Canon EOS-1D X Mark II vs. Nikon D5: Clash of the Titans

Canon vs. Nikon full-frame DSLR showdown!

The Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and Nikon D5 are undoubtedly the flagship cameras for both companies, and both are cameras that many professionals have been waiting for. The EOS-1D X Mark II replaces the EOS-1D X from 2011, while the Nikon D5 replaces the D4 from 2012.

That’s a lifetime in progression for today’s consumer electronics, and both of the previous models have arguably been overtaken on some points by competitors’ flagship models like the Sony’s A7S II and A7R II and even by some of the prosumer models of their own like the 5D and D800 series from both companies respectively. So, to say anticipation was high is nothing short of an understatement.

Unlike what some might expect, both companies haven’t attempted to max out the resolution count on their flagship cameras, instead sticking with a more sensible balance of resolution versus ISO sensitivity and dynamic range. The 1D X Mark II has a resolution of 20.2MP, while the D5 has a resolution of 20.8MP.

Both are able to hit ISO levels of up to 51,200 on a base setting (the D5 actually has ISO 102,400 as the top base setting), and both can expand their range by at least three stops, with the EOS-1D X Mark II going up to ISO 409,600 and the D5 going up to an incredible ISO 3,280,000. In fairness, these aren’t values that you will use normally, so any advantage there is debatable, but they do give you a fair idea of what to expect from the base settings.

Before we move on further, here’s a quick table showing how the two cameras stack up:

Canon EOS-1D X Mark II

The premier professional camera from Canon, the EOS-1D X Mark II is purpose-built for photojournalism, wildlife, sports and action photography. It weighs 1,340g and measures 158.0 x 167.6 x 82.6mm – massive by today’s standards. However, the camera fits comfortably into the hands and is a built like a brick thanks to the high-strength magnesium alloy body. Like professional models before it, it also has extensive gasketing for improved dust and water resistance so you can use it in all conditions, hence justifying the S$8,199 price tag.

The EOS-1D X Mark II supports the new CFast cards as well as regular CF cards with a dedicated slot for each. The camera also has a carbon fiber shutter that is rated to maintain a continuous shooting rate of up to 16fps while lasting for up to 400,000 cycles before replacement.

With CFast cards, the camera can record up to 170 full-size RAW files at 16 fps. This drops down to 73 full-size RAW files UDMA 7 CF, and 59 with regular CF cards. If you have a CFast card or a UDMA 7 CF card though, you can shoot JPEG L till your card fills out. This drops to 140 shots with a regular card.

At the heart of it all though, are Dual DIGIC 6+ Image Processors that provide the speed for continuous readout of stills at 16fps and allow the camera the ability to take 4K/60p movies. Their processing power means that lens distortion and diffraction correction can also be done in real-time without affecting camera performance, and helps to account for the better high ISO performance. (Faster processors mean less heat produced and so less noise.)

The EOS-1D X Mark II also sports a completely new 20.2MP sensor. Why only 20.2MP? Well, the slightly lower resolution means a larger pixel pitch on the sensor, which makes for better high ISO performance. The new sensor also incorporates gapless micro lenses for enhanced light gathering capabilities that contribute to the camera’s high continuous image capture rate. As a result, the EOS-1D X Mark II boasts a native ISO range of 100-51,200. That’s expandable down to 50 and up to 409,600 which should certainly cover you for almost every situation possible.

Like the EOS-1D X before it, the Mark II has 61 autofocus points. However, the system has been completely overhauled to cover a wider area than before. All 61 points are now sensitive down to f/8 and -3EV for improved low light performance, and 41 of those are cross-type points for better accuracy in both vertical and horizontal axes.

It’s the first full-frame EOS DSLR to have Dual Pixel autofocus, and Canon has also moved to a design that uses on-chip analog-to-digital conversion for better dynamic range. These additions pair well with the camera’s ability to capture 4K (4,096 x 2,160-pixel resolution) movies at both 60p and 30p, as does the inclusion of a new 360,000 RGB+IR metering sensor that’s said to allow for better subject analysis (and hence better subject tracking) than before.

Speaking of 4K capture, Canon is taking a leaf out of Panasonic’s book in implementing a 4K still grab feature. Unlike Panasonic though, Canon says the resulting 8.8MP frame grab is meant to just confirm focus and isn’t meant to offer the same quality as a regular still image. Perhaps in support for the added video capabilities, the EOS-1D X Mark II’s rear LCD also gains limited touch support. You can use touch to select AF points when in Live View mode, and to control zoom during image review, but you can’t use it to go through menus.

