This is where Ian Burley, DPNow's editor and founder, shares his unique thoughts and impressions on subjects that he hopes will be of interest to others on the subjects of digital photography and other related or loosely related topics! You can follow DPNow Editor's blog on Facebook and Twitter, too.
Can you tell the difference between an 8 year old DSLR and a new one?
Posted 20-01-14 at 12:48 PM by Ian
Below are two shots taken with two DSLRs (same brand, same lens) but one dates back to 2005 and the other is brand new. The Web, and I believe printing, can be very forgiving - so can you tell which was taken with the new camera and which was taken with the old one?
Camera A
Camera B
Go on have a go
Ian
Camera A
Camera B
Go on have a go
Ian
Total Comments 12
Comments
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I would say that the old photo was camera A.
more contrast. Camera B higher ISO. John.Posted 20-01-14 at 03:00 PM by escallonia 
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I will reveal the answer later but I would just add that both were shot with the same ISO setting of 200
Posted 20-01-14 at 04:36 PM by Ian
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They really are very similar viewed at web resolution. It is a pure guess for me to say that the top image looks to have been processed from a higher resolution file.
I'd be interested to know if LR5.3 makes any discrimination in its processing of the two files from different eras by virtue of the ACR being used. Although if, these were DNG files, the processing would be different to other RAW files.
Maybe if you used LR from the same era as the old camera some bigger difference may be noticeable.
Really clutching at straws here...Posted 20-01-14 at 04:41 PM by Graham_of_Rainham
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So that's 1-all then? I think my point is well on to being made!
Posted 20-01-14 at 06:46 PM by Ian
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The second one was taken first.
Regards. Barr1ePosted 20-01-14 at 07:58 PM by Barr1e
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Graham - regarding your point about the old and new versions of Lightroom - as you may know I have Lightroom 1 installed and I have been comparing results using the old camera processing RAW files with both versions of Lightroom but not processing the new camera RAWs with the old version of Lightroom - which doesn't make a lot of sense but might be interesting from a kind of academic point of view. If I have time I will have a go (hint - the new camera in question produces DNG RAW files conveniently).
Barr1e - are you sure the Rover wasn't reversing?
Posted 21-01-14 at 11:20 AM by Ian
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difficult to say with such (relatively) small web images, however there is more contrast and more saturation in pic b, so i'd hazard a guess at the older camera being photo a.
Posted 21-01-14 at 12:21 PM by devilgas
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I think the fact is that nobody can tell instantly which camera is which. So the old camera is a perfectly suitable tool for producing top-notch web-quality images. For many of us that's all we do with our photography. Severe cropping would make a difference but as I will show later today, even with moderate cropping the older camera can hold its own.
Posted 21-01-14 at 12:36 PM by Ian
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A old, B new, there look's to be more detail in the darker area's on B, so that would suggest a more advanced sensor.
But what do I no
Posted 23-01-14 at 11:12 AM by ash
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I believe that the second one has more fine details (resolution?). Otherwise, at web size and resolution I do not see any major difference. Let me ask you a question: did you move the grey and black cars in all this time or just washed them?
Posted 25-01-14 at 01:29 AM by Horacio
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Wow, very interesting! I agree with the higher ISO in photo B.
Posted 18-08-17 at 02:53 PM by linda09
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The difference is very minor, and only a photographer's eye would capture it...to the general public, they wouldn't be able to notice the difference.
Posted 08-01-18 at 05:16 PM by Trevor
