Camera Labs

I was looking at Gordon's D40 and D80 sample comparison.

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/NikonD40/page4.shtml

To my eye, the D40 looks sharper than the D80 in these samples. Gordon explains that by default the D40 image is sharpened. I'm not sure how to interpret this test. Does this mean that if the D80 had sharpening turned up, the images would be comparable? At first glance you might think the D40 was a better camera, in terms of IQ. I noticed the noise samples are just the oposite. What's going on?

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BrianS
D50, 70-300mm VR, 50mm f/1.8

Well remember there's not just variations in image processing, but also the sensor, ISO and lens in use. So a lot of variables there, which some might say makes tests like these unfair as you're not comparing apples with apples.

BUT I'd say that's what makes them all the more relevant and interesting as they show what you could expect from each camera with their kit lenses and default settings.

Remember you can right click these images, save them to your computer and try applying things like sharpening in Photoshop to see how that might affect things...

Yes, it would seem this way, but if you look at some EXIF data you can see that the pictures on with the D40 are taken at 1/500th of a second compared to the D80 being shot at 1/250th of a second. This is twice as fast as what was taken with the D80 so of course the D40's pictures will look sharper.

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Canon EOS 5D + 50mm f/1.8

http://flickr.com/photos/nathan_ward

I guess it simply gets down to, if you like what you see, that's the camera to buy. It's frustrating, however, trying to make sense of what's presented. It seems that low noise or high resolution isn't a guarantee of getting the best image.

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BrianS
D50, 70-300mm VR, 50mm f/1.8

The D40 images had a quicker shutter speed becuase its minimum sensitivity is double the D80's. 200 ISO versus 100 ISO...