DXO Mark camera comparisons

Neat stuff. Check out the comparison of the Nikon D40, D90, and D700. Body-only prices for the three are roughly $400, $1000, and $2500. The D90 and D700 score better on image quality, but the big difference is high ISO performance. The D90 is almost twice as good as the D40, but the D700 is more than twice as good again as the D90!

That’s consistent with what I’ve been reading: the D700 and D3 at high ISOs like 3200 or 6400 have no more noise than most cameras have at ISO 400. You can increase shutter speed by three or four stops and crank up the ISO with no loss in image quality.

To do anything similar without using high ISOs you’d need expensive large aperture lenses, and even then you couldn’t achieve the same low light performance. (And of course there’s nothing preventing you from putting fast glass on a D700 to get BOBW.)

I’m sticking with my D40 for now. I’ve not even had it a year, and there’s lots more I need to learn to wring more performance out of it. I wouldn’t mind having a D90, but what I really want is for the high ISO performance of the D700 to trickle down to sub-$1000 cameras. Rumor is that Nikon will release new low-priced DSLRs to replace the D40 and D60 in first quarter of 2009.

Hat tip to Nikon D40 Photographer, which despite the name is a beginner’s-oriented site with useful links no matter what camera body you’re shooting. To keep your ear to the ground of the Nikon world visit Nikon Rumors.

Tags: d40, nikon