Higher ISO Performance - Nikon D3 vs Canon 1Ds Mark II
Saturday, November 10th, 2007I visited the Digiexpo fair in Helsinki today, and had a chance to try out the D3 and compare it to my own 1Ds mk2 that I had with me. I would have liked to add the 1D mk3 as a third camera, but Canon didn’t let people insert their CF cards into the cameras (not even the 1D mk3 although it’s already on the market…!). What a shame - because at the Nikon stand people were actually encouraged to insert their own cards into the D3 and shoot away. Also the 1Ds mk3 would have been a nice addition, but I had already expected that I wouldn’t be allowed to insert my card into that one.
I know the 1Ds and the D3 cameras are intended for somewhat different purposes and shouldn’t be directly compared - but I own the 1Ds mk2 and therefore it was a desired point of reference for me.
I specifically wanted to test high-ISO noise, nothing else. Before you draw any conclusions from these images, let me first say:
- Do NOT judge sharpness or focusing or white balance or overall colour balance from these samples. They weren’t controlled in the manner required for such tests.
- Judge ONLY noise. The noise seen in these samples is the noise in the in-camera JPGs (depending on sharpness setting too, of course, but I used 0 for the Canon images, and I assume the D3 didn’t have any excessive sharpening either).
See the full article Nikon D3 vs Canon 1Ds Mark II.
