Sony Nex-7 vs Canon 5dmk2 - Quick Test
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Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
holy music choice batman.
Wow. I finally found a song that could make my brain turn off. I literally could not complete a solid thought when the music was on. :-/
Thanks for the comparison. I own a NEX-5 and will likely move to a NEX-7. I don't shoot video with it, but I love the camera size, and I'm really digging the extra wheels on the NEX7. I was getting sick of changing ISO, and other settings in stupid menu systems.
Wow. I finally found a song that could make my brain turn off. I literally could not complete a solid thought when the music was on. :-/
Thanks for the comparison. I own a NEX-5 and will likely move to a NEX-7. I don't shoot video with it, but I love the camera size, and I'm really digging the extra wheels on the NEX7. I was getting sick of changing ISO, and other settings in stupid menu systems.
Cosimo Bullo
Veteran
How is the viewfinder on the Nex7? I have heard good and bad. Better than the GH2????
Samuel H
Major Contributor
I wouldn't say that's more DR on the nex-7
to me, it looks like sony is using the CineStyle trick: pure black is stored as IRE 16, so everything looks a bit brighter (and if your monitor crushes the darkest shades of gray it looks like there's more detail in the shadows)
or maybe I'm wrong: the 5N doesn't do that - http://www.similaar.com/foto/iso/pbtest.html
looking for clipping on a waveform, the only difference I've found is that in the shot at 1:30 the nex-7 is clipping some highlights that are safe in the 5D2 (though there's a huge difference in exposure in that shot... did you not use ISO or ND to counteract the aperture difference?)
also, about the nex-7: what's the highest ISO with which it can shoot clean-ish video? (say, with as much noise as ISO 1600 on the 5D2)
btw: I did like the music - classic!!
to me, it looks like sony is using the CineStyle trick: pure black is stored as IRE 16, so everything looks a bit brighter (and if your monitor crushes the darkest shades of gray it looks like there's more detail in the shadows)
or maybe I'm wrong: the 5N doesn't do that - http://www.similaar.com/foto/iso/pbtest.html
looking for clipping on a waveform, the only difference I've found is that in the shot at 1:30 the nex-7 is clipping some highlights that are safe in the 5D2 (though there's a huge difference in exposure in that shot... did you not use ISO or ND to counteract the aperture difference?)
also, about the nex-7: what's the highest ISO with which it can shoot clean-ish video? (say, with as much noise as ISO 1600 on the 5D2)
btw: I did like the music - classic!!
The Sony Nex-5n looks slightly better than the 7d in good light. But it grades significantly worse and in low-light it breaks up badly. Shadows become gray, huge blocky noises in the darks. 7d is still able to get the shadows up and with colors, albeit noisy. 5n also has horrible rolling shutter in 25p mode. Worse than the 7d. Oddly it's way better in 50p mode so that's what I have to use.
Did some lens whacking with the 5n. It's a great toy
http://vimeo.com/38147381
Did some lens whacking with the 5n. It's a great toy
http://vimeo.com/38147381
ectobuilder
Veteran
But the lenses are F2.8 vs F4, so the NEX-7 was receiving more stops of light!
The exposure is a little different in the first two bits as I didn't want to mess w/the originals, basically, and also b/c the Nex has less ISO steps than the Canon, the Nex has only doubles from 100,200,400 etc vs the Canon which has steps in between. Ergo in camera they often don't get exactly the same etc. For the third test though I did add a bit of contrast to the Nex-7 shots to bring the contrast, and therefore exposure, to a more even level. Maybe a touch of saturation too I think.
The Nex-7 viewfinder is real good, it's an EVF so you're seeing what you're getting and it has peaking etc - useful compared to a 5d w/say a Zacuto which would put the 5d at 3x the price. It'd be nice to have a magnifying attachment to the Nex though, it can magnify the image, I mean like w/the various loupes out there which keep it 100% but bigger, and as it's all in camera it means you are both more and less stable. The LCD though is excellent, and tiltable, so you can focus off that easily (vs the 5d's low res whilst recording).
Most of the shots were on a tripod and the fov isn't quite right as due to both the size of the cameras, which put the lenses in different positions and, w/the Nex's fov crop, I had to move the tripod forwards/back each time so it's close but not perfectly swappable.
There are some hand held shots in there I just grabbed at the end but included as you can see the effect of the 24-105mm's IS, although I just got the Sony SEL50F18 aka 50mm (75mm equiv) f/1.8 lens, and that has IS in it so I'll try do a test to see how that fairs, same w/the kit lens, see if the IS is useful handheld.
