Saturday, September 29, 2007



OK....I'm in a mood for testing my new 40D Canon against the Canon XTi. While the sensors are the same size, the 40D's sensor has larger lenses. Given that and the Digic III processor, there should be a significant difference in comparable images. My thinking, as stated before, is why pay the price of the 40D if the XTi can produce the same image.

Here's my test set up: Gitzo 320 tripod with Bogen 3-way head fitted with hex quick-release. Lens used was a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 (metal mount). ISO was 100, f/10 at 1/50th second, manually focused on the trash can. Shutter was released via the self-timer. Processing was in Lightroom v1.2. Post conversion adjustments were done in PS CS2, and both images were sharpened with USM settings of: radius .05, % 165.

Conclusions: 40D exhibits better shadow detail and better overall sharpness. The unsharpened 40D equaled the XTi image after sharpening. I'd call that significant. Noise levels (could see none) was equal in both examples. You'll probably have to compare the enlarged images (click on each image for a bigger view) to really see the differences.

2 comments:

Steve Williams said...

The 40D definitely produces a smoother looking image in the magnified detail. It is significant to a trained eye but to the casual viewer looking at a regular picture it probably would be lost.

Shooting with Nikon's D200 I have wondered if I could do a better job on assignments with one of their better cameras. When I look at the products I shoot for that are either on the Web or used in off-set printing I can't see how the anything could be better.

I'll need to consider this carefully before I ask the company to lay out a lot more money for a camera...

So.... quit making me thing about this stuff Frank!

Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks

pitchertaker said...

Well, I guess I should show you this link:
http://press.nikonusa.com/2007/09/nikon_d3_sample_images.php#more

P'taker

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