Some shots with E-M1+40-150 & D810+70-200

I took a few more shots yesterday and this evening with both cameras set at ISO 200, f2.8, center-weighted metering, (except for the last two which were at f3.5 with spot metering). I shot them hand-held in quick succession swapping cameras after each shot. The disclaimer again is that I am not a pro, I'm am architect who enjoys photography and this is the first time I have had two cameras with different sized sensors like this and have been able to compare equivalent lenses. My D810 is new but I have taken thousands of shots with my E-M1 and D800 and I find that overall, yes, I do like the 36MP Nikon and it performs better for me in low light plus in fast action situations and I love the incredible amount of fine detail it captures but, it is big, heavy and expensive and, many times I don't need 36MP. I have had some outstanding results with my E-M1 but on this personal comparison, just shooting around my house, I am amazed at how stunningly well my E-M1 performs compared to my D810 for about half the price.

The main thing I notice, just with my eyes, not scientifically tested here, is that yes, the Nikon 70-200 has more creamy and smooth bokeh at f2.8 in each shot but, with that, an extremely shallow DOF as can be seen in the, as close as I could get it, 1:2 crop. The Oly 40-150 at 100mm (200 on my Nikkor) has a deeper dof, which is still small, yet keeps more of the leaves and berries in focus, giving the impression that it is sharper. I did not have time however to experiment with the Nikkor lens to see how much I would need to stop it down to achieve the same dof that my Zuiko has at f2.8. I suspect that if I had, it would start loosing the smooth bokeh.

The biggest I have printed my photos has been on metal at 17" x 22" and with that, I've had great results with 12MP shots taken with my D700.

So, again, for me, I just find this interesting and I think these cameras are all so good that, unless you are a pro and have certain specific needs met by only a few, great results may be achieved with all. I took a friend's son with me on a photographic trip to Zion National Park and Page AZ last year and he, with a good photographic eye, achieved outstanding results with a Canon 3Ti.

I am fortunate to have both FX and MFT and, for me they are a great combination. To me, just by my eye, it is just astounding and interesting that my small 4/3 sensor and camera performs so well compared to my D810... Here is the additional shots I took:

I shot all of these RAW, imported to Lightroom 7.7.1

Made no adjustments whatsoever other than cropping

These first few were from about 5ft away.

D810

E-M1

D810 1:2 crop

E-M1 1:2 crop

D810

E-M1

D810 - You can see the shallow dof - only 2 berries in focus.

E-M1 1:2 crop - More berries are in focus so, in the full view - it looks better than the Nikon.

Nikon D810

Oly E-M1 - Deeper dof at f2.8 so more in focus.

D810 - Very shallow dof at f2.8

Oly E-M1

D810 - I focused on the center leaf.

Strangely, my D810 struggled to focus here. It kept hunting wildly and kept focusing on the bushes in the background. In this case, my E-M1 did not struggle to focus.

E-M1 - Again, a slightly deeper dof, less blurry bokeh - but looks good.

D810 - look how shallow the dof is at f2.8.

More defined bokeh but, in my opinion, the leaves look better here at 2.8 than the Nikon due to the deeper dof getting more of them in focus. I would like to experiment to see how much I need to stop down my Nikkor 70-200 to get the same dof and see what it does to the bokeh.

I took all of the shots below today when I got home from work. I shot from 6ft 10 away from the leaves, hand-held, and, for this first group, used ISO 200, f2.8 and Center Weighted metering on both cameras.

I swapped cameras quickly between each shot trying to shoot the same conditions with each camers. My Nikon did not do any hunting to focus today but, you can still see how shallow the dof around the leaf is and thus, this makes the full shot look less crisp. I cropped these again at 1:2 rather than 1:1 just to show more context to see the dof.

D810

E-M1

D810 1:2 crop

E-M1 1:2 crop - Again, more dof at f2.8

For the following two I stopped each down to f3.5 and changed to Spot Metering:

D810

E-M1

D810 1:2 crop

E-M1 1:2 crop

My cameras just after I shot these - I weighed them as they are there: The D810 + lens was 5 lbs 8 oz and the E-M1 was 3lbs 0 oz.

The leaves I shot in the last few above are behind there above the fence.

A great combination I think...

D810 & E-M1

I'm very happy with these two...

I've tested my 70-200 Nikkor against the 28-300 Nikkor I use a lot and the 70-200 is insanely sharp. But, I do see here that at f2.8 it has such a shallow dof that, I suppose, in a portrait you could perhaps end up with much of the subject out of focus at wide apertures... I'd have to experiment more but I suppose many of you who use it already know.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these. To me that fact that I would even compare images from my MFT E-M1 with my Nikon D810 speaks volumes about the quality obtainable from the E-M1, at least in my opinion anyway...

(I hope I got all of the captions right above and did not mislabel something).