Given how ubiquitous tilt-able rear LCDs are in consumer-level cameras are these days, we wish professional cameras like the EOS-1D X Mark II would adopt them too. They are certainly a boon when shooting at awkward angles, and if Sony can find a way to provide a rear LCD that at least tilts up and down that can handle the rigors of professional use, we’re sure the likes of Canon and Nikon can too. Sadly, you'll have to work harder to grab the shot you need with Canon's top gun.

Nikon D5

Now, on to the Nikon D5.  This costs a cool S$8,639, but just picking up the camera gives you a sense of how well-built this weather-proof camera is. Measuring 160.0 x 158.5 x 92.0mm, it’s about the same size as the EOS-1D X Mark II but weighs just a bit less at 1,235g for the XQD version and 1,240g for the CF version (body only weights).

Yes, the D5 comes in two versions – one with two XQD card slots and another with two CF card slots. That may please some early adopters, but we’re pretty sure there’s a fair number of photographers out there with High speed CF cards that they’re not ready to retire just yet, hence the CF version. Why not just have both CF and XQD together like the CFast and CF slots in the D4S before it?

The reason for this configuration all boils down to speed of operation and backward compatibility concerns; had the D5 been made with both formats in mind, the camera would have been held back by the slower CF card. Current XQD cards have a read speed of about 400MB/s; much higher than the 160MB/s of a CF card. If you set the cards to backup mode, the camera would literally be waiting on the CF card to clear writing before it could move on to the next shot, slowing down the entire shooting process.

Certainly, with dual XQD cards the D5 lets you shoot up to 200 frames continuously at the highest rate of 12fps (with fulltime AF). We never quite hit the full limit of 200 shots in our testing, but suffice to say the camera was well able to keep up with whatever action we were trying to capture. Blackout time between shots has also been reduced significantly, letting you better track moving subjects.

But being able to capture that many frames would be meaningless if they weren’t all in focus, and this is where the D5’s new Multi-CAM 20K AF sensor module really shines. The D5 has the best spread of AF points we’ve seen in a full-frame Nikon DSLR as yet, with a total of 153 focus points spread across the center of the image area - 99 of these are cross-type sensors, with 55 of those selectable. Also unique with the D5, is an Auto AF Fine-tuning function, which calibrates the camera to your lenses for optimal performance, so you can truly get the best out of your equipment.

There’s also a dedicated AF engine chip that helps in operations like subject detection and scene analysis. Paired with the 180K-pixel RGB sensor, that made for extremely accurate tracking, and hence faster autofocus performance. Besides improving the continuous shooting performance, the power of the new EXPEED 5 Image Processing engine also contributes to the D5’s incredibly wide range of ISO levels.

The D5 offers a native ISO sensitivity of ISO 100 – 102,400; widest in Nikon’s history. And it goes even further to an incredible ISO 3,280,000 equivalent when boosted to the max. We’ll leave the pictures to speak for themselves in the Imaging Performance section later, but suffice to say, Nikon’s low light imaging capabilities have really reached new levels with this camera.

Meanwhile, Nikon hasn’t let down on the video front either, giving the D5 4K recording capabilities and uncompressed HDMI out too. Like the EOS-1D X Mark II above, the D5 has the ability to extract 8MP JPEG images from its 4K footage, however the D5 uses the UHD specifications for 4K, which is slightly smaller at 3,840 x 2,160 pixels resolution.

Film makers will probably be excited to note that the D5’s entire ISO range can be used for video capture. Which means you won’t need as many lights to prepare your scene anymore. Simply up the ISO till you’re pleased with exposure. 

The D5’s rear LCD also implements a good amount of touch capabilities, allowing for touch focus in Live View mode, as well as tap-to-zoom, pinch-to-zoom and swipe during image review. You can also browse through images quickly by scrubbing the bottom of the screen during image review; handy when you’re dealing with a large burst of images. With the screen obviously touch capable, we wonder why Nikon didn’t just enable touch throughout as it certainly would have made it easier to go through menus. Note again, like the Canon counterpart, the rear screen doesn't tilt or articulate, thus needing more effort on your part to work the shot you need.

Imaging Performance - Part 1

The sample photographs below were shot with the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and the Nikon D5. The photos have not been post-processed and are copyright to SPH Magazines. They are provided for your reference only and we ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere. 

All of our testing days turned out to be grey overcast days with showers of rain sprinkled in between – great for testing the weather sealing and autofocus performance, but not so much for testing colors captured. As expected though, both cameras are extremely speedy and responsive, because they largely follow what was established by their predecessors and build upon it. Professionals users should have no concerns to pick them up and get to work immediately.

