Nederlandstalige versie van deze pagina The table of content is at the end of the page.
Some pictures to evaluate the resolution. The contrast ratio (ratio between dark and light) is limited, so no camera should have any problem rendering the full range. We can therefore concentrate on other properties of each pictures, like the resolution in wide and tele modus.
Nikon 5700 (1002k) 348k
Sony 707 (1246k) 519k
Nikon 990 (?k) 288k
Sony 900
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Nikon 5700 (1055k) 501k
Sony 707 (1240k) 501k
Nikon 990 (?k) 356k
Nikon 990 with 3X tele (671k) 416k
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Nikon 5700 with digital zoom (738k) 208k |
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These are pictures of the secret naval base of Oostende. The layout of the pictures is different (you have to compare with the picture above or underneath).
The older Nikon 990 pictures were taken one year ago and are not comparable (different lighting conditions), but you can see that the 3X zoom is limitedr compared to modern cameras. However, when using the bulky 3X tele converter you can get the same picture quality as with other more recent high grade models.
The Nikon 5700 has a bad digital zoom. A digital zoom enlarge the center part of an image. Manufacturers claim that their digital zoom is slightly better than enlarging a picture afterwards because the enlarging is done on the raw data from the CCD, and not on the jpg-compressed file. That claim is clearly (!) not true for the Nikon 5700.
(990K) 507k
(1044K) 507k
(1075K) 505k
(990K) 280k
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Here i will list a last list of features of the Nikon 5700. I've used it for an extensive period now, and can give a complete account of it's possibilities.
- Don't use the contrast enhance feature of the camera, unless you are well knowing what you are doing. This setting will increase the gain in the most bright parts of a picture, and the adverse effect of it is that these parts will be over-exposed (burned). You can always increase the contrast of a picture afterwards (using the Photoshop LAB-mode, you can increase contrast without increasing noise), but a picture that is burned out can't be corrected. No way!
- The articulated display is one of the best of it's sorts, because you can rotate it all ways. Ideal for taking portrait photographs of small childrens (but it's usage is not limited to that!). It's a pity there are no more manufacturers making such a rotating display (Sony, in one of it's older models, the DSC-S50, also used such a display).
- For taking night shot pictures, you will have to do some manual adjustments, because the camera always try to correctly expose the picture, giving a too bright picture. You can reduce exposure (EV -1.7 is a good value), but you can also play with the 'image adjustments' and darken image. While reducing exposure will shift the complete picture towards a darker image, 'darkening ' the picture will modify the gamma value: bright and dark parts will remain the same and the midtones will be darkened (and that is what we want in our nightshot picture). Also lock the sensivity to 100 ASA, this will reduce CCD noise (and increase exposure time).
(1056K) 177k |
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One difficulty with the sun (and digital cameras) is the infra red light. Normal film cameras are not sensitive to infra red, but digital cameras are. They are actually sensitive to a part of the IR spectrum, the 'near IR'. In this picture, the sun is way too bright (normal color should be red) because of the infra red light of the sun is over-exposing the CCD.
If you enjoy the images on the left (when the light intensity decreases), you will find more pictures on my home server: pictures. Look also at the fireworks pictures!
And what did we learn from all this?
- You probably can't use a Sony 707 near a radio transmitter.
- The Sony has better lenses and the darker parts of images are better defined, in all zoom settings.
- The Nikon has a wider zoom range, but the Sony compensates because at tele setting, the Nikon pictures are slightly blurred.
- The Sony creates awfully big pictures that you can reduce in size to 20% without any noticeable picture degradation. The Nikon is slightly better, and you can choose NORMAL or BASIC compression. Don't use the FINE mode, in most cases this setting is not needed. I tried BASIC and NORMAL mode, and the same compression artefacts appeared in both BASIC and NORMAL mode. So why use the NORMAL mode that gives 2.2 bigger file sizes?
- Color correction is better with the Nikon. The new Sony 717 seems to be improved.
- In wide mode, there are internal reflections in the Sony lenses.
- Naval bases are not so secret anymore.
- Even an old 990 can produce some beautiful pictures, and his teleconverter is of very high quality.
- Don't use the digital zoom. It is much more difficult to frame your picture, cropping afterwards is much more easy.
- The Sony is big and heavy due to his voluminous lens assembly, the Nikon smaller and faster.
Next part.
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