5D Mark III vs. D800... what comparisons do you want to see?

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briansquibb said:
V8Beast said:
Go to a club with the 5DIII one night, and a D800 another night, and see which one gets you more women. Be sure to take lots of sample images.

Are you related to wickidWombat ;) ;) ;)

Why yes, I do believe my ancestors inter-bred with wombats some time ago. This would explain why the ladies think I'm so cute and cuddly.

As for CR board member wickidwombay, I presume he might take offense to the notion that he might be related to a hack like me :)
 
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marekjoz said:
Thanks! Keep it rolling :)

Thanks! We will try to post something new every day or two, comparing these cameras to a predecessor, or pitted against each other.

Stephen Melvin said:
Nikon wins for better packaging.
Canon wins for better grip.

Nice. ;)

I do really like the way the Mk III feels in the hand. It's wonderful.

Hehe, yup! Now, the real question is which produces the better photos and under what conditions. We'll try not to forget video either. ;)

V8Beast said:
Go to a club with the 5DIII one night, and a D800 another night, and see which one gets you more women. Be sure to take lots of sample images.

I like the way you think. :D
 
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V8Beast said:
briansquibb said:
V8Beast said:
Go to a club with the 5DIII one night, and a D800 another night, and see which one gets you more women. Be sure to take lots of sample images.

Are you related to wickidWombat ;) ;) ;)

Why yes, I do believe my ancestors inter-bred with wombats some time ago. This would explain why the ladies think I'm so cute and cuddly.

As for CR board member wickidwombay, I presume he might take offense to the notion that he might be related to a hack like me :)
that must be why I like fast cars too! i knew there was something....
 
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Your results will include a lot of good info already, but here's a different perspective and some things I'm curious about.

I have never owned a digital SLR camera. For the past 22 years I've carried a Pentax 645 film camera and 4 lenses through remote mountains and gotten some pretty satisfying landscape shots. All of these trips entail carrying from 3 to 16 days of food and equipment on my back, in addition to my camera gear, tripod, etc. I'm at the point now where I'm going to go digital and I've been waiting for the new generation of Canon and Nikon cameras. The camera I buy will require me to buy lenses, etc. as well, so this is kind of a fork in the road for me. My goal is not only to gain the convenience and advances of new technology, but also to lighten my load, as I'm getting older and that is something I need to do.

Okay, so my perspective is that of all the Canon bodies currently available, the 5DM3 is the best suited to my landscape photography. Likewise, of all the Nikon bodies currently available, the D800 is the best. I'm very aware that these two bodies likely have different strengths, but they are the best their two companies have to offer for landscape photography, so I'm considering each of them.

Because of my goal to shed weight, I'm interested only in zoom lenses. Ideally, I would carry only two, a wide to mid-range zoom and a mid to telephoto zoom. Together they'd cover 24 -200 or 24-300. Therefore, I'm really only interested in how each body works with the lenses I'd use them with. So for instance, I want to see the 5DM3 using the Canon 24-70 lens for example compared against the D800 using the similar Nikon lens, because these are in fact what my purchase options would be.

Because of the type of photography I do, I always use a tripod. Therefore high ISO has less relevance for me. I've been shooting at ISO 50 or less for 30 years. I'm sure that I will be delighted with the available performance at higher ISO's, but my concern is more about what ISO produces the best IQ with each camera. Is it ISO 100, ISO 200, higher? I'm only interested in shooting at the ISO that produces optimal IQ with static, non-moving objects. Shoot each camera at its own optimal ISO for IQ.

Regarding resolution, here is my test. I know people argue about the right and wrong way to do this, but this is my way. Take identical shots on each camera system, take the D800 file and interpolate it down to the 5DM3 pixel dimensions, then compare. Now do just the reverse with the same image. Take the 5DM3 file and interpolate it up to the D800's pixel dimensions, then compare. In both cases you are creating new pixels in the interpolation step, but this is what you'd have to do in the real world to print one at the other's native pixel resolution.

I'm sorry to write such a long post, and I thank you for reading this. I thought a different perspective might be helpful. Thanks for your efforts.
 
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Here's a couple...somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I hope all y'all get the point.

Compare them both with the latest-and-greatest 400 f/2.8 from the respective vendor. Which setup can actually be shot handheld, and which one makes the monopod put the biggest dent down your shoulder and into your pecs as you walk around?

And also compare how each does with a wide or ultra-wide lens with movements...say, in 24mm or 17mm. What range of movements are available, and what's the image quality like?

Cheers,

b&
 
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Hi Chewy734,

thank you for the effort of comapring this 2, surely great, cameras.

If i could suggest something for testing, I'd like to see how those two cameras will face each other in test like this :

same outside photo (same shot, same lighting conditions etc.) , then underexposed by 1, 2 and 3 stops and finally overexposed by 1,2 and 3 stops. Later in post processing recovered to initial parameters. This would help to test dynamic range and both shadow and highlights recovery of Canon and Nikon bodies.

thank you in advance, P.
 
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Kmtn said:
Your results will include a lot of good info already, but here's a different perspective and some things I'm curious about.

