S5pro vs D700, my take...

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S5pro vs D700, my take...

Post by Stany Buyle »

November 2007 I went from S5pro to D3 and finally to D700. Couldn't be happier.
A couple of days ago though I could get my hands on a second hand S5pro in perfect condition for an interesting price... So I bit, partly for fun and partly because of reading a lot on S5pro in a topic on this forum posted by Leen Koper...

I just couldn't resist to compare D700 vs S5pro side by side myself...

I'll write my honest impressions day by day, whithout perfuming either brand...
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
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Impressions of the first hour of testing...

Post by Stany Buyle »

The evolution of computer OS's and available third party software is also in favour of S5pro. Viewing RAF files for an initial sorting after a shoot became much comfortable more since the existence of the FastPictureViewer WIC RAW Codecwhich enables to see a large thumbnail of RAF files in windows explorer and windows photo gallery…

For years(S2pro and S5pro) I got the underneath view with my RAF’s in windows explorer, and I was forced to make the first sorting out of my picture in a dedicated image browser:
Image

While now I get this in Vista with the FastPictureViewer WIC RAW Codecinstalled:

Image

What a luxury... A valuable reason to like working with the S2pro/S3pro/S5pro better than before...
Last edited by Stany Buyle on Sun 25 Oct 2009 11:27, edited 1 time in total.
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Impressions of the first hour of testing...part2

Post by Stany Buyle »

While starting this humble test I wanted to make in-camera new maps on the CF card for storage the test with different lenses and applications like you can do so easy with Nikon. Apparently, also after reading the manual in detail, this is not possible with S5pro…
Last edited by Stany Buyle on Sun 25 Oct 2009 11:26, edited 2 times in total.
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Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Impressions of the first hour of testing...part3

Post by Stany Buyle »

Together with this S5pro I bought a tamron 28-75 F2.8 (old version-no AF motor) is good condition. While trying out the S5pro in the first hour, I mounted this tamron 28-75. Results were poor because of the lack of an AF-S motor and because of no vibration reduction.
While mounting the 28-75Di on my D700, all of a sudden this purchase became a lens that will stay mine…
The differences of the Tamron 28-75 mounted on S5pro vs mounted on D700 are the following:
1. After a simple AF test with batteries I found out that this 28-75 back focuses quite badly on the S5pro. Even tough it does focus more accurate on my D700, some back-front focusing is no problem with D700 due to the in-camera AF adjusting feature, which S5pro has not…
2. While using AF-C, the AF motor of the D700 swings this screw driven lens into focus in a fraction while it needs too much time with the S5pro AF motor so it lacks AF accuracy while the body movements are faster than the AF adjustment.
3. The focal range of this lens is simply better on a FF camera than on a DX camera.
4. The outstanding high iso capability of the D700 makes handholding this lens in low light conditions perfectly possible while going to a higher iso to reduce shutter speed. In relation to this, with S5pro you are somewhat limited until iso400 to get the same what D700 produces @ iso 1600…

My conclusion on the above: While I seem to like this lens on my D700, I would never use this lens on a S5pro, exept perhaps for use in a studio, what I don't do... TMHO to get the best out of an S5pro, this camera needs top-quality, fast lenses, and -if not F2.8 or faster-, with VR or VC...
Update:: Finally this lens needed an AF ajustment of -15 to be tack sharp @ F2.8 on the D700... AF ajustment isn't possible on S5pro, so this round goes to D700...
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Re: S5pro vs D700, my take...

Post by Leen Koper »

My copy of the 28-75 doesnot backfocus on my S5. maybe I'm just lucky. However, this could easely be adjusted; there was, a few days ago, a thread on Dpreview http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=33422189 But are there any backfocus issues on a 50 mm lens? This allignment could easely be a body or/and a lens problem, so take care.....

I know, it isn't fair to compare a camera of more than three years (S5) old in a body of four years (D200) old to a modern one, but it shows how much cameras have evolved lately. It is a pity depreciation goes at such a fast pace; it means buying a new camera almost every two years and if you need to have two or three cameras, every single year. We used to buy film, now we are getting used to buy cameras instead. (However, I save about 20.000 euros a year by photographing and printing digital compared to the film era. But I never know where the money went....)
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Re: S5pro vs D700, my take...

