Z6 useable ISO of 25600, desperate usability at 51200, but at 102400 it struggles, that's not bad, I think that the D5 was better at the high ISO in terms of noise but the Z6 seemed sharper to my eye. Nice video, very useful information.
For photography, I have found that you really want to stay at 12800 or less ISO on the Z6. You will be perfectly fine at or below that number, which is great.
As a D5, D500 and D750 user I found this video very, very useful, many thanks. I think I am going to trade in my D750 for the Z6 and hope the Z6 performs well for events and concerts.
After a year has gone by, what is your opinion. I'm on a similar path and would love to hear your thoughts on the change to the Z6? BTW - Great video very helpful as I weigh moving to the Z6 or something else.
It seems to me there is a considerable clarity/sharpness difference with the Z mount f1.8 lens vs the Df/D5 58mm. Noise wise this was very interesting as well. Thanks for doing the comparison.
Thanks for taking the time to do this comparison Ricci and sharing it with us here. The Z6 really is a stunning performer, looking forward to getting mine next week. Cheers.
DXOMark low light scores: Z6 3299 Df 3279 D5 2434 Those scores and the significantly better dynamic range scores of the Z6 rate it as the seventh best Nikon sensor overall.
Thanks for the video. I shoot with a D5 and live at 20k+ ISO so it was nice to see the Z6 keep up with the D5 as I'm looking at retiring the old work horse. :) How does the Z6 II compare please? Do you have a video about that? Cheers.
For equal image size the difference would be less between the Z6 and D5 at 102k and with its greater detail, the color noise could be reduced which together combines to be very impressive. Anyone who has shot the D5 knows it is a beast in the low light action shooting but I am amazed by the Z6. When I got my D6, were playing with it at the store counter, put in the XQD from the bundled kit and took a shot just to feel it and it was on Green Auto at 22,000 ISO. It looks so clean I read it 2200 ISO, until the manager called attention to the extra "0". I shoot it a lot every day because it is so inviting to hold and use. Its unexpectedly good noise control at 51k or 102k in JPG. The rendering engine is really good for JPG, better than my D850. Well done Ricci, very informative
Are you having any trouble with Continuous AF on the Z6 as some of the " big " channels are reporting? Such as missing focus on shots of birds in flight? Thanks for the ISO test, the Z6 surprised me I must admit, I figured the D5 would kill them both
The first thing to say is that the Z6 is not a sports action camera. If sports action is your top priority, get a D500 or D850. Can you use a Z6 for BIF's? Sure, but dont expect D500 or D850 level AF performance. As long as you put it in this context, you will find that the AF on the Z6 is adequate for sports action. It will miss AF sometimes. It is hard to keep BIF's in the frame. EVF's work totally different than OVF's, and this will take time to get used to. Do not buy a Z6 if sports action is your top priority. Ive snapped over 8000 images with my Z6, and I find that it is highly capable camera once you figure it out, and bend the advantages of full frame mirrorless to your will and not the other way around. It and the AF is perfectly fine for most uses. Can it be better? Of course. The D500 and D850 AF could also be better. The low light capability of the Z6 is pretty amazing. Even when you use DX lenses, the noise is very well controlled. Much exceeds my exceptions. The results of this review are not surprising to me.
Ricci Talks so if i have a model walking towards me i usually use Face tracing and AFC and burst.. is that best way to track her ? Or is it better to use single point (or even the small contrast detect point) snd just jeep the point on her face (just like i do with my d850) ??? Plz help hahaha
G'day, thanks for doing a comparison between these cameras, I noticed through the video the histogram moving and had a close look and noticed the shutter speeds varying in favour of the z6, allowing nearly double the light in some shots, curious if you picked that up? Cheers Terry
Why the df shot at a higher shutter speed than the other two therefore being darker in general? Look at iso 25600 df was shot at 1/50s and the other two at 1/30s
Great video...I'm loving the low light performance of my Z6. The D5 seems slightly cleaner to me after 12800 but it's definitely close...surprisingly so. I expected the D5 to run away with it but pleased to see otherwise. Thanks again for all your wonderful work!
Thanks for the video but I noticed you used a different lens for the test. The newer z lens is going to be brighter and sharper and the older g lenses. Maybe try using the same lens on all three bodies for a fairer test.
Would love for you to do a similar test with the Z7 to the Z6 and maybe scale down/trade of pixels in noise reduction on the Z7 to see what kind of best case scenario you can get out of both cameras. I always hear about the Z6 being way better at high ISO but I am curious if that it’s actually as true after what you can do with the Z7 files
Interestingly all 3 cameras expose and meter differently. I had the cameras on a tripod set the aperture to F8 put in the ISO I wanted then changed the shutter speed to what the camera told me was correct exposure using the exposure bar in manual mode and it did lead to some variations. But would represent how you would expose for each camera on their own in the real world.