I have never owned a digital SLR camera. For the past 22 years I've carried a Pentax 645 film camera and 4 lenses through remote mountains and gotten some pretty satisfying landscape shots. All of these trips entail carrying from 3 to 16 days of food and equipment on my back, in addition to my camera gear, tripod, etc. I'm at the point now where I'm going to go digital and I've been waiting for the new generation of Canon and Nikon cameras. The camera I buy will require me to buy lenses, etc. as well, so this is kind of a fork in the road for me. My goal is not only to gain the convenience and advances of new technology, but also to lighten my load, as I'm getting older and that is something I need to do.

Okay, so my perspective is that of all the Canon bodies currently available, the 5DM3 is the best suited to my landscape photography. Likewise, of all the Nikon bodies currently available, the D800 is the best. I'm very aware that these two bodies likely have different strengths, but they are the best their two companies have to offer for landscape photography, so I'm considering each of them.

Because of my goal to shed weight, I'm interested only in zoom lenses. Ideally, I would carry only two, a wide to mid-range zoom and a mid to telephoto zoom. Together they'd cover 24 -200 or 24-300. Therefore, I'm really only interested in how each body works with the lenses I'd use them with. So for instance, I want to see the 5DM3 using the Canon 24-70 lens for example compared against the D800 using the similar Nikon lens, because these are in fact what my purchase options would be.

Because of the type of photography I do, I always use a tripod. Therefore high ISO has less relevance for me. I've been shooting at ISO 50 or less for 30 years. I'm sure that I will be delighted with the available performance at higher ISO's, but my concern is more about what ISO produces the best IQ with each camera. Is it ISO 100, ISO 200, higher? I'm only interested in shooting at the ISO that produces optimal IQ with static, non-moving objects. Shoot each camera at its own optimal ISO for IQ.

Regarding resolution, here is my test. I know people argue about the right and wrong way to do this, but this is my way. Take identical shots on each camera system, take the D800 file and interpolate it down to the 5DM3 pixel dimensions, then compare. Now do just the reverse with the same image. Take the 5DM3 file and interpolate it up to the D800's pixel dimensions, then compare. In both cases you are creating new pixels in the interpolation step, but this is what you'd have to do in the real world to print one at the other's native pixel resolution.

I'm sorry to write such a long post, and I thank you for reading this. I thought a different perspective might be helpful. Thanks for your efforts.

Thanks for your comments. I'm sure other sites such as dpreview will cover lower ISOs on static, non-moving objects, right? I personally like shooting landscapes as well, so I'll see what I can do this weekend. I also want to test out the new HDR capabilities on the Mark III, so look for that in the near future as well.

TrumpetPower! said:
Here's a couple...somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I hope all y'all get the point.

Compare them both with the latest-and-greatest 400 f/2.8 from the respective vendor. Which setup can actually be shot handheld, and which one makes the monopod put the biggest dent down your shoulder and into your pecs as you walk around?

And also compare how each does with a wide or ultra-wide lens with movements...say, in 24mm or 17mm. What range of movements are available, and what's the image quality like?

Cheers,

b&

That 400mm f/2.8 is an expensive lens and neither of us have it. So, we won't be able to test that out for you. However, the wide-angle test can be done. I'll see what I can do...

AndysRollei said:
The mystery part for the D800 is a cord holder of some sort for the HDMI when attached to the camera, I think the D4's came with one too but don't quote me on that.

Andy

I think you are right, but I too am not 100% sure. You would think they would have that piece described somewhere, but I haven't found it.

Piotrek_K said:
Hi Chewy734,

thank you for the effort of comapring this 2, surely great, cameras.

If i could suggest something for testing, I'd like to see how those two cameras will face each other in test like this :

same outside photo (same shot, same lighting conditions etc.) , then underexposed by 1, 2 and 3 stops and finally overexposed by 1,2 and 3 stops. Later in post processing recovered to initial parameters. This would help to test dynamic range and both shadow and highlights recovery of Canon and Nikon bodies.

thank you in advance, P.

That's a pretty cool idea. I'll try that out. Unfortunately, my buddy Mike is hogging the D800, so I've only really been able to test the Mark II vs. Mark III recently.
 
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WilliamG said:
I think the photo at the top of the page tells us everything we need to know already: the D800 is clearly better at all ISOs. The dynamic range of the grip is astonishing! Look, it's clearly red whereas the MK III has no red whatsoever :o.

LOL, the "Canon L" red stripe on the D800 cracks me up! :) It's pretty goofy looking, but at least it isn't the Sigma gold-chrome.
 
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Chewy734 said:
@!ex said:
Check the focus accuracy on both bodies when close and far from subject under daylight and tungsten, to see if any micro adjustment is necessary. There have been a few reports that the 5dmk3 needs a bit of adjusting with most lenses to get really sharp shots.

I've read that too. I'm leaving the 5D Mark III as-is without any micro-adjustment in our tests. If the images prove to not be as sharp as the Mark II, then I'll look into doing the micro-adjustments later on for future testing.

To me, testing AF performance and accuracy is a complete waste of time without first doing AF MA on both cameras.
 
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