Nikon D5300 Image Quality

Although not strikingly different, the updated 24.2MP sensor on the D5300 helps produce more fine detail than the 24.1MP sensor of the D5200, thanks primarily to the removal of the optical low-pass filter. The D5300 does excellent in all three comparison areas, though it does show hints of moiré in the red-leaf fabric which the D5200 does not. Detail in the red-leaf fabric is also a bit softer than the D5200, likely due to stronger default chroma noise reduction.

The T5i does well here with lots of fine, sharp detail. However, the D5300's noticeable advantage in resolution and crispness of fine detail makes it the clear winner in this comparison.

Head-to-head with two of Nikon's 24MP OLPF-less APS-C cameras! Both cameras produce very similar images here at ISO 100, with the first two crop comparisons looking nearly identical. However, although both do great with the pink fabric, the D7100 pulls ahead with slightly better detail in the red fabric. Both cameras only show hints of moiré, with the D7100 showing perhaps a touch more.

Both cameras show impressive detail with the mosaic crop at ISO 100. The most striking difference is with the red fabric, with which the NX300 really struggles compared to the D5300. Both do well with the pink fabric, however.

As in the previous comparison, both cameras show impressive fine detail in the mosaic tiles. The bottle crops also show crisp, noise-free detail, and both cameras also do very well with the fabric crop. However, the new AA-filter-less sensor of the D5300 just edges out the A58 by starting to show individual threads of the red fabric.

Both the bottle and mosaic crops show fairly similar results here at ISO 1600, though the D5300 manages to out-resolve the D5200 with fine detail in the mosaic area. Interestingly, the D5200 manages to produce a better, more detailed image of the fabric swatches compared to the D5300.

At ISO 1600, noise is well-controlled from both the D5300 and T5i, as you can see in the bottle crop comparison. Also, apart from the difference in resolution, both cameras do very well with fine detail in the mosaic crop. The biggest difference is with the fabric, with which the D5300 excels as compared to the T5i.

Like we saw with the ISO 100 comparison, here at 1600 both cameras display similar results in the bottle and mosaic crops. The D7100, however, does noticeably better at handling the red fabric swatch.

The Samsung NX300's default noise reduction is more heavy-handed than the D5300's, but it does well removing grain from the shadows while still keeping good detail. Both cameras do well with fine detail in the mosaic, but the Nikon is the winner in the red fabric.

Both cameras do well with noise at ISO 1600, but the A58 is a bit cleaner in the shadows in comparison. Fine detail also looks sharper though more "processed" from the A58 in the mosaic crop, and the Sony handles noise in the red fabric better than the D5300, albeit with slightly less detail. However, the pink fabric in the A58 looks a bit distorted from noise reduction, whereas the D5300 handles that area better.

Very similar noise in the shadows, but the D5300 has the clear advantage with fine detail in the mosaic crop. Yet the D5200 produces a more discernible leaf pattern in the red fabric.

Similarly low levels of noise, but the D5300 does better with fine detail in the mosaic as well as the red fabric (though the leaf pattern is difficult to discern in both images).

Tough comparison here at ISO 3200. There's ever-so-slightly more chroma noise in the D7100 bottle crop, but in the mosaic both cameras show a similarly high level of fine detail. The biggest difference is the noticeably better handling of the red fabric by the D7100.

It's clear here at ISO 3200 that the NX300 applies much stronger noise reduction by default, though it does a good job of maintaining high-contrast detail. The fine mosaic pattern detail looks more clearly defined in the D5300 image, however. The red fabric is most telling, though, with the D5300 retaining much more detail.

The D5300 shows a bit more shadow noise at ISO 3200 in the bottle crop comparison, but noise reduction distorts and mottles the fine mosaic pattern in the A58 image. The A58, on the other hand, arguably does better at handling the red fabric swatch.