When doing this test did you keep the camera raw settings at 14bit lossless? Wondering because of how a cameras DNR and raw bit depth interact. Most people will religiously keep their bit depth at 14 bits not realizing it's working against them at the higher iso values.
Nice video. I like to see the comparisons with the same lens on all cameras. But maybe that will not make a difference. What is the technological difference between native ISO and expanded ISO?
i dunno man, the photos were all framed differently. The photo taken with the Z6, the subject was framed more to the center compare to the other two. And for some reasons, the one taken with the z6 seems to be well lighted where the photo taken with the df seems to be a bit dim.
Different camera body will have different center point of its sensor relative to the camera placement, lens design etc. Different camera model/brand have dofferent metering and different brightness at same iso.
Thanks for this video. I thought, I could be wrong of course, that the Z cameras have some internal noise reduction applied to the raw files, in camera, that can't be turned off so this may not be comparing apples to apples.
Ricci Talks great news. I never used the 14-24 below f4 anyway so the comments of some reviewers that state it’s not a pro lens because it’s maximum aperture is f4 are just silly really.
Very informative comparison. If I may: I notice that in several of your videos (including this one) you refer to the areas in the image that are out of focus as “depth of field areas.” To me, that choice of words is associated with the portions of the image that are considered acceptably sharply focused. This is a very minor detail when compared to the fantastic amount of substance and value present in your content. I only offer it for your consideration because you seem extraordinarily precise in your approach to your testing and analysis. In any case, the larger point is that I do enjoy your channel. Nice work.
What needs to be also factored in with the Z6 is the IBIS, which means you can hand hold at much lower shutter speeds, I took a shot of the lunar eclipse hand held with my 200-500 (at 500mm) recently and I shot at 1/8 of a second, and I got some useable shots, so the IBIS alone means you can shoot in siginificantly darker conditions if you are open to using slower shutter speeds.
Nice video, but ... Isn’t Z6 support in Adobe still beta? At least in DNG converter, it is. I’ve seen reviews that Z6 high iso support in LR struggles compared to, e.g., CaptureOne. Best regards, Falk Lumo.
I mean I could technically in the same way I could use capture one or NX-D. The only reason I use Lightroom is it has the biggest user base by far so I feel like most people can relate..... however as more and more people are moving away from Lightroom it would make sense to adapt my video’s accordingly.
Great test and comparison. It was easy to follow and using Lightrooms compare tool made it very easy to see. I think the Z6 was better up till it had to go expanded ISO, from there on the D5 was better but the Z6 still retained a surprising amount of detail. On the verge of choosing a new system, leaving m43, and it's between the Z6 and Panasonic S1. I feel this test, as well as the over all future of the system (lens road map, number of people using it, over all weight and the future of PF lenses) point more towards Nikon at this point. /Rasmus
The new Z mount 50mm f1.8 S lens is sharper and brighter, the test should have been conducted with the Z6 and an FTZ in order to keep all conditions the same. I also noticed more color noise coming from the Z6 than the D5. The Z6 even had color noise at low ISOs. To me, the D5 is the clear winner, however one costs 3 times as much as the other.... I'm sure if you run the test again with the Z6 and FTZ, you will see that the D5 is a better performer. Furthermore, the D5 has much more dynamic range at high ISOs. Try pushing the shadows up two stops in lightroom and see which one brings up more artifacts. This is why sports and wildlife photographers pay a premium for the D5, the Z6 is not ready to be their main body for sports and wildlife (low buffer and higher noise). Anyways, as you said, it's all a matter of preference. Thanks for the video.
Very informative video. I prefer the crispier look of the Z6 images. I think with a little bit of noise reduction in LR, PS, Luminar or whatever software you use you still get more details. Could you do a test to compare the autofocus capabilities of a high end DSLR and the Z6/Z7?
Nice video, I think Z6 is a winner just with price value, but D5 is a beast in sports section. Wish Z6 had a better AF with video. Awaiting for the eye AF firmware update. I'm looking forward for your 14-30 Z lens review.
@@RicciTalks Interesting, It has been very positive with the 50 1.8S lens, but with F mount it has been hunting, it's not too bad to be honest. But it would be nice to have it stick on the subject.
I don’t seem to be able to find a noise video like this comparing the two Z bodies to the D850. I would think that’s a very relevant comparison that would help many.
Have thought about it but the Z7 is pretty much the same as the D850 in noise performance and the Z6 is obviously better than the D850 and Z7 due to megapixel count.
