What happens when you take the new Sony a9ii and pit it against the Nikon D5 and Z6 in a high ISO shootout? Will the D5 be able to hold its own against the new kids on the block – or will it be crushed?
Watch the video to find out!
We’ll look at ISOs a stop at a time from 1600 up to 51,2000 and compare the results from all three cameras. Enjoy!
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Below are links to the comparison images in the video. Make sure you click the image once it loads to be sure you’re viewing it full size. All links open in a new tab.
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400
ISO 12,800
ISO 25,600
ISO 51,200
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thanks a lot Steve the information has help me out a lot
Glad I read this Steve. I cover all kinds of live sports, but gymnastics and Friday night high school football are the two sports where exceptional high ISO performance is critical. The DxO Optics website indicates that the A9 ii blows away the D5 in High ISO performance. The difference is so pronounced, I was almost ready to trade in a D5 + 70-200 for a Sony A9ii and Sony equivalent 70-200. However, my brain prompted me to keep searching for the pro sports photogs widespread anointment of the dominance of the A9 ii over the D5, and unfortunately, at… Read more »
Yeah, the a9ii is good, but it’s simply not as good as the D5 in my experience. After shooting with it more, it seems like the D5 actually does even better than what’s demo’ed in this video – especially in really dim light. (And honestly, I wish the a9ii was better because I really enjoy that camera)
This is a great summary! Have you considered including some of the Canon cameras in this type of comparison? It would be great to see something like the Canon Mark II or something similar vs the Nikon D5!
I would, but I down’t own any Canon gear. I have to purchase all of this myself so I have to work with what I currently have.
Does anyone can tell?? How does the Nikon D5 compare to the Sony A9?
Spent a month reading your books and watching your videos prior to going to Africa, since I had replaced 4×5 and Hasselblad film cameras when digital became dominant. I had a D7000 but never spent any real effort learning the camera. I gave it to my daughter and purchased a D7100 and a Z6. One advantage I learned with the Z6 is when animals including a 9 year old lion came so close to our vehicle that we had to be still and quiet, I was able to shoot in complete silence. I got some shots that others were unable… Read more »
Thanks! I agree – silent shooting is a huge advantage to mirrorless. However, I’ve had the experience where I was shooting and everyone thought I was just sitting there because they didn’t hear the camera LOL!
How does the Nikon D5 compare to the Sony A9 (not the latest version)?
I just started with Sony, so all I have to compare is the a9ii.
The mirrorless held up better than I expected. Where would you say the 850 which has the same Backlit Sensor as the Z6, would land up ? Between the D5 and the Z6 (like I assume the D500 will) or the same/better than D5?
Never mind my question. I read the rest of the comments and your answers to them, and it’s as I figured out. Interesting discussion about downsampling issues tho, but I believe you are right. Inthe end, you have to compare images sampled down/up to the same size to make an effective comparison. I would think resizing down should remove noise, so in the end, pixel for pixel, the mirrorless are getting a bit of a boost and still not keeping up with the old stalwart. The D6 will be roughly 24MP too, and should have the same BSI sensor, and… Read more »
Where would you put the D500? At what max ISO would you say that “in the field, I doubt you’d notice any difference.”?
The D500 is somewhere is at least a solid stop worse than the D5. So, I’m taking probably ISO 800 or so. At ISO 1600, I think there’s enough difference between the D500 and D5 that you would see it. At ISO 800, you’d still see the difference, but the noise is so low it probably wouldn’t matter. Still, I’m not afraid to shoot the D500 at ISO 4000, BUT I prefer it at ISO 2000 and less.
Steve: Your results were as I expected; but only the mirrorless cameras came out better than I thought they would. I shoot sports, mostly, and at the Institute (New Mexico Military Institute) and the marketing guys there just purchased a Z7. He has shot DSLR’s in the past and when I asked him if he’d buy the mirrorless again; his reply was no. The mirrorless cameras just don’t have the response needed (in time shudder trips from when you press the shudder) that the DSLR’s do. I do own the Olympus OM-D mark 5II that i purchased for shooting when… Read more »
Not all mirrorless are created equal 🙂 The Sony a9ii has been most impressive and easily keeps up with my D5 for performance – in fact, it often exceeds it.
