Resolution - S5pro vs D90

Thanks to a friend who lent me his D90 for a weekend I was able to compare the resolution of the D90 (real 12mpx) with the S5pro (fake 12mpx, the special honeycomb layout of the Fuji SR sensor applies).

It was quite clear that the D90 would be the winner, but I wondered how big the difference would be. The subject of the test was once more my trusty CD rack (lots of fine details), I set both cameras to their base ISO (S5pro: 100; D90: 200) and used my AF-Nikkor 50mm/1.8D stopped down to f/5.6 for the test (it performs best in the range of f/4 to f/5.6 or so).

Both cameras where on the tripod of course; the S5pro was released with manual mirror lock up and cable; the D90 with mirror delay and self timer (I had no cable for it).

White balance has been neutralized with the picker on one and the same CD (not in the example frames, only in the full pic), Fluke's "Six wheels on my wagon", it's not possible to simply set the absolute same color temperature because of the different AA filter that the S5pro uses.

Lightroom's standard sharpening for Landscapes was applied to both images (yes, its common knowledge that the S5pro needs more sharpening because of its stronger AA filter, but what good would the comparison be with different sharpening?).

I picked two crops from the resulting frame to show the differences (please click on the photos just as usual to see the "real" 1:1 crop).


S5pro with 50/1.8D @ f/5.6 (FinePix S5Pro, 1.6s @ ISO 100; f/5.6, 50 mm DX)


D90 with 50/1.8D @ f/5.6 (NIKON D90, 1"s @ ISO 200; f/5.6, 50 mm DX)

Its quite visible IMHO that plain color surfaces (like the orange on the Etnica album's spine) are much more smooth and homogenous with the D90; the S5pro shows a certain grain even at base ISO (thats something I noticed for quite a while; I always considered it part of the special appeal of S5pro images).

The second set of crops clearly shows the limits of the S5pro. Check especially the spine of the Dire Straits albums and the Dub Trees album:


S5pro with 50/1.8D @ f/5.6 (FinePix S5Pro, 1.6s @ ISO 100; f/5.6, 50 mm DX)


D90 with 50/1.8D @ f/5.6 (NIKON D90, 1"s @ ISO 200; f/5.6, 50 mm DX)

Its quite remarkable IMHO that the "cheapo plastic" prime AF-Nikkor 50mm/1.8D performs so well even on the D90 with its 12mpx sensor (and if you listen to the herds in some forums you usually hear its "nowhere near as good" as the 3 times more expensive 50mm/1.4).

You can download the original files (full resolution, sRGB JPEGs, 90% quality export from Lightroom) from my webspace: Fuji Finepix S5pro and Nikon D90. Take care: each file is about 4MB (right click and "save as" if you don't want to view it in the browser).

And yes, the CD collection was more expensive than all the camera gear that I own today. :-)