Dynamic Range of D700

[Dennis]

After reading the D90 review and the comparison I am a little confused.
It seems like the the DR of the D700 is the worst of the 3 (i.e. D90, D300 & D700).
But I seems to get better DR on the D700 compared to the D300.
Anybody care to explain ??.

[night86mare]

you need exact same lighting conditions to tell dr apart for sure, unless it is more extreme like the s5 pro DR.

you have any pictures to showcase what you mean?

[tomcat]

That's because dpreview only compared the jpeg outputs from the 3 cameras. Nikon has set different default curves for the 3 DSLRs for jpeg outputs.

The D700 has much better DR than the D300 if shot in RAW and converted optimally.
In fact, according to Imaging Resource, it is the best amongst all the latest DSLRs at the highest quality level... see comparison table in the section 'Dynamic Range, the bottom line' in this article:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PROD...900IMATEST.HTM

[pisduck]

tomcat,

how would you rate the DR of the SD14 vs D700? I am thinking of getting the D700 to complement the SD14.

[gooseberry]

Yeah, as mentioned, DPReview does their test not only with jpegs, but at default settings as well. Nikon's default settings for jpegs are less than optimal (eg default is Large Normal jpegs instead of Large Fine, and the jpeg compression default is Size Priority instead of Optimal Priority) and the default tone curves for some cameras leave a lot to be desired - all of which translates to less than optimal results if you just use the defaults. So you should change those defaults and tone curves to more optimal settings.

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by pisduck tomcat, how would you rate the DR of the SD14 vs D700? I am thinking of getting the D700 to complement the SD14.

I have always had a very good impression of the DR of the SD14. You have seen my comparison between the D700, E3 and SD14 right?
What I like about the SD14's DR in that comparison which I didn't specifically highlight was that the shadow details were very much evident without having to pull them out with Highlight/Shadow adjustments. I also especially like the colours from the Foveon sensor of the SD14 and DP1.

It's such a pity that Sigma does not want to produce a full-frame version of the Foveon sensor.

[Dennis]

Thanks for all the input it clear things up a little but I keep wondering if the D700 has the same sensor, processing etc of the D3 why do they (Nikon) have to change it and make the jpeg different from the D3 even though the raw may be the same ??.
Worst still it can't even compared to the D90 / D300, I would expect it to be at least the same.

[teerex]

Dennis,

Set your jpeg compression to "Optimal Priority" and use "Landscape" Picture Control.

See the difference in your jpegs.

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by teerex Dennis, Set your jpeg compression to "Optimal Priority" and use "Landscape" Picture Control. See the difference in your jpegs.

Thanks have all the time been set to optimal already.
Also I always use Raw plus Jpeg since I can't fill up my card all the time.