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
D5200
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
D5200