D800 vs Medium Format with Roth and Ramberg

With its groundbreaking image quality for a 35mm digital camera, the Nikon D800 has been compared to digital medium format camera systems. To look into these comparisons The Camera Store's Chris Niccolls went out with Michelle Ramberg and Dale Roth or Roth and Ramberg to compare the D800 to a Hasselblad, widely considered the best digital cameras ever produced.

See how the D800 stacks up against the Hasselblad H4D-40 in this extensive test.

Special Thanks to Dale Roth, Michelle Ramberg, London Barbers, Mark Langridge and the talented crew that made this shoot possible.

Please note that YouTube compression may make it difficult to see small differences in image quality. Trust Dale and Michelle.

Shot and Edited by Jordan Drake
Filmed on a Panasonic AF100

• Category

  Science & Technology

[User6327]

I'm surprised all the photos shown in the video are pretty bad. All the bickering over tones, and that's the last thing I thought of when looking at these compositions. Don't forget that cameras get in the way of photography... they're so distracted by some other activity or gear, that the passion of photography is totally thrown out the window. 14bit this 16bit that... yeah but did you think about your composition?

[TheCriton]

prefer the 120 roll film hasselblad.

[TLYang12]

Challenge accepted. iPhone photography is a "thing" right now. (for how long, who knows) If you could convince a bride and groom to let you shoot their entire wedding in "iPhone format", (or if they wanted that from the beginning) they could have a wedding that's the first of it's kind. It's all about the concept when you venture into experimental art.

[secretspyfrog]

This is a tough call, as a Pro myself...... well, I might go for the 800, but then , you can never have enogh cameras!!!! If I was worried about overheads (which I am, the bigger the overheads the less the profit)..... I like money. Great vid though, was thinking of changing gear for the blad. I'm a Nikon man and it staying, so looks like a few 800's and a 7000 for back up!

[Dexter Meister]

Wow, berto1999 is the biggest Nikon troll I've ever seen on the internet, and I'm a Nikon shooter. The truth is the difference is fairly small between the two.

[sandeep murali]

...and how the hell does one shoot aperture priority while using strobes?

[sandeep murali]

i am a d800 owner, looking to get a hasselblad sometime in the future and therefore has no favorite in this. and for that reason, i don't understand why these "pros" don't use a color passport to get consistent skin tones from both. the spyder checkr supports lightroom and phocus in case they didnt know.

[pilotdon50]

Try showing up to a wedding shoot armed only with your iPhone.

[Isaac Askme]

I would choose the d800 for 3,000$ and simply underbid you..If gear is needed to impress a client, I am sure this client would like the idea of getting a better deal. no one considers this fact! More expensive gear means you need to charge more. just like the guys who have a studio they need to pay rent.

[berto1999]

You are a troll, then you don't have rights. Every comment you write, aims to TROLLING. The Nikon D800 is competing with a MF camera. Canon is not competing WITH A MEDIUM FORMAT like Hasselblad. There are may small margins between the performance of Hasselblad and Nikon. And if the Hasselblad had more ISO capacity, maybe that camera would be excellent as a D800. But one thing is certain: CANON SURE CAN NOT COMPETE WITH THESE CAMERAS. Canon is lost in the maze of his own zany obsolete marketing.

[Christian Meneghini]

Yeah I'm a troll. Still, we want to see your work... That's if you have any.

[berto1999]

You are just a TROLL of Canon. A stupid Canon-troll.