D600 is out

I actually think exposure is the same on both, and it is the in-camera image processing that differs between these shots (but the picture style is the same, so that is the part of the in-camera image processing that I can't modify).
 
Samuel H said:
The D600 seems to be a super D7000, not a mini D800. Apart from the aperture thing, it has the contrasty look of the D7000, not the wide dynamic range look of the D800.
Click to expand...
Sensorgen's measurements of sensor dynamic range paint a more detailed picture:

http://www.sensorgen.info/NikonD7000.html
http://www.sensorgen.info/NikonD600.html
http://www.sensorgen.info/NikonD800.html

From the DR column in these charts, the D7000 and the D800 share similar dynamic range patterns across the entire ISO scale. What's notable is how they both produce a max DR of 14-stops at ISO 100, with DR dropping by about 1-stop with each doubling of ISO. This makes sense considering the pixel-pitch (photocell density) of the D7000 and D800 are nearly the same. However, the D7000's DR starts to droop at ISO 1600, and winds up nearly 1-stop below the D800 at ISO 12800.

The D600 has a lower DR peak at ISO 100, but keeps pace with the D800 through ISO 800. It then starts to pull ahead of both D7000 and D800, and beats the D7000 at ISO 12800 by 1 1/3-stop.

In short, while the D600 can't quite match the D7000's max DR at ISO 100, its DR is 1-stop better than the D7000 at ISO 3200 and higher.
 
^ Those charts are for stills. I think it is the in-camera processing (in video mode) that is creating this high-contrast image. As those numbers (and the ones from dxomark) show, the sensor is capable of capturing amazing latitude; but in video mode Nikon is throwing a lot of that DR out of the window before applying the picture control and encoding the image (or sending it out via HDMI).

It was the same with the GH2: the sensor has nearly the same DR as the 5D2, but there's no way to shoot video without clipping a sizeable portion of the sensor's latitude.
 
DxOMark has measured 11.3 stops of DR on the GH2, but you don't get nearly as much in video mode, no matter how you tweak your settings. Same with the D7000, D800, 5N, etc: the DR in RAW stills is vastly bigger than in video mode, because the cameras lack a sufficiently flat image profile. Yes it could be troublesome to record 14 stops of light on 8 bit 4:2:0 H.264, but it would be nice to at least have the option to do so when the shot calls for something like that.
 
you haven't seen me being mean :violent5:
(I get people to spray me with flame throwers and burn my face down, that's how mean I am)
 
As with the D800/5DIII tests I've seen, the Canon has considerably less noise in low light, but the Nikon is much brighter at the equivalent f-stop, which offsets some of the difference when corrected for. The Nikon appears to 'see' about .8 of a stop or so more light at equivalent settings.

James0b57 said:
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top