PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

I got my Canon EOS 400D Combo (EFS 10-22 USM & EFS 17-85 IS USM) some months ago and it worked fine for everyday snaps. However, I do find its limitation when it goes to serious work during a wedding event that requires more accurate auto focusing capability and flash exposures under some low light indoor environment. I decided an upgrade and enhanced my combo for some serious work while maintening portability. Canon EOS 40D, Canon EOS 5D and Nikon D300 are in my list.

While 5D produced the best image quality in my eyes, its AF is not functioning as effective as 40D, it requires an external flash unit in order to assist on low light AF and provide filled light. The Nikon D300 is a more comparable choice, but it does cost $600 more on the body and I also need a Nikkor zoom lens (in addition to my prime collections) to meet the requirements for the exercise. After further investigation, 40D is the best choice in this situation, it works very well with my existing lenses 10-22 USM & 17-85 IS USM.

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Lastly, I tried to challenge the 40D’s higher iso performance, the effectiveness of the lens 17-85 IS and myself - point & shoot handheld ability. All sample shots below are straightly out of camera at iso3200, aperture locked at f/8, all others default, only resize and rotation applied by PS. There is some banding effects at this sensitivity level, but you could hardly find that at busy area, iso1600 and lower sensitivity levels.

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I have been a 5D shooter since almost the day it came out. I simply love the full frame, and never looked back at the 20D, XT and 300D I had before that.

I always preferred Nikon bodies though, and was hoping someone would release a D200 body with a 5D sensor in it.

Well, that didn’t quite happen, but the new D3 had me intrigued since the day it was announced.

Last week I saw an ad on a public forum where an established member was selling an essentially brand new D3 for a very good price, so I jumped on it. I figured the way it’s backordered everywhere, if I don’t like it I won’t have any problems reselling it for the same or even a higher price.

So the D3 arrived, and the first thing I did was to put it up against my 5D to see what the hoopla is all about. I only have a 50mm 1.8 and 35mm 2.0 Nikkors, so I compared those with 50mm 1.4 and 35mm 2.0 Canons.

1. Handling and build quality

Well, there’s no contest here. While 5D is nice, it feels like a snail and 2 generations behind the D3. One thing though, although I much prefer the resolut and snappy shutter action on the D3 than the kla-chunk of the one on 5D, the D3 shutter is a lot louder.

2. Autofocus in good light.

Again, no contest. D3 will just snap in place. With a 50mm 1.8, 19 out of 20 shots will be spot-on, with 1 maybe slightly off. With the 5D and a 50mm 1.4 at f/1.8, around 10 out of 20 will be spot-on, with another 5-6 slightly off and 3-4 quite a bit OOF.

And this is all with the screw driven 50mm 1.8. Can’t wait to try some of the AF-S models.

3. Autofocus in low light.

The 5D is actually slightly better here. The center point will lock on things in low light that the D3 has a problem with, and will hunt quite a bit. 40D smokes them both in this regard.

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Does anyone really expect that a 21.1-megapixel camera would not handily outperform a 12.1-megapixel camera in terms of resolution? Field shooting today in multiple trials leaves no doubt, but there is considerably more to the story than just resolution. Stay tuned for a body-to-body comparison of the Nikon D3 with the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III (the resolution aspect).

Some will cry “foul!” that comparing the two cameras is wrong because of the mismatched resolution, but it’s just as reasonable as comparing a DX sensor camera to a full-frame camera as I did in D2x vs EOS (still highly instructive even if those cameras aren’t on your shopping list). For anyone considering a full-frame digital camera, The D3 and 1DsM3 are the two contenders, and there are numerous aspects to “performance” beyond resolution. Anyway, one is free to not read anything that disrupts cherished cognitive commitments.

I’ve now made three different A/B field comparisons between the 12.1MP Nikon D3 and 21.1MP Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III. In all three cases, the results seen are highly consistent, with the 1DsM3 showing higher resolving power.

The Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III is the resolution champ. Does anyone really expect that a 21.1-megapixel camera would not handily outperform a 12.1-megapixel camera in terms of resolution? Field shooting today in multiple trials leaves no doubt, but there is considerably more to the story than just resolution.

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