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Ken Rockwell resolution test (M9 vs D300s vs 5DII)

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I'm still trying to figure out how he figures the Nikon is a 27MP equivalent camera... D300s is still 12.3 MP. To be honest the test isn't of much value. The M9 doesn't compete at all with the D300s. The D3x or even a D700 would have been a better test subject as would have a 1DsMkIII over the 5DMkII...
 

etrigan63

Active member
Ken is a nice guy, but shares a trait with Steve Jobs: he's surrounded by an RDF (Reality Distortion Field). He is also crippled with a lack of proper testing procedure. His claims of "real world" testing are just that: claims. The term itself is oxymoronic. Testing is done in a laboratory (or the field) with controlled conditions. You test one variable at a time comparing the results (plural) to a control. The tests must be repeated in order to be valid. What he is doing is a usage report. How was the weather, Ken? Did you have all three cameras on tripods and fired them simultaneously? What was the average leaf size and vein count so we can compare actual resolution dependent details instead of looking at Impressionist photography? The number of unaccounted for variables just makes it worse and worse.
 

tjv

Active member
I must say, that test is crazy. Stupid methodology. Most everything about it is flawed. Get a current 50mm Summicron for the Leica (a brilliant 50mm lens) and two non-oem f2 lenses like the Zeiss 50mm f2 Makro-Planar in EOS and F mount (as it is considered "better" than each oem's respective standard offerings,) get a REAL D3X, and actually focus the 5DII properly... Also shoot a firmly stationary, flat subject like a highly textured wall. Then we can start to draw some conclusions.
 

carstenw

Active member
I don't even know what he is trying to do. If he wants to test the effective resolution of the sensor, he should be shooting the respective best lenses he can find, and stop them down a bit, on tripods, mirror up (well, for the M9, he can leave it down ;)), focus bracketing, etc. If he wants to compare lenses, he needs to get similar lenses and stop using ancient copies. In either case, he needs to use cameras which are more equivalent. The D300s can just not be compared with the others here, in these terms.

His articles are shallow, unfair, and ultimately useless. I don't know how he stays in business.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
I don't even know what he is trying to do. If he wants to test the effective resolution of the sensor, he should be shooting the respective best lenses he can find, and stop them down a bit, on tripods, mirror up (well, for the M9, he can leave it down ;)), focus bracketing, etc. If he wants to compare lenses, he needs to get similar lenses and stop using ancient copies. In either case, he needs to use cameras which are more equivalent. The D300s can just not be compared with the others here, in these terms.

His articles are shallow, unfair, and ultimately useless. I don't know how he stays in business.

Since it is clear what ought to be done to make an "effective test" (not just you Carsten but many many camera owners know this by now), there is nothing much to it. [He says that he used the best lens that he has. that is a problem with Leica M mount being backward compatible - a real problem for Leica.]

I am not sure about the "shallow, unfair and ultimately useless" part (though it may be quite accurate).

To me, it just goes to show what kind of business is this review business.

I am looking forward to SR's comments on KR's review. :ROTFL:
 

thomas

New member
do you know this one? :)

http://blog.bahneman.com/content/ken-rockwell-facts?story=Ken_Rockwell_Facts

# Ken Rockwell is the Chuck Norris of photography

# Ken Rockwell's camera has similar settings to ours, except his are:
P[erfect]
Av[Awesome]
Tv[Totally Awesome Priority]
M[ajestic]

# Ken Rockwell doesn't color correct. He adjusts your world to match his.

# Sure, Ken Rockwell deletes a bad photo or two. Other people call these Pulitzers.

# Ken Rockwell doesn't adjust his DOF, he changes space-time.

# Circle of confusion? You might be confused. Ken Rockwell never is.

# Ken Rockwell doesn't wait for the light when he shoots a landscape - the light waits for him.

# Ken Rockwell never flips his camera in portrait position, he flips the earth

# Ken Rockwell ordered an L-lens from Nikon, and got one.

# Ken Rockwell is the only person to have photographed Jesus; unfortunately he ran out of film and had to use a piece of cloth instead.

