New toy ordered from Digital Rev, funnily enough it has a 3 in it's name
Wonder what that is? lol
The "New Gear/Willy Waving" thread
- Thread starter Fusion
- Start date
Wonder what that is? lol
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Mar 2006
- Posts
- 3,975
How many people have ordered 5D3's as their first camera just out of interest? Wondering why people aren't drooling over the D800 instead?
Because the D800, while excellent, is a new system to many who are familiar with Canon's system. I use both and am at home with whatever so it's purely down to what you prefer.
There are differences here and there between the two though but nothing that the average person will ever be concerned with. The sharpness and detail at higher ISO is greater on the 5D3 with less noise but some of the mechanics of the D800 are better like navigating images in the playback screen, the arrow controls respond quicker and scrolling is smoother when moving around a zoomed in image.
The 5D3's viewfinder is bigger so manual focusing and checking focus and comp is nicer. The AF point selector is also bigger so point selection is neater. The 5D has one touch AF modes, I particularly like one shot AI Servo, just hold the one touch custom button so get into AI servo, let go to go back to one shot. This is really handy for those situations where you don't want to take your eye away from the viewfinder because you are waiting for your subject to have a decisive moment or something artsy like that.
Other controls though are quicker on the Canon, adjusting ISO is done with one hand on the 5D3 while you have to hold the ISO button on the D800 then roll the dial with the other hand to adjust it, needs 2 hands.
The 5D3 has no low light AF illumination bulb like the Nikon bodies have had for years but the 5D3 built quality and feel in the hand is greater than the D800 and htis is largely due to the lack of popup flash on the 5D3, because of that the whole construction in that area is mag alloy, it isn't on the D800 and the body scuffs easier as well.
The 5D3 RAW images are 30 odd MB depending on the ISO used whereas the D800 ones are 75 odd MB so new consideration needs to be made for memcards and storage as well
Sample from both I shot last night:
5D3: http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/photos/stuff-cam/D800-vs-5D3/5D3_9731.jpg
D800: http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/photos/stuff-cam/D800-vs-5D3/TYM_9728.jpg
Same settings on both, iso100, f10, 1/160, Calumet studio lighting on triggers.
Both using 50mm lenses at f10. The Nikkor 50mm 1.8 renders less CA than the Sigma but there's not much in it, CA is removed in PP anyway so this isn't a issue IMO.
WB on auto as I wanted to test how accurate this was on both. The Canon WB is more accurate and the LCD on the back of the D800 is not as pleasing or as accurate as the 5D3 one is either.
Other things I like about the D800 are the 2 customisable function buttons on the front right grip as opposed to one on the 5D3. The silent aperture feature for video is excellent on the D800, means for smooth operation of aperture during filming, on the 5D series you can see steps as the aperture is adjusted but in other areas the 5D3 trumps the D800 for video. Again, swings and roundabouts.
There are differences here and there between the two though but nothing that the average person will ever be concerned with. The sharpness and detail at higher ISO is greater on the 5D3 with less noise but some of the mechanics of the D800 are better like navigating images in the playback screen, the arrow controls respond quicker and scrolling is smoother when moving around a zoomed in image.
The 5D3's viewfinder is bigger so manual focusing and checking focus and comp is nicer. The AF point selector is also bigger so point selection is neater. The 5D has one touch AF modes, I particularly like one shot AI Servo, just hold the one touch custom button so get into AI servo, let go to go back to one shot. This is really handy for those situations where you don't want to take your eye away from the viewfinder because you are waiting for your subject to have a decisive moment or something artsy like that.
Other controls though are quicker on the Canon, adjusting ISO is done with one hand on the 5D3 while you have to hold the ISO button on the D800 then roll the dial with the other hand to adjust it, needs 2 hands.
The 5D3 has no low light AF illumination bulb like the Nikon bodies have had for years but the 5D3 built quality and feel in the hand is greater than the D800 and htis is largely due to the lack of popup flash on the 5D3, because of that the whole construction in that area is mag alloy, it isn't on the D800 and the body scuffs easier as well.
The 5D3 RAW images are 30 odd MB depending on the ISO used whereas the D800 ones are 75 odd MB so new consideration needs to be made for memcards and storage as well
Sample from both I shot last night:
5D3: http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/photos/stuff-cam/D800-vs-5D3/5D3_9731.jpg
D800: http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/photos/stuff-cam/D800-vs-5D3/TYM_9728.jpg
Same settings on both, iso100, f10, 1/160, Calumet studio lighting on triggers.
Both using 50mm lenses at f10. The Nikkor 50mm 1.8 renders less CA than the Sigma but there's not much in it, CA is removed in PP anyway so this isn't a issue IMO.
