Nikon D3300 Image Quality

While both these cameras house the same 24MP resolution, the D3300 does away with the optical low-pass filter for improved sharpness, and it shows noticeably in this comparison, though default sharpening and contrast seem to be higher as well. Particularly in the mosaic and pink fabric crops, the D3300 displays quite a bit more fine detail and crispness. The D3200 is certainly not bad, but the D3300 takes the cake here.

Both cameras here do well with clean, crisp fine detail, but the higher-res D3300 wins out with its AA-filterless sensor. The D3300 produces sharper and crisper images, as well as handling the often-troublesome fabric swatches better than the T5, though the T5 itself is certainly no slouch here.

Despite the considerable difference in resolution (24 vs 16MP), both cameras here show an impressive amount of fine detail. The D3300 takes the prize in the bottle comparison with crisper detail, and it also handles the fabric swatches better. The mosaic crop is a hard comparison, as both do very well, but the difference in resolution makes it a hard call one way or the other, though the D3300's resolution advantage remains evident.

Again, another stark difference in resolution (24 vs 16MP), but both cameras do great with the bottle crops, and while the D3300 shows more contrast, both also do very well with the red fabric. The D3300, however, does better with the pink both for accurate color and fine detail in the thread pattern.

It's a very close call here with this comparison, as both cameras are very evenly matched in terms of fine detail and color. There's a slight difference in resolution (24 vs 20MP), but both produce sharp, crisp images. The fabric crop comparisons are the most telling, with the D3300 having a slight edge over the A5000 in the red fabric.

It's a pretty interesting comparison here at ISO 1600. The D3300 does better with high ISO noise reduction as well as fine detail compared to the D3200. The older model shows more luminance noise as well as some chroma noise, which isn't as visible in the D3300 images. However, the D3200 produces a better resemblance of the red leaf pattern than the newer model, while the D3300 still does better with the pink fabric swatch.

While the D3300 shows more luminance noise than the T5, the D3300 is able to produce much more fine detail, as seen in the mosaic crop. The D3300 also handles the fabrics much better than the T5.

The X-A1 displays its excellent noise reduction chops in this comparison. Both light and shadow areas are practically devoid of noise on the Fuji images at the default level of NR, while still managing to maintain a decent amount of fine detail. The D3300 still produces a lot of fine detail, however, as well as handling the fabric swatches better than the X-A1.

The default noise reduction on the K-500 images really take their toll on fine detail and overall image quality. Luminance and chroma noise are quelled, but lots of NR artifacts are present instead. The fine detail on both the mosaic and fabric swatches is heavily reduced or smoothed out significantly. The D3300 by comparison shows a little grain, but keeps a lot of fine detail, and certainly wins in this comparison.

The A5000 does well at smoothing out noise and grain in the shadows, but the fine detail is also lessened thanks to aggressive noise reduction processing. The D3300 easily bests the A5000 with this comparison in all three crops.

Both cameras here handle high ISOs very well, but like we saw with the ISO 1600 comparison, the D3300 shows much less noise -- as the D3200 produces more luminance and chroma noise, particularly in the shadows. Fine detail reproduction is also much improved on the D3300, and despite a difference in the contrast on the red fabric, the detail on these swatches is ever-so-slightly better from the D3300.

Both cameras do well here at ISO 3200. The T5 looks less grainy, but the noise pattern itself on the D3300 is very finely grained and perhaps more reminiscent of film grain. However, the D3300 has the edge on fine detail in all three comparisons -- most noticeably in the mosaic and fabric crops.

Like we saw at ISO 1600, the Fuji X-A1's noise reduction is very impressive -- the shadow areas in the first crop are practically noise-free. Apart from the difference in resolution, both cameras do well with detail in the mosaic crop. And like before, the D3300 handles the fabrics much better than the X-A1 at this ISO level, as the NR on the X-A1 is very strong, and smooths out a lot of finer details in those areas of the target.

The K-500 struggles here at ISO 3200. The default noise reduction is very heavy-handed again -- removing noise, but smoothing out fine detail and leaving unattractive digital artifacts. The D3300, by comparison, is less heavy on the noise reduction and is able to maintain a lot of fine detail here.

Similar to the previous Pentax K-500 comparison, the A5000 at ISO 3200 shows very strong default noise reduction, and really reduces the fine detail. The D3300 bests the A5000 again in all three crop comparisons, especially in the mosaic tiles.