Does the camera make a difference?

[Radical]

I have a Nikon D3100 camera, my question is does it matter what model camera one has for the sharpness of your photo's? Would say a Nikon D5200 make my photo's sharper or is it all operator?
Thanks

 

[runnah]

Operator is the biggest part, a good lens is a small part and the body has a very small part if any.

 

[Overread]

Sharpness is an interesting topic and there are various inputs that affect it:

1) Aperture - sharpness for any lens is typically a curve. Wide open (smallest f number) the lens is not its sharpest (although many high end lenses are still very sharp wide open); stop down even just one stop in aperture and you will see sharpness improve. Sharpness will typically continue to improve until you're around f8-f10 (varies from lens to lens). After that diffraction starts to take effect and the sharpness starts to suffer, although most remain very usable up to around f13 or f16 before you really start to see a difference; after that sharpness drops of with an increasing pace.
Note that aperture also affects your depth of field which is an important consideration when you want to also control the blurring of the background and the clarity of the subject.

2) Shutter speed - when the ambient light is dominant in the scene the shutter speed also freezes motion of both hand-holding the camera and lens and of the subject moving. You can counter handshake with features like IS/VR and also with a tripod, but if you've a moving subject you'll need good light to get a fast shutter speed to freeze that motion.

3) Flash lighting - when you're using flash as the dominant/only exposure contributing light source the flash acts like a fast shutter speed because the light is a single fast pulse. This means you can use it to stop very fast moving subjects (its oft used for bullet shots). This means that in this lighting situation your shutter speed is no longer controlling the motion stopping because the ambient light isn't contributing much to the shot (if ambient light is then, of course, you have to keep a fast shutter speed).

4) Lens itself, we touched on the aperture in a lens, but the lenses themselves are key; some are sharper than others. Higher end lenses will have a big effect on your sharpness (points 1-3 ignored); especially at wide open apertures and at the longer end of zoom lenses.

5) Camera body - sharpness and the circle of confusion (which affects how soon diffraction kicks in) is affected, but often its not a major component like the above mentioned options.
One important point to note is that sometimes smaller mega-pixel cameras can appear sharper when your view photos at 100% view. Remember though that when you view a 10mp and a 21mp photo side by side a 100% view the one from the 21mp camera is more than double the size of the other that you're enlarging it too. As a result it will appear softer because you've magnified the details that much more. Resized down to normal viewing sizes or prints will resolve this issue and often because you're sharpening at a much finer scale you can get an improved result.

 

[goodguy]

Operator is the biggest part, a good lens is a small part and the body has a very small part if any.

As a general statement I agree, all modern cameras has the potential to produce excellent shots, user will make the biggest impact on final results but still if you decide to pixel peep you might be able to see difference between good camera+good glass vs base camera with base glass.
Me personally I cant see the difference but from looking at reviews on youtube there are those who can.

 

[greybeard]

Great pictures can be taken with modest equipment if you know what you are doing or just get lucky. Better equipment makes it easier and more fun to a point. In the case of the 3100 vs 5200, the 5200 gives you more margin for error at 24mp vs 14mp. You can crop out more with the 5200 because of its' higher resolution sensor. The 5200 also has a more advanced focusing system which might make a difference from time to time but, an un-cropped image from both cameras of the same subject at say ISO 100 with the same lens would be next to impossible to tell which one was which.

 

[jaomul]

I think the camera does make a difference. In film days the camera held the lens and film, now the sensor is part of the camera. Image quality to some extent depends on sensor and therefore camera

 

[lambertpix]

Operator is the biggest part, a good lens is a small part and the body has a very small part if any.

Absolutely. It's hard to say the camera makes no difference at all, but there are so many other factors that usually play a much larger role if you're experiencing problems. You've got some glass that should be capable of producing sharp images -- are you seeing issues with all your photos, or just some of them? That might be a good place to start breaking down the problem.

 

[TCampbell]

I have a Nikon D3100 camera, my question is does it matter what model camera one has for the sharpness of your photo's? Would say a Nikon D5200 make my photo's sharper or is it all operator?
Thanks

In a word, no.

A higher end body won't change how "sharp" images are. Your lens is focusing an image onto the sensor. Either the lens focused that image or it didn't. The sensor doesn't have any influence over how sharp it is.

There are a LOT of reasons why a perfectly functional camera will produce soft images anyway. If you're experiencing focus issues, post some samples with the EXIF data and the community can likely suggest why you are getting soft images.

 

[KmH]

Nikon cameras use several AF modules.
The D3100 uses the Multi-CAM 1000 AF module that has 11 AF points, the center AF point being a cross-type points.
The D5200, D5300, D600 uses the Multi-CAM 4800DX AF module that has 39 AF points, the central 9 AF points being cross-type points.

Nikon's best AF module (D7100 and up) is the Advanced Multi-CAM 3500 module that has 51 AF points, the central 15 AF points being cross-type points.

But - focus sharpness is mostly controlled by photographer knowledge and skill.

It is worth mentioning that virtually all digital images require some amount of post process editing (of various kinds) to maximize final image sharpness.

 

[coastalconn]

One thing being overlooked is AF fine tune.. (which isn't an option on the d3k or d5k series unfortunately) That can have a major difference.. You probably didn't see my other thread, but I ordered a D5200 for a backup, I am curious to see how it performs with the Tammy. I think higher MP cameras can produce more detail if the lens is sharp enough. Of course my perspective is mostly with birds...

 

[hamlet]

If you want to get sharp pictures, then you have got to keep your shutter running nearly everyday. It's like learning to drive a bicycle, your hands become more stable and you can keep the front wheel steady better and better the more you use your bicycle. Skill is a learned thing and the neural pathways in your brain have to be laid out completely so you can turn photography into something you do like breathing.

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

I think the camera can make a difference depending on what you use them for. Certain camera's have better dynamic range. Some are better at higher ISO in lower light. A D800 (although formidable) can't compete with a Canon 1DX or a Nikon D4s when it comes to the low light situation's in high shutter speeds. Those 2 can't compete as well when it comes to the D800 or D810 when it comes to super high resolution landscapes or portraits.

There are tools for jobs but these tools just help the professional perform their job easier. You can shoot a baseball game with a D3200 or T3i, but the D4s and 1Dx will rock the game better.

 

[Derrel]

Operator is the biggest part, a good lens is a small part and the body has a very small part if any.

Dude, I have an obsolescent Nikon D1 with a gorgeously clean 2.7 megapixel 1.5x sensor, and two batteries for it: I will trade it to you, along with a 24/2.8,50/1.8,and an 85/1.8 and a 135 for your Canon 5D Mark III body! Seriously. Straight across trade???

 

[Radical]

Hey thanks everyone with your feed back, I'll just keep shooting.

 

[robbins.photo]

Operator is the biggest part, a good lens is a small part and the body has a very small part if any.

Dude, I have an obsolescent Nikon D1 with a gorgeously clean 2.7 megapixel 1.5x sensor, and two batteries for it: I will trade it to you, along with a 24/2.8,50/1.8,and an 85/1.8 and a 135 for your Canon 5D Mark III body! Seriously. Straight across trade???

Derrel.. that's insane. Hold out for some cash on top of the Mark III. You'll need one of those bags that say Canon on it, after all.