And yeah, you can see the 5d noise a lot easier which was interesting, and it you look at the shot w/the pool (hence the various construction tools!) the 5d is softer at the detail/colour there. Thou in the latter's case I just grabbed these, didn't wait for sunset or anything so the light isn't at it's prettiest. I'll be doing a fashion photo/video shoot soon so will be more conscious of grabbing the best light then.
The Nex-7 isn't perfect or anything but I think I'd prefer to shoot with it all things being equal b/c of the peaking and evf/lcd combo which is great. I've spent a lot of time squinting at the 5d's screen or having to use external monitors etc that you can basically avoid (personal choice aside) w/the Nex-7 which is cool. Plus there's the size/weight factor, although again maybe you prefer the heft of the Canon.
And Ecto, yes the Nex is opened a bit wider, but that's as it's APS-C vs the Canon's full frame. I googled perceived light loss in these sensors and felt it was a basically comparable aperture relative to the sensors. Now you can use faster lenses but that's what I had on me. I plan on over time building some Zeiss ZF lenses as I really like the Zeiss on the Sony and aren't a fan of Canon lenses as they have a poor focus mechanism imo for video, the Canon 50mm f/1.2 is really stiff for example.
Sony lens wise, there aren't really enough Sony native lenses atm, though you can use lots of legacy lenses of course, Leica's, Zeiss's etc, as well as random faster lenses like C/F mount lenses and also modern Canon lenses w/an adapter so there's options on both camps. My Nikon 50mm f/1.4 is still the best manual focusing lens I've used so that's another option, esp w/the D800 just coming out to play!
The Nex-7 viewfinder is real good, it's an EVF so you're seeing what you're getting and it has peaking etc - useful compared to a 5d w/say a Zacuto which would put the 5d at 3x the price. It'd be nice to have a magnifying attachment to the Nex though, it can magnify the image, I mean like w/the various loupes out there which keep it 100% but bigger, and as it's all in camera it means you are both more and less stable. The LCD though is excellent, and tiltable, so you can focus off that easily (vs the 5d's low res whilst recording).
Most of the shots were on a tripod and the fov isn't quite right as due to both the size of the cameras, which put the lenses in different positions and, w/the Nex's fov crop, I had to move the tripod forwards/back each time so it's close but not perfectly swappable.
There are some hand held shots in there I just grabbed at the end but included as you can see the effect of the 24-105mm's IS, although I just got the Sony SEL50F18 aka 50mm (75mm equiv) f/1.8 lens, and that has IS in it so I'll try do a test to see how that fairs, same w/the kit lens, see if the IS is useful handheld.
And yeah, you can see the 5d noise a lot easier which was interesting, and it you look at the shot w/the pool (hence the various construction tools!) the 5d is softer at the detail/colour there. Thou in the latter's case I just grabbed these, didn't wait for sunset or anything so the light isn't at it's prettiest. I'll be doing a fashion photo/video shoot soon so will be more conscious of grabbing the best light then.
The Nex-7 isn't perfect or anything but I think I'd prefer to shoot with it all things being equal b/c of the peaking and evf/lcd combo which is great. I've spent a lot of time squinting at the 5d's screen or having to use external monitors etc that you can basically avoid (personal choice aside) w/the Nex-7 which is cool. Plus there's the size/weight factor, although again maybe you prefer the heft of the Canon.
And Ecto, yes the Nex is opened a bit wider, but that's as it's APS-C vs the Canon's full frame. I googled perceived light loss in these sensors and felt it was a basically comparable aperture relative to the sensors. Now you can use faster lenses but that's what I had on me. I plan on over time building some Zeiss ZF lenses as I really like the Zeiss on the Sony and aren't a fan of Canon lenses as they have a poor focus mechanism imo for video, the Canon 50mm f/1.2 is really stiff for example.
Sony lens wise, there aren't really enough Sony native lenses atm, though you can use lots of legacy lenses of course, Leica's, Zeiss's etc, as well as random faster lenses like C/F mount lenses and also modern Canon lenses w/an adapter so there's options on both camps. My Nikon 50mm f/1.4 is still the best manual focusing lens I've used so that's another option, esp w/the D800 just coming out to play!
