Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Medium Format / Film / Digital Backs – and Large Sensor Photography => Topic started by: alan_b on April 19, 2012, 03:01:46 am

Title: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: alan_b on April 19, 2012, 03:01:46 am
By The Camera Store:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UBTE4xpvpk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UBTE4xpvpk)
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: shadowblade on April 19, 2012, 03:30:59 am
To be fair, they should have tested the D800E rather than the D800 - after all, the H4D-40 doesn't have an AA filter either.

Dynamic range looks similar - Hasselblad has a bit more in the highlights, Nikon a bit more in the shadows. Solution? Expose the Nikon for the highlights, since the shadows can be recovered to a greater extent than the Hasselblad. And the DR values on DxO reflect the similarity in dynamic range between the two sensors.

The fact that Nikon persisted in using a 14-bit A/D converter rather than moving to a 16-bit version seems to have cost it in the tonality department. 14-bit may have been sufficient when CMOS sensors were still lagging CCDs in tonality and dynamic range, but, now that they have caught up, a 16-bit version might make more sense. Hopefully, Canon include a 16-bit converter in their next high-resolution body.

For landscape photography, however, I think the trump card is lens selection. Hasselblad doesn't have a real UWA, which is so commonly used in landscape photography, and its tilt-shift adaptor also acts as a 1.5x TC - which is fine if you have an ultra-sharp, wide lens and want to do some stitch some shifted images to really push the megapixel count (I wish Canon or Nikon produced a tilt-shift teleconverter, to stick on certain Zeiss lenses), but, without a wide enough lens in the first place, is of limited value when shooting landscapes.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: alan_b on April 19, 2012, 03:40:32 am
Yeah, the only things I can take away given the unknowns/video quality:
1. Don't overexpose the Nikon
2. Watch out for falling mics!

Would be interesting to see a more precise skin tone comparison with better exposure and some profiling exploration.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: shadowblade on April 19, 2012, 03:47:30 am
With the D800, expose to the right and recover the shadows. With the Hassy, expose to the left and recover the highlights...
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: LKaven on April 19, 2012, 06:52:55 am
With the D800, expose to the right and recover the shadows. With the Hassy, expose to the left and recover the highlights...
How does one recover highlights, unless one has already reserved the headroom for it?
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: nazdravanul on April 19, 2012, 03:13:43 pm

Would be interesting to see a more precise skin tone comparison with better exposure and some profiling exploration.

Yeap, and a decent lens on the Nikon - preferably a Zeiss 50 (MP ) prime instead of the 50 1.4 G which is awful in terms of tonal gradations and color rendition.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: ErikKaffehr on April 19, 2012, 04:05:55 pm
Hi,

The lens is not at all involved in tonal gradations, it's mostly raw converter, although sensor noise characteristics may play in. Regarding color rendition the effect of the lens is in probability negligible. Color renditions depends on  the color grid array in front of the sensor and on the raw processor.

Best regards
Erik

Yeap, and a decent lens on the Nikon - preferably a Zeiss 50 (MP ) prime instead of the 50 1.4 G which is awful in terms of tonal gradations and color rendition.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: nazdravanul on April 19, 2012, 04:20:51 pm
Hi,

The lens is not at all involved in tonal gradations, it's mostly raw converter, although sensor noise characteristics may play in. Regarding color rendition the effect of the lens is in probability negligible. Color renditions depends on  the color grid array in front of the sensor and on the raw processor.

Best regards
Erik


That is not at all my experience, with Zeiss lenses compared to their Nikon counterparts (including the Zeiss 50 MP and Nikon 50 1.4 G on my D3x), processed primarily through Capture One.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: LKaven on April 19, 2012, 04:50:51 pm
... processed primarily through Capture One.

Ah, Capture One, I remember it well.  It used to work with cameras that I owned.  They still don't have an update that works with the D4/D800. 
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: Doug Peterson on April 19, 2012, 06:43:36 pm
Ah, Capture One, I remember it well.  It used to work with cameras that I owned.  They still don't have an update that works with the D4/D800. 

...The D800 shipped four weeks ago no? "Still" is a bit harsh a word in that context to me. But I suppose it's open for debate.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: BernardLanguillier on April 19, 2012, 07:02:57 pm
...The D800 shipped four weeks ago no? "Still" is a bit harsh a word in that context to me. But I suppose it's open for debate.

A plan would be great though.

But I guess they have decided to only support the D800 on V7 which is going to be a paid upgrade?

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: EricWHiss on April 19, 2012, 07:10:48 pm
Hi,

The lens is not at all involved in tonal gradations, it's mostly raw converter, although sensor noise characteristics may play in. Regarding color rendition the effect of the lens is in probability negligible. Color renditions depends on  the color grid array in front of the sensor and on the raw processor.

Best regards
Erik


Erik,
I'm wondering about this.  Probably that's true if one thinks that the RAW file so long as not being clipped can be manipulated to fit any lens character, however it does seem like some lenses do affect contrast in different ways that give the RAW file a different starting point that are hard to duplicate.
Eric
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: LKaven on April 19, 2012, 07:17:07 pm
...The D800 shipped four weeks ago no? "Still" is a bit harsh a word in that context to me. But I suppose it's open for debate.

Hopefully you were catching the wistful, maudlin tone.  There might be a range of degrees in the word "still" here, some humorous.  But consider.  

In a month where Nikon and Canon both replace their flagship cameras, for a few of us, we have no cameras that currently work with Capture One.

So there's the degree of "still" when you download the competitor's software because it works and Capture One doesn't.

There's the degree of "still" after you come to actually like the competitor's software.

There's the degree of "still" where you come to the end of the competitor's trial period and have to pay for the competitor's software.

