Sensor news: NEX-5r tested, Nikon D600 has Sony sensor.
Image courtesy: Chipworks
Chipworks ripped the Nikon D600 to see who made the 24 Megapixel Full Frame sensor. And as you can see from the image on top it’s made by Sony. Of course while the sensor may be similar to the Sony A99 the features of the cameras are completely different. The A99 sensor has phase detection pixels on it, and the camera is weather sealed and is a more advanced hybrid video&still camera. But for now the cheaper price of the D600 made it become a popular hotseller at Amazon (here is the ranking). Sony may need to release a sort of cheap A95 camera that can fight in the same league of the Canon 6D and Nikon D600.
Dxomark tested the Sony NEX-5R sensor which has almost the exact score of the NEX-5n (78 versus 77 points). Of course the NEX-5R has some nice new features compared ot the older NEX-5n, but the price of the NEX-5n is that good now that it is the best selling mirrorless camera on Amazon (ranking here).
Steve
7 months ago |E-M5 still matching the latest NEX-5R through most of the ISO range. NEX-5R still has the advantage at base ISO.
XaviJM
7 months ago |I have tested a preproduction a99, it is a great camera, the evf is better than a77 evf. I have posted three photos with the a99 in flickr, second and third are and hdr using the +/-3 EV braketing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavijm/8163284079/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavijm/8161720497/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavijm/8161721109/in/photostream
Frank
7 months ago |The EVF is better on the A99? I thought it said on SAR that the EVF was the same as the A77/A65?
Surely any difference will be down to it getting the image from a larger sensor rather than being “better”?
XaviJM
7 months ago |I test the a99 next to an a77, changing the camera watching the same scene. The a99 evf is far better, like more realistic and with less contrast, it is easier see the darker zones when hightlights are in scene.
The specifications are the same in the oled but something is different.
Steve
7 months ago |So it looks like they fixed the contract issue from the A77 EVF. Wonder if they will issue a firmware fix for the A77?
The Lotus Eater
7 months ago |Realise that the sensor could have an impact on the image you see through the EVF. Moreover, the optics of the EVF eyepiece may have been improved. If it’s either of those things, then a firmware fix won’t be possible.
The electronic specs of the EVF may not have changed at all, but improvements elsewhere are possible.
Steve
7 months ago |It was definitely a EVF setting issue as adjusting the in camera Contrast corrected the issue, but this also ruined the JPEG output. Basically the Contrast for the JPEG images and EVF were out of synce. Definitely not WYSIWYG.
Mist
7 months ago |i think if EVF of a99 is better than a77 even if they use the same EVF because sensor of a99 is simply better.
dont you remember the image data input of EVF is taken from the sensor of camera?
a99 has a better sensor in terms of ISO and Dynamic range, so its EVF ‘looks’ better.
Does it sound logic? Let discuzz
XaviJM
7 months ago |The point is than a evf is only a screen, so how the camera process the image before shows it in the screen is important, and this process is different. Also I was told that the microlenses in front of the evf are different.
FLN
7 months ago |After comparing the EVF on the A77 and A99 tonight, I can definitely confirm, that the image in the EVF on the A99 is better (cleaner) than the EVF on the A77, corresponding to the difference in the final JPG’s on the two cameras. If the difference is also as evident in bright light I have still to try out (when it is daylight again
Rick
7 months ago |Here’s a post from a Sony tester “thrice” that says the A99′s EVF is not the same as the A77′s. He’s posted a lot of reliable Sony inside information before and after owning the Nex7, I can say the A99′s EVF is much better.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1134984/18#11103485
Lofote
7 months ago |Dear SAR
…
You still are calling a cheap A99 a “A95″, why is that? That would be an “older” (non-existing) version. A cheaper A99 would be named A87 or A88!
Sony has such a good numbering system, unlike Canon or Nikon, and very easy to understand.
I told you that before a few times
…
admin
7 months ago |Ok, what matters is that Sony makes it for real
Weakling
7 months ago |From he 5R Dxomark test: ” It beats its predecessor, the NEX-5N, by only one point, which clearly indicates that it uses the very same sensor.”
So Sony put 99 PD pixels on the sensor, but according to Dxomark it is still the very same sensor? Seems a bit unlikely to me really.
Catalin
7 months ago |Sony probably couldn’t evolve the sensor technology further in this time frame. The NEX-5n still holds its own, and it’s better than NEX-5R at high ISO. Strange.
Milan
7 months ago |Yes, those pixels dedicated to phase detect AF make the sensor different and make it lose some score at high ISO. But the difference is not as big as when using an SLT mirror, so if the on-sensor phase detect AF works well, the only selling point for SLRs will be the OVF. But for how long?
Gunnar
7 months ago |the phase detection sensors on an SLT are by far superior to those tiny pixel sized detectors that are on sensor.. the on sensor detectors only work with lots of light while the center PDAF sensor on the A77 even works with an F8 lens in near darkness.. SLT is hopefully not dying anytime soon as also the A99 proves btw.