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Samuel H
Major Contributor
emmm... no, you're overthinking this: you should have used a higher ISO on the nex to counteract the slower aperture - there are fewer photons hitting that sensor, because it's smaller, but that doesn't mean ISO 100 on the 5D2 will be brighter than ISO 100 on the nex (what it means is that, if sensor technology is the same, there will be more noise at the same ISO value - e.g. the 5D2 is clean up to ISO 1600, while the 7D-etc are only clean up to ISO 800) - I think some of that highlight clipping that we're seeing on the nex (and maybe also the not-black deep shadows?) is due to the fact that the whole image is overexposed
emmm... ok. I did f/2.8 vs f/4 as it was at that aperture that the two images had similar DoF aka were similar, if I had've gone with, say, f/4 on both then this would've changed and I would've got a different image whereas I wanted to see how they compared side by side.
I understand your point though that at the same aperture I might have needed to boost the ISO on the Sony to get an equal exposure, it just wasn't what I was going for when I was dicking about.
Exposure wise, I can't remember specifically (it's been a few weeks since I did this, stupid internet took that long to get it up) but I can't remember blowing any images, at least on the histogram. Perhaps it's not 100% accurate but it looked it on the lcd screen at the time?
I understand your point though that at the same aperture I might have needed to boost the ISO on the Sony to get an equal exposure, it just wasn't what I was going for when I was dicking about.
Exposure wise, I can't remember specifically (it's been a few weeks since I did this, stupid internet took that long to get it up) but I can't remember blowing any images, at least on the histogram. Perhaps it's not 100% accurate but it looked it on the lcd screen at the time?
Samuel H
Major Contributor
yes, I understand: I would also have shot f/2.8 vs f/4, but raising the ISO one stop on the 5D2
(it's still an interesting test, though)
as for blowing, check the white box on the left at 1:30: it seems to be clipping on the nex, but not on the 5D2 (you have the original edit: just bring up the waveform and see if it's there, or if it's something that appeared when encoding the video)
(it's still an interesting test, though)
as for blowing, check the white box on the left at 1:30: it seems to be clipping on the nex, but not on the 5D2 (you have the original edit: just bring up the waveform and see if it's there, or if it's something that appeared when encoding the video)
JoeJITSU
Veteran
Ummmm, you know you have both cameras wrong, right?The Sony Nex-5n looks slightly better than the 7d in good light. But it grades significantly worse and in low-light it breaks up badly. Shadows become gray, huge blocky noises in the darks. 7d is still able to get the shadows up and with colors, albeit noisy. 5n also has horrible rolling shutter in 25p mode. Worse than the 7d. Oddly it's way better in 50p mode so that's what I have to use.
Did some lens whacking with the 5n. It's a great toy
http://vimeo.com/38147381
They are not comparing any of the camera you are mentioning
I own both, the 5D MKII and the NEX7. The Sony is in the Moment the best "all in one" camera for me, because of its very good photoquality. The LCD is movable, the viewer is decent, for film it has a real slomo.
I was to lazy to compare them side by side (because I would have to integrate my GH2 as well) btw the GH2 is for filming definetly comparable in standard light situations, the Sony is much better and the 5D is putting even a lttle bit upon, regarding the noise. But up to 1600 ISO the Sony is very decent, like the GH2 with 600 0r 800 ISO.
Short: The Sony is in Size, weight, handling and Quality the best you can get for that money in the moment.
Benn
I was to lazy to compare them side by side (because I would have to integrate my GH2 as well) btw the GH2 is for filming definetly comparable in standard light situations, the Sony is much better and the 5D is putting even a lttle bit upon, regarding the noise. But up to 1600 ISO the Sony is very decent, like the GH2 with 600 0r 800 ISO.
Short: The Sony is in Size, weight, handling and Quality the best you can get for that money in the moment.
Benn
Nex5n + 5dmk2 is the only cameras i currently own, will get rid of the 5n and wait for the new Rebels.
There is nothing particular about the 5N image that excites me and I think the hype of the camera in terms of video quality is exaggerated. The IQ of RAW images is killer though and as a travel camera it would rate high for me. But in terms of video, the low bitrate of the AVCHD is very limiting and I find it hard to make the camera "peak" in bitrate. In general, I think the image is bit too soft & muddy, it reminds me of the unhacked GH1.
There is nothing particular about the 5N image that excites me and I think the hype of the camera in terms of video quality is exaggerated. The IQ of RAW images is killer though and as a travel camera it would rate high for me. But in terms of video, the low bitrate of the AVCHD is very limiting and I find it hard to make the camera "peak" in bitrate. In general, I think the image is bit too soft & muddy, it reminds me of the unhacked GH1.
