Are you curious about the difference between MidJourney V5 and previous versions? Is V5 better? What does it do well and not so well? Let’s find out!
I took 13 of the