It's immediately apparent from the crops below that the output from the D300 is noticeably softer than that of the Sony Alpha A700, when both cameras are set to their default JPEG settings. Of course there are differences in the optics used here, but with both bodies fitted with high quality zooms, the major difference is with in-camera processing - particularly in terms of sharpening and contrast. Boost the D300's - or indeed reduce the A700's - and the images can look very similar. It is interesting to note how their respective Auto White Balance settings have produced noticeably different results though with the D300 JPEG looking warmer than the A700s.

As you'd expect from two cameras sharing the same-sized 12 Megapixel CMOS sensors though (with both made by Sony), the level of captured real-life detail is essentially the same with any differences down to the lens in use and image processing settings. And as you'd also expect, there are considerable advantages to shooting in RAW, so scroll down to the bottom of this page for an example. To see how the cameras performed under studio conditions, check out our Nikon D300 resolution results. To see an outdoor comparison between the Canon EOS 40D and Sony Alpha A700, see our A700 Outdoor resolution results.