# 1DX vs D4 sample



## JR (Jul 16, 2012)

Finally received my 1DX today and after the battery was charged, my mom was nice enought to serve as my model today since my dauthers and wife are out for the week. I did those very quickly for my own use and tried to keep lighting fairly the same but you will see some variation of course. Please keep in mind those are actually the first shot coming out of my 1DX. Very impressive so far I must say.

The sample shown are 100% crop and were shot with a 50mm lens in all cases. The ISO dont all match because we did those very quickly and quite frankly, I am no pro. When I have more time I will do properly. The D4 has become my day to day camera for the past three months. Felt good to shoot with my Canon glass again !

I will delay judgment for later once I actually know how to use the 1DX and feel as comfortable with it as with my D4. For now I can say they are both amazing cameras well beyond my own capabilities . Two things that are stricking however is how much colors and metering are different between both cameras...

Samples shown next ...


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## JR (Jul 16, 2012)

...and finally the other sample I did...


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## marekjoz (Jul 16, 2012)

Thanks for posting and your mom for posing. Is it only me, who seems to see more details at each ISO on 1Dx? Even at ISO 100, but it could be caused by higher contrast (and lower DR  ). D4 @12800 is completely washed in comaprison to 1Dx. Except this ISO range skin colours seem to look better on Nikon.


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## Warrenl (Jul 16, 2012)

Hi

Thanks for the comparison. Please keep the tread updated!

Any chance of posting the original files?

Thanks

Warren


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## Bosman (Jul 16, 2012)

The tones and colors go to crap! Thats what i love about the 5dm3, it stays pretty true to color balance at any iso, the same as the 1dx i'd guess and by seeing samples.
Thanks for posting.


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## JR (Jul 16, 2012)

marekjoz said:


> Thanks for posting and your mom for posing. Is it only me, who seems to see more details at each ISO on 1Dx? Even at ISO 100, but it could be caused by higher contrast (and lower DR  ). D4 @12800 is completely washed in comaprison to 1Dx. Except this ISO range skin colours seem to look better on Nikon.



Yes at a first look I did notice as well more details on the 1DX compared to the D4 at every ISO like yourself. Skin tone on those sample seem more natural on the D4, but lets keep in mind those were my first 5 minutes with the camera ever! Contrast is very different indeed with the 1DX but I had turned off options as auto light optimizer and high tone priority for example...

As for ISO 12,800 it is not that it is washed out on the Nikon at least not when I look at the fill full res, but the Nikon seem to overexposed compared the 1DX or 1DX seem to underexposed compared to the D4... I obviously need several more shots to familiar with it.


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## JR (Jul 16, 2012)

Bosman said:


> The tones and colors go to crap! Thats what i love about the 5dm3, it stays pretty true to color balance at any iso, the same as the 1dx i'd guess and by seeing samples.
> Thanks for posting.



Please keep in mind that every shot I have done was done in slightly different lighting playing with the curtens in the room. This is by no mean a control environment test since I did not have time to setup. This could explain greater delta then should between tones for similar ISO shots...


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## wockawocka (Jul 16, 2012)

You should be shooting in AV mode at all times. There's no way a D4 image should look that crap.

Are both colour spaces SRGB?

I believe Nikon's are over or under rated in their ISO. So ISO 100 on a 1DX will be more like ISO 170 on a Nikon. It's how they can fudge the high ISO figures as seem to be in front.

The above is just what I read somewhere.


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## JR (Jul 16, 2012)

wockawocka said:


> You should be shooting in AV mode at all times. There's no way a D4 image should look that crap.
> 
> Are both colour spaces SRGB?
> 
> ...



Yeah I shot all of them using Av mode and they actually look better on my computer compared to the 800x533 smaple I posted here fpr some reason.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 16, 2012)

Is the wall white or gray? Its easy to fool any DSLR when a lot of white is in the scene, you need to use spot AF to set the proper colors. Otherwise, whites will be gray, and other colors off.


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## Bosman (Jul 16, 2012)

JR said:


> Bosman said:
> 
> 
> > The tones and colors go to crap! Thats what i love about the 5dm3, it stays pretty true to color balance at any iso, the same as the 1dx i'd guess and by seeing samples.
> ...


Doh! i retract my statement about color balance then but keep it with the color tones depth of color at high iso's.


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## JR (Jul 16, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Is the wall white or gray? Its easy to fool any DSLR when a lot of white is in the scene, you need to use spot AF to set the proper colors. Otherwise, whites will be gray, and other colors off.



Good observation! Actually the wall is grey and now that you ask the question, I must say the actual wall color is much closer to how the 1DX rendered them. I do find the shadow part of the face on some of the 1DX to be too dark compared to the D4 however...


