Nikon Z6 vs D810 vs D700 - DSLR vs Mirrorless, MP vs Quality (Hand Held)

DSLR vs Mirrorless daylight photo quality. Do Megapixels matter for resolution and details?... all shots are hand held for this test.

Doing 20 videos in in 20 days! :)

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[carletonlong]

Just shows how good the D700 is if it can compete with much newer technology, new isn’t always the best

[reganalbertson]

I use both the D810 and D700. Even though the two are a generation apart they were designed for the same market segments. The D750 and D610 are for different markets. The focus on the D810 is much better than the D700, but...the D700 colors are incredible! The D810 has much more processing capacity and with great glass and lighting makes quality images.Extra megapixels gives you latitude to shoot wider, the crop Zoom in with the D700. It's 12.2 mp sensor has more light between the pixels which gives it an edge on many denser mp censured cameras. Z^ is a different animal and I'll stick with my dinosaurs.

[lescobrandon]

My wedding photos D700 and D3, both with same sensor, gave me the best images. Later, I got into model portfolios and NYC street photography and got excellent pics.
My other, newer cameras are the D300, D800, D750 and Z7 do not produce the rich colors of the older bodies but the Z7 makes a nice tool with the higher ISO because of the crop factor. But the smaller pixels do not work as well under low ambient lighting conditions.
The supposed downsides of the D700 are the single card slot and the 95% viewfinder. Both of which an experienced photographer would not consider problems.

[antonius]

Great work! It only shows that there is no reason to replace the D700 for normal people despite all the talk on dpreview and those sites. Important to know for those who are on a budget (and who is not nowadays).

[MyNikolaas]

I'm not surprised about the z6, but I think this really shows how well the good 'ol D700 still holds up today!

[Kelvinteeljr]

I owned a D3200 D700 D500 D750 and now Z6.

Every single time i pull out the D700 it amazes me, just the color and tone of the images. It just has that "it" factor. Plain and Simple.

Only had Z6 for a couple days, i agree with your assessment on that as well.

[ThePinoyAggie]

I have both the D810 and Z6. I love the D810's resolution. I'm a landscape photography enthusiast. The D810 has no AA filter which will make it sharp unless you only shoot jpeg. For landscapes using a tripod and mirror up, D810 will be the best. Z6 is better at low light and for handheld shots, since it has IBIS and no vibration from a mirror. The D810's high resolution will show camera shake. Hopefully in the near future, my D810 will be replaced by the Z7 since it is like the D850 except lighter. Perfect for hiking with the camera.

[mmnikonainikkor]

When my gramps is shortlisted along with Usain Bolt and Carl Lewis, there could only be one obvious winner. Love the D700 .

[edijares]

If you’re not into videos and wireless tech, just get the D700 and save your money for prime lenses. Just thinking practically.

[stanspb]

