Nikon D780 VS Canon 5D Mark IV VS Sony A7 III! Could the Nikon D780 be the BEST DSLR Video?

Morgan

5 years ago

Today we are very excited to be reviewing the Nikon D780 and comparing it to the Sony A7 III and Canon 5D Mark VI!

This Nikon update has all of the top of the line for the entry-level camera, It’s not the D850 – so it’s 24 megapixels but it has a really nice processor, great phase-detect autofocus system, it has the eye detect AND it has all of the video features you’d see in the Z6! They moved over even though it’s a DSLR, so really this is kinda the nicest DSLR you’ll find on the market.

I understand that the a7 III competes with this camera – but why the 5D Mark IV?

We felt like the Mark VI was a good comparison even though technically it’s supposed to be their more flagship camera. Financially you’re in the same ballpark- over $2000, and it’s good to compare these 3 cameras.

IMAGE QUALITY TEST

I love Canon color, but I think I love Nikon color as much or more! The D850 is one of my favorites as far as look goes and this camera feels similar to me. The Sony is underexposing but I feel like it does save some of the highlights.

If we look at sharpness though, we are looking at resolution a little bit but that comes down to the lens. The Canon is looking pretty sharp – we use the 1.2 on that, it’s an okay lens. The Sony’s lens built by ZEISS is really nice – that’s always been a great lens.

As far as picture quality goes, they all look really nice. The Canon and Nikon are more to my liking just out of the box – they are a little brighter and I like the tonality more – less green too! You can correct that image easily on the Sony in about 3 seconds.

DYNAMIC RANGE TEST

0 EV

We start here at 0EV, which is at proper exposure. We’ve metered off of her face. Right off the bat, look how the Sony holds the wall on the left side! What it comes down to is it’s less sensitive, so at the same ISO, the highlights are going to be brighter on the 2 cameras VS the Sony.

-1 EV

The sky is looking nice on all the cameras, so maybe if you’re shooting Nikon or Canon, just underexpose by 1 stop. Just compensate in all of your image so you can keep some of that highlight if you have something bright in the scene, so you can keep that detail.

-2 EV

Now we’re looking to see when the noise starts to come in, because we are pushing the exposure back up to be proper. The Nikon is looking really clean at -2 EV – I am seeing noise on the Canon, even more on the Sony. Her face is starting to look a bit blotchy.

-3 EV

The Nikon has really beautiful tonality, even when it’s under exposed. I just love the way that her face is popping, even the color in her skin. I feel like the skin on the other images is starting to get a bit more muted. The yellow starts to creep in on the highlights side of her face there.

-4 EV

The Sony has definitely gone green. If you look at the brick in the shadows you’re seeing some green and yellow shift, and there’s a LOT of noise. It’s surprising me that the Nikon has held together as well as it has, for 4 stops!!!

+1 EV

The walls were of course already blown, so we’re seeing that white out completely. The Sony is even blowing the sky and the brick and everything, but her face, which is what we’re really measuring for is staying just fine on all of these. And overall there isn’t too much color shift in the chart or on the brick and stuff.

+2 EV

The Nikon looks like it’s going to be the first one to go. If you look at her nose and forehead there are little hot spots that are starting to appear on the Nikon and the Canon, and the Canon is turning super yellow. The Color Checkr is looking nice and rich on the all of them.

+3 EV

All the cameras at this point are starting to fall apart. The Sony is finally hitting it’s breaking point – but it’s held on the best as far as being at +3 stops. For a digital camera, that’s a long ways. We’ve shot other Nikon cameras that were kinda starting to go up at +1 stop so this is already a major improvement.

+4 EV

And of course, at +4 stops they’re all looking bad.

The conclusion is, I thought the Nikon held it together really well. We had 1-2 stop of latitude in the highlights, and then you had 4 stop of latitude in the shadows. This is a major step up for Nikon. I feel like the sensor and the look is really incredible.

These 3 cameras are so head to head with each other that it’s a difficult decision.

AUTOFOCUS TEST

Our autofocus test is pretty interesting because we did this deeper in the shade this time, which is a little more difficult for cameras because they struggle in that low contrast.