And there's the degree of "still" where you buy the competitor's software because you have to, and by now actually like it, and because Phase One did not see fit to save you that forced expense.  

For all we know, Nikon forgot to send Phase One a production unit.  But all else being equal, I'd think all of these degrees of "still" are too much if I were Phase One.  For me, once I get to the forced expenditure, then my relationship with Phase One is damaged. [Added: And I know that Phase One will also want more money to get V7 now, since they did away with their one-version-free upgrade.  Do I want to give it to them after being forced to buy LR4?]  Sound fair?
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: BernardLanguillier on April 19, 2012, 11:06:51 pm
There's the degree of "still" after you come to actually like the competitor's software.

There's the degree of "still" where you come to the end of the competitor's trial period and have to pay for the competitor's software.

And there's the degree of "still" where you buy the competitor's software because you have to, and by now actually like it, and because Phase One did not see fit to save you that forced expense.  

Yep, I didn't expect to have to spend so much time with LR4, but it really is an excellent piece of software.

It will take something good from C1 to convince me to purchase C1 Pro 7.0.

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: LKaven on April 19, 2012, 11:59:04 pm
Yep, I didn't expect to have to spend so much time with LR4, but it really is an excellent piece of software.

It will take something good from C1 to convince me to purchase C1 Pro 7.0.

I was thinking the same, and not out of spite.  Some of the facilities in LR4 work remarkably well.  The noise reduction facilities are much cleaner, and more surgical.  The clarity filter seems to work without halos.  The highlight and shadow adjustments work better.  These things just feel more "photographic" in the way a musical instrument can be said to sound "musical."  Even the Adobe profiles are improved to my eye.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: ErikKaffehr on April 20, 2012, 12:32:19 am
Hi,

Lens flare matters a lot, but I'd expect that modern high end lenses from Nikon have low flare. One thing I have seen is that all lenses have some vignetting and that may actually enhance an image. So would a lens have a lens profile in Lightroom and correct for vignetting and another lens would be not corrected there would be a lot of difference.

If we compare two lenses I'd suggest that we would need to include a color checker in the image and select correct color balance on the light gray patch and adjust "white" and "black" patches to have the same density. That would leave the playing field pretty much level.

I don't have any Nikon to compare with, just two Zeiss lenses for my Sony, so I cannot really make the experiment.

Best regards
Erik

Erik,
I'm wondering about this.  Probably that's true if one thinks that the RAW file so long as not being clipped can be manipulated to fit any lens character, however it does seem like some lenses do affect contrast in different ways that give the RAW file a different starting point that are hard to duplicate.
Eric

Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: nazdravanul on April 20, 2012, 10:08:01 am
Ah, Capture One, I remember it well.  It used to work with cameras that I owned.  They still don't have an update that works with the D4/D800.  

Nope, they don't. Nothing unusual here : for most DSRLs (5d2, d3x included) Capture One takes the longest time to complete development for raw support. Once it's done, it's the best there is (at least so far), and the differences tend to be really significant compared to all other raw converters (including OEM). The 5d2 looked quite decent in Capture One only, as opposed to ACR / Lightroom and Aperture, for example, where it would have significantly less details, messier reds, and up to 1 stop less room for pushing the shadows. Achieving the same image quality that came out of the box in C1  through Canon's native converter, DPP, meant anywhere between 5 min to 30 min worth of massaging the same files and the results weren't always guaranteed.  Same thing for the d3x - working on those files, particularly in terms of colors, through ACR / Lightroom was incredibly messy and unpleasant but Capture One really made that sensor shine. So yes, it takes time, but usually it's well worth the wait.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: stewarthemley on April 20, 2012, 10:42:19 am
Couldn't disagree more. LR 3 was better than the competing version of C1 on the cameras you mentioned, plus most others, and LR4 leaves C1 way behind IMO.

Noise reduction, rendition of detail, color control, highlight and shadow control, all demonstrably better in LR 4 than the current C1. But the ultimate test, for anyone who wonders which is best, is quite simple: try them bOth.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: nazdravanul on April 20, 2012, 10:50:05 am
Couldn't disagree more. LR 3 was better than the competing version of C1 on the cameras you mentioned, plus most others, and LR4 leaves C1 way behind IMO.

Noise reduction, rendition of detail, color control, highlight and shadow control, all demonstrably better in LR 4 than the current C1. But the ultimate test, for anyone who wonders which is best, is quite simple: try them bOth.

I still have to respectfully disagree. I've tried every single LR3 version, from beta to the latest updates, and on my Zeiss / 5d2 - D3x files, C1 always managed to do a better job, on all areas you have mentioned. LR4 is better on certain areas, but Capture one 7 should be out soon so that should make the comparison worthwhile ( in the meantime my D3x files still look better, for me, in c1 6.3.5) . I totally agree everyone should try both.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: stewarthemley on April 21, 2012, 10:27:50 am
Hi Nazdravanul

No problem. I expect we can agree on one thing: neither of them is bad! And it's good to have competition as we all benefit from that.

Cheers
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: LKaven on April 21, 2012, 01:24:01 pm
I was among those who did not really like LR =< 3 and stuck with C1.  LR4 has more going for it.  C1 will have to step up here in V7.
Title: Re: H4d40 vs D800
Post by: Doug Peterson on April 23, 2012, 01:35:08 pm
A plan would be great though.

But I guess they have decided to only support the D800 on V7 which is going to be a paid upgrade?

Cheers,
Bernard

Capture One Pro 6.4 (https://digitaltransitions.com/page/capture-one-pro) was released today with raw file support for both the D800 and 5DIII. Free upgrade for anyone who owns 6 Pro.