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## wickidwombat (Jul 16, 2012)

for me just looking at those comparisons i think the skin tones, colour and contrast are better on the 1Dx
where as the D4 looks a little flat and washed out, (still fixable in post though)
which 50mm did you use on the nikon and which 50mm on the canon I think the glass is playing a big factor


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## JR (Jul 17, 2012)

wickidwombat said:


> for me just looking at those comparisons i think the skin tones, colour and contrast are better on the 1Dx
> where as the D4 looks a little flat and washed out, (still fixable in post though)
> which 50mm did you use on the nikon and which 50mm on the canon I think the glass is playing a big factor



I used the Nikon 50 1.4G for the D4 and used the Canon 50 1.2L for the 1DX. I wonder if using the 50 1.4 for the Canon instead of the 1.2L would be a better comparaison...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 17, 2012)

JR said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > Is the wall white or gray? Its easy to fool any DSLR when a lot of white is in the scene, you need to use spot AF to set the proper colors. Otherwise, whites will be gray, and other colors off.
> ...


Only a serious photographrt has 17% gray card walls


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## chauncey (Jul 17, 2012)

I might suggest that determining a camera"s IQ based on downsized internet images is a lesson in abject futility.


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## wickidwombat (Jul 17, 2012)

JR said:


> wickidwombat said:
> 
> 
> > for me just looking at those comparisons i think the skin tones, colour and contrast are better on the 1Dx
> ...


probably at narrow apertures it will give a more even comparison
however wide open the nikon 501.4G will kill the old canon 
the 50L would account for the better contrast and skin tone i think


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## RLPhoto (Jul 17, 2012)

The 1Dx has more pleasing grain to my eye. The D4 seems more blotchy but still, almost the same.

I'd give the 1Dx the slight edge in ISO.


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## wockawocka (Jul 17, 2012)

When exporting, these need to be saved to web in photoshop at 100% to standardise the colours for web browsers.

The colors look shot and by saying that they look different on yuor screen at home vs online means there is a colourspace issue which is also affecting the 1DX files too.


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## steliosk (Jul 17, 2012)

Typical nikon, suffering in white balance.
don't you see that yellow cast?

+1 for 1Dx


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## psolberg (Jul 17, 2012)

Interesting but I'll wait for dpreview for the overall picture and dxo for the DR/Color results and Loyd Chambers for the noise results 

not that I'd buy either camera as their resolution is far too low for anything I could live with now.


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## JR (Jul 17, 2012)

psolberg said:


> Interesting but I'll wait for dpreview for the overall picture and dxo for the DR/Color results and Loyd Chambers for the noise results
> 
> not that I'd buy either camera as their resolution is far too low for anything I could live with now.



Wise decision , as I always said by no mean do I qualify as a reviewers nor was that an attempt to do a review. Interestingly last I played with the file a bit. In the shot I posted I apply the same basic settings from Lightroom (sharpness, NR - minimal, etc). It is clear to me now that the settings that worked with my D4 are not necessarily optimal for the 1DX.

For example on some of the sample I found I had too much contrast with the 1DX on the face (based on my personal preference), well that is because I was adding some contrast to the D4 file originally...

Anyway cant wait to redo some portrait shooting when I see my girls this week-end...


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## marekjoz (Jul 17, 2012)

JR said:


> psolberg said:
> 
> 
> > Interesting but I'll wait for dpreview for the overall picture and dxo for the DR/Color results and Loyd Chambers for the noise results
> ...



@JR - anyway thanks for posting as we all know that this was not supposed to be a deep and detailed test but rather quick comparison of the results coming from both great cameras without true post optimization.


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## cpsico (Jul 17, 2012)

Both look great, i prefer the metering of the 1dx as well as the color balance


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## JR (Jul 17, 2012)

cpsico said:


> Both look great, i prefer the metering of the 1dx as well as the color balance



@cpsico: I agree. I am also convince that you can get very similar result in post with both camera. Even the colors I was able to play with after the fact last night to make shots from both camera look very close for the skin tone part at least... I just ordered the new 40mm prime with the 24 2.8IS to try with the 1DX due to their light weight - man the 1DX is a heavy piece of machine - we sure are getting our money's worth per lbs 

@marekjoz: right, with proper post production, but camera can produce very similar result. I am very impressed with the noise level on the 1DX. Really seem finally on part with Nikon...


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## JR (Jul 17, 2012)

I know my samples are very small. For those who would want to see these sample (which are the 100% crop by the way) full scale I posted them on the DP Forum site. Sorry I dont know how to do it over here.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1021&message=42045054


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## Archangel72 (Jul 21, 2012)

Here's the link with some interesting comparison between Canon 1Dx and Nikon D4.

Any guess who's the winner? 

http://xerodigital.ca/canon-1dx-nikon-d4/

Archangel72


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## @!ex (Jul 21, 2012)

Archangel72 said:


> Here's the link with some interesting comparison between Canon 1Dx and Nikon D4.
> 
> Any guess who's the winner?
> 
> ...



Wow, the white balance issues would kill it for me too, nothing worse than that, especially in a high output situation like weddings. I've heard terrible things about the D800 AWB too....


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## Equinox271 (Jul 22, 2012)

Very informative video.


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## Equinox271 (Jul 22, 2012)

I agree marekjoz, the 1DX has better overall contrast and I like the skin tones better from the 1DX vs the D4.


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