Nikon D5 - first impressions

[MFloyd]

Some high dynamic range pictures in the Swiss Alps.  The blamed low ISO, low dynamic range doesn't seem to be much noticeable:

[Frank Fremerey]

MFloyd. As was said before. The practical relevance of the number games might only be visible in special circumstances.

[MFloyd]

Hello Frank. Indeed. The above to illustrate that nobody should worry.

[Jakov Minić]

These are beautiful image MFloyd.
The orange sunset colors in the trees are special.

[MFloyd]

Thank you, Jakov. Yes, the sunset picture is particular, as only a very small part of the granite wall is reached by the sun.  The purpose of these pictures were more technical (testing the low ISO dynamic range) but, finally they did come out quite well. 😊

[Tersn]

Convincing landscape shots MFloyd.
Here is a "High ISO" shot, although iso 16000 might not be very high on the D5. Shot in about the same poor light as the similar D500 shot in another thread ("D500 at iso 46500"). Sigma 50mm/1.4 Art @ f/1.4, 1/60 sec.

D5 at iso 16000 by tersn, on Flickr

[Andy]

DXOmark is out with their D5 numbers.
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Nikon-D5-sensor-review-A-worthy-successor

rgds, Andreas

[Ilkka Nissilä]

DXOmark is out with their D5 numbers.
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Nikon-D5-sensor-review-A-worthy-successor

Thanks! It doesn't look bad at all; slightly improved DR at high ISO whereas at low ISO there is higher color sensitivity but lower DR than D4s. The differences seem to be fairly small.

I think a lot of people online got a pea in their nose because of early reports of lower DR at base ISO but it seems  that the D5 just strikes a different balance of sensor performance than its predecessors. To me 21MP makes it more general purpose than 12MP or 16MP were.

[MFloyd]

The "sports" low ISO measurements from DXO at ISO 2'400, may be accurate according their protocol, are completely missing the "reality".

[MFloyd]

Color chart D5 @ ISO 102'400:

[Frank Fremerey]

MFloyd: color consistency over a huge range of ISO and Light Sources seems to be a big strength of the 5th generation cameras.

For a 100k-ISO FX shot your result is impressive. D500 needs to stop at 20k, which is still very good for a DX.

Looking forward to the D850/D900 that should be able to play in the same garden as the D5 not in the FPS speed but in the ISO speed

[MFloyd]

Thank you Frank. Usually I don't shoot color charts, except for calibrating. I have to admit that I was puzzled about the usual "new camera - D5 - " bashing, and wanted to make it out for myself. 😊

If somebody is interested, I have also some high ISO real life pictures.

[Frank Fremerey]

Noone ever doubted that the D5 is the best above ISO3200 (together with and insanely expensive Phase One and the alpha7R2)

Some have measured that the D5 cannot beat its predesessor in the field below ISO800.

As the D4s was already great in that domain ... who really cares?

[Frank Fremerey]

Gosh. I could have had her tomorrow, yet I was in my lunch break when NPS called to send me a loaner. I am really interested after the D500 is such a huge success. Esp. I am interested if I can see a difference between the D600 at base ISO and the D5 at base ISO in the studio and outside. I still guess the difference is purely academic, because the photon budget of the D5 should exceed that of the D600.

[MFloyd]

I have a D610 and did some high ISO comparisons with the D5: in terms of noise the D610 holds well his grounds.