M8 vs Nikon D2X

[arthury]

Just for the fun of it, I shot the same ordinary orange with light coming in from the glass sliding door.

Here are the details of the equipment:

• Camera:Nikon D2X and Leica M8
• Lens: Nikkor 85mm/1.4 and 90mm Summicron-M APO Asph
• Tripod used: Leica table-top
• Subject: Orange on a cotton-based textured table cloth with indirect lighting from outside
• Post-processing: Nikon CaptureNX and PS/CS2/ACR3.6

I opened two tabs in Mozilla and flipped the 2 back and forth (with the title scrolled away) and my unbiased testers picked the 90mm Summicron 100% of the time. However, all the testers said that the difference are probably between 10-15% and no more than that: they all agreed that the 2 images are very close in terms of clarity and "realness".

I asked them to look for 2 factors:

1. textures of the focused areas of the cloth: does it look "touchable" and real
2. smoothness of the defocused backgroud Which one is more pleasing to you?

Obviously, this test is done on as much preparations I can get and it's on tripod and I took my time to focus the subject carefully. In real life, the AF of the D2X will beat the M8 in terms of the speed of its operation and ease of use. But, carrying a D2X will announce loudly that I'm a photographer and somehow raises an alarm in many people if I point to their direction and the M8 is a clear winner in this aspect. All in all, they are 2 different beasts and they are for different usage.

Here're the images...

[jaapv]

I agree, on the web the Nikon and the M8 are close, as they should be, the Lumix cannot be compared; the smaller sensor size produces a DOF that precludes that. Maybe you should post some 100% crops, that might show up more. But in the end, only large - and good- prints count. Interesting if you would make and evaluate them.

[arthury]

Jaap,

In the days to come, I will be making hardcopy prints from my M8. Thanks for sharing your opinions.

[tom0511]

I also own both cameras. I find the orange looks more "real" in the Leica image.
However the bokeh of the 85/1.4 looks preety well to my eye.

On my last vacation I brought a d200 and the M8 and they worked very well together. d200 for action and weatherproof. M8 for everything else