Check out these results. What a difference, simply stunning!
Used Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens for this test. Camera default settings, exposure: 2 sec, aperture: f/5.6.
Original picture:
D80 ISO 800 – 100% crop:
D300 ISO 800 – 100% crop:
D80 ISO 1600 – 100% crop:
D300 ISO 1600 – 100% crop:
The full review of the D300 can be found here.
About Nasim Mansurov
Wow, what a difference, I never would of thought it would be that big of a difference between the D80 and D300, I can just imagine the D70/D300 difference.
Great comparison, looks like the D300 can finally play in the league of the Canons. Looks like you can select ISO800 and not even worry about noise. 1600 looking great too although the noise will start to show on large prints.
I am curious, however, whether or not these are really true 100% crops as the D300 has 12MP and the D80 only 10MP. The difference in MP (but same sensor dimensions) should produce a small difference in image size when viewing both at 100% (the DVDs in the D300 shots should appear slightly larger). Especially since you used a prime lens. Why are the images all the same size?
Would love to have seen the D3 added into this test so a 3-way comparison could be made!
Norman
Norman, thanks for your feedback.
Regarding whether these are really true 100% crops – YES, they are. It was very hard to make this work and I had to move the camera + tripod back and forth, taking LOTS of pictures before a 1:1 comparison could be achieved. If you look close enough you will find that the D300 crops are slightly larger. Simply put, it was impossible to find the perfect spot where both cameras would produce same size pictures.
I used the same tripod for both cameras. D80 was used with ML-L3 remote and D300 was set to a timer (I don’t have the remote for D300 yet) to prevent camera shake on both. A lot of people think that the D80 shot is out of focus, but it’s not true as I focused both cameras on the same spot and used the same 50mm f/1.4 lens. The results are accurate, unless my D80 was bad, which is highly unlikely :)
I would love to test the D3, but it’s too expensive and I don’t have any friends that own it.
Hi Nasim – this is a simple but very effective test demonstrating the differences between the ISO performance of both cameras. I’m also happy to report that there is a HUGE difference in image noise performance between my D70 and D300 … in the D300′s favor of course. I now have no qualms shooting ISO 1600 (even 3200 or 6400 if necessary), provided I know beforehand how large I’m going to print those shots at.
I used to have noise reduction at Low, now I just leave it off and deal with it in Nikon Capture NX to only reduce chroma noise and leave the luminosity channel totally untouched – I absolutely love the results!
Regarding the remote, yeah, I miss the ML-L3 functionality on the D300, but have found a USD$14.50 solution that works very well, although quite a bit more bulky than the ML-L3 :> http://www.dpnotes.com/phottix-n1-wireless-remote-control-set-nikon-d300-review/
yeah, unfocused D80 picture really improve D300 noise
I won both cameras. Horrid comparison. D80 shots are obviously and most certainly out of focus.
To reiterate: The samples from the D80 are out of focus.
Thanks for listening.
Jon,
No need to spam my blog with your out of focus comments. Even if the above images are out of focus (which would mean my D80 was faulty, because I pointed at the same spot and focused multiple times before taking the pictures), the idea was to show high ISO noise comparison between the two cameras. In short, D300 is much better than D80 in terms of noise in ISOs 800 and 1600. The importance of this test was to show ISO performance of the cameras. Where in the title did you read that it’s a sharpness test?
Although I agree that this is not a sharpening test and might expose a back focus issue on your D80 the more OOF the image is the more noise will show, anyone disagree ?
I agree this is not a sharpening test, but the OOF shots does make the eye detract from the main issue, and perhaps inadvertantly affect ones judgement in favour of the D300, comments?
how about D90 what do you guys think? I heard that its as best as D300 any thoughts?
Jon,
Take a look at this article: http://photographylife.com/nikon-d300-vs-d90-high-iso-noise-comparison
Yeah – no doubt that the D300 is much better than the D80 with noise – but what happened to the colors?
The blue box is suddenly green! That is NOT good!
BTW. Jpg or raw pics??
That ISO matter would be my first consideration choosing between the two cameras. I am planning to sell my D80- or have it as a backup, and buy D300
Whats the point in this comparison. The d300 has a completely different processing engine and costs 3 times as much. Its like comparing a Mazda MX5 with a Ferrari f430. They will both get you there, but at what price,
Any thoughts ?
Steve,
The above is purely a sensor ISO test. At the time when I wrote this article, there was no D90 to compare with. Essentially, what I wanted to show above was that the D300 dealt with noise at high ISOs much better than D80 did. Otherwise, D80/D90 are very capable cameras at their price range.
Hello — i’ve noticed you are still watching / posting on this page. with all of the claims of the image being out of focus on the d80, would you be willing to do a second comparison? perhaps with the metric being sharpness this time?
thanks!
Jeremy,
I would love to, but unfortunately, I do not have my D80 anymore :(
But I am confident that when it comes to high ISOs, the D300/D90 will definitely outperform D80 by at least 1 stop.
i ask because i am a current owner of the d80 and am considering the d300 as an upgrade.
Jeremy, you will absolutely love the D300. I would also consider D90 and D300s, depending on your needs and budget though.
Sincerely,
Nasim
I used to have a D80 and sold it to get a D90. The main reason was the terrible low-light performance of the D80. Like the photos above show (the D80 is NOT out of focus), there is a dramatic difference in photo quality when comparing the D80 and D300. If you guys don’t believe this test, look at DXO Labs tests – the results place the Nikon D300, D90, and D5000 as some of the finest consumer dSLR cameras available (as far as photo quality goes).
Great article.
Ryan, thank you for sharing your story! That’s exactly why I upgraded…after seeing the difference, I just couldn’t believe it! I went for the D300, but if D90 was out at the time, I would have bought a D90 instead, since they share the same sensor.
Congratulations on your upgrade and thanks for stopping by!
One last thing: if we look at the test photos, the DVD collection is at the dead center of the photos. It would be impossible to miss the focus being that it is right in the middle of each shot (right on the D80′s only cross-type sensor).
Regardless of what camera you own, try some of your own tests. Shoot a photo at the lowest ISO setting, and then shoot the same photo with the highest ISO setting. You’ll be sure to find your highest ISO photo looking quite out of focus when compared to your lowest ISO photo. The ISO noise distorts the details and edges of objects, so they look out of focus.
What we’re seeing here is nothing more than the poor noise handling of one camera compared to another camera that is “best-in-class” for noise handling.
There are no tricks here.