For Ultimate Quality, You Just Can't Beat a 36mp Camera

Aspen Grove, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA

As I was going through my Lightroom catalog the other day, I was looking for a particular image from a western U.S. trip I made about 15 months ago.  On that road trip, I took two camera kits.  I took the D800E kit and the Olympus E-M5 kit.  Because it was a road trip in my own vehicle and not one by airplane, I took both kits.  Typically, when traveling by any conveyance other than my own automobile, I only take the Olympus kit for size, weight and convenience.

As much as I like my mirrorless cameras, if one wants ultimate quality (disregarding medium format digital, of course) in your images, a 36mp sensor tops a smaller, mirrorless sensor every time.  There is just so much more resolution and detail in the large sensor image.  Additionally, one has many more cropping options with a large sensor camera, not that one should crop unnecessarily.  But if you do have to crop your image, the 36mp sensor's image gives a photographer many more options than a lessor megapixel sensor at any format. Also, the dynamic range and lack of digital noise of a large sensor cannot be beaten.

I find that, in 95% of the cases, I no longer have to make multiple images at different exposure values, then combine them (HDR or EDR) to capture the highlight and shadow detail in the scene.  The D800E's sensor's dynamic range is better than any other digital camera I have ever used.  If you examine the analysis of this sensor done by DXOMark, I don't think there is a current sensor out there that has longer dynamic range.  I may be wrong, but in any case, the dynamic range of this particular sensor with Nikon's Expeed processing engine gives me the ability to record scenes with one exposure that in previous cameras I was unable to do.

I remember the first images I viewed in Lightroom from my D800E.  I was just in awe at the detail contained within the image.  I continue to be in awe at being able to pull detail out of shadows.  Now, the Olympus E-M1 or E-M5 are not slouches, but they still cannot compete on the stage of "absolute best image quality" with the D800E.  But they are excellent in their own right, or I wouldn't take only those cameras on a photographic trip with me.

Here is a 1:1 crop from the top image.  The clarity of the detail and sharpness is amazing!  This image was made using the D800E, a Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8 G ED AF-S VRII lens at F/8 and was shot with a large, very sturdy tripod.  To fully exploit the quality of a large megapixel sensored camera, one must have superb lenses as well as excellent technique.  That technique requires a tripod in many instances. A 36mp sensor will accentuate any small errors, movements, focusing errors, etc. you may have incurred.    Smaller sensors don't have those issues at the same level.  Smaller sensors are much more forgiving.  The Nikon D800E and the large, heavy lenses sometimes feel burdensome to carry around, but the payoff is wonderful!

I think that many Sony A7r users will be disappointed as the size and configuration of that camera makes one want to think "casual photography", but in reality, to exploit the best image quality, they will have to practice the same excellent techniques as those who use the D800/E.  If they don't practice good technique with that camera, I predict many will be disappointed with their images.

I will continue to use my D800E kit when ultimate quality is required.  Otherwise, I will use my Olympus kit for my day-to-day image making as, unless I need ultimate quality, the Olympus gives me excellent quality in a much smaller, lighter, and less expensive as well as more forgiving, package.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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