Some ISO comparisons between the Sony NEX-6, Sony NEX-7 and Olympus OM-D E-M5.
Base ISO - Sonys at ISO 100 - Olympus at ISO 200
ISO 800
ISO 3200
ISO 12800
Sigma 30mm lens used on Sony Cameras, Panasonic 12-35mm on the Olympus. All shot at f/11. Base ISO and ISO 800 from Raw. ISO 3200 and 12800 from out of camera jpg. I did it this way because thats what I would use. Raw for low ISO's, jpg. for high ISO's.
Summary.
Base ISO - Virtually nothing in it.
ISO 800 - Still pretty close. If anything NEX-6 slightly sharper, slightly noisier.
ISO 3200 - NEX-6 and OM-D similar, more noise reduction applied to NEX-7.
ISO 12800 - NEX-7 gives up! NEX-6 and OM-D still pretty close.
I think this shows that modern cameras don't exhibit many major differences for ISO performance any more. All are very useable up to ISO 3200 and its only after that the NEX-7 dissolves into a blotchy mess. Shows I think, just how good the OM-D is, and there seems little advantage in the APS-C sensor of the NEX-6.
As ever if you want a detailed comparison between these cameras I recommend the Imaging Resource Comparometer.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy with all of them. I have no complaints about the performance of any of the three at the ISO settings I use. Fanboys might want to fight over non-existent or minimal differences but cameras these days are about more than ISO performance. The choice is about how the camera handles, does it do what you want it to do and is it the right price? For high ISO performance the Fuji X-Pro 1 beats all of them by some distance anyway (and pretty much everything else as well) so if you are a low-light fiend, you probably have one of those already (or want one!)
Now back to something important, making pictures!!
N.B. to see more on the cameras and lenses featured in this post click on the relevant labels (tags and keywords) below.
All original material on this blog is © Soundimageplus
All original material on this blog is © Soundimageplus
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