So, I was curious if my D500 was really that much better than my D7200 at higher ISOs and I decided to do a test.
Both cameras were on a tripod, the light was dim (event hough it doesn't look it in the photos), shutter speeds, ISOs, and F/Stop were consistent between the two. RAW files, no noise reduction at all.
In my opinion, it seems like the D500 has at least a 1/2 stop advantage over the D7200 and it may be closer to 2/3rds of a stop, especially at ISO 12,800.
The first image is the overall photo, the rest are 100% comparisons in LR. I apologize for the large sizes. I personally probably won't go much above 3200, but it's nice to have the improvement over the D7200.
OwlsEyes wrote:
I had hoped for a 1/2 stop difference, but it appears that there is a 2/3 to full stop improvement in noise improvement between the two cameras.
Thanks for doing this.
bruce
Not that I doubt the possibility, but are you sure you're seeing that difference with the shots above? I'm having a hard time telling them apart when looking at 12,800.
johnctharp wrote:
Not that I doubt the possibility, but are you sure you're seeing that difference with the shots above? I'm having a hard time telling them apart when looking at 12,800.
Thanks for these tests Steve. Keep in mind the D7200 has 15% more pixels than the D500, which is significant when comparing noise at 100%. Can you post with both downsampled to a common resolution, say 8MP? Thanks!
D500 looking quite good here particularly at 12800. If I try to read the writing on the Dust Remover bottle I can make out many more words than on the D7200. Here, downsampling to whatever size will not make the D7200 lost detail reappear.
I may not have had enough coffee yet but (as expected) I can't see that much of an improvement. As others have pointed out, 20 vs. 24 mp is a significant difference, so the gap will get even smaller once you downsize the D7200 files to the D500 resolution. OP, thanks for doing the test!
PIXPHATIC wrote:
The D500's grains look smaller,nicer and subtle.Hence seems to be more manageable in PP.
Another point (from these images and others posted) is that the DR looks to be improved in D500.That is really nice.
This is what I am seeing and why I stated that there appears to be a 2/3 to 1 stop advantage. The tighter noise pattern in the D500 makes this appear to produce a cleaner file at higher iso's. However, and I should have stated this in my prior response, the difference we may be seeing is the reduction of 4 megapixels. The D7200's noise will be magnified more relative to the D500. In the end, the noise difference might be more due to resolution than to better sensor/processing.
Regardless... I'll gladly give up a bit of resolution for a cleaner file in my wildlife body
Thanks for this, Steve. Color and dynamic range @ ISO 6400 look like they would still be okay for frame-filling wildlife images taken in good light (noise looks unobtrusive.) I draw the line at ISO 3200, maybe 4500 with my D8xx bodies. The D500 may be a good replacement for my D800, which is starting to show some signs of age.
OK, as requested, here are a few more. This round, it's the same pics but with the D7200 downsized to the D500 size.
It almost looks like the D500 is better in the shadows but the D7200 looks cleaner in the brighter areas. Or I may be seeing things at this point from starting at this stuff for too long
snapsy wrote:
Thanks for these tests Steve. Keep in mind the D7200 has 15% more pixels than the D500, which is significant when comparing noise at 100%. Can you post with both downsampled to a common resolution, say 8MP? Thanks!
Just for you
These are 8MP comparisons. I can't really see any difference, other than the D500 seems to have better range in the shadows (something I noticed throughout the testing)
These are 8MP comparisons. I can't really see any difference, other than the D500 seems to have better range in the shadows (something I noticed throughout the testing)
Awesome, thanks Steve. Any chance you can share the raws for both cameras in this series?