PhotoNut
7 months ago |SAR you’re wrong again! Just because the D600 uses a 24mpx sensor made by SONY does not mean that the D600 sensor is the same sensor as that used on the A99.
In fact, the sensor used on D600 is not the exact same sensor used in A99. They are very similar but the A99 uses a 24mpx FF sensor with phase detection (or depth map) pixels. The D600 does not.
It is more likely that the D600 uses the same base 24mpx sensor as that used on the SONY RX1 which also does not have PD pixels.
I like this site but I get annoyed all the time by the very bad logic and sensational reporting that goes on here all the time.
admin
7 months ago |PhotoNut! You are right! Will correct my post!
doug
7 months ago |No surprises with the NEX-5R test results. But I’m surprised that DxOMark would say that has “the very same sensor” as the 5N. Clearly it doesn’t, even though it gives only incrementally better performance in terms of IQ. But the 5R’s autofocus is vastly better.
Daemonius
7 months ago |Nah, Sony doesnt need A95. Target market for A99 is very different from D600. D600 is emergency solution and frankly, you can probably buy yourself used A900 or A850 for less money. If you dont need video.
And you cant put Sony lens on Nikon.
Dave Melges
7 months ago |PLEASE!!!! Begging you, stop suggesting that SONY make an “a95.” We don’t need SONY following Canon and Nikon when they’re doing such an AMAZING job LEADING. It’s time for Canon and Nikon to FOLLOW SONY.
The D600 is a “dummied down” camera….SONY needs to develop the NEX full frame and a MONSTER $5000 full frame, and focus on what they have been doing, which is building a lineup from top to bottom that is flat out BETTER than Nikon and Canon. The last thing we need is sites like this making people think that the a99 is not a DEAL, because at that price, relative to what it DOES, it’s incredibly priced.
If you told Nikon and Canon 18 months ago what the a99 would do and how much it would cost, they would have jumped out a window.
Daemonius
7 months ago |True that. Considering A99 is top tier camera, at that price its a steal.
Joel
7 months ago |In what way is the D600 ‘dumbed down’? It still allows you to shoot in manual mode, giving you complete control over the shutter speed and aperture. It comes with spot metering, wb adjustments etc. What more does a real tog need?
Howie
7 months ago |Just had a read of some of the Nikon D600 reviews on Amazon – seems a lot of the cameras are suffering with oil spots appearing on the sensor after only a short time (coming from an over lubricated internal mechanism apparently – wonder if it’s the mirror?)and there are other issues with the new cameras…
obican
7 months ago |According to Dxo, a Canon 5D Mark I will have better ISO performance than a Nex 5N or 7(which have around 1080 points in ISO compared to 5D’s 1300ish points). However, I own both 5D and Nex 7(and owned a 5 and 5N), I can easily say that this is not the case.
Even the Nex “oh high iso is so bad on 24mp sensor” 7 has better low life performance than 5DmI.
So, I’d take Dxo’s results with a grain of salt.
Angry Anonymous
7 months ago |No, the 5D is better, here are two 5d and NEX-7 shots taken at ISO3200, then downsampled to 8Mp: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12196364/samples/5d_vs_nex7.zip
obican
7 months ago |If you look at the EXIF, you’ll see that these are shot at 1/500 and f/8 with iso3200. There was actually quite a good amount of light available at the scene.
Give me a couple of days.
I’ll do 4 tests.
1. High shutter speed, f/8 with the same lens, iso800-1600-3200. (pretty much meaningless scenario)
2. High shutter speed, f/8 with the same lens, iso 100, push exposure digitally by +5EV. (Noise in the shadows at base iso)
3. High shutter speed, lens wide open, iso 800-1600-3200. (freezing the action under dim light)
4. Low shutter speed(1/60 or so), lens wide open, iso 800-1600-3200. (photography under VERY low light)
Admin, can we publishthe results on this website?
I really wonder how it’s going to end up.
Denis
7 months ago |Yes. Don’t forget actual result of NEX-7 should be darker: their ISO setting below 3200 are significantly lower than nominal values.
Dr No
7 months ago |Its sad to read all the angry users of the Nikon D600 system typing all kind of comments around the serious dust problems in the camera …. and some other issues about the HDMI out , a good camera its not matter of the name brand or lenses , its the innovation design and performance .
Wheelus
7 months ago |A99 is #16 on the Amazon site. It is still under “bundles.”
Richard
7 months ago |According to DXO, tt’s a bit surprised that 5R is almost on par with E-M5. How is it possible? Now the sensor size is no longer different, isn’t it?
Denis
7 months ago |I guess it’s cost of on sensor PDAF
Bare
7 months ago |It’s disgusting to find so much fanboyism on this site especially from site admin. Offcourse that D600 is weather-sealed even that you Sony users whish otherwise.