In a High ISO noise test at cameralabs, the recently announced A7r mirrorless performed better than Nikon D800E, the A7r showed more details + better color and contrast reproduction compared to D800E,
Gordon Laing of Camera Labs
The Sony A7r enjoys crisper results at lower ISOs without undesirable sharpening artefacts and cleaner results at higher ISOs. The crisper results could be down to a superior lens, and I hope to perform more comparisons in the future when both are fitted with the same lens, but there’s no doubt the A7r and Zeiss 35mm combination are capable of delivering highly detailed images which, from the results below, are visibly superior to the Nikon D800e and Nikkor 35mm f1.4 lens. Even taking lenses out of the equation, the A7r’s JPEGs also enjoy lower noise at mid to high sensitivities.
A7r JPEG (Left) and Nikon D800E JPEG (right)
You can look at the two red blocks, Sony A7r showing better details / noise level at low and HIGH ISO test.
Gordon Laing of Camera Labs
The Sony A7r enjoys crisper results at lower ISOs without undesirable sharpening artefacts and cleaner results at higher ISOs. The crisper results could be down to a superior lens, and I hope to perform more comparisons in the future when both are fitted with the same lens, but there’s no doubt the A7r and Zeiss 35mm combination are capable of delivering highly detailed images which, from the results below, are visibly superior to the Nikon D800e and Nikkor 35mm f1.4 lens. Even taking lenses out of the equation, the A7r’s JPEGs also enjoy lower noise at mid to high sensitivities.
How do RAW images compare?
These results really do not tell us anything as they are highly influenced by the in-camera jpg conversion from raw.
I would want to see raw images at higher ISO levels, 1600, 3200 and 6400 would suffice for me. I would also want to see a series of low key and high key images to assess noise and highlight roll-off.
I would agree with your comments about the lens quality; ideally you need to use the same lens, if that is possible. But what apertures were used in the test? There is a serious lack of information.
400 is a high ISO?? LOL!