Nice and informative video, but I think you should've mentioned if you set the sharpening and the noise reduction in Lightroom to the same level for all three cameras. Lightroom handles Z6 raw files in a different way as it shows a preview of in-camera settings, including in-camera sharpening and noise reduction. I think it's important to set all settings in Lightroom Detail panel to the same values if you want a fair comparison between cameras.
That's one of the advantages of using the Z6; you benefit most from the Z6 by using a native lens. Same goes for the D5; you are not expected to use a DX lens. So, it's a good comparison test.
Found out something weird on the Df. Basic jpg records more light than normal or fine at the same EV. I've always known basic, norm, fine looked the same but I just realized Basic has more light. +9 sharpness High ISO NR +1EV looks just like Fine but brighter and splotches are reduced. I also was shooting at H2 under a single Flourecent kitchen light. Not super bright.
I think for everything over 25.600 ISO you should use the D5. But I found it quite interesting that the DF/D4 could keep up pretty well until 12.800 ISO. For everything that involves some good textures, the Z6 is best in low-light. But I‘m still happy with my D600😃. But I still think about buying the Z6. Is there coming a 14-30 F4S video soon?
Hello Ricci, interesting video!! I think that up to 51200 ISO D5 and Z6 were neck to neck with noise, but the Z6 was sharper with better blacks..I didn't expect that!. And once again, thank you very much for your videos!
My question is, when one would be in a situation of using such a high ISO? I have a Z6 and 750. Never use more than ISO 8000 for photos. The comparison is great, it is amazing to see the performance of the Z6 to 51200ISO.
do it 100% time at salsa/tango parties :-) if you flash ppl all the time you'd end up pissing 'em of with your intrusion. so, i use d500+flash 1/3 of the time at the beginning and 2/3 of the time left - df at f1.8-f2 , 1/80-1/125 and iso auto up to 12800 (+ slight NR later in carera raw), you still get cool shots of *moving* ppl it barely lit place ! ppl love df's B&W with all original ligh & shadows preserved, d500 with it's flash makes nice smooth skin and happy party faces, but kills almost all the ambient light... also, d500 at iso 12800 looks worse than df anytime (to my eyes)
z6 iso performance is staggering. My gripes with the z6 - AF in low light is slower and more hit n miss and I suspect the DSLRs do much better. Plus theres a lag in the screen
Obviously depend what someone looks for. Personally, I rate color noise much worst, it is far harder to deal with and can destroy the image much more, again IMO. Having said that: - Until ISO 12K I would choose the Z6 - At 25K I say it is a struggle. Pretty even. Z6 Little more detail (at 200%) and D5 slightly better color rendition. - At 50K I would choose the D5, some green-ish tint start appearing more than I would like. - >50K the D5 it is the clear winner. To this date, where a new Z6II cost around 2K and a used D5, in good condition it is still more than 2K (in my region between 2.200 and 2.400 let's say), it may be worth it to some but it has a very niche use.
So was bored and looked up the Df vs Z6 iso performance and realized that the main difference in performance is the BSI. The Z6 simply captures more light giving it an edge. When looking at measurements the DF outperforms the Z6 by a smidge but due to better noise processing and BSI it looks better. Anything pass 3200 iso on a Nikon camera even raw files gets some High iso NR which is stated by Nikon in camera. The DF native iso isn't just 12,800 I swear that's just due to the numbers not fitting on the dial 🤣 it's def 51,200 or in auto iso 32,000. I didn't realize the difference until I started shooting at 51,200 which I try to avoid even going pass 6400 iso. I put it in Topaz and wow damn near no noise mind blown. The Z6 is still has better detail too due to the higher resolution.
Nah, not really. Its pretty even between the D5 and the Z6 at 25600. At 51200, it depended on which area he was looking at. The D850 logo and BKT areas look better to me on the Z6 at 51200 than the D5. The FX area looks better on the D5 at 51200 than the Z6, mostly due to that tinting. Both of them look like crap above 51200, so is a moot point to say one is better than the other.
Just wander what is the use of this comparison? Why wouldn't you make it in a bad lighting condition - that would show the real performance and iso capabilities of the cameras. Do you ever use high iso in the daytime outdoors???
Interesting comparison (I own Z6 and d850) since per DXO, D5 is significantly worse in low light iso than DF (3279 for DF vs 2434 for D5) Interesting comparison would be between Z6 and D750 which I don't have on hands right now......
in practical use you'd need a working af at low light too and df's af vs d5 one is a mere crap in low light, exta lab measured 800 iso won't help you 90% of the time if things move and you need 1/80 or faster, if nothing moves you can do low light pix with anything...