WB on auto as I wanted to test how accurate this was on both. The Canon WB is more accurate and the LCD on the back of the D800 is not as pleasing or as accurate as the 5D3 one is either.
Other things I like about the D800 are the 2 customisable function buttons on the front right grip as opposed to one on the 5D3. The silent aperture feature for video is excellent on the D800, means for smooth operation of aperture during filming, on the 5D series you can see steps as the aperture is adjusted but in other areas the 5D3 trumps the D800 for video. Again, swings and roundabouts.
Last edited:
If you used calumet studio lighting on triggers, I'm guessing thats flash then, not continuos lighting? If its flash, then the auto white balance won't work properly anyway and it'll be pot luck to have it right on either body.
Oh the results are consistent. I'm doing a long term comparison and have seen the same results each time. Even without flash the D800 AWB isn't as accurate as the 5D3 is. The only place where both fall over a bit is when there's a mixture of lighting like Tungsten and Daylight or another soft yellow light source in the same scene.
The only way you would have a consistent result if you was using a studio flash is if the bulb was the same temperature as the ambient light source and if the modelling light was turned off. Anything else would be a mixed light source anyway and the auto white balance would have metered from the modelling lamp, not the flash.
There is no modelling lamp, just strobe itself, the constant lights are corner LED lights which are always the same daylight white colour.
Like I said, the results have been consistent so far, I don't know how to better clarify that.
Like I said, the results have been consistent so far, I don't know how to better clarify that.
Ah that makes far more sense then. Custom white balance HAS to be set in a studio environment unless the ambient light/other constant light sources are daylight temp.
Can't see an issue with either picture though.
Aye if your monitor is calibrated then you should be able to see that the white on the D800 sample has a tint of grey to it, it's flatter whereas the 5D3 sample is purer white. The shadow areas are flatter on the D800 too, more neutral but the 5D3 one has slightly more contrast even though all details are still there.
Yhe AF point was the centre of the lens element, take a look there and the 5D3 renders a sharper image around the element halos. take this with a bit of a margin though because the same 50mm lens wasn't used on both even though both were set at f/10 so there shouldn't be too much difference anyway in sharpness.
The histogram kind of confirms this, the Canon is on the right:
There's no issue with either picture though yeah, it's just how each system sees a scene and the signature look to Nikon bodies is visible even in a studio environment whereas it's more obvious out in the open where skin tones and foliage are captured and the displayed images are untouched in PP.
Yhe AF point was the centre of the lens element, take a look there and the 5D3 renders a sharper image around the element halos. take this with a bit of a margin though because the same 50mm lens wasn't used on both even though both were set at f/10 so there shouldn't be too much difference anyway in sharpness.
The histogram kind of confirms this, the Canon is on the right:
There's no issue with either picture though yeah, it's just how each system sees a scene and the signature look to Nikon bodies is visible even in a studio environment whereas it's more obvious out in the open where skin tones and foliage are captured and the displayed images are untouched in PP.
Oh yeah I'm definitely not doubting that each system renders the same image differently, thats why we choose between the systems. Were both of the images RAW or JPEG from the camera? The D800 sensor needs some amazing glass to get the best out of it, which is a known "issue" with the camera itself. The second being that any flawed technique is magnified greatly by the pixel count.
Both great cameras though, nothing wrong with either.
Both great cameras though, nothing wrong with either.
Yeah both were shot RAW, imported into Lightroom and exported straight to JPEG 100% quality.
I've done samples at 24mm using the Nikkor 14-24mm lens and the Canon 17-40 L and found similar results although the 17-40L isn't as pleasing out of the box at the same aperture (f4) due to the lens being prone to CA wide open and the extra wide angle distortion.
I've done samples at 24mm using the Nikkor 14-24mm lens and the Canon 17-40 L and found similar results although the 17-40L isn't as pleasing out of the box at the same aperture (f4) due to the lens being prone to CA wide open and the extra wide angle distortion.
Sadly comparing the different systems is kinda like comparing and apple and an orange half the time as everything is completely different. The funny thing is, if you just used one camera, say the 5D mk iii and never tested a D800 along side it, you'd never tell any sort of difference anyway
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,548
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I think he means the itch
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,548
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I think he means the itch
Ahhh!
Soldato
- Joined
- 8 Aug 2010
- Posts
- 6,453
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Are you comparing 100% crops or something rather than D800 files at the same output size as the 5d?
Why are you not using lossless compression?The 5D3 RAW images are 30 odd MB depending on the ISO used whereas the D800 ones are 75 odd MB so new consideration needs to be made for memcards and storage as well
D800 file size should be about 45mb.