Post by Geoff_Roughton »

Stany we still have a pair of S5's and really like the OOC jpegs but we tend to use primes on them but on the D700 can get away with lenses like the 28-105, 35-70 and the 70-300 VR. The S5 tends to demand really good glass but even then struggles to get close to the output from the D700 with something like the 28-105 on it and of course the D700 really shines when using the same primes.

Now the colour thats a different story:-)
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Geoff
"always look on the bright side of life...."
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Re: S5pro vs D700, my take...

Post by Stany Buyle »

My copy of the 28-75 doesnot backfocus on my S5. maybe I'm just lucky. However, this could easely be adjusted; there was, a few days ago, a thread on Dpreview http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=33422189 But are there any backfocus issues on a 50 mm lens? This allignment could easely be a body or/and a lens problem, so take care.....
In that thread op Dpreview I was reading the reaction from Joseph S Wisniewski(together with Iliah Borg the most scientific knowledgeable about photography on the Nikon forum) on Mr. Huyzer's euphory, which says:
huyzer wrote: Hi all, Oye! I'm so happy now. My backfocus days are over (I hope).
Joseph S Wisniewski wrote:Nope. But your days of unpredictability and weird focus errors have just begun.
And about the 50mm prime: Focuses perfect on the S5pro.
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Test findings, part4: S5pro 6Mp Jpeg vs 12Mp Jpeg...

Post by Stany Buyle »

After quite a bit of pixel peeping, I came to the same conclusion than years ago with my S2pro that I like the 6Mp jpegs better than the interpolated 12Mp ones.
The interpolated have very much artifacts in shadow and plain areas. TMHO bicubic upscaling in PS does a better job...
On the other side, I find a 12Mp TIFF convertion from a RAF with HUV3 software very good...
The interpolated 12Mp images out of a S5pro are in no way a competitor for the native 12Mp images out of a D700 though...
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Test findings, part 5: S5pro sharpness...

Post by Stany Buyle »

I was reading quite a bit of debating about S5pro sharpness, not resolution(some people seem to mix up this sometimes...) In these debates, several people were mentioning about the S5 producing soft images. I respectfully disagree about this...
With good lenses, I get very sharp pictures out of the S5pro. Underneath a sample: S5pro with 70-200 AF-S VR, handhold, iso 400, straight out of the camera, but cropped for websize.

Image

And a 66% crop in NX:

Image

My conclusion in relation to this D700 vs S5pro comparison about sharpness is that if you use high quality lenses and their focus calibration fits with the focus calibration of the camera, you can get as sharp images with S5pro than what you can get with D700, but with significant less resolution. For prints upto A4 though, you will barely see the difference...
What S5pro lacks here is the AF ajustment feature, so you can ajust if your lens' AF calibration isn't compatible with your camera AF calibration like I seem to have with my Tamron 28-75...
Until now, I got very sharp images on my S5pro with the 50mm prime and the 70-200 AF-S VR, not so spectacular -to my surprise-, with the 105VR(not bad though), and extremely bad with my 28-75 tamron.

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kindest regards,

Stany
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Re: S5pro vs D700, my take...

Post by Geoff_Roughton »

Stany pretty much my thoughts as well....its resolution limited not unsharp. If shooting portraits its great but I wouldnt want to do large group shots with it these days.....I leave that to the D700 or 14n.
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Geoff
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Test findings part 6: S5pro vs D700 AFocusing speed and accu

Post by Stany Buyle »

While using the same lenses on D700 and S5pro the difference in AF speed and accuracy is very big, with screw driven lenses the difference even enormous... My 18-35, -although a screw driven lens-, locks focus about instantly, even in dim light, while on the S5pro -although accurate-, you can follow it with your eyes while turning to lock into focus. And I'm not talking only about speed, also about accuracy. The tamron 17-50 F2.8 as another sample: while using this lens in DX mode on the D700, it hits focus position nearly instantly, on the S5pro it's struggling a bit...
Next to that the comfort of 51 AF points becomes more cleare when you switch from one camera to another.
While S5pro being an "older" camera now, these differences give also an indication how much difference in AF speed and accuracy one will find between consumer grade bodies and professional bodies.
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Re: S5pro vs D700, my take...

Post by Geoff_Roughton »

Stany its the sheer usability of cameras like the D700 that shows how technology keeps marching on.....it would be nice to have either a FF fuji or foveon sensor camera though:-)
Best
Geoff
"always look on the bright side of life...."
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