I defiantly go with Canon.
Judy Knesel
Why didn’t you use a closeup in the canon shots as you did in the nikon shots?
http://www.facebook.com/sergio.alonsorodriguez Sergio Alonso Rodríguez
Isn´t a close up, one has 22mpx and the other 36mpx so a 100% crop got a different scale in each camera. Anyway if you try to interpolate and enlarge the canon sample to match the nikon size you only got a decrease in canon sample quality.
infinityphotogr
A studio scene vs an available (heavily back lighted one…)
This is a no-brainer. Studio lighting will be best, every time, no matter the camera.
http://www.facebook.com/ginostamaria Gino Sta Maria
maybe he is a canon user.. ;)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Fabio-Vitagliani/100000388754407 Fabio Vitagliani
canon 5 D III winner !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/ericcgould Eric Gould
Apple for Apples please. Same shot, same conditions, same setting, same everything… A true side by side…
http://twitter.com/kenkyee Ken Yee
Take your current crappy P&S…set it to ISO1600. Go outside in bright sunlight and shoot anything (shutter speed will be very high, but doesn’t matter). Go inside and shoot anything. Compare the two…you’ll see a lot more noise inside.
High ISO is fine as long as there is plenty of light. To find out how well it performs, underexpose or shoot in crappy light. That’s where big photosites help.
That said, the D800′s performance looks pretty much like the D700′s (within half a stop) so Sony did a reallllly good job w/ the sensor considering how many pixels they crammed into it. Downsampling will make the images look better too.
The 5DmkIII in theory should do better because of the bigger photosites, but Canon is not using Sony’s technology so it’s still up in the air…
Martinvh
maybe,… But just slightly ,… (Non the less I do have to see a proper compare first before i do my final judgement!!!! )
But look at the 25600 images,.. both camera’s produce images at that ISO that are still ok to use (newspaper etc.) http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
that said,… Look at the resolution,… So Nikon produced a camera with more dan 150% the resolution of Canon’s camera and still it can reasonably keep up with Canon’s ISO performance !!
Now that’s what i call hightech !
And believe it or not ,… i use Canon ( 2 5DII’s ) For now that is,… I will be switching over,..
Frankie Malt
Nikon shooters have very much flooded the comments, the debate of studio vs natural lit really doesn’t hold sway, the 3200iso shows the obvious. Nikon users are getting greedy to expect the same low light capabilities from a sensor that is to please the masses of mega pixel hungry gimmick photographers. alas don’t take this as hate if you shoot nikon, i merely find 36 mega pixel gratuitous to most who posted on this entry. I found this very valuable Adam and i enjoyed the adults that commented acting as children, i wish this profession/hobby could be reserved for a more mature crowd, i find that too many are too competitive and narrow minded to enjoy the differences in styles, equipment and skills. We all are passionate about the same thing guys, no need to be a dick.
peace.
http://www.facebook.com/svedle Christer Svedle
No, nikon actually don’t keep up with the canon. Take the 25600 images and scale the nikon image down to Canons resolution and you will find the Nikon a lot noisier. I admit I am a Canon shooter but I also admit I would prefer the d800e for studio work where I can use ISO100 all the time. But the case is I am not shooting most of my images in a studio.
Martinvh
I don’t think the debate is about studio or natural light Frankie,… the debat is about pefectly lit against a low-light situation,.. no matter where that should be. That’s a big difference.
When the 5DII came out no canon shooter was complaining over the 22mp res,.. while it was in that time the highest mp count in a semi-pro SLR on the market
Maybe in a decade or so we are shooting 100mp phtoto’s on to a 1TB memorycard @30 FPS,…. who knows.

Like i said in my previous post, I think that boosting the res and still perform as good as, or almost as good as a 150% less res camera wich was updated to perfom better on high ISO is a heck of a job and a nice step forward by Nikon. (No i’m not a Nikon shooter,.. yet)
Martinvh
Í am a canon shooter as well Christer,… But mainly in the studio.
let’s say the 25600 (wich i think both camera’s do pretty well!) When do you use that?
I’ve been shooting soccer in the evening in a stadium a few times with a budy of mine and used his 7D,.. but never came higher than 6400 ISO,… And if you look at the 6400 ISO pics of both these camera’s (in the link,… not those completly different images above) you will see that the Canon as well as the Nikon shoot perfectly fine images.
Tom Coles
Well, your comment is certainly NOT bulletproof!
For this ‘real life’ photographer who routinely shoots large groups and printing 36+ inch prints, the more pixels the better! Assuming of course we are comparing apple to apples.
http://twitter.com/hipt123 Tyler Friesen
Everyone who says this is not a fare comparison should go check out Juan Carlos Ayala’s link http://www.imaging-resource.co… this is a direct comparison.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620525580 Stanimira Markova
it would be nice if tested on the same object…
http://twitter.com/photobyleighton Jr. Miller
Oh really…you found 4 guys who shoot hi-iso..lol at 1600. Hate to break it to ya “pro” but ISO 1600 is hardly hi-iso. I shot weddings on my old 20D at 1600 that were pretty darn clean on large prints. Did same with an old 1D classic. Find 4 “pros’ who shoot at 3200 and higher for the majority of their work and let’s talk from there. I personally don’t know anyone who is begging for 25600. Better AF, better low ISO files and better auto WB is the real prize. Get it straight.
http://WWW.LIFEASCINEMA.BLOGSPOT.COM SEAN SHIMMEL
Bored with cold analysis and putting away the electron microscope, I reflect a bit…
1. Steve McCurry shot most of his classics with iso 800 or less… with nary a plant or color wheel in sight.
2. Go back and read all the D3 reviews and remember how “even that tier” of high-iso-breakthrough drew gasps for redefining the impossible with photography.
3. And now there’s a fuss over 25,600 and 6,400?
cardg
I think Canon 5d mark iii is less noiser than d800…but at 800-1600 i think there’s no problem using the one or the other….so….i really want to see the difference in dynamic range….more dynamic range = less noise when i retouch the photo and the sensor manufactered by sony usually do better than canon….
http://www.photoshoot.com.mx/ Robert
Too much pixel peeping, focus on your creativity and the rest will come.
cardg
D800E has more detail….so….less noise when i SLIGHTLY drop the detail and amount slider in lightroom……
moiré excluded obviously…eheh….
http://twitter.com/photobyleighton Jr. Miller
I agree here…the real test of both these new cameras is out in the real world shooting things that matters to the average pro..people, places and things under varied situations. Not particularly thrilled with bottles and bookshelves, cat’s or dogs shot on tripods with exactly the same lighting..
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=687531541 Kris Armstead
both cameras are incredible in low light. wow
http://www.facebook.com/benjamingoff Ben Goff
I’m a second-shift newspaper photographer. I crank the ISO over 6400 at most indoor and night sporting events, which is pretty much every day.
When I go to breaking news, I no longer have to use flash in many cases. Just a street light and maybe cops with flashlights are often ample with ISO 8,000, so imagine what I could do with the performance of the 5D mark III.
I would never have to pop a flash in the face of a grieving widow again.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=684232119 Timuçin Hızal
flashligt vs daylight. this fair?
http://woodylo.fr WoodyLo
Canon is so awesome, clearly the winner… !!!

[Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

Fstoppers Originals

Popular Articles

Recent Comments

Support Fstoppers

[Gear] Nikon D800 and Canon 5D MKIII ISO Samples

Connect with Fstoppers

Fstoppers Originals

Popular Articles

Recent Comments

Support Fstoppers