Stuart Richardson
Active member
I recently got a D3 and I am trying to decide whether or not to sell my DMR. I also borrowed a 5D and 35/1.4L, and used my M8.
So: D3 with 24-70 at 38mm, 5D with 35/1.4L, M8 with 28/2 and 25/2.8 ZM, and DMR with 28-90mm at 28mm.
All were at f/4 and the camera's base ISO. Rather than post separate crops of every single image, I took a screen shot of them all open on center.
As you can see, there is not much to choose between them. The DMR has a little less exposure than the others, but it has the highest native contrast. There is also moire in the finest details. Surprisingly, the 28-90 had rather visible distortion compared to the 24-70mm lens. That said, the 24-70 was at 38mm to get the same angle of view, so I am not going to penalize the 28-90 until I can compare them on film at the same focal lengths.
Also, the 2mp difference between the DMR and M8 versus the 5D and D3 is pretty much invisible. The extra pixels don't seem to make much of a difference.
The most apparent thing in this very basic test was that you should choose on the basis of handling and features rather than sheer image quality for most situations. All of these cameras can make a great file. Granted I know that this is an extremely simple test and that there are more tests of optical quality -- certainly bokeh, distortion and edge to edge sharpness factor in, but this is a start. One thing that is important to consider is that the D3 holds this file quality from ISO 200 until well into the thousands, whereas the optimal file quality of the other cameras runs out earlier...above 400 for the DMR, above 640 for the M8, and above 1000 or so for the 5D. It will also pump out this file quality at 9fps with very fast AF. That said, there are times when the small size of the M8, along with its unobtrusiveness will be highly preferred.
Anyway, I still need to do a lot more tests, but it looks like the D3 will effectively take over the DMR's role, while adding a lot of functionality over it. Now I just need to get to the gym and start doing some more wrist exercises...the thing is a monster!
So: D3 with 24-70 at 38mm, 5D with 35/1.4L, M8 with 28/2 and 25/2.8 ZM, and DMR with 28-90mm at 28mm.
All were at f/4 and the camera's base ISO. Rather than post separate crops of every single image, I took a screen shot of them all open on center.
As you can see, there is not much to choose between them. The DMR has a little less exposure than the others, but it has the highest native contrast. There is also moire in the finest details. Surprisingly, the 28-90 had rather visible distortion compared to the 24-70mm lens. That said, the 24-70 was at 38mm to get the same angle of view, so I am not going to penalize the 28-90 until I can compare them on film at the same focal lengths.
Also, the 2mp difference between the DMR and M8 versus the 5D and D3 is pretty much invisible. The extra pixels don't seem to make much of a difference.
The most apparent thing in this very basic test was that you should choose on the basis of handling and features rather than sheer image quality for most situations. All of these cameras can make a great file. Granted I know that this is an extremely simple test and that there are more tests of optical quality -- certainly bokeh, distortion and edge to edge sharpness factor in, but this is a start. One thing that is important to consider is that the D3 holds this file quality from ISO 200 until well into the thousands, whereas the optimal file quality of the other cameras runs out earlier...above 400 for the DMR, above 640 for the M8, and above 1000 or so for the 5D. It will also pump out this file quality at 9fps with very fast AF. That said, there are times when the small size of the M8, along with its unobtrusiveness will be highly preferred.
Anyway, I still need to do a lot more tests, but it looks like the D3 will effectively take over the DMR's role, while adding a lot of functionality over it. Now I just need to get to the gym and start doing some more wrist exercises...the thing is a monster!