Nikon Z9 vs Z6, D850 and Fuji X-S10 ISO Performance

Nikon Z9 vs Z6, D850 and Fuji X-S10 ISO Performance

23. Jan. 2022 (Updated)

Contents

Introduction

The Fuji X-S10 is the winner in the ISO performance contest?

The Z9 has arrived, but the weather is gray and cold. No one feels like modeling at an outdoor sports shoot. So what else could a geek do but put the camera to the test. I have a Z9, a Z6 and a D850. My girlfriend has a Fuji X-S10, so I thought why not put this little APS-C camera against its full-frame counterparts. Surprisingly, the X-S10 turned out to be just as good as the Z6. Above ISO 6400, maybe even a bit better, since the grain is more monochromatic (or did I do anything wrong? Tell me).

Ok, so what about the Z9?

I think the Z9 is a little bit better (not much) than the D850. But worse than the Z6 and X-S10.

I would say, we have a first and second place. Z6/X-S10 on first and D850/Z9 in second place.

Test setup

I tested all cameras with the following settings:

  • Shutter speed: 1/200s
  • Aperture: f/8
  • Lens: Tamron SP Di VC USD 35mm f/1.8 on the Nikons (with FTZII) and Fuij XF18-55mm F/2.8-4 R LM OIS
  • White balance: flash
  • RAW Processing: Capture One 22
  • 10-second timer (Nikon cameras only)
  • 100% crops

I used a Godox AD600 Pro flash in TTL to compensate for ISO settings.

Exif data is included.

Final words

In my daily shooting, I always felt that the D850 had a better ISO performance than the Z6 when downsized.

You can download the RAW-Files as ZIPs from my hidrive:

Comments are very welcome at: mail@lichtundschatten-fotografie.de

Update regarding X-S10

A few people noted that the ISO specs on Fuji don’t match those on Nikon. So I did another test series with fixed flash, aperture and shutter speed at variable ISO. From the numbers the X-S10 images are mabye 1 stop darker than the Nikon one. See in section ‚brightness comparison‚.

Update 2: added downsized images

I downsized all images to 24MP to compare them at the same resolution.

ISO comparison images

ISO 64

ISO 100

ISO 160

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

ISO 25600

ISO 51200

Brightness comparison images

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO comparison images at 24MP

ISO 64

ISO 100

ISO 160

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

ISO 25600

ISO 51200