The difference may be between the two models, the Z6 and Z7, or the operator. Wish I had one myself (not rally, I’m perfectly happy with a full frame DSLR) just so I could run a few tests myself. Be nice if we could explore this together but I have no access to a Z7 or Z6. If you have ac4ess to one, you may find that is the difference. An idea for an article for you (you are good at what you do, for sure) might be an article that shows what situations are better for the DSLR, or… Read more »
Totally agree Steven. I had initially purchased the A7RIV and fell for more mpx is better. But quickly realized that camera is noisy. I swapped it out for the A9ii and there is a bigger difference in high ISO than sensor scores claim. A9ii is very clean through ISO 6400 and can be used at 12800. The A7RIV on the other hand started showing pixel noise by 1600 and for me the outer limit of acceptable results was ISO 3200. Whats your experience with the A7RIV been? Of course the A7RIV is much slower and less precise than the A9ii… Read more »
I enjoy most of your posts. Here, I’m not convinced that when judging noise that the resizing pass is as legitimate. At least before doing that, I’d compare how uniform the pixel noise was at the native resolution while keeping in mind the equivalent areas being represented. Also given the Bayer filter’s pattern decode to make color, and gain being non-linear, the R, G, B gain values imposed at a particular ISO may themselves contribute to what is being perceived as noise in the processed raw file, therefore I’d look closer at different color squares in the captures as well… Read more »
I get your point, but the reason I do same size comparisons is because the bottom line with noise – at least in my opinion – is how the images will look at a given output. So, they need to be normalized. For example, taking this to a greater extreme, what if I were comparing cameras with widely different resolutions – like a D850 and a D5? At pixel level at say ISO 6400, the D850 looks like a disaster compared to the D5. However, in the real world, we don’t (usually) view our images at 100% or greater magnification.… Read more »
I’ve still got my D810 and I’m considering the D850 with the current sales incentive as a backup (well new primary), with the Z7 not quite yet meeting my shooting style or expectations… also thinking if the 60 MPix makes it to the next mirrorless release that it may be beyond what I’m willing to pay for awhile. Anyway, my comment arose mainly because I work with cameras in an industrial setting and what I’ve noted with Sony’s BSI Pregius and Starvis sensors; many of the processing options are exposed for me to play with there, while those settings have… Read more »
Agreed. In my experience, I find that it’s generally better to use the higher res / higher pixel density cameras to crop. For example, I have tested the D500 against the cropped D5 and it was no contest – I retained more detail with the D500. However, I didn’t conduct the test at super high ISO either. Still, I think the bottom line is information loss, and the higher pixel density sensors generally seem to be a better bet for cropping than the lower pixel density sensors. Now we just need a 61MP Nikon to se.e (I do have the… Read more »
Steven agreed, the A7RIV just seemed too noisy for my taste and often missed focus which was highly frustrating, had me questioning my own abilities. I swapped for the A9ii and it rarely misses a shot! I dont miss the noise or extra mpx of the A7RIV at all. If you had to pick one of these bodies which would you pick and why? Thanks
Hi Steve!
Thanks for the interesting (as always) review.
I think years ago there were always a great step in
sensor technology. Nowadays the steps ahead in
the sensor development are quite small.
You can see the differences only in comprehensive special tests…..
Btw. your books autofocus and metering are amazing!
I agree – in the field, I doubt you’d notice any difference.
Where did this go?
Just for the heck of it, Did you try the base ISO?
5
Thanks, Steve, this is really interesting! Do you prefer to use your D5 in Costa Rica over the D850 given the better ISO performance, since light is presumably a big issue in the rainforest?
Yup 🙂 When I’m just about anywhere else, I tend to use the D850 somewhere between 50% and 90% of the time. However, in CR, I tend to use the D5 80-90% of the time – just for the low-light capabilities (ISO, color, and AF response).
Steve – great video, thanks. What do think about comparing a prime (Nikons) vs a zoom ( Sony)? Any issue there that would affect ISO?
Not directly. If the 300PF is sharper it might explain why the little hair started to disappear sooner on the a9ii than the D5 – but we also saw the same thing with the Z6. I think a more likely scenario is that a9ii might have a stormer aa filter. However, the lens itself wouldn’t affect ISO performance.
Interesting comparisons, Steve. I am surprised you left out one of your favorite cameras, the Nikon D850, in your testing. If you do another test, please consider including the Nikon D500 which seems often a preferred choice for telephoto wildlife shooters. You threw out an all too brief comment near the end of the video about dynamic range. I appreciate you expanding on that aspect of camera choice in a future video or podcast.
Mostly because I wanted to take the my top-performing high ISO cameras and compare the best of the best. The D850 is great overall – and I think it’s still my favorite camera – BUT it’s no high ISO champ, even when downsampled to D5 size. (I did a comparison when I did the D850 review).
Hi Steve. Thank your cat for the well placed hair. After years of film photography, finally a situation where the little buddy contributions paid off. 🙂 Keep up your great work.
LOL, will do – most of the time it doesn’t work out that well!
Hi Steve, thank you for the informative video. I am wondering how would A9II compare to A7R4 and Z6 to Z7, given the smaller pixel sizes on the higher resolution cameras? Theoretically, the A7R4 and Z7 should be significantly worse, is the difference noticeable? Thanks.
From just regular shooting experience, I can say the a9ii and D5 have about 2/3rds to a full stop on the Z7 and a7r4.
Steve, as I have stated to many of my Nikon shooters, the D6 would really have to be a HUGE techno- advancement for me to replace my D5. I will wait for your D6 comparison video.
Looking forward to the D6 myself. However, I’m concerned that it may just be an incremental update. The fact that the first two Nikon promo videos for the D6 are basically about the D5 makes me think they might say something like, “Hey, the D5 is so great we decided not to change it too much!”
Sweet video, glad in real life I came to the same conclusion with some Kingfisher shots,
Man, wish I had some kingfishers handy 🙂
Hey Steve, I guess there is a typo in the title of the video as you use the Z6 and not the Z7 😉
Happy to be a D5 owner, for me the best camera I have ever owned.
All fixed – Z6 is correct as shown in the video. Too much copy / paste in too much of a hurry!
Hi Steve, what are your thoughts on the focus acquisition plus tracking capabilities of these cameras. Also maybe the difference in total pixel density 20mb vs 24mb might explain the noise differences ?