Z6 is very good looking at the price point . At the end everyone will be pleased with any camera with the modern day sensors I still love Nikon Df & like to have one as my collective camera I am buying Nikon Z6 just for video , full frame 10 bit 4k recording is preety much bang for the buk.., why don't you try pro level previous generation Nikon D4s & Nikon D5 high iso test only..
Moral of the story. Do you really need that HIGH ISO ? Seriously... 99% of us wont even surpass 12800. I see no point of getting 6500$ camera when the different is near to 0 on usable ISO ranges. Not talking about Birds, sports photography. I gues Z6 is fairly good competitor though. Only thing it lacks is 3D AF which is phenomenal in D5/D850/D500 cameras!
Agreed, the D5 was the cleaner of the two at high ISO but the additional sharpness and detail of the Z6 gives it more latitude for noise reduction when post-processing. At 102,400, however, the Z6 completely lost control of the colour of the whole image, whereas the D5 still looked neutral.
The rumors say March field testing, but Im not so sure that a lot of people will care. The YT pros, sure. Most pro sports photographers, sure. Not many other people. And I suppose that was always true with the flagship Nikon, but at least before it sort of provided you a preview of what tech would eventually trickle down to the lower end DSLR camera's you could possibly buy. I dont think most people will be looking to buy ordinary DSLR's after this year, so...
Use NX-D instead of LR D850 at 25600 !! : www.flickr.com/photos/100851743@N02/albums/72157675913999588 Zoom in if you like.. see the crop magnification images... Nikon knows the image sensor the best with its characteristics
I know more than any one that NX-D gives you the best picture quality and noise performance for Nikon.... but lightroom is used by so many more people I went for the wide appeal of what most people use and what they will get rather than showing them on software they dnt use.
Ka Ak thanks for your response we think Nikon is a system not a camera LR creates a DNG that ruins the file structure and ads noise that was not even in the original RAW with nx-D i can crop a file of a bird 70% the same file prosessed in LR i can not even crop lost of tests are not real , z6 in nx-D vs Eos R and DPP does compare the systems in LR every brand camera type loses the science behind the image sensor and the camera software preptocessing DNG flattens , camera RAW must deal with pentax, Olympus , Nikon etc etc so it is understandable The z6 can go extreemly far in high iso almost no one knows uses LR , it can do even better
I can clearly see the insane amount of noise of Z6 compared to DF and D4 in the shadow areas. I think your comparison is not scientifically correct and I feel some of the setting of the Z6 for noise reduction have been changed before you shoot the video. Also DF's maximum iso at Hi4 is 200k not 100k.
Z6 useable ISO of 25600, desperate usability at 51200, but at 102400 it struggles, that's not bad, I think that the D5 was better at the high ISO in terms of noise but the Z6 seemed sharper to my eye. Nice video, very useful information.
Thanks for watching !
For photography, I have found that you really want to stay at 12800 or less ISO on the Z6. You will be perfectly fine at or below that number, which is great.
You have the best reviews of the z6 and z7. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
As a D5, D500 and D750 user I found this video very, very useful, many thanks. I think I am going to trade in my D750 for the Z6 and hope the Z6 performs well for events and concerts.
So how was it?
After a year has gone by, what is your opinion. I'm on a similar path and would love to hear your thoughts on the change to the Z6?
BTW - Great video very helpful as I weigh moving to the Z6 or something else.
It seems to me there is a considerable clarity/sharpness difference with the Z mount f1.8 lens vs the Df/D5 58mm. Noise wise this was very interesting as well. Thanks for doing the comparison.
Whenever I want the facts without any nonsense I watch your content
Thanks for taking the time to do these sort of comparisons!
Man I just bought one. Was recording some video on my porch at night basically in the dark the footage looked incredible even at iso 10000
Thanks for taking the time to do this comparison Ricci and sharing it with us here. The Z6 really is a stunning performer, looking forward to getting mine next week. Cheers.
Great job on your videos man.I was looking for some videos on low light performance and you nailed it.Subscribed.
DXOMark low light scores:
Z6 3299
Df 3279
D5 2434
Those scores and the significantly better dynamic range scores of the Z6 rate it as the seventh best Nikon sensor overall.
Thanks for the video. I shoot with a D5 and live at 20k+ ISO so it was nice to see the Z6 keep up with the D5 as I'm looking at retiring the old work horse. :) How does the Z6 II compare please? Do you have a video about that? Cheers.
Would be interesting to know what settings you had the DF at? Specifically the ISO NR setting, or all the cameras.
For equal image size the difference would be less between the Z6 and D5 at 102k and with its greater detail, the color noise could be reduced which together combines to be very impressive. Anyone who has shot the D5 knows it is a beast in the low light action shooting but I am amazed by the Z6.
