5D Mark III vs D800 Dynamic Range? Is the D800 Superior in this area?

S

skital

Well-known member
I read about the D800 sensor being the highest Dynamic Range of all the sensors a certain review site has test (can't remember their name). I was wondering, does anyone know yet if the D800 will have noticeably superior dynamic range in video mode to the 5D MKIII? In a video I saw where a guy tested the D800 and the C300 the D800 looked to have very good Dynamic Range. Not C300 good, but really good. It seemed higher than the MKIII from most of the videos I've seen, but then again I don't think I've seen MKIII with Cinestyle yet.
 
You're thinking about the DXO mark tests where the D800 got the highest ever overall score. Rivalling medium-formats in colour sensitivity and big-brother D4 in low-light, and everyone else in dynamic range.

In regards to the comparison with the 5D MkIII, we'll need to see a direct comparison done under similar testing methodologies. DXO mark will definitely test the 5D Mark III, they test pretty much every single camera that hits the market. So it should be up soon.

Either way, I'm not sure how Nikon feels about this test as this $3k camera, which is rumored to be using a Sony sensor, shouldn't outdo the $6k D4 which has a sensor designed in-house.


http://image-sensors-world.blogspot.com/2012/03/dxomark-prizes-nikon-d800-sensor.html
DxOMark, possibly the biggest sensor database in the world, proclaimed Nikon D800 sensor being the best one that DxOMark ever analysed. The 4.7um-pixel, 36.8MP full-frame sensor has shown 14.4 stops DR, color reproduction comparable with medium-format sensors and won score of 95 - the highest ever score in the database.
Click to expand...


http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Ne...is-the-new-king-of-DxOMark-with-a-score-of-95

The Nikon D4 spent only a few days in the top spot for DxOMark sensor results before being dethroned by the Nikon D800 which is a complete success in every sensor-related respect:
  • Overall score: 1st (95)
    With its 4-point lead, the Nikon D800 has become the new sensor of reference — and with an unmatched quality-to-price ratio to boot: among the 8 top cameras, it is by far the least expensive (with an announced price of less than 3000 $).
  • Studio: tied for 3rd (25.3 bits)
    These results are living up to our expectations. Certain people openly wondered if the D800’s results would be comparable to those for medium-format cameras, and this certainly doesn’t contradict this idea.
  • Landscape: 1st (14.4 EV)
    Here also we expected the D800 to do well, and once again we were not disappointed. (This really wasn’t a surprise, given the results for the Nikon D7000.)
  • Sport (Low-Light ISO): 3rd (2853)
    Despite its smaller pixels, the D800 comes up with the same score as the D4, whereas the D3x lost several precious points with respect to the D3s.
Click to expand...

Full test:
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/Nikon-D800-Review/Sensor-performance
 
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Canon tend to top out at around 12 stops DR... unless they have radically changed their tech, I would expect much the same from the 5DIII.

How both cameras translate that sensor info to video is another story though. The D7000, at 14 stops, does not have any better (probably worse) DR than the 12 or so stops of the 5DII.
 
Nikon also has picture profile that you can edit and I see an example here http://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/39...kon-d7000-and-then-edit-flat-in-final-cut-pro . Now with the combination of the base jpeg having very good DR and a flat picture profile it could be better than any video dslr. The last thing is the uncompressed hdmi out which with high bitrate I frame CBR codec preserve detail in the shadows and highlight. While the highly compress internal codec will remove all the detail in the shadow, the hdmi output to lets says prores at 150+ megabit will preserve them. Thus ensuring better Dr, where you will be able to recover much more detail in the shadows than the low bitrate one.
 
the D7000 has over 13 stops of DR in RAW stills mode, but scored only 10.3 stops in video mode in the zacuto shootout - I'm just starting to hear about these custom picture styles for nikon DSLRs, my understanding was that it was not possible to create a picture style on the PC and install it into a Nikon DSLR; has this changed with the last crop of cameras?
 
Keep in mind that you only see a large dynamic range at low ISO speeds. Raise the ISO high enough and much of your dynamic range is gone.
 
well, that's not the case with my T2i: it has 11.5 stops of DR in stills mode, and approximately that (definitely >11) in video mode

unfortunately...

I've been working on Flaat v2 for the 5D2, here's what I've found:

* the good news: picture styles for the old cameras work just as well on the 5D3; that includes CineStyle, and of course Flaat; cutting 5D3 and 5D2 footage shot with the same picture style should be relatively easy, at least in terms of light and color

* the bad news: this means that, compared with my old APS-C canon, with the same picture style, dynamic range is basically the same; if the 5D3 has any extra DR to offer in video mode, it will require new picture styles

* the even worse news: it's not easy to get more dynamic range with picture styles; the information is there, I can see it playing with the RAW stills in DPP, but no matter how hard I fight with the picture style editor, so far 11.5 stops seems to be the limit; unless Canon gives us a new way to control how the RAW information from the sensor is converted to video footage, the 5D3 has exactly the same DR as the 60D or the old rebel

* the still unknown: even if DR is not any wider, useable DR may be better, given the 5D3's lower noise levels and hopefully improved codec; so if you have a 5D3, try Flaat_12p and let us know how it looks!

more here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?278481-Flaat-picture-styles-for-the-5D3
 
Yes you can. I´ve done it. Workflow is very similar to how the canon profiles work.

But I´ve seen no gain in DR, in the same way I never saw any DR improvements in the canons (except for the technicolor profile, different story). All you do is mess around with the curve but the in/out points can´t be changed, so yeah you´ll be raising shadows or whatever you want to do with the gamma, but no difference in DR.

I'd love to be corrected on this though and see some nice curves increasing DR in video mode.
 
What I meant is that any of these dslr DR decrease as you increase the ISO. It is not just the Nikon that do that. In fact in still (Don't know if it applies to video in the same way) Nikon camera with the Sony sensor have dominated the Canons since the D300/D3 days. Sony mainly has been constantly improving the DR with each generation of sensor with the latest D800 at 14.4 stops on DXOmark. The Canons have been stuck from 11.5 to 12.
 
@Daniel ah, ok, then yes (I thought you were talking about the mandatory clipping in video mode wrt RAW stills; that was not the case with the old canons, it is on the nikons and on the 5d3)
 
@Macgregor: please try out my Flaat picture styles, Flaat_11 and Flaat_12 deliver much more DR than CineStyle (+1 stop, and +1.5 stops), check out the wedge charts here: http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-picture-styles/technical-tests-1.html the open question (because it's somewhat subjective) is whether that extra DR is actually useable: the previously-clipped shadows show more noise, some people find them useful, some people say they have to be crushed back in post
 
Samuel H said:
@Macgregor: please try out my Flaat picture styles, Flaat_11 and Flaat_12 deliver much more DR than CineStyle (+1 stop, and +1.5 stops), check out the wedge charts here: http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-picture-styles/technical-tests-1.html the open question (because it's somewhat subjective) is whether that extra DR is actually useable: the previously-clipped shadows show more noise, some people find them useful, some people say they have to be crushed back in post
Click to expand...

I remember that site. I tried some of the "best ones" and they were ATROCIOUS! I can't remember if it was Flaat 4 or the same ones, but the site looks the same.
 
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