5D Sharper Than D3/D300?

Was browsing KenRockwell since I found some lens reviews on his site and stumbled onto this: http://www.kenrockwell​.com/nikon/d3/sharpnes​s-1.htm

I used Nikon's newest 24-70mm f/2.8 AF-s set to 70mm for the D3 and set to 45mm for the D300. I used the Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS L for the Canon 5D. I didn't bother with my D200 since it's from 2005, I got lazy, and there isn't much difference among the DX Nikons anyway. I really wanted to see the 5D versus the D3 and the rest is just here to fill the page.

The huge margin of sharpness between the Nikons and the 5D had me scramble to see if different lenses and settings changed anything.


I tried my 85mm f/1.4 AF-D, 85mm f/2 AI-s, 70-180mm Micro and more, and no matter what I tried, the results are the same. Lenses don't matter here; at f/8 they are all the same in the center.

Quite amazing from a camera from 2005!

sadatk wrote in post #4923631
Was browsing KenRockwell since I found some lens reviews on his site...

Careful about what you read on his site... I'm not sure he uses the best, most scientific testing methods out there.

Ken Rockwell is the Chuck norris of the photography world.

I believe those are shot in JPEG and Nikon with the d3 and D300 have been very conservative with the sharpening from what I read. He also did a RAW vs NEF comparison of the Nikons and with Sharpening the JPEG images were about as sharp as the NEF images.

So I think if you shot both in RAW and properly processed the images, the difference will probably be a lot less and maybe even trivial.

timnosenzo wrote in post #4923645
Careful about what you read on his site... I'm not sure he uses the best, most scientific testing methods out there.

Actually you were being polite - what you meant is "he doesn't ever use any scientific testing methods".

In fact he has said as much on several occasions.

sadatk wrote in post #4923631
Was browsing KenRockwell since I found some lens reviews on his site and stumbled onto this: http://www.kenrockwell​.com/nikon/d3/sharpnes​s-1.htm


Quite amazing from a camera from 2005!

Could this be why, as of yet, there is no replacement for the 5D? What do they do for an encore as the saying goes?

2 1/2 years old and still the gold standard.