This is an interesting test. I have done informal tests between D800, D850 and Z6 using the same F mount lenses and with with the same FL using a S Z mount lens on the Z7. I do a wide variety of commercial and hobby photography and almost everything is handheld. My conclusion for my style, without mirror up/tripod mounting, the Z6 consistently returns better images and when switching from the 50mm 1.4G to the 50 1.8 S on the Z6 you do not have to zoom in to see the advantage of the excellent corner to corner sharpness of the S lenses. Unless an art director insists on large files, I am doing almost all my work now on the Z6. I had a Z7 first but wanted the Z6. My high res needs were handled by the D850 so wanted the low light and speed of the Z6. Two months later, the Z6 became available. The D850 and Z7 are producing almost identical image quality but the newer Expeed processor gave the edge to the Z7, slight edge, in lower light due to the Expeed 6 in the Z7. I traded the Z7 back to the store owner who wanted it, and got the first Z6 that arrived in my adopted city, and to make up the difference in price, he threw in the 35mm and 50mm S primes to go with the 24-70 f/4. It took only a week or two of shooting both D850 and Z6 to conclude that the handling, low light performance and low light focusing/EVF just was more of a pleasure to us. When switching to S lenses, there was no going back. The lenses are really that good. Even the kit 24-70 f/4 is sharper across the frame than either of my G or E 24-70 2.8. Then getting the S 2.8 version which is better than any zoom I have ever seen or used. It embarrassed my fast primes. The 50 1.8 and 85 1.8 are spectacular primes which are as sharp in the corners than anything. The closest I have seen to resolving power is the Sigma 50 1.4 ART in the very center of the frame but it falls off by 1/3 of the frame away from the center. The Sigma also has a lot more CA/color fringing wide open.
It is REALLY hard to go back to OVF after the excellent EVF of the Z bodies. The IBIS is really good, better than VR. The very low light focusing is really good also, and is a pleasure to manual focus old MF lenses like my 50 1.2 AIS, which works great with the very accurate focus peaking function.
In your tests you probably would have seen sharper images from the 810 using tripod/mirror up because you can really see the difference between Live View and OVF modes. Live View is always better on DSLRs. The Z is always in live view so that alone would explain the sharper images with the Z. The quality of the tripod makes a difference also. For handheld shots, I always get better images than the D800 or D850.

[philipcook]

Hi thanks for the video. The higher the mb of a camera the stricter you need to hold it still. There is more latitude the lower you go down. Infor as iso, shutter speed would be helpful. Z6 will be sharp due to stabilisation. D700 would be better due to smaller image size. Put the d810 on a tripod and whatch for no wind and then test again. Awesome, thanks.

[jeremy]

Not sure I missed it also but what lens did you shoot with? A higher megapixel camera will need an appropriate lens. Also mistakes will show up more with high resolution cameras.

that experiment with the d700 is a cool idea. Keep us updated!

[joshmcdzz]

You cannot hand hold a high megapixel camera and expect sharp images. Thanks for this comparism.

[_HMCB_]

I have a suggestion: 80% or more of YouTubers are chasing the same carrot. Why not differentiate yourself. Pick a camera, perhaps the D700 and thoroughly dissect it. Right now the D700 is undergoing cult status so it will help you garner not just eyeballs but quality viewers. And you get to learn something about a subject that you wouldn’t have done otherwise because there are just too many choices. Sometimes constraints is what helps you strengthen creative muscles. Also, good photography principles are applicable across the board no matter how old or new someone’s gear is. Again, the D700 is just an example but you get what I’m saying. Focus can be everything.

[ruslankbr]

I had all of them but D3 instead of D700 which is similar, I think colors are the best on D700.

[frankwieczorek]

I sold my D700 after I've bought a Sigma dp2 Quattro.
Now I can pretty much hear your comments 😁
But believe me or not the Sigma had such a much better resolution when compared to the nikon.
Usability was crap of course....
So at present I have a Sony a9 but I might consider to buy a D700 again, only for the nice memories..
BTW that Sony is far away from being perfect...

[Andreassavvides]

I think the most interesting comparison between those 3 cameras its the color in jpeg and the dynamic range different between the years. Trying to find the sharpest photo in 300/100 zoom is not so interesting because is just the resolution of the camera + the lens . for me great advantage will have the camera that produce a natural pleasant color in jpeg. Unfortunately all the newer cameras have all the bell and whistles but the image looks unpleasant and too much digital. An Example of older cameras that beat newer in color is the nikon d700 and the fuji s5 pro

[brianminkc]

With the new AI denoise, Sharpening and Enlargement software there is no need to carry anything better than a D700 unless you use your DSLR to shoot video.

[lofimoda]

A lot of people saying “if you use a tripod the D810 will be amazing”. If u have to use a tripod with a dslr in 2020, the camera is failing in its purpose. I can forgive the D700 for some shakes cause there’s no built in stabilization, but cmon, a sh*tload of money for a camera that requires a tripod to work properly!? It’s insane.
Good review dude, keep going