Canon 5D Mark IV

Canon has the older technology, so it doesn’t have the dual pixel and it struggles a little bit, I mean it wasn’t terrible but there’s definitely a point where it loses it 3-4 times.

Sony A7 III

I was super impressed with the Sony. It seemed to be RIGHT ON though we may have lost a frame or 2 out of the whole test. The sharp ones were sharper, and the eye detect was more reliable for the Sony than the Canon.

Nikon D780

The Nikon did much better than we’ve seen in the past. It seems like the auto focus was pretty ON, if I’m not mistaken! It wasn’t spectacular, but it was very good. It was slightly better than the Canon.

We’re looking at this from a perfectionist standpoint – we want to see every one of these image right on and the Sony was the closest to accomplishing that but the other 2 were not that far behind.

ISO TEST

400 ISO

The Canon is a little hotter than the others and the Sony is a little darker. 400 ISO on a camera in 2020 – we shouldn’t see any noise.

800 ISO

You do see a little noise starting to appear, you see a bit along her right eye near her ear. Nikon is looking really clean, Canon has a little bit of noise, and Sony has a little bit of noise.

1600 ISO

Nikon is looking clean. On Sony, the color is shifting a tiny bit in the deep shadows, and we’re starting to get a bit of blotching in the skin although I feel like I’m seeing a bit of that in the Nikon as well. The Canon definitely has some noise around her eyes, but the tonality on the Canon is staying very consistent. Seems like Nikon is in the lead, followed by the Canon and then the Sony.

3200 ISO

Nikon is still looking good – you do have a bit of noise. Sony is getting dark and grainy and the color is shifting. Canon is getting a little bit noisy.

6400 ISO

The color on the Canon still looks nice right across the board but you are seeing a lot of noise right across the shadows. The Nikon still seems like the color is holding, the shadows are holding well – and that’s what we expect from Nikon, you shoot any ISO and you’re going to get the same image with just a little more noise.

12800 ISO

Very gritty – in my opinion the Nikon is starting to look like it’s unusable. Sony is looking really bad. It’s dark and green and muddy. The Canon – it almost seems like the image is getting brighter as we go like the contrast is building or something.

25600 ISO

And of course the Canon is the only one that goes to 25600. No idea why they would need that.

I think the 1600 on the Nikon is going to feel very similar to the 800 on the others. A full stop advantage for Nikon across the board, not to mention the color consistency, the tonality consistency.

We’re sounding like Nikon Fanboys today – which is funny because neither of us have ever owned a Nikon, except in the film days.

VIDEO TEST

So these are all shot, standard picture profile, out of the box if you just kinda wanted to point your camera and shoot. If you’re wondering why the Canon is as large as it is, it has a crop factor. Major crop factor when you’re shooting 4k.

There is some moret on the Nikon, which I’m not seeing on the others, but they’re all actually remarkable similar. I will say, in the past when we’ve shot Nikon they’ve looked overly contrasty, where it looks bad, and this isn’t that way.

These all look very clean and very similar. But you automatically see the big disadvantage for the Canon, which is the major crop factor in 4k.

I know this isn’t a dynamic range test, but it’s interesting to note the wall in the background. The wall on the Sony is starting to blow out and it’s holding fairly well on the Nikon and it’s holding really well on the Canon. It you just shot on a more neutral picture profile on the Sony it’d change everything.

But between those 3 I would pick the Sony because if I was presented those 3 options for a particular shoot, I would want the one that shoots the best image internally without building it out.

WRAP-UP

I love the Canon for a lot of reasons – the color I love. I actually love the Sony in different ways; the compactness, the mirrorless platform is fabulous to me, but overall I’ve been super impressed with the Nikon!

Every time we’ve reviewed a Nikon I’ve loved the color. I think their video has come a long ways – we’re seeing much better video capabilities with this new camera, and if you’re in that world and that’s what you shoot, you’re going to want to look at this camera. It could be a B camera to your 50, and getting that 10bit 422 out, to me is huge.

What’s interesting is that Sony is pushing the idea that mirrorless is the future – that in 50 years there will be no DSLR’s and maybe that’s true. But it’s interesting that Nikon comes out with this camera, which is probably the most compelling DSLR in years! So the fact that it is still competing with mirrorless is really cool!