Author Topic: Nikon D5 - first impressions  (Read 146413 times)

Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #30 on: March 20, 2016, 00:04:22 »
Erik, yes I think it is a step up.
In multiple ways. I'll get into this tomorrow. Still trying to get a "feeling" for the camera (currently at approx 1000 shots), will write more stuff tomorrow.

As a quick note. I would put the broad ISO range of the camera (Lo1/ISO 100 to Hi5, in total 17 sensitivity "levels" ) into 3 "bands":
1) the "no-brainer" band: Depending on personal objectives and output size, the range from ISO 100 until ie. 6400 or 12800 becomes almost a no-brainer. If needed for the photographic intention (ie more DOF), use it. Whatever the upper limit will be (and this will be different by each photographer), the camera shifts the upper boundary of this "band" up a bit vs previous cameras.
2) The "usable" band: Wherever the "no-brainer" band ends, the "usable" band starts. Reaching in my case well into the ISO 102400 range if it is a "normal" picture. Much better than not getting a picture at all. Depends on situation, aspiration, etc ...
3) The "marketing" band: Made the technical data of the camera sound well. Based on initial experience, Hi3 to Hi5 is definitely in this band. Unusable for my type of photography.

NEFs & NEF processing:
If history repeats itself, then Nikon will publish an update of its RAW converter (NX-D for now) next tuesday. The day, when shipments starts from Nikon to dealers. Has often been the case with new cameras in the past.
If people are interested, I can upload all the NEFs from the photos shown in this thread so that everybody who wants can play around with his/her preferred settings respective preferred RAW software.

rgds,
Andy


Bjørn Rørslett

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #31 on: March 20, 2016, 00:08:56 »
Andy: a few selected NEFs will be very helpful.

Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #32 on: March 20, 2016, 00:36:07 »
Andy: a few selected NEFs will be very helpful.

Bjorn,
I started the upload of all the files I shared in this thread. It takes some time until all are in the folder. A few are already available to download.
Here is the location: https://onedrive.live.com/?id=C59FEF9F04ED4A3A%211589&cid=C59FEF9F04ED4A3A

The filenumbers are below the JPEG photos I posted in this thread. The NEF file numbering is identical.

Andy

richardHaw

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #33 on: March 20, 2016, 08:15:24 »
the touchscreen was fun :o :o :o

for me the D4 is still an awesome camera, so unless i really need this ill stick with the D4

Airy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #34 on: March 20, 2016, 09:35:52 »
From what you displayed, the D5 is clearly better at high ISO, especially in the shadow parts. Also, colours look more natural.
Airy Magnien

Erik Lund

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #35 on: March 20, 2016, 10:21:31 »
I newer experienced the wow factor in the D4 and D4s,,, coming from D3 and D3X now the D810 was a real step up as well, both handling and also IQ.
Erik Lund

Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #36 on: March 20, 2016, 12:11:47 »
It is probably like with every technology driven system. The experience and performance gap of the newest version vs. the previous generation immediately preceeding it is most likely the smallest gap. With each predecessor generation, the gap widens to the newest entrant - increasing the benefit and likelyhood that someone might think about an upgrade.

It is similar to the sharpness discussion with lenses which often dominates in internet discussions all the other attributes of lenses. That cameras are often reduced to their "faring" wrt to their high ISO performance. They are a complex system and my approach has been to rather appreciate the "holistic view" (if there can ever be a holistic view :) ). Hope you get my point, it is the combination of technical performance, plus all the other factors like usage, handling, familiarity, sturdiness and reliability. Seen from this perspective, the first 2 days (rather one long day) with the D5 leaves the impression that it is a very well rounded package. Streteching the envelope a bit here, a bit there, but ultimately, that the "reliance factor" on this tools is again moving up the scale. Even vs. the D4 I used for a few years now (I don't have a D4s). Things like WB accuracy in difficult lighting conditions, combined with the better AF performance, which finds not always a contrast line to hook on, but seemingly more often than the D4 or D800E, or the exposure meter, which more often nails it better than the cameras before. There is no single magic itemand I can't claim that the D5 does all right, every single time and never fails. Of course it sometimes "fails", it sometimes needs support with settings as it can't have insight into my intent, but the overall experience is that it is a significant step forward in this broader perspective.

After this first experience, I would describe it in the following way (for me). Despite (or rather because of) my familiarity with other Nikoen cameras, someone feels immediately "at home". No surprises. No rough edges someone has to keep in mind to avoid unexpected behavior. If I would need to prepare for a shooting in "the unknown", the D5 is a formidable contender to be picked. Being a long time D800E fan for this pick, the D5 will probably replace this default choice in my personal selection. Leaving the additional feeling that the D5 is ready for photographic exercises I personally have no experience in yet (i.e. sports photography). In this regard, it leaves the impression, that it will support your next photographic endaveour - whatever you choose to embark on. Please don't take this as an absolute statement, that only the D5 can do that. By no means, other cameras are great as well, but the D5 provides this feedback, that this journey will be this tad simpler with the D5.