When I got my D6, were playing with it at the store counter, put in the XQD from the bundled kit and took a shot just to feel it and it was on Green Auto at 22,000 ISO. It looks so clean I read it 2200 ISO, until the manager called attention to the extra "0". I shoot it a lot every day because it is so inviting to hold and use. Its unexpectedly good noise control at 51k or 102k in JPG. The rendering engine is really good for JPG, better than my D850.
Well done Ricci, very informative
Thanks for watching ! I love using my Z6
Are you having any trouble with Continuous AF on the Z6 as some of the " big " channels are reporting? Such as missing focus on shots of birds in flight? Thanks for the ISO test, the Z6 surprised me I must admit, I figured the D5 would kill them both
bassangler73 yeah that’s a good question
No... because iv had the Z7 for 6 months an the Z6 for 4 months and I know how the focus system works it takes getting used to.
The first thing to say is that the Z6 is not a sports action camera. If sports action is your top priority, get a D500 or D850. Can you use a Z6 for BIF's? Sure, but dont expect D500 or D850 level AF performance. As long as you put it in this context, you will find that the AF on the Z6 is adequate for sports action. It will miss AF sometimes. It is hard to keep BIF's in the frame. EVF's work totally different than OVF's, and this will take time to get used to. Do not buy a Z6 if sports action is your top priority. Ive snapped over 8000 images with my Z6, and I find that it is highly capable camera once you figure it out, and bend the advantages of full frame mirrorless to your will and not the other way around. It and the AF is perfectly fine for most uses. Can it be better? Of course. The D500 and D850 AF could also be better. The low light capability of the Z6 is pretty amazing. Even when you use DX lenses, the noise is very well controlled. Much exceeds my exceptions. The results of this review are not surprising to me.
Ricci Talks so if i have a model walking towards me i usually use Face tracing and AFC and burst.. is that best way to track her ? Or is it better to use single point (or even the small contrast detect point) snd just jeep the point on her face (just like i do with my d850) ??? Plz help hahaha
@@KungPowEnterFist thanks, looks like I will be staying with my trusty DSLR because BIF's is all I do
The Nikon D4 is for me still the King of lowlight. Had the Nikon D5, D6 and the Z9 but the D4 beat them.
G'day, thanks for doing a comparison between these cameras, I noticed through the video the histogram moving and had a close look and noticed the shutter speeds varying in favour of the z6, allowing nearly double the light in some shots, curious if you picked that up? Cheers Terry
Why the df shot at a higher shutter speed than the other two therefore being darker in general? Look at iso 25600 df was shot at 1/50s and the other two at 1/30s
Same when shooting at iso51200
Have you updated this review with the Z6ii ?
Love your videos, please do a video with some time lapse advices for the z6, thanks again awesome work !
D5 hands down, how D6 fares with D5 in this arena, did you do comparison, if so would you please post the link?, also Z9 ?
Great video...I'm loving the low light performance of my Z6. The D5 seems slightly cleaner to me after 12800 but it's definitely close...surprisingly so. I expected the D5 to run away with it but pleased to see otherwise. Thanks again for all your wonderful work!
Thanks so much watching ! The results definitely surprised me.
Thanks for the video but I noticed you used a different lens for the test. The newer z lens is going to be brighter and sharper and the older g lenses. Maybe try using the same lens on all three bodies for a fairer test.
Nope @ f8
Would love for you to do a similar test with the Z7 to the Z6 and maybe scale down/trade of pixels in noise reduction on the Z7 to see what kind of best case scenario you can get out of both cameras. I always hear about the Z6 being way better at high ISO but I am curious if that it’s actually as true after what you can do with the Z7 files
good video! Are you going to test out image quality between Z6 and Z7? Wondering how much Z6 is behind 7
Great comparison Ricci. It would be interesting to see the same comparison with the Z7 and the D850. Keep up the great content!
Your intro music alone made me subscribe, great content.
why shutter speed is not same between each camera?
DF is darker because of the faster shutter speeds
Interestingly all 3 cameras expose and meter differently. I had the cameras on a tripod set the aperture to F8 put in the ISO I wanted then changed the shutter speed to what the camera told me was correct exposure using the exposure bar in manual mode and it did lead to some variations. But would represent how you would expose for each camera on their own in the real world.
@@RicciTalks 👍
When doing this test did you keep the camera raw settings at 14bit lossless?
Wondering because of how a cameras DNR and raw bit depth interact. Most people will religiously keep their bit depth at 14 bits not realizing it's working against them at the higher iso values.
Nice video. I like to see the comparisons with the same lens on all cameras. But maybe that will not make a difference.
What is the technological difference between native ISO and expanded ISO?
Which better?
Please answer!!!
