Recently, I Was Thinking.....

Nikon D810 with the Nikon 70-200mm f/4 VR lens @ 200mm; 1/800th @ f/8; ISO 200; VR turned off (click to enlarge)

Recently, I was thinking about what practical difference in image quality is there between image quality using my 16mp Olympus E-M1 with the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO zoom at 300mm (equivalent in 35mm terms) versus my 36mp Nikon D810 with Nikon's 70-200mm f/4 VR at 200mm, then cropped to the same field of view as the 300mm equivalent of the Olympus lens.  Don't ask me why.  I probably just had too much time on my hands.  But, I'm always interested in all things photographic and i often test things to really know and understand my gear.

So, I drove to a nearby river, got out and made a couple of images with a lot of detail on the other side of the river with both cameras and lenses.  I shot the Nikon at at f/8 and the Olympus at F/4 to simulate equal depth of field.  I also equalized the ISO at 200, since that is the lowest standard ISO that is available on the Olympus (the D810 can use ISO 64).

Here is the full Olympus Image (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 with the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 @ 150mm; 1/1600th sec. @ f/4; ISO 200; IS turned off

Nikon Image cropped to same field of view as Olympus image (click to enlarge)

Nikon image at 100% (click to enlarge)

Olympus image at 100% (click to enlarge)

I don't know how much you can see while viewing these two 100% images on the web, but in Lightroom on a 24" calibrated monitor, there is no practical difference between the two.  As far as I can see at 100%, there is the same amount of fine detail in both images.  Even the subtleties of the shadows in the white painted bricks in the chimney are identical.  I think that is kind of remarkable.

So, what does all this mean?  You decide.  I just did it out of my own curiosity.  I will say, however, that today's digital cameras are amazing picture taking machines!

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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