Three side by side comparisons of the Nikon D800 and Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Posted on 14. May, 2012
There’s been a lot of talk about the HDSLRs announced recently and as time goes by, we’re seeing more and more comparisons of the Nikon D800 and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III – and we’ve got 3 top flight comparisons for you today plus a few extras at the bottom. And all of these come from different viewpoints – one from a pro photographer, one from someone coming into full frame, and one from an old pro in video.
Dave Dugdale
First up is Dave Dugdale from LearningDSLRvideo.com – his article “Canon 5D Mark III vs Nikon D800 Comparison” includes this video review:
Dave writes:
I’m really excited to have reviewed both the Canon 5D Mark III and the Nikon D800. I have been shooting with both of these camera for awhile and have been taking them both everywhere I go trying them side by side in different lighting conditions, cloudy, mixed lighting, extreme low light, swimming pools, silhouettes, even time lapses, comparing skin tones, slow motion, landscapes, and pictures styles, and I think I have found some interesting stuff about these cameras that no one else is talking about.
I’ve been wanting to buy a full frame camera for awhile now and I have been waiting for the Canon 5D Mark III to come out, but now that Nikon has stepped up their game on the video side of things, so there are two cameras to consider now. Are you an amateur like me wanting to step up to a full frame? In this video comparison I will be talking about this from the amateur level. This is by far my most thorough comparison I have ever done since I will be buying one of these cameras.
More Nikon D800 vs Canon EOS 5D Mark III
For photographers, Ron Mart has written a very detailed report “COMPARISION: Nikon D800 vs Canon 5D Mark III”
Ron’s article is unique in that he writes two different conclusions – one for Nikon owners and one for Canon owners – as many are likely not to really want to switch due to their investments in lenses.
Ron also has a very interesting post “FAIL: Nikon D800 Live View vs Canon 5D Mark III” where he documents an issue he sees in the live view on the D800…
And, for audio buffs, JuicedLink provides this comparison “Canon 5DMKIII versus Nikon D800 review of audio firmware features”:
The pro video comparison…
Of course, since you’re watching our HDSLR news page, you’ve seen that Philip Bloom has published his report… “Full Frame Shootout: Review of Nikon D800, D4 and Canon 5DmkIII”
(cover photo credit: snap from the Ron Mart article – closeup from the D800 photo)
About planetmitch
the owner of planet5d.com - the best dslr video website on the planet. we've got a dslr video forum, blog, news, cinema, and more!
4 Responses to “Three side by side comparisons of the Nikon D800 and Canon EOS 5D Mark III”
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Dave Dugdale
14. May, 2012
Hey Mitch, thanks for posting my video here!
Luke Malanga
14. May, 2012
Who put a thumbs down on Dave Dugdale’s post? Curse you!
Simon Bailey
14. May, 2012
I’m a D800 user and can tell you the white balance is actually extremely fast to alter. Just hold down a button and roll a dial. No need to go into any menus or anything.
As for aliasing thats just down to how much sharper the D800 is.
Glad you picked up on the dynamic range of the D800 Dave because nobody else seems to have noticed it that I’ve found and to me that range is everything.
As for low light part of why the 5D looks getter in low light is because the blacks are already so crushed you can’t see the noise as clearly. You can’t compare the to ISO number to ISO number. You need to slip the values to really be fair because 1600 or 800 etc is much brighter on the D800 compared to the same value on the 5D. So naturally the D800 will appear noisier sooner.
Good video but I recommend studying the D800‘s method of white balancing further before knocking it.
Also you left out in camera time-lapses video recording in the D800. Very cool feature.
And through Nikons desktop software you can create your own camera profiles, save them and upload them to the D800. Thats a major feature that almost nobody knows about.
Cheers,
Simon
Ellsworth
17. May, 2012
Dave Dugdale’s review was very honest.
Great review. Thanks for sharing.