This morning I had a request to do a direct comparison between the D800 and the X-Pro1, so here we have it.

These images were taken within a few minutes of each other so the light didn’t change that much and both cameras were compared with the same settings and some variations.

I started with the D800 in manual mode, setting its aperture to f / 8.0 and shutter speed to 1/500th. I chose these settings to eliminate any chance of camera shake and to give a depth of field that was going to be fairly sharp right the way through.

I left the D800 to decide the ISO, which it judged to be 1600.

Comparing this way wasn’t really fair, because each cameras metering system judges a scenes exposure differently. What I’ve done essentially here is use ‘ISO priority mode’ in the D800 and applied those settings to the X-Pro1.

The image below show a direct comparison at exactly the same settings, but keep in mind that the D800 decided to use this ISO, whereas the Fuji was forced to use an ISO it wouldn’t have chosen.

(Click the images for a full screen view)

To make things fair I allowed the X-Pro1 to decide which ISO it thought was best at 1/500th f 8/0, it chose ISO 2500.

In many ways this is the fairest comparison of the two. Both cameras were allowed to make the best exposure using the ISO that is best for itself.

Having completed the tests above there was just one thing left to do, force the D800 to shoot at the ISO the Fuji chose. Which you can see below.

There are so many variables to consider here and by no means is this comparison totally accurate. I hand held the camera, the two lenses are completely different, the light may have changed slightly etc. I’m sure there are other things as well that I haven’t taken into consideration.

Also the D800 image was much larger than the X-Pro1, so in Photoshop I downsized it. (From what I understand this should actually go in favour of the D800 image quality.)

Both cameras took RAW files and the images are not edited at all except for the resizing of the D800 image as mentioned above. The images were then saved as a high quality .jepg after being put together in Photoshop with text overlaid.

Now then! Just for a bit of fun I ran Auto Tone and Auto White Balance on both images in Lightroom 4! The results are below for you to make judgement on.

I will still have the D800 and Tamron lens around for another couple of days, if there’s anything that you’d like me to do in way of comparison with the X-Pro1 in this time I’m more than happy to do so.

*Added*

Histograms from both of the exposures where the cameras were allowed to choose the best ISO.

D800

X-Pro1