Do you think the z9 will be inferior in low light because of the number of mega pixels?
i dunno man, the photos were all framed differently. The photo taken with the Z6, the subject was framed more to the center compare to the other two. And for some reasons, the one taken with the z6 seems to be well lighted where the photo taken with the df seems to be a bit dim.
Different camera body will have different center point of its sensor relative to the camera placement, lens design etc. Different camera model/brand have dofferent metering and different brightness at same iso.
At least the answer I was looking for!!
Thanks for this video. I thought, I could be wrong of course, that the Z cameras have some internal noise reduction applied to the raw files, in camera, that can't be turned off so this may not be comparing apples to apples.
A D780 will be a as good as the Z6 ?
Did you use the v2 profile for the z6 in lightroom? ...I’m wondering the green cast on the z6 at higher ISO’s
Another great video. Do you know when you might release your 14-30mm f4 z mount preview?
Thanks a lot ! It’s definitely coming soon I just really wanted to make sure it’s ready been testing a lot of different filters with it !
Ricci Talks great. I’ve moved the old 14-24 on to hopefully pick this up on release.
The 14-30mm at f4 is as sharp as the 14-24mm at f8
Ricci Talks great news. I never used the 14-24 below f4 anyway so the comments of some reviewers that state it’s not a pro lens because it’s maximum aperture is f4 are just silly really.
Very informative video. I'm also curious about D850 vs Z7 in ISO noise performance
Both of those cameras will perform the same at high iso. 12800 iso for sure but you might be able to get 20000 or 25600 iso
Very informative comparison.
If I may: I notice that in several of your videos (including this one) you refer to the areas in the image that are out of focus as “depth of field areas.” To me, that choice of words is associated with the portions of the image that are considered acceptably sharply focused. This is a very minor detail when compared to the fantastic amount of substance and value present in your content. I only offer it for your consideration because you seem extraordinarily precise in your approach to your testing and analysis. In any case, the larger point is that I do enjoy your channel. Nice work.
What needs to be also factored in with the Z6 is the IBIS, which means you can hand hold at much lower shutter speeds, I took a shot of the lunar eclipse hand held with my 200-500 (at 500mm) recently and I shot at 1/8 of a second, and I got some useable shots, so the IBIS alone means you can shoot in siginificantly darker conditions if you are open to using slower shutter speeds.
Nice video, but ...
Isn’t Z6 support in Adobe still beta? At least in DNG converter, it is. I’ve seen reviews that Z6 high iso support in LR struggles compared to, e.g., CaptureOne. Best regards, Falk Lumo.
falconeye4 works fine for me in new 2019 update
Ricci is it possible that you start using Topaz Denoise
I mean I could technically in the same way I could use capture one or NX-D. The only reason I use Lightroom is it has the biggest user base by far so I feel like most people can relate..... however as more and more people are moving away from Lightroom it would make sense to adapt my video’s accordingly.
Great test and comparison. It was easy to follow and using Lightrooms compare tool made it very easy to see. I think the Z6 was better up till it had to go expanded ISO, from there on the D5 was better but the Z6 still retained a surprising amount of detail.
On the verge of choosing a new system, leaving m43, and it's between the Z6 and Panasonic S1. I feel this test, as well as the over all future of the system (lens road map, number of people using it, over all weight and the future of PF lenses) point more towards Nikon at this point.
/Rasmus
The new Z mount 50mm f1.8 S lens is sharper and brighter, the test should have been conducted with the Z6 and an FTZ in order to keep all conditions the same. I also noticed more color noise coming from the Z6 than the D5. The Z6 even had color noise at low ISOs. To me, the D5 is the clear winner, however one costs 3 times as much as the other.... I'm sure if you run the test again with the Z6 and FTZ, you will see that the D5 is a better performer. Furthermore, the D5 has much more dynamic range at high ISOs. Try pushing the shadows up two stops in lightroom and see which one brings up more artifacts. This is why sports and wildlife photographers pay a premium for the D5, the Z6 is not ready to be their main body for sports and wildlife (low buffer and higher noise). Anyways, as you said, it's all a matter of preference. Thanks for the video.
I have D5 too and he is the King of photos !
Very informative video.
I prefer the crispier look of the Z6 images. I think with a little bit of noise reduction in LR, PS, Luminar or whatever software you use you still get more details.
Could you do a test to compare the autofocus capabilities of a high end DSLR and the Z6/Z7?
Would be interesting if you fixed the green cast to see if it would match picture quality of the D5 at 100K iso
Why did you not use the same lens?
please compare the nikon d500 and nikon z6 in terms of low light performance btw nice video keep it up
Nice video, I think Z6 is a winner just with price value, but D5 is a beast in sports section. Wish Z6 had a better AF with video. Awaiting for the eye AF firmware update. I'm looking forward for your 14-30 Z lens review.
