The camera produces pleasing images, but does much better on raw than JPEG.
Lori Grunin
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
JPEGs are clean through ISO 200, good though ISO 1600, and usable to ISO 6400. The extra sharpness delivered by the OLPF-free sensor helps maintain sharpness as ISO sensitivity rises.
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D7100 vs. D5200, ISO 100
The D7100's images are a hair sharper than the D5200's, but much of that can be compensated for by using a better lens on the D5200 (the D7100 comes with a better kit lens). Once you equalize for that, only pixel peepers will really note a difference at low ISO sensitivities.
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ISO 100
This isn't bad sharpness for a crop into a midrange distance photo.
(1/200 sec, f5.6, spot metering, ISO 100, AWB, 18-105mm lens at 105mm)
4 of 10 Lori Grunin/CNET
ISO 400
The noise reduction is pretty intelligent, only kicking in when there's actually some noise to process.
(1/80 sec, f4.5, spot metering, ISO 400, AWB, 18-105mm lens at 34mm)
5 of 10 Lori Grunin/CNET
ISO 800 raw vs. JPEG
Even as low as ISO 800 I could get better results processing the raw images than using the default JPEG settings. (JPEG top; raw bottom. I didn't attempt to preserve the red tint.)
(1/50 sec, f4.5, spot metering, ISO 800, AWB, 18-105mm lens at 40mm)
6 of 10 Lori Grunin/CNET
ISO 1600, no noise reduction
The color noise remains fairly fine as high as ISO 1600.
(1/40 sec, f3.5, spot metering, ISO 1600, AWB, 18-105mm lens at 18mm)
7 of 10 Lori Grunin/CNET
ISO 1600 JPEG
You can see some of the JPEG processing and noise-reduction artifacts here, but it's okay for printing as large as 13x19.
(1/30 sec, f4.5, matrix metering, ISO 1600, AWB, 18-105mm lens at 30mm)
8 of 10 Lori Grunin/CNET
ISO 3200, raw vs. JPEG
You can get much better results from the raw files at ISO 3200.
(1/30 sec, f4.5, matrix metering, ISO 3200, AWB, 18-105mm lens at 30mm)
9 of 10 Lori Grunin/CNET
Color
On its default settings, the camera produces bright, saturated, pleasing colors with high contrast.
10 of 10 Lori Grunin/CNET
Standard vs. neutral Picture Controls
Nikon pushes the hues and contrast a little too much with its default Picture Control settings. (You can see the red hue shift here, but this example doesn't show how the contrast boost clips detail.)
(1/100 sec, f5, matrix metering, ISO 100, AWB, 18-105mm lens at 48mm. Images rotated 90 degrees to fit.)
