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Comparison Shots - P45+, D800e, 5DII

I had to find out what all the fuss about the D800 was so a couple of weeks ago I went up to Warehouse Express and compared a D800e with my 5dII and Cambo DS with P45+ back.

This was a quick and dirty interior test so didn't reveal as much as shooting a landscape might. I used the 17-40 on the 5DII (as I said, quick and dirty), 14-24 and 24-70 on the D800e, and Schneider 24XL and 35XL on the Cambo.

Quick summary of results:

D800 has great dynamic range, pretty much up there with the P45+. Resolution, even with the D800e and 14-24 is noticeably less than P45+/Schneiders but still significantly higher than the 5DII, as you would expect. The 14-24 is a beautiful lens - big and heavy though.
Biggest surprise was just how inaccurate the colours of both the Canon and the D800 were - they simply didn't accurately reproduce what I saw. I'm looking back at the last 10 years of shooting with Canon digital gear, and slightly weeping at the thought of how the colours were never quite right, despite a lot of struggles in post. And even stitching to 100+MP using the 50 1.2L, the images aren't as crisp as the Cambo.

The 3 files can be seen here - just click on the right and note the titles at the bottom. I took plenty of other pics but haven't had time to go through them - these told me what I needed to know:
Richard Osbourne Art Images | BLOG IMAGES | 5DII, 17-40L @ 17mm

Points to note:
My 24XL has a problem on the right hand side which Cambo should be sorting for me soon.
Look at the colour of the floor - it's only correct on the P45 file, the other two are too yellow. Also, look at the 'blue' hanging signs, rendered as purplish on the Canikons.
All processing done with my regular settings in C1 - sharpening of 130/1.3/1 and I've just equalised exposure (imperfectly) between the 3 files.

Hope these are useful to some of you. I can't see myself getting a D800, simply because of the colours. Perhaps they could be improved with profiling but I'm waiting for Canon's (hoped for / expected) big MP whopper - if the colours are one step up from the D800. The convenience and high ISO performance of 35mm still has its place in my work.

Here is a link to download full res JPEG12s of the 3 files.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10489236/D800 TEST.zip
 
Thanks David, yes, lenses can make all the difference. Certainly think that's what the 5DII was suffering from, though the 14-24 is not a poor lens. Shame there isn't a decent wide angle (around 16-18mm) in Leica R.
 
Thanks David, yes, lenses can make all the difference. Certainly think that's what the 5DII was suffering from, though the 14-24 is not a poor lens. Shame there isn't a decent wide angle (around 16-18mm) in Leica R.
If you are set on 16-18, there is nothing as far as I know. However, there is a very good 15 and a very good 19. I don't know that the Leica 19 is any better than the Nikon Zeiss 18 though.
 

David Klepacki

New member
The Leica-R 15/2.8 is gorgeous, but they are now very pricey and difficult to find. Zeiss recently released a new 15mm/2.8 lens earlier this year. I have not yet seen images from this lens on the D800/E, but it could be very promising. Maybe try the Nikon forum to see if someone has one and could post some images.
 
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