24MP sensors on Nikon DX bodies: An in-depth comparison

CaMeRaQuEsT

I have been very intrigued by which 24MP sensor Nikon uses on which DX body and have been delving deeply onto their specs, capabilities and some pictures of them online:

D3200: (from this review: http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=11870)



D5200: (from this NR news: http://nikonrumors.com/2013/01/08/surprise-the-sensor-inside-the-nikon-d5200-is-made-by-toshiba.aspx/)



D7100: (from this review: http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=13158)



D5300: (from this review: http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=14251)



D3300: (from this review: http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=14573)



D5500: (from this review: http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=16269



D7200: (from this review: http://www.mobile01.com/newsdetail.php?id=16682)



We only know factually (courtesy of Chipworks) that the sensor on the D3200 is from Nikon and the one on the D5200 is from Toshiba. Much has been said that the D7100's sensor is the same one as the D5200's but without an AA filter (someone correct me if it actually is a fact), and imaging-resource.com mentions that they were "assured" that the D7200's sensor is the same exact one as on the D7100 (http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d7200/nikon-d7200TECH.HTM). Thom Hogan has written a very detailed review on his findings about the D3300's yet still different sensor and how the D5300 handles/processes blacks.

From looking at the attached pictures, we can see 3 very unique sensor designs: the odd one out on the D3200 (the oldest of the bunch, it even casts a different color reflection: more aqua than all the other's green), the purportedly shared Toshiba sensor on the D5200, D7100 and D7200, and a different, newer design (from Sony or again from Nikon?) that the D5300, D3300 and D5500 share.

In terms of video capabilities, and I believe that this is were the real differentiator for each sensor lies, the D3200 sensor does 1080 video at up to only 30 fps and is the noisiest of them by a wide margin, the sensors on the D5200, D7100 and D7200 do 1080 video at up to 60 fps but cropped and with a much softer output than their 24/25/30 fps full sensor readout footage, and the D5300, D3300 and D5500 share the same full sensor readout when doing 1080 video at all speeds, including 60 fps, while maintaining the same level of sharpness no matter what the fps are.

The D5200 and D7100 share the same shadows banding issue but the D7200 doesn't, so I firmly believe that this is something Nikon was able to address at the firmware level since they all seem to share the same sensor (and I repeat that Nikon has "assured" imaging-resource.com that the D7200 has the same exact sensor as the D7100), as I suspect that the Expeed 4 processor on the D7200 is nothing more than the same Expeed 3 processor on the D7100, only made in a smaller fab and thus allowing it to run at higher cycles while consuming less power and dissipating less heat at the same time. Of course, Nikon might then argue that they can't fix this banding issue at firmware level on the D5200 and D7100 because of a lack of processing power on these bodies that might push the "buffer depth" to unbearably shallow proportions. Catch-22. Some people point their fingers at the Toshiba sensor for this "banding-gate", I believe they're wrong, they should be pointing their fingers at Nikon instead!

(Edited to show the image of the D5500's sensor which I forgot to attach at the beginning)

tcole1983

I hadn't heard of or seen the shadow banding. I haven't noticed it at all on my d5200.

Pistnbroke

This is very interesting but is it the final picture that counts or not. I shoot two D7100 and a D800 with a D3200 as a spare and on the one occasion I had to use the D3200. We could see no difference to the D7100 shooting different angles of the same scene.
I find comparisons of bodies and lenses a bit suspect . Some you can adjust the AF fine tune some you cannot and if its ;JPEG what was the sharpening set at ??? Those two settings are what makes the picture "sharp" and I have only found two lenses 24-120 and 28-300 which were at fine tune "0"

CaMeRaQuEsT

That is why I believe that the real differentiator between these 3 types of sensors are their video capabilities. Their still image capabilities are about the same (according to DXOMARK), with the final outcome more dependent on each body's firmware and processing capabilities than anything else. Also, the D3*00's limitation of only being able to output 12bit lossy RAW files will limit what one can do in post compared to the 14bit files available lossy from the D5*00 and lossless from the D7*00. Now remember that I'm strictly analyzing image sensors here, not the capabilities of each body.

heartyfisher

Good info .. thanks.

CaMeRaQuEsT

A little update, Chipworks confirms D7200's sensor is from Toshiba:

https://chipworks.secure.force.com/catalog/Products?cartID=&g=&operation=quickSearch&searchText=d7200&searchType=all

and D5300's sensor is from Sony:

https://chipworks.secure.force.com/catalog/Products?cartID=&g=&operation=quickSearch&searchText=d5300&searchType=all