Monday, March 18, 2013

Nikon D7100 Real World Dynamic Range - Preview

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but I wasn't able to finish part 2 of the D7100 review this weekend.  However, I was able to take 'real world' shots.  This was one of them:

D7100-0902-201303171757.jpg


Hit the jump for the details of this shot.


This was taken at a small restaurant close to sunset.  The window was facing west.  It was a very contrasty scene, which I had to underexpose at capture to avoid blowing out the relevant highlights.  This was how the shot looked SOOC.



At the same time the interior has slightly low light levels (illuminated by the reflection of the window light against the wall, plus some dim overhead lights), making the shadows even deeper.  (My kids kept commenting, "This restaurant is dark!" Lol)  It was therefore a decent test of the D7100's shadow recovery in real-world conditions.

In post, I brought up the exposure and recovered the highlights.  Yes there was some noise but I applied some noise reduction in LR4.  On my monitor I didn't see any banding on this shot (even after shadow recovery).  Here is the final shot again:

D7100-0902-201303171757.jpg

Pls. stay tuned for Part 2 of the D7100 review!


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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 19, 2013 at 5:31 AM

    How are you editing your files in Lightroom? I've heard that there isn't a profile available yet for the D7100.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 360 RumorsMarch 19, 2013 at 8:54 AM

      Hi! Here is the temporary workaround: http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/03/importing-d7100-raw-files-into-lightroom.html

      Best regards,
      Mic

      Delete
  2. SebastianoMarch 20, 2013 at 8:34 AM

    Hi Mic,

    I'm really very ansious to know id D7100 is comparable to D700/D3, both for high ISO noise and for details.
    I had the opportunity to compare the shoots to my wedding done both with D300 and with D700/D3. I could see D300 @ ISO 1600 was very similar to D700/D3 @ ISO 5000 (about 1,5 stop "gain", like the sensor area gain between Dx and Fx).

    If the D7100 would be like slighly better than D700 @ ISO 400 I could accept this result.

    I'd like to buy a D600, but some of its limitations and the dut/oil issue is stopping me to do that.

    Thanks, Sebastiano, from Italy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SebastianoMarch 20, 2013 at 8:56 AM

      sorry, I meant "slighly better than D700 @ ISO 4000" instead of "ISO 400" ;) ... mistyping

      Delete
    2. 360 RumorsMarch 20, 2013 at 11:42 AM

      Hi Sebastiano! You may want to check out this new blogpost with test shots comparing the D600 and D7100 http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2013/03/nikon-d7100-vs-nikon-d600-low-light_20.html

      I don't have a D3 anymore, but the D600 is better than the D3 by about 1 stop when viewed at the same size. See here: http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2012/09/nikon-d600-high-iso-noise-comparisons.html

      As for the D600 dust spots, you may be interested in the posts I did about the spots: see here http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/p/nikon-d600-review-and-resource-page.html

      I think the D600 and D7100 are both winners. You can't go wrong either way!

      Best regards,
      Mic

      Delete
    3. SebastianoMarch 21, 2013 at 5:15 AM

      OH MY GOD!! Mic, really thank you for you tests!
      At the moment I have only compared the 100% original (6Kx4K) of these two:

      (D600)
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/93500598@N02/8575159422/sizes/o/in/set-72157633041017449/

      (D7100)
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/93500598@N02/8573979895/sizes/o/in/set-72157633040859397/

      and, even if D7100 output seems to me more noisy, it is unbeleaveble how good it is @6400 ISO!

      I have to read carefully your excellent comparisons but, like in the photo taken indoor where you showed how good D7100 is when a strong light is coming from the front, what it seems to me is D7100 sensor provides you less details.

      For example, the details of the table surface here:
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/13451101@N05/8569332364/ (from you post D7100 Real World Dynamic Range - Preview)

      seem a bit dull. "Dull" is not the proper word, it't more like you zoom so much a jpeg photo and doing so it misses details on the element edges in the photo.
      The noise pattern of D7100, also, remember me an organic tissue seen at microscope :D

      Again, thank you so much for sharing your tests.
      Bye from Italy, Sebastiano

      Delete
    4. 360 RumorsMarch 21, 2013 at 5:54 AM

      You're welcome Sebastiano!

      Best regards,
      Mic

      Delete

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