5D vs X100 redux plus lightroom vs silkypix

Now that lightroom support is out, did a proper comparison between the X100 and 5D+35L

First, here is silkpix (with a bit of sharpening to taste within silkypix, this is not the untouched results) vs lightroom (also with sharpening, but set similarly) (click if the gif isn't properly animating here in blogger)

The biggest difference is the rendering of details. The lightroom interpretation is much MUCH crisper and sharper. The highly saturated areas like the orange jacket hanging, or the yellow tractor turn into saturated color blobs in silkypix, but retain volume and detail in lightroom. I feel also the sliders in the curves of lightroom coupled with contrast and clarity allow me to get better contrast in my image than silkypix's offerings. The selective color editing is also more powerful in lightroom. Also the built in lens correction is much nicer in lightroom as well, as I could never find the exact settings for silkypix (-3 distortion and -11 in silkypix got me closest)

Now, here is the 5D Vs X100 comparison. X100 was at f/4, ISO 200, 1/1600 of a second, 5D was at ISO 200, f/5.6 and shutter 1/800. I let the camera's center weighted metering do their things, so there was some exposure boost required in the 5D image and exposure decrease in the x100 image, but only 1/2 stop from each.

5D+35L is definitely superior (especially in the corners, the center is almost indistinguishable) but it's so close as to not matter in print or web sized images. Combined with how much smaller the X100 is, my 35L is going to languish in the closet till I upgrade to the 5D III or whatever eventually replaces my 5D.

This is a tiny camera, the lens is probably 1/8th the size of the 35L, and the 5D+35L at best costs 2x what the X100 does, and when new was more than 3x the cost of the X100. You are also not ever going to do a full day hike or even walk around a city all day with the 5D+35L around your neck, and I'm a tall fit guy, whereas that's a breeze with the x100.

After this test, I now have no qualms using the X100 instead of the 5D+35L. I just don't see a reason to after this test. If it wasn't for the fact that I might get a 5D III or something similar in the future (at which point then the 35L will again whipe the floor with X100 images with a higher resolution sensor behind it) I would sell the 35L.