New to D5200, question about JPEG softness

Familyguy77

New member
Let me begin by first saying I have had a Nikon 1 J2 for about 2 years now. I like the mirrorless concept, but feel the J2 lacks the functionality I personally have become accustomed to using (quick dials/buttons for ISO, Shutter, etc) from my previous pro-sumer super zoom. I've been considering an upgrade to a DSLR pretty much ever since I bought it.


I came across an open box D5200 at my local box store that I had to snag for $500 with the 18-55mm standard lens.


Prior to buying this model, I did quite a bit of research and read many reviews, as well as looked at many example pics. One thing I read/saw quite frequently was that the JPEG pics seemed a tad soft. I'm not a pro, I don't make a living off of my picture taking, so I don't ever plan on shooting RAW, as I find it overly cumbersome to have to go in and tweak every photo for color, highlights, sharpness, etc. So JPEG performance is important to me.


When I compare pictures taken from my J2 to those taken from my D5200, I am quite surprised to find the J2 appears to give a better end result. I think the only exception has been in extremely high ISO settings.


I would really like to love the D5200, and I realize there are many other advantages that the 5200 provides over the J2, but I can't get over how soft the pics are from it.


My neighbor had a big fire going, so I took the opportunity to compare my 55-300mm lens on both cameras. I turned NR & D-Lighting off, both pics were taken same ISO, speed, manual WB, I believe same color settings. I tried to make them both as identical as I could. You will see in the J2 pic, the detail is finer, albeit maybe a bit grainy. However, you can sort of make out the writing on the logo of the camper, you can see the tree branches in greater detail, as well as see the ridges in the metal roofing on the house in the background.


From the D5200, the overall effect is a softer appearance, which in my opinion, blurs out some of the detail.


Am I missing a setting on the 5200 that is causing this? Or does this have to do with the anti-aliasing filter that I have heard causes this issue?


Thanks for any suggestions!


1 J2
15877344001_c476eef43c_o.jpg



D5200
15691809628_1c03edc0d8_o.jpg
 

Lawrence

Senior Member
Look the same to me too. I agree that a tripod would have produced better shots and would probably also give a better comparison.
1/30 is far too slow a shutter speed on a 300 mm lens. Should have been at least the same as the focal length i.e. 1/300th of a second.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
I'm not sure that was the best test case.

Looks like a dark day, and your exif says both shutter speeds were 10/300 second, which if that is 1/30 second, is extremely slow for a 300 mm lens.

Not sure comparing the two is so meaningful, so much difference, but try it in bright light ( faster shutter), and a tripod is a good idea too. Or sit it on a fence post if nothing else, and use the self timer so your shutter finger does not wiggle it. Hang on to the loose strap, don't let it fall. A test needs all the care possible.

Then your little 600x400 picture we see posted here resamples the 24 megapixels down to about 0.25 megapixels, which removes almost all of the detail. Almost all of the pixels have been discarded. So who knows what was there? :) Instead, look at and show us a 600x400 crop at 100% size. Not a resample, but a full size crop (a small crop of some good detail). Maybe a picture of a person at ten feet, and then crop out out one eye to see the eyelashes.

Something like this:

crop2.jpg


Click it to see it a bit larger. This was high end gear. But see the point about trying to examine the tiny image?

To compare two images, they need to be at same size. One sensor is about half size, you could use a focal length about half on the J2 (to see the same view size). Or with same lens, stand back 2x with the J2, or stand about half distance with the D5200.

It is not the antialiasing filter, most all have that.

The Picture Controls has a sharpening menu, which could be increased, but not sure we have seen the need yet?
 
Last edited:

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
You probably need to adjust the "Sharpness" setting on your D5200 for starters. For reasons unknown this setting, by default, is set bizarrely low and it's still there unless you've gone into the menus and changed the setting yourself. This one setting change will have a DRAMATIC effect on the sharpness of your JPG photos.

To adjust this setting...

Press the Menu button and go into the Shooting menu (camera icon)
From here go into "Picture Control".
You'll see several options here: Standard, Landscape, Vivid, etc. Each one of these "Picture Controls" has it's own set of sub-menus with settings you can modify. I suggest you use Standard here, but use what pleases you. Highlight "Standard" (or whatever other Picture Control you want to use) and then click right one time to enter the Settings menu.
From this menu, drop down to "Sharpness" and bump it up from the default setting to "+7".
(I *suggest* bumping "Saturation" +1 but that's a personal taste sort of thing.)
Press "OK" to back out of the menus and you're done.

.....
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Let me begin by first saying I have had a Nikon 1 J2 for about 2 years now. I like the mirrorless concept, but feel the J2 lacks the functionality I personally have become accustomed to using (quick dials/buttons for ISO, Shutter, etc) from my previous pro-sumer super zoom. I've been considering an upgrade to a DSLR pretty much ever since I bought it.


I came across an open box D5200 at my local box store that I had to snag for $500 with the 18-55mm standard lens.


Prior to buying this model, I did quite a bit of research and read many reviews, as well as looked at many example pics. One thing I read/saw quite frequently was that the JPEG pics seemed a tad soft. I'm not a pro, I don't make a living off of my picture taking, so I don't ever plan on shooting RAW, as I find it overly cumbersome to have to go in and tweak every photo for color, highlights, sharpness, etc. So JPEG performance is important to me.


When I compare pictures taken from my J2 to those taken from my D5200, I am quite surprised to find the J2 appears to give a better end result. I think the only exception has been in extremely high ISO settings.


I would really like to love the D5200, and I realize there are many other advantages that the 5200 provides over the J2, but I can't get over how soft the pics are from it.


My neighbor had a big fire going, so I took the opportunity to compare my 55-300mm lens on both cameras. I turned NR & D-Lighting off, both pics were taken same ISO, speed, manual WB, I believe same color settings. I tried to make them both as identical as I could. You will see in the J2 pic, the detail is finer, albeit maybe a bit grainy. However, you can sort of make out the writing on the logo of the camper, you can see the tree branches in greater detail, as well as see the ridges in the metal roofing on the house in the background.


From the D5200, the overall effect is a softer appearance, which in my opinion, blurs out some of the detail.


Am I missing a setting on the 5200 that is causing this? Or does this have to do with the anti-aliasing filter that I have heard causes this issue?


Thanks for any suggestions!


1 J2
15877344001_c476eef43c_o.jpg



D5200
15691809628_1c03edc0d8_o.jpg

possibly check white balance + sharpen to taste!
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Here's a quick adjustment to your shot. I did a Levels adjustment layer to correct the color shift and some quick and dirty sharpening. Total Time Spent: about 30 seconds.
.....
Levels and Sharpening.jpg

.....
.....
 
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