Iv used the Z6 continuously for video and Its the best video autofocus. 14-30mm is on the way
@@RicciTalks Interesting, It has been very positive with the 50 1.8S lens, but with F mount it has been hunting, it's not too bad to be honest. But it would be nice to have it stick on the subject.
I don’t seem to be able to find a noise video like this comparing the two Z bodies to the D850. I would think that’s a very relevant comparison that would help many.
Have thought about it but the Z7 is pretty much the same as the D850 in noise performance and the Z6 is obviously better than the D850 and Z7 due to megapixel count.
Ricci Talks ok thanks for that info 👍🏼
F8 at 58mm is slightly brighter than at 50mm isn't it?
Jason Lanier just put up a video and was having some real trouble with the camera not focusing when using an external flash. Any ideas why that is ?
Nice and informative video, but I think you should've mentioned if you set the sharpening and the noise reduction in Lightroom to the same level for all three cameras.
Lightroom handles Z6 raw files in a different way as it shows a preview of in-camera settings, including in-camera sharpening and noise reduction. I think it's important to set all settings in Lightroom Detail panel to the same values if you want a fair comparison between cameras.
All settings where reset after import to put them on the same level
you should use one lens!
50 1.8S sharper and brighter than 58.
That's one of the advantages of using the Z6; you benefit most from the Z6 by using a native lens. Same goes for the D5; you are not expected to use a DX lens. So, it's a good comparison test.
Found out something weird on the Df.
Basic jpg records more light than normal or fine at the same EV. I've always known basic, norm, fine looked the same but I just realized Basic has more light.
+9 sharpness
High ISO NR
+1EV
looks just like Fine but brighter and splotches are reduced. I also was shooting at H2 under a single Flourecent kitchen light. Not super bright.
I would have liked to have seen a baby D5 like they did with the D700 and the D3 sensor.
I think for everything over 25.600 ISO you should use the D5. But I found it quite interesting that the DF/D4 could keep up pretty well until 12.800 ISO. For everything that involves some good textures, the Z6 is best in low-light. But I‘m still happy with my D600😃. But I still think about buying the Z6. Is there coming a 14-30 F4S video soon?
14-30mm video is on the way very soon Just lots to test
Hello Ricci, interesting video!! I think that up to 51200 ISO D5 and Z6 were neck to neck with noise, but the Z6 was sharper with better blacks..I didn't expect that!. And once again, thank you very much for your videos!
Well thank you for watching them !
My question is, when one would be in a situation of using such a high ISO? I have a Z6 and 750. Never use more than ISO 8000 for photos.
The comparison is great, it is amazing to see the performance of the Z6 to 51200ISO.
do it 100% time at salsa/tango parties :-) if you flash ppl all the time you'd end up pissing 'em of with your intrusion. so, i use d500+flash 1/3 of the time at the beginning and 2/3 of the time left - df at f1.8-f2 , 1/80-1/125 and iso auto up to 12800 (+ slight NR later in carera raw), you still get cool shots of *moving* ppl it barely lit place ! ppl love df's B&W with all original ligh & shadows preserved, d500 with it's flash makes nice smooth skin and happy party faces, but kills almost all the ambient light... also, d500 at iso 12800 looks worse than df anytime (to my eyes)
Always, wildlife in forests.
z6 iso performance is staggering. My gripes with the z6 - AF in low light is slower and more hit n miss and I suspect the DSLRs do much better. Plus theres a lag in the screen
Obviously depend what someone looks for. Personally, I rate color noise much worst, it is far harder to deal with and can destroy the image much more, again IMO.
Having said that:
- Until ISO 12K I would choose the Z6
- At 25K I say it is a struggle. Pretty even. Z6 Little more detail (at 200%) and D5 slightly better color rendition.
- At 50K I would choose the D5, some green-ish tint start appearing more than I would like.
- >50K the D5 it is the clear winner.
To this date, where a new Z6II cost around 2K and a used D5, in good condition it is still more than 2K (in my region between 2.200 and 2.400 let's say), it may be worth it to some but it has a very niche use.
Noise of the D5 looks a lot like film grain respectively.
So was bored and looked up the Df vs Z6 iso performance and realized that the main difference in performance is the BSI. The Z6 simply captures more light giving it an edge. When looking at measurements the DF outperforms the Z6 by a smidge but due to better noise processing and BSI it looks better.
Anything pass 3200 iso on a Nikon camera even raw files gets some High iso NR which is stated by Nikon in camera.
The DF native iso isn't just 12,800 I swear that's just due to the numbers not fitting on the dial 🤣 it's def 51,200 or in auto iso 32,000.