To present our test performance results, we've split them up by category of shooting. Take note that we've ditched linking the raw photos as they are very large in size; instead, we present the 100% cropped results to compare between both cameras.

 

Movement tracking

We tested autofocus by bringing the cameras down to the Bird Park. Lories are small birds that are fairly fast and unpredictable, and so perfect subjects for testing the tracking capabilities of a camera. This is where the D5 with its wider spread of autofocus points really impressed us. Once locked on, the camera really kept up with the tiny lories well, adjusting quickly even when the tiny birds turned. Conversely, the EOS-1D X Mark II lost focus once in a while, especially when the birds moved out of the cluster of autofocus points.

Point to Nikon in terms of being able to keep things in focus. However, maintaining focus is only half the battle in terms of action; being able to keep up with the action is just as important. In this case, the EOS-1D X Mark II was markedly faster. On paper, it might just be a difference of two frames, but in practice that relayed to about four or five more frames to choose from within each burst, which can be substantial when trying to nail action shots.

Low light focusing

Moving on to some extreme low light testing, we were pleased to find that both cameras were well able to achieve focus even in the dark of the owl enclosure. Both cameras were able to get good focus quickly without any hunting, speaking to the quality of the autofocus systems (and algorithms). 

What’s interesting though (and this is reflected in almost all the images in extreme lowlight) is that where possible, the D5’s autoexposure system tends to produce an exposure that reflects what the scene should look like, and not necessarily what the eyes see, disregarding ISO limits in the process. 

For example, looking at these two images here, the image from the EOS-1D X Mark II is clearly much darker, with exposure set based on the single light in the ceiling (to preserve highlights). The image from the D5 however, exposes for the owls, which are of course, the actual subject of the image. The EOS-1D X Mark II is staying still within its exposure range, hence the darker image, but the autoexposure system of the D5 has determined that the owls are the main focus of the image and hence setting exposure based on their luminance; even if it meant pushing to the boost settings.

Indoor lighting

This indoor scene only further reinforces this. With this scene, we used a light meter to determine the settings, and set both cameras to the same values to compare outcomes. The room is lit with warm tungsten lighting, and the exposure by the EOS-1D X Mark II is appropriately warm, so what the camera captures is closer to what you might see with the naked eye. With the D5, the camera has adjusted for the lighting to produce an image that is color correct – resulting in a cooler image overall.

Imaging Performance - Part 2

The sample photographs below were shot with the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and the Nikon D5. The photos have not been post-processed and are copyright to SPH Magazines. They are provided for your reference only and we ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere. 

Sharpness

Looking at this image of the peacock sculpture though, it seems that the D5 also turns in slightly better sharpness in lower light than the EOS-1D X Mark II. The feathers on each peacock have better detail, and that extends out further to the plants behind too. Given that the two camera’s sensors are so close in terms of resolution numbers, we’d put this down to better placement of the focus point, which effects the depth-of-field (and hence the impression of overall sharpness).

Studio shots

Finishing off with our in-house studio scene comparisons, the EOS-1D X Mark II turned in images with virtually no noise up to ISO 1600, with noise picking up progressively from ISO 3200 up to ISO 51,200. That’s the limit to which we’d go with this camera, as beyond that you start to lose fine detail. For example, the triceratops figure next to the card here starts to get lost to noise, and moving up to ISO 204,800 it gets lost completely.

Nikon D5 again stands out here with its ability to handle high ISOs. With this, you can again start to notice some noise from ISO 3200 onwards. We’d say the upper limit of usability is again about the same as that of the EOS-1D X Mark II at about ISO 51,200 if you’re looking to retain fine detail, but the D5 does a much better job with color noise beyond that.

When sharpened, the images take on a more analog sort of grain look, which should look better in prints, so you could possibly push it one stop higher to ISO 102,400. Beyond that point, all detail starts to go mush and you can’t do much in terms of shadow recovery without bringing up a lot of noise.

Conclusion

As we're dealing with professional class cameras, the competition is incredibly tight so it’s no surprise that both cameras came scoring almost similar. While the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II is a great all-around performer that is also slightly cheaper than the Nikon D5, we felt that accuracy of the autofocus system in the Nikon D5 was the real distinguishing factor.

There hasn’t been another camera we’ve tested that can track so accurately even in dim lighting conditions, and for a working photographer who needs to be sure that every image he captures is in focus, that’s indispensable. While it is slightly slower than the EOS-1D X Mark II, the D5’s 12fps is certainly nothing to sneeze at, and its massive buffer should ensure that you can just as easily get your shot.

All things said, the Nikon D5 is the winner of this shootout, but the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II is definitely not far behind.

Our Scoring