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Archive 2012 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

snapsy
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p.1 #1 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

Incandescent lighting (2700K), all shot using Zeiss 50mm MP @ f/2 manually focused in LV (on the Canon P&S image in the B+H catalog), processed in ACR 6.7/CS5 all defaults except WB, downsampled to 8MP via bicubic,

First with all set to Adobe Standard profile. For some reason ACR dials down the D3s's exposure significantly for this profile, so it's been digitally pushed to match the 5DM3's exposure. The D800 also required pushing but not as much as the D3s.

ISO 6,400 Crop #1
ISO 6,400 Crop #2
ISO 6,400 Crop #3

ISO 12,800 Crop #1
ISO 12,800 Crop #2
ISO 12,800 Crop #3

ISO 25,600 Crop #1
ISO 25,600 Crop #2
ISO 25,600 Crop #3

Full Image (8MP), ISO 6400, 5DM3
Full Image (8MP), ISO 6400, D3s
Full Image (8MP), ISO 6400, D800

Full Image (8MP), ISO 12,800, 5DM3
Full Image (8MP), ISO 12,800, D3s
Full Image (8MP), ISO 12,800, D800

Full Image (8MP), ISO 25,600, 5DM3
Full Image (8MP), ISO 25,600, D3s
Full Image (8MP), ISO 25,600, D800

And here's the same raws but with the ACR profile set to camera neutral. For these the D3s required little to no exposure adjustment, whereas the 5DM3 required +.25 stop @ ISO 12,800 (D800 required .20 stop). At ISO 25,600 the D3s required +.10 stop, the 5DM3 none, and the D800 -.15.

ISO 12,800 Crop #1
ISO 12,800 Crop #2
ISO 12,800 Crop #3

ISO 25,600 Crop #1
ISO 25,600 Crop #2
ISO 25,600 Crop #3

Full Image (8MP), ISO 12,800, 5DM3
Full Image (8MP), ISO 12,800, D3s
Full Image (8MP), ISO 12,800, D800

Full Image (8MP), ISO 25,600, 5DM3
Full Image (8MP), ISO 25,600, D3s
Full Image (8MP), ISO 25,600, D800

Jun 18, 2012 at 07:41 PM

m_appeal
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p.1 #2 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

D3s has nicer colors but there is really nothing between it and D800 at ISO 12800.

Jun 18, 2012 at 08:41 PM

SebastianS
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p.1 #3 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

Thanks for posting these... I'm curious how these stack up to the D700 also :-)

Jun 19, 2012 at 10:48 AM

Mike Mohrmann
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p.1 #4 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

SebastianS wrote:
Thanks for posting these... I'm curious how these stack up to the D700 also :-)

I think that the D700/D3 would be competitive at ISO 6400, but they would really fall apart beyond that.

Jun 19, 2012 at 02:13 PM

snapsy
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p.1 #5 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

Mike Mohrmann wrote:
I think that the D700/D3 would be competitive at ISO 6400, but they would really fall apart beyond that.

I've informally compared a D3 to D3s and it's roughly about a stop difference in subjective quality (an ISO 12,800 D3s image is just a smidgen worse than the D3 at ISO 6,400).

Jun 19, 2012 at 02:22 PM

Sean Hoffman
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p.1 #6 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

I prefer the D3s at 12,800 when down sampled to 8mp. The grain is finer, the colors are more vibrant, and there is not the magenta amp noise problem of the D800. All in all, it's pretty close though.

Jun 19, 2012 at 02:33 PM

utildayael
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p.1 #7 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

Nice tests as always sir.

Jun 19, 2012 at 02:57 PM

rxgolf
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p.1 #8 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

Great job and much appreciated! In your opinion, what are you seeing as far as difference between the 3 at 6400? I let my D4 go because my d800 was much closer at 6400 than I had expected, and that is usually the high end of what I would normally shoot. I have ignored (so far)my urges to get my hands on a 5dMkIII in order to see how it compares at 6400. I really appreciate your time to do this and post it for the rest of us. If you would care to make a comment on how much the three tested differ at 6400 I would find your comments interesting.
Again, great post!
Greg

Jun 19, 2012 at 04:02 PM

dj dunzie
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p.1 #9 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

m_appeal wrote:
D3s has nicer colors but there is really nothing between it and D800 at ISO 12800.

Hmmmm... I guess I'm really not seeing that in the original batch. The D3s is significantly less grainy, although the D800 still does a nice job with detail. I'd say the D800 is closer to the 5D3 than the D3s... but to me the D3s is still clearly the low light champ. YMMV I guess.

Jun 19, 2012 at 05:02 PM

nick53097
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p.1 #10 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

I have try D3s, D800 and 5DIII in real life dance photography with very low lights.
D3s is a champ (at ISO 4,000 to 6,400), D800 is very close to my D700, 5D III produced more noise that I need.

Jun 21, 2012 at 11:14 AM

pr4photos
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p.1 #11 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

The D3s certainly gives a finer 'grained' result, and the 5DM3 the noisiest, BUT also the crispest micro contrast - the D3s looks slightly muddy in comparison - something I'm sure could be sorted in processing.
I'd pick the D800 over the 5DM3, but the D3s does seem to be still king of the hill

Jun 21, 2012 at 11:32 AM

Alan321
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p.1 #12 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

The D3s shows the least detail in the very dark areas but I think that is mainly because the images have been processed with default Adobe settings rather than the best settings. In my experience reducing the black point a little (for Lr / ACR with process 2010) usually brings out those darkest details nicely.

I don't like the colour cast in the dark areas of the D800 images. Is that a camera defect or normal ?

- Alan

Jun 24, 2012 at 08:51 PM

kaycephoto
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p.1 #13 · 5DM3 vs D3s vs D800 ISO 6,400 to 25,600

pr4photos wrote:
The D3s certainly gives a finer 'grained' result, and the 5DM3 the noisiest, BUT also the crispest micro contrast - the D3s looks slightly muddy in comparison - something I'm sure could be sorted in processing.
I'd pick the D800 over the 5DM3, but the D3s does seem to be still king of the hill

Just saw these tests linked from another thread now, but I agree that the D3s remains the low-light king out of these 3 cameras - even if the 5D3's results are slightly crisper, the amp glow creeping in bugs me.. what an amaaazing camera the D3s really was, esp at its time of introduction - I remember using the D3s for the first time while I was depending on a 1D3 at the time & boy was I heartbroken......

another very helpful & great test Snapsy!

Nov 22, 2012 at 01:48 PM


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