The single feature that attracted me to the Nikon D700 was its proported low-light capabilities.
I had read several positive reports about its big brother, the D3, and believed that the large light gathering sensor of the D700 would be a big help to me as I practiced my long-lens, wildlife photography. I’ve been using the new D700 for less than two weeks, but I’ve already started exploring its high ISO settings.
As a way of comparison, I’ve taken several photos with both the D700 and the Canon 5D which has been my picture-shooting companion for some time now. Below are unretouched images taken at ISO 1600. I chose ISO 1600 since this is the top end for the 5D. I used the well-respected 50mm f1.4 lens on each camera. You can see that both the sharpness and noise level of the D700 is clearly better than the 5D.
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| click to see larger comparison | |
| View full size Nikon image | View full size Canon image |
In a second test below, I took two comparison available light shots of my granddaughter. Again you can see that the image from the D700 has better sharpness and less noise than the one from the 5D.
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| click to see larger comparison | |
| View full size Nikon image | View full size Canon image |
Next I shot a few available light shots of some of the doll dresses that my wife is making for the litte ones. These shots are meant to illustrate the ability of the D700 to capture detail. Both were captured with an ISO setting of 6400 and recorded in jpg format. I used Lightroom to adjust only the white balance. The detail in the dresses is quite good. The sharpness of gold lacing is very crisp. The colors are quite pleasing but the images have noticeable noise especially in the doll’s face. However, considering the lighting conditions, I find these images are more than acceptable.
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| click image to enlarge 1/80 @ f5.6 50mm f1.4 lens |
click image to enlarge 1/100 @ f6.3 50mm f1.4 lens |
While I’ve never been a big proponent of postprocessing of RAW files, my feeling is that photographers who want to tweak the images will be able to squeeze more sharpness, truer colors and less noise from the D700 than I have shown here. But for the type of picturetaking and processing that I’m planning to do, I’m quite pleased (actually I’m amazed) with the results of the D700 at high ISO settings.
I hope to have more to report soon.
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September 8th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Hello Arnie.
Thank you for doing such a detailed comparison between the D700 and 5D! I am currently shooting with a Fujifilm S100FS and strongly considering a DSLR (and system). One week I’m all over the Nikon D700, then another week, the Canon 5D Mark II intrigues me. If you check my website, I shoot mainly products, naute, and events. I’ve always been partial to Nikon, but after reading some reviews that imply that Canon has better “Per pixel sharpness” than Nikon, that was what got me even lookiong at Canon stuff. (I used to shoot large format 4×5, 8×10 sheet film with Rodenstock and Schneider optics, so I know what sharpness and detail looks like.) I REALLY am enamored with the D700, but lately have considered the D300s and the Canon 7D. Anyway, your tests seem to dispel that “per pixel sharpness advantage of Canon” that I read on several sites.
Thank you sir, and BTW, I’m a Jersey guy too, having been born in Newark and lived all over North Jersey for the first 20 years of my life.
Best Regards,
Steve
February 5th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Thanks for this writeup Arnie - I’ve been considering the 5D Mk II for a while and especially its low light capabilities, and never really considered switching allegiances to Nikon…however, looking at these test shots, I’m absolutely staggered at the performance of the D700 at ISO 6400…the quality is better than my 400D at ISO 800! Phenomenal…