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Home → News → Cameras and Lenses

Nikon D5 Sample Images

By Nasim Mansurov 22 Comments
Published On February 2, 2016

The Nikon D5 has a 20.8 MP image sensor capable of shooting very high ISOs all the way to ISO 3,280,000. With the Canon 1D X Mark II now finally released, I thought it would be a good idea to post full resolution image samples from both cameras, to see how they compare. While it is too early to evaluate which one does better in terms of image quality and we are planning to provide a full comparison in our upcoming reviews, since both cameras have practically the same resolution, they are probably going to look very similar at pixel level overall.

Please keep in mind that the below images are very large. To open them in full size, you can either download them and view on your computer, or open each image in a different browser window.

Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-1
NIKON D5 @ 600mm, ISO 400, 10/40000, f/4.5
Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-2
NIKON D5 @ 200mm, ISO 6400, 10/25000, f/2.8
Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-3
NIKON D5 @ 200mm, ISO 3200, 10/20000, f/2.8
Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-4
NIKON D5 @ 600mm, ISO 1250, 10/25000, f/6.3
Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-5
NIKON D5 @ 170mm, ISO 500, 10/25000, f/8.0
Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-6
NIKON D5 @ 125mm, ISO 200, 10/40000, f/4.0
Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-7
NIKON D5 @ 600mm, ISO 400, 10/40000, f/4.5
Nikon-D5-Sample-Image-8
NIKON D5 @ 600mm, ISO 100, 10/3200, f/4.5
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Filed Under: Cameras and Lenses Tagged With: Image Samples, Nikon, Nikon D5

About Nasim Mansurov

Nasim Mansurov is the author and founder of Photography Life, based out of Denver, Colorado. He is recognized as one of the leading educators in the photography industry, conducting workshops, producing educational videos and frequently writing content for Photography Life. You can follow him on Instagram and Facebook. Read more about Nasim here.

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Waldemar
Waldemar
April 9, 2016 10:32 pm

First comparison of D5 with D750 here: www.dpreview.com/news/…amic-range
One shall read it before committing to buy D5.

0
Reply
Bruno Rosa
Bruno Rosa
February 9, 2016 5:24 am

I’m a water polo photographer in Italy.
Italian indoor water pools are very dark ….now I use D4S and d810
I’m intresting d500 because d5 is now really too expensive .
I hope to see the photographs over 6400 ISO .
I would known D500 are really better than D4s in hight ISO

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Reply
Burghclerebilly
Burghclerebilly
February 4, 2016 2:39 pm

I have to say I’m a bit suspicious about the high ISO claims. Very happy to be proved completely wrong, but why are all the high ISO shots of a perfectly well lit subject and what appears to be a completely black background? In such situation, there is no detail in the background, so no noise should occur. Only if the background was not black, and you needed to bring up the detail in post, is noise normally the problem. Most high ISO tests are pictures taken at night of dark subjects, that require reasonably long exposures even at high ISO. Whereas, here using a well lit subject against a black background is akin to using flash, thus eliminating any background detail & noise.

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Kit
Kit
February 3, 2016 10:10 am

oleliodden.com/photo…-nikon-d5/

“Beta sensor” D5 – iso 25600 JPEG sample with 600 f4 + TC2 (pretty impressive)

Read article for caveat

Cheers

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Val
Val
February 3, 2016 9:22 am

Hi, Nasim,

Thank you for the review and apologize for the off-topic. Do you have plans to review the Olympus PEN F?

Thank you,

Val

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Reply
Marc Mol
Marc Mol
February 3, 2016 4:00 am

Whilst I appreciate the images Nasim,

we all knew the D5 would be superb right up to ISO 6400 and further, for me I’m interested in ISO 12800 to 25600+, I’m hoping for even a small improvement in this range.

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Reply
Muhammad Omer
Muhammad Omer
February 3, 2016 1:08 am

Each photo should perhaps include a story. Where it was taken. What was the event if any. How the photographer set up his gear. Stuff like that. Its the first photos taken by a new peice of tech.

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Chattanooga Charlie
Chattanooga Charlie
February 2, 2016 9:01 pm

Why are all the shutter speeds listed as 10/40000 instead of 1/4000?? Must be something I don’t understand. Is this the way it is shown in the viewfinder?

2
Reply
Nasim Mansurov
Nasim Mansurov
Author
Reply to  Chattanooga Charlie
February 2, 2016 9:26 pm

No, just the way our software automatically interprets the values :) Sorry!

0
Reply
Ralph LaForge
Ralph LaForge
Reply to  Chattanooga Charlie
April 23, 2020 7:27 am

I agree – was confused but assumed there was an extra 0! Thanks for the question Chatt

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Arun Karthik
Arun Karthik
February 2, 2016 8:36 pm

Sad that there isn’t a ISO25600 sample to have a direct comparison to the 1DX Mark II, that could have anwered so many questions. Nevertheless, Im going ahead with the opinion that Nikon file would be much much cleaner at it.

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Reply
Nasim Mansurov
Nasim Mansurov
Author
Reply to  Arun Karthik
February 2, 2016 9:26 pm

Arun, indeed, it would have been great if Nikon provided some sample images at ISO 25,600 and higher!

0
Reply
Sam S
Sam S
Reply to  Arun Karthik
February 2, 2016 10:08 pm

here’s some samples at it’s highest iso

petapixel.com/2016/…o-3280000/

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Reply
Chattanooga Charlie
Chattanooga Charlie
Reply to  Sam S
February 3, 2016 8:40 am

Wow! Talk about back to the future. I know I’m experiencing some Deja vu all over again, but these photos at petapixel were shot on 6/01/2016. And, I’m still having problems getting through February 2016.

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Reply
Ivor
Ivor
Reply to  Chattanooga Charlie
February 3, 2016 12:04 pm

Hello
In England at least the day goes before the the month. Would imagine a lot of other places are the same

0
Reply
Val
Val
Reply to  Ivor
February 3, 2016 12:20 pm

Hello,

The US and UK have different ways to display dates. In the US, the month goes first.

0
Reply
Chattanooga Charlie
Chattanooga Charlie
Reply to  Ivor
February 3, 2016 12:23 pm

Hmmm…. Guess that could explain it. Thanks, I was about to drink the Koolaid ;-)

0
Reply
eric laquerre
eric laquerre
February 2, 2016 7:50 pm

I am selling all my nikon gear and switching to Canon!! :)

0
Reply
Nasim Mansurov
Nasim Mansurov
Author
Reply to  eric laquerre
February 2, 2016 9:26 pm

Eric, joking? :)

0
Reply
eric laquerre
eric laquerre
Reply to  Nasim Mansurov
February 3, 2016 7:16 am

Yes, off course!!! It is hard to say which one is better when there is so many variable(photographer,quality of light, lense, program use for editing)

I do many type of photography and sports is not the one I do the most so I won’t buy the D5 but the D500 is quite interesting to me.

I already have a D810 so the D500 would be a great addition for wildlife/bird photography.

It would give me the equivalent of 42mp fx (more density) and more reach(fov) transforming my sigma 150-600mm sport into a 225-900mm

0
Reply
Paul Digney
Paul Digney
Reply to  eric laquerre
February 3, 2016 5:37 pm

I have a D810 also and have a D500 on order. I love what I see in the specs and will use it for wildlife bird and dance shows (where the light is ghastly). However, by my calculations I will only get 13% more “reach” over the D810. That is, if I crop the D810 to 21 MPixels and compare the results with the same lens then the D500 is only like having a 1.13 times focal length increase. Nice to have but not as much reach as I would have liked. However I my travel kit will be lighter than it is now.

0
Reply

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