On a side note:
Based on this extensive day of shooting with the D5 and the AFS 24-70mm/2.8 VR, I have to reconsider my previous assertation about this lens. Originally, the difference to the predecessor was seen too small to justify the investment for a purchase. While the long term "fault" of the older version was that it didn't emotionalize with single attributes like a Noct, it rather delivered in a very non spectacular way. It just delivers and delivers. Day in day out. The new version might be plagued by the same "problem" when I first used the lens for a quick test. After this day, I need to confess, that the lens worked with every single image towards this "goal" - "Trust me, I will perform and won't let you down". While i like the AFS 300mm/4 PF very much, it came up yesterday with another unexpected behaviour, probably caused by the Fresnel lens design (I'll cover this separately). The 24-70mm VR didn't have any of these surprises.

While I started with the normal approach a camera is potential design for - by shooting what I like - I didn't do any formal test. I assume they will come in in droves in the next weeks and months.

Happy to share my personal approach to get a feeling about the ISO performance envelope of a camera. It starts with filesizes of dark frames. Quick and very easy to do. Camera, no lens, but lenscap, set all things like NR=off, Save to NEF/14bit/lossless, Manual expose, with 1/125s and create one dark frame per ISO Setting (I do full EV steps). Noise are artefacts in an image, which is bad. The good thing is that the overall level of noise need to be stored somewhere. The lossless RAW format is a good proxy for the increase in level of noise a camera HW&SW produces. Just watch the file sizes grow and put the base ISO at 0%.

The second part is viewing the dark frames on my screen - skip through the different ISO levels and get a feeling when the distracting noise becomes so visible, that I want to be careful starting with this setting. Nothing scientfic, just a very quick overview to know where to spent more time in assessing the boundary conditions to better know your equipment.

1) Filesizes and rate of growth for a few cameras
2) D5 Screen capture of NX-D overview
3) D4
4) D800E




Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #37 on: March 20, 2016, 12:48:11 »
I will share a few ISO runs of the D5, D4 and sometimes D800E. The NEFs are currently being uploaded for personal inspection. For all cameras: I started with ISO Low1, followed by ISO 100, 200, etc ... followed by all available High settings (in full steps). Please count the filesequence to download the right NEF for the ISO level you are interested in.
NEFs can be found here: https://onedrive.live.com/?id=C59FEF9F04ED4A3A%211616&cid=C59FEF9F04ED4A3A

First subject: A train station at night

A few samples (just resized the ooc JPEGs, The NEFs might very well be better):
1) D5 - ISO 100
2) D5 - ISO 25600
3) D5 - ISO 51200
4) D5 - ISO 102400



Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #38 on: March 20, 2016, 12:49:13 »
5) D4 - ISO Hi 1 (approx 25600)
6) D4 - ISO High 2 (approx 51200)
7) D4 - ISO High 3 ( approx 102400)
8.) D800E - ISO Hi 2 ( Approx 25600)

Erik Lund

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #39 on: March 20, 2016, 12:58:54 »
Thank Andy, very nice with an early report on the new camera ;)

On the side note re 24-70mm AFS VR I do agree, it's a wonderful performer; It just delivers!
Erik Lund

jknights

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #40 on: March 20, 2016, 13:08:54 »
Andy,
Thanks for the uploads of all the D5 images.  That is very helpful to me with my RAW software testing to get some D5 RAWs.

The camera images look very nice and if my D500 is as good then I will be very pleased.  Unfortunately I will now need to think about releasing my D3 from 2007.  This is my second favourite as I also have a D3S which is I think the best Nikon ever.

Erik Lund

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #41 on: March 20, 2016, 13:12:06 »
I don't think the D500 will be as good as this,,,
Erik Lund

Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #42 on: March 20, 2016, 13:24:53 »
Mixing and matching themes ....

1) Exposure meter
The exposure meter seems to work differently, better - need to spend more time to figure things out about the why and how.

When visiting the national museum yesterday, there was this candelier in the entrance.
D5, AFS 300mm/4 PF, handheld, 1/160s, no exposure compensation, about 40 meters away:

2) The lower "High ISO" values are so easy to justify
A quick example in the museum. Tripods are forbidden.
The first picture, taken with the AFS 35mm/1.4G, @ f1.4, ISO 800, good subject isolation.
If there would be the intend to get better depth (I would not do it with this image, just used this as an example), i.e. f5.6, either time or ISO has to go up. As it has to be handheld, ISO needed to go up. The second image is ISO 12800

As usual, all ooc JPEGs, just resized

Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #43 on: March 20, 2016, 13:29:55 »
WB is usually handled quite well. Settings to default


Andy

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Re: Nikon D5 - first impressions
« Reply #44 on: March 20, 2016, 18:21:21 »
Quick comment on power usage:

With the 2500mAh battery, the camera consumed for normal (slow) phototaking approx 16% of capacity for 512 photos.
The second group of approx 750 photos needed 25%.
Just came back from this afternoon. 650 photos shot in about 1 hr - rather quick with a few bursts: 9% of battery capacity consumed

Quick back of the enevlope calc: If the camera is set to 14-bit lossless NEF and JPEG(large/fine), then 650 photos need approx 17 GB, with ISO set to 100. (Filesize for HighISO goes up significantly).
If the camera gets you 650 shots per 9%, then your storage capacity per battery should be approx 190 GB (1x 128GB + 1x64GB card)
with the slower sessions, one battery lasts approx 3000 shots ( = approx 80 GB)