I didn't realize the difference until I started shooting at 51,200 which I try to avoid even going pass 6400 iso. I put it in Topaz and wow damn near no noise mind blown.
The Z6 is still has better detail too due to the higher resolution.
Please compare AF and 3D Tracking of Nikon D5 and Nikon Z6 in Sport shooting (Example: Football) Thanks
At 25600 the D5 pulls away.
The Z6 starts to get “green “.
true, green color shift / cast in Z6 image
Nah, not really. Its pretty even between the D5 and the Z6 at 25600. At 51200, it depended on which area he was looking at. The D850 logo and BKT areas look better to me on the Z6 at 51200 than the D5. The FX area looks better on the D5 at 51200 than the Z6, mostly due to that tinting. Both of them look like crap above 51200, so is a moot point to say one is better than the other.
Just wander what is the use of this comparison? Why wouldn't you make it in a bad lighting condition - that would show the real performance and iso capabilities of the cameras. Do you ever use high iso in the daytime outdoors???
I absolutely think D5 is still amazing 😁
Interesting comparison (I own Z6 and d850) since per DXO, D5 is significantly worse in low light iso than DF (3279 for DF vs 2434 for D5) Interesting comparison would be between Z6 and D750 which I don't have on hands right now......
The reason I didn’t include the D750 in this comparison is because it isn’t as good as the Z6
in practical use you'd need a working af at low light too and df's af vs d5 one is a mere crap in low light, exta lab measured 800 iso won't help you 90% of the time if things move and you need 1/80 or faster, if nothing moves you can do low light pix with anything...
I love nikon d5
Z6 is very good looking at the price point . At the end everyone will be pleased with any camera with the modern day sensors I still love Nikon Df & like to have one as my collective camera I am buying Nikon Z6 just for video , full frame 10 bit 4k recording is preety much bang for the buk.., why don't you try pro level previous generation Nikon D4s & Nikon D5 high iso test only..
Moral of the story. Do you really need that HIGH ISO ? Seriously... 99% of us wont even surpass 12800. I see no point of getting 6500$ camera when the different is near to 0 on usable ISO ranges. Not talking about Birds, sports photography. I gues Z6 is fairly good competitor though. Only thing it lacks is 3D AF which is phenomenal in D5/D850/D500 cameras!
The D5 had less noise, but the Z6 had more detail. Kind of a toss up.
Agreed, the D5 was the cleaner of the two at high ISO but the additional sharpness and detail of the Z6 gives it more latitude for noise reduction when post-processing.
At 102,400, however, the Z6 completely lost control of the colour of the whole image, whereas the D5 still looked neutral.
No wonder Nikon is putting out the D6 this year. The Z6 comes perilously close to outperforming it at 1/3 the price.
The rumors say March field testing, but Im not so sure that a lot of people will care. The YT pros, sure. Most pro sports photographers, sure. Not many other people. And I suppose that was always true with the flagship Nikon, but at least before it sort of provided you a preview of what tech would eventually trickle down to the lower end DSLR camera's you could possibly buy. I dont think most people will be looking to buy ordinary DSLR's after this year, so...
850 is a way better camera as a whole
Use NX-D instead of LR D850 at 25600 !! : www.flickr.com/photos/100851743@N02/albums/72157675913999588
Zoom in if you like.. see the crop magnification images... Nikon knows the image sensor the best with its characteristics
I know more than any one that NX-D gives you the best picture quality and noise performance for Nikon.... but lightroom is used by so many more people I went for the wide appeal of what most people use and what they will get rather than showing them on software they dnt use.
Ka Ak thanks for your response we think Nikon is a system not a camera LR creates a DNG that ruins the file structure and ads noise that was not even in the original RAW with nx-D i can crop a file of a bird 70% the same file prosessed in LR i can not even crop lost of tests are not real , z6 in nx-D vs Eos R and DPP does compare the systems in LR every brand camera type loses the science behind the image sensor and the camera software preptocessing DNG flattens , camera RAW must deal with pentax, Olympus , Nikon etc etc so it is understandable
The z6 can go extreemly far in high iso almost no one knows uses LR , it can do even better
I can clearly see the insane amount of noise of Z6 compared to DF and D4 in the shadow areas. I think your comparison is not scientifically correct and I feel some of the setting of the Z6 for noise reduction have been changed before you shoot the video. Also DF's maximum iso at Hi4 is 200k not 100k.
i think its kinda unfair to compare D5 with Z6
after the firmware updates this video is pointless the z6 wins
a video for Nikon fanboys?!
im SO GLAD you dont know what pixel pitch and pixel density are.........made this video very very (UN) useful.
You sir are a dumbass..
A big supporter of theoria too but pls add some constructive feedback so we can learn... u r a most knowledgable person.. assist us