Monday, March 25, 2013

DPReview posts Nikon D7100 Studio Tests

DPReview posted their studio scene tests for the Nikon D7100.  See here: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikon-d7100/7

I compared the D7100, D5200, D7000, Olympus OM-D E-M5, and Pentax K-5 IIs.  Here are my observations:
- The D7100 is slightly but noticeably more detailed than the D5200.
- The D7100 looks about the same as the D7000, but the D7100 image is larger, so more details are preserved at high ISOs.
- The Olympus OM-D has much more chroma noise but has similar amount of detail as the D7100.
- Notwithstanding DXO's scores for these cameras, the Pentax K-5 IIs looks significantly better than any of them - more detailed, with less noise.  To me, at high ISOs, the K-5 IIs looks about 1 stop better than the D7100, D7000 or D5200.  This was very surprising to me because the K-5 IIs is based on the same sensor as the D7000 (except that the K-5 IIs has no low-pass filter).  Well done, Pentax! [but see comment below re Pentax noise reduction in raw)

UPDATE: I downloaded the studio scene samples and compared them at the same viewing sizes: Nikon D7100 High ISO comparison with D7000, D600 and D700


RELATED POSTS
Nikon D7100 Hands-On Real World User Review
Importing D7100 Raw Files Into Lightroom
Nikon D7100 Low Light Teaser
Nikon D7100 FAQ and Helpful Links

Nikon D7100 Shadow Recovery
Nikon D7100 Real World Dynamic Range
Nikon D5200 and D7100 Band-Aid: Solutions for Banding
Sample of D7100 banding in a real world shot

4 comments:

  1. As far as I remember, in previous Pentax models noise reduction was automatically applied even for RAW files at higher ISOs, I believe this could be the reason why the files look smoother than the ones from Nikon. Worth checking, though, whether that still applies to the latest KIIs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PS. Here's relevant link talking about Pentax noise reduction for RAW files:
    http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/DxOMark-review-for-Pentax-cameras

    Funny, as far as I know, this cannot be switched off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there! Thanks! That's very helpful to know! I didn't know about that regarding Pentax raw files. That really helps explain the results.

      Best regards,
      Mic

      Delete
  3. hello once again,
    I have found information on LensTip.com that RAW noise reduction is also applied in latest Pentax DSLR models. That explains everything. On the other hand, K5 is a pretty good camera anyway :)

    ReplyDelete

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