I'm afraid that Nikon has us beat

I am afraid that Nikon's recently released D800 has any current Canon body beaten, at least for birding photos.

Here's the image that has caused me to question whether I should stick with Canon or not (note that it is a HUGE crop):
http://www.naturescape​s.net …iewtopic.php?f=​3&t=215558

Does anyone know if any Canon body is capable of resolving that much fine feather detail when the image is cropped to exactly this extent? If not, then why are any of us still shooting Canons?! Isn't that the type of detail we want every single time we click the shutter?

Very nice.

Kudos to the photographer for a great capture.

luckily I'm too broke for either ... at the moment

That is impressive.
36 megapixels is no joke, but is that combo that good every time?

ive taken some wonderful photos and many not so wonderful photos.
when everything is perfect I can crop 100% and look good (if im close to the subject).

I would like to see this on a more regular basis.
if so, Nikon here I come.

Probably shot with a prime, which makes a difference to the zooms that probably most of us use. This is not quite in the same league but this 100% was with a Canon 350D and a Sigma 150-500, I expect I could do better with my 7D and new Siggy 120-300 f2.8

That's an impressive result. I'll stick to my Canon gear for a little while longer though. I've been following Alan Murphy's work for a long time and he's a great photographer.

A couple of things:

Number 1, it's Alan Murphy. He's at the top of the game and could shoot rings around most with anything you put in his hands.

2, it is 36 megapixels.

3, yes Nikon has bragging rights for the moment. It goes back and forth between Nikon and Canon like that - and the rivalry is healthy for us as photographers. It keeps either company from getting too stagnant. In my opinion, Canon needs a good kick in the butt.


Still, I was impressed with that photo too - as are most I'm sure. So he's got a new D800 and made the image with the Nikon 600mm @ ISO 640, f10, and 1/250th. Good stuff and beautiful results in the hands of a master.

I'm not Alan Murphy, but I was curious to see how some of my own recent work stacked up. So I opened up my cardinal in photoshop and this is what I came up with from my 1D mkIV, 300mm f4 IS, 2x II teleconverter (Oh, the horror!), and off camera Speedlights diffused with umbrella. ISO 800, f11, and 1/100th.

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Kevin,

That is a great cardinal image, I think you got everything out of your equipment that it had to give!

But, it is not nearly as large of a crop as Alan's bunting pic. What I found so impressive about Alan's image wasn't just the sharpness and detail - it was the fact that there was such sharpness and detail after cropping top such an extreme extent. That is what seems to separate that D800 from anything Canon offers.

You should go to dpreview and see the differences in noise between the cameras.. You'll not think the same thing about d800.
I find that 5dIII is so much better camera.

Hi Tom

Don't get me wrong, Alan's crop is somewhat larger and it clearly wins.

My point was that mine isn't that far off and when you are actually putting the image to use at a normal size there's really no gain in switching to the Nikon as far as sharpness and detail are concerned. All done with an older 16 megapixel camera, a 300mm lens that is considered inferior to a 600mm, a 2x converter that gospel dictates shouldn't be used at all, and a final detail that I didn't mention earlier - shot through a patio glass door.

It's the light, it's all about the light. It always has been. It always will be.

Still, it was impressive enough to me to price one on B&H the other day.

Kevin Hall wrote in post #14279952
It's the light, it's all about the light. It always has been. It always will be.

This I have to agree with with a lot of credit to the photographer of course. Knowing how to use the tools you're working with is just as important. Is this something that will make me convert to Nikon...no way, but I'm just the average "Joe photographer" with a limited budget on what I can buy. Is this impressive? Yes, very much so and it shows the ability of the camera along with the ability of the photographer and knowing how to use his tools.

Maybe this will shut up the pixel peepers.

Duane N wrote in post #14281906
Maybe this will shut up the pixel peepers.

Ha! It has the opposite effect on me.
The Nikon D800 image shows me that if I pixel peep, there is even more detail there for me to see. It makes pixel-peeping an even more rewarding experience!

Here is a 100% crop from a 8.2MP 20D, at 400 MM, F10. http://www.pbase.com …hotography/imag​e/68883482

Nikon has a great camera with the D800, but as has been mentioned it is an ever present race back and forth, and there is no use comparing both of them unless you have the money to own both, or sell everything you own every other year when a new body comes out. His picuture was great because it was a great lens, great light, perfect positioning, perfect backdrop, and he did a great job. The body is one part of a kit.

Duane N wrote in post #14281906
...

Maybe this will shut up the pixel peepers.

In yer dreams! I'm not sure that's even possible?
Either way the D800 does look impressive but I'm not likely to move from Canon for now anyway.

cheers

Billginthekeys wrote in post #14282105
His picuture was great because it was a great lens, great light, perfect positioning, perfect backdrop, and he did a great job. The body is one part of a kit.

But I think anybody can create an image that is just as good, even with consumer-grade gear. Just as sharp, just as detailed. Nothing very special, as any of today's DSLRs are capable of that.

To me, the difference is the drastic extent to which he cropped that image.

A sharp, detailed, 100% crop is not that impressive to me if it is 3% or 4% of the original image. In Alan's image, the crop he posted was approximately 1.5 % of the image. THAT is what is so incredible to me, and why I think Nikon has Canon beat at this moment.

You asked if any of Canon's cameras could define that kind of feather detail, and as far as I can see the answer is yes.

If your only criteria is pixel density on a full frame sensor, then sure. And that will eventually turn around in Canon's favor, and on and on and on, the beauty of competition. If in the next year or two you need to crop that heavily, or print huge art prints with that kind of pixel density, to accomplish your goals, then great. I hope you have a lot of storage space on your PC and some big memory cards though.