# When Ken Rockwell brackets a shot, the three versions of the photo win first place in three different categories

# Before Nikon or Canon releases a camera they go to Ken and they ask him to test them, the best cameras get a Nikon sticker and the less good get a Canon sticker

# Once Ken tested a camera, he said I cant even put Canon on this one,thats how Pentax was born

# Rockwellian policy isn't doublethink - Ken doesn't even need to think once

# Ken Rockwell doesn't use flash ever since the Nagasaki incident.

# Only Ken Rockwell can take pictures of Ken Rockwell; everyone else would just get their film overexposed by the light of his genius

# Ken Rockwell wanted something to distract the lesser photographers, and lo, there were ducks.

# Ken Rockwell is the only one who can take self-portraits of you

# Ken Rockwell's nudes were fully clothed at the time of exposure

# Ken Rockwell once designed a zoom lens. You know it as the Hubble SpaceTelescope.

# When Ken unpacks his CF card, it already has masterpieces on it.

# Rockwell portraits are so lifelike, they have to pay taxes

# On Ken Rockwell's desktop, the Trash Icon is really a link to National Geographic Magazine

# Ken Rockwell spells point-and-shoot "h-a-s-s-e-l-b-l-a-d"

# When Ken Rockwell went digital, National Geographic nearly went out of business because he was no longer phyically discarding photos

# For every 10 shots that Ken Rockwell takes, 11 are keepers.

# Ken Rockwell's digital files consist of 0's, 1's AND 2's.

# Ken Rockwell never focus, everything moves into his DoF

# Ken Rockwell's shots are so perfect, Adobe redesigned photoshop for him: all it consists of is a close button.

# The term tripod was coined after his silhouette

# Ken Rockwell never produces awful work, only work too advanced for the viewer

# A certain braind of hig-end cameras was named after people noticed the quality was a lot "like a" rockwell

# Ken Rockwell isn't the Chuck Norris of photography; Chuck Norris is the Ken Rockwell of martial arts.

# Ken Rockwell never starts, he continues
 
N

nei1

Guest
Jono,if youre into hi fi maybe you remember a man called Belt whose theorys included strategically placed pieces of paper that improved the resolution and naturalness of the stereo experience,Ken Rockwell is only half way up the tree,I really enjoy him and might just send him a fiver.......maybe.
 

Mozbee

New member
Ken had a website up and running among the first people. Because his site was among the first on Google's results for "Nikon" search, he got a lot of traffic. He is very opinionated and provocative (as a writing style) and talks as if it is the truth.

His target audience are mainly beginners, so those people will believe whatever he's saying because they don't have the knowledge to filter his BS. I think some of his writings were insightful, although you always need other source(s) to determine what are the facts from the added BS stuff. It goes up to the point of reviewing lenses he has never tried!

After some years, he understood the "game" very well and he's certainly making a considerable bunch of money from his site and the large traffic it generates. His site is probably popular (many people getting to it), but it doesn't mean it is a good one! We have to give the man the credit for being successful in producing a money generating machine while others are very far from him in this regards, but that's probably all there is about him.

I may have gotten a couple of nice information from his site, but I see it a lot more as an entertainment matter than a solid reference. What I hate the most is the fact that many people are being smoked by his many reality-like opinions and the fact that the people who are having the most chance to read his stuff don't have the knowledge to filter the crap from his writings.
 
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trisberg

New member
From what I read it's not a camera or sensor test. It's a test of 50mm f/1.4 lenses on Leica, Nikon and Canon digital cameras. Since he never fixed the Canon focusing issue, it's simply a test of the central part of the image in a Leica M9 and a Nikon D300s. Plus he is using an old Summilux, so I'm not sure what the test really shows if anything other than that KR could improve his testing methodology.
 
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