how do the 4 Mpixels of the Nikon D2H compare ?
By now you’ve all probably heard on the various forums that images from the D2H are equivalent to most 6 Mpixel cameras, and can be enlarged with the same results as the 6 Mpixel D100.
This idea was a tough one for me to swallow initially, since we all cling to the idea that megapixels should be a tangible criterium, even though we all know that it’s the quality of the pixel, not the number of pixels. I did some tests to check this out for myself. I photographed my daughter with a D100 and a D2H, using the 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens on a tripod. The same lighting in both instances, which was a Q-flash in manual mode bounced backwards. The same camera and lens settings were used - 1/100th sec @ f4 @ 200 iso, Normal tone curve, Low Sharpening. The lens was mounted on a sturdy tripod, and VR was turned off.
One thing that was immediately apparant again is that the D100 image is 1/3 stop darker than the D2H image according to the histogram. I had to pull the D2H image down in Nikon Capture by 1/3rd stop to match the D100 image. My exposure for the D100 was based on the spike on the histogram for a piece of white paper that she held up just befor those photos. The histogram (with no tone curve) looked perfect on the D100. I set the same aperture / shutter speed on the D2H, and took the same sequence of photos. There was about 1/3rd stop difference between the D2H and the D100, so I pulled down the D2H raw file down by 1/3rd of a stop so that the histograms then matched in Nikon Capture.Anyway, I upsized the D2H images (from its native 2464×1632 pixels) in Nikon Capture to a 6 Mpixel image (3008×1992) to give the same megapixel count as the D100 (3008×2000)These photos were all handled in Nikon Capture as NEFs right up until I converted them for JPGs to display here.
Here’s what thethe up-rezed D2H image looks like (downsized for web display) :
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.. which looks pretty much like the D100 image :
(after I had pulled down the D2H exposure by 1/3rd stop in Nikon Capture)
(I know, I know, she just endures her dad’s need for a model)
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And here are 100% crops of both images:
D2H (as 6 megapixels) :
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D100 :
Detailed subjects such as someone’s eye and eyelashes should be a good indication of the amount of detail that is resolved in an image. I used Low Sharpening (in RAW), in both images so as to minimise the artifacting that sharpening can produce. (btw .. the images look just as close with High Sharpening in Nikon Capture.)
Essentially, my deduction from this is that you’re not going to gain extra resolution with the D100, despite the 6mpx / 4mpx difference.
This type of observation about the crispness of the Nikon D2H image, has been explained by others, as due to the less aggressive low-pass filter of the D2H.