Nikon D7000 vs D700 vs D90 vs D300 [Comparison PICS]
November 17th, 2010
As already mentioned in my previous post, the D7000 finally arrived! [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="The four contestants: Top D300 and D700, bottom D7000 and D90. Notice the size differences"][/caption] So before I send off my D90 and D300 to Ebay's chopping block, I took a bunch of unscientific comparison shots at the full range of ISO settings with the D700, D7000, D90 and D300 - see the full-resolution pics below. The subject is a heap of Lego, which provides recognizable color, sharp edges and a dark area for noise-comparison. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="580" caption="The glorious subject :-)"]
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Settings and Setup
I used the 24-70mm/f2.8, arguably Nikon's best general-purpose lens, always at f2.8 and 70mm. I used the shallow depth of field on purpose to compare the noise in bokeh areas. I used the NL (neutral) setting, Auto White Balance, and camera on manual. For the D700 I needed to move the tripod nearer to the Lego to compensate for full-frame and left the lens at 70mm. All the files are JPEG LARGE, optimized for quality, straight out of the camera (all EXIF is intact), and file sizes are around 3-6MB each. Exposure varied from 1/8s (ISO 100) to 1/2000s (ISO 25600).D90 Pictures
D300 Pictures
D700 Pictures
D7000 Pictures
Bottom Line
The images at low ISOs from all bodies are comparable, with the D7000 providing 16MP and the others 12MP. In regard to ISO performance the four bodies fall into two classes, with the D90 and D300 being roughly equivalent in one and the D7000 and D700 in the higher-performing class. The D7000 is definitely compares to the high-ISO performance of the D700, and that by a crop sensor and at a higher pixel count! It is remarkable to me that Nikon has integrated so much of it's high-end technology and performance into the consumer-grade D7000.A Note to the Critics
Some may bicker that the images are not shot in "low light" conditions. This is irrelevant. A sensor will need a certain number of photons to produce a correct exposure and will not care how they arrived to it, whether through a longer exposure or through a larger aperture. So a sensor will produce an identical image at for example 1/1000s @ f/1.4 or 1/15s @f/11 all other things being identical and ignoring DOF. Lower the light by 6 stops and open the aperture to f/1.4 and you'll have the same image once again at 1/15s. For time exposures starting at 8 seconds (Nikon applies long-exposure noise reduction at this value) this statement is not valid, but 8 seconds is way beyond the 1/8s slowest exposure used in this series. So this comparison IS absolutely valid for the low light found in common situations like events and weddings. Someone noted that the images were "blurry". Yup, that's known as Bokeh :-). There is always a focus point in each image of course.12 comments