Cameras

Raw File Test: Canon 5D Mk II vs 7D vs Nikon D5100

Chris Gampat
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12/11/2011
2 Mins read
Screen shot 2011-11-27 at 10.38.06 AM

Not long ago, we did a quick high ISO test of the Canon 5D Mk II, 7D, and Nikon D5100. We decided to revisit the test and perform another non-scientific comparison. This time though, we rated the high ISO value and the dynamic range of each camera.

So how did they do?

Gear Used

Nikon D5100

Canon 7D

Canon 5D Mk II

Canon 24-105mm F4 L IS

Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 G ED AF-S

Method

All cameras shot approximately the same scene, had the same exposure levels and all shot at ISO 6400. The files were then brought into Lightroom 3 and had lens corrections done. For the high ISO test, the files were exported as is but resized to 2MB for the web. For the dynamic range test, each camera’s file was pushed hard to see what results could come.

All images were shot with the same metering method and same exposure values.

High ISO Test

Nikon D5100 high iso test
Canon 5D Mk II high iso test
Canon 7D high iso test

As we saw in the previous test, the Nikon D5100’s sensor absorbs more light at a given exposure level than Canon’s sensors. The Canon 5D Mk II still looks to be the best in my eyes with the D5100 and 7D being very similar in performance.

Dynamic Range Test

Nikon D5100 dynamic range test
Canon 5D Mk II dynamic range test
Canon 7D dynamic range test

All images had the recovery and fill light sliders tweaked as well as sharpness, clarity and noise levels tweaked. To my amazement, I actually disliked the 5D Mk II’s noise output the most. That’s a first for any camera on this site. The color noise would require me to go in and work with color levels.

With that said though, the 5D Mk II I feel captured lots more detail, though it required the files to be pushed more in order to equalize the histograms.

Overall though, I’m not quite what to think of this one. The D5100 had captured lots of detail in the shadows, but the 5D Mk II captured more details in the shadows.

This was just a quick test, so take it with a grain of salt. However, it does help to demonstrate how far the technology has come.

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Canon 5D Mk II canon 7d comparison dynamic range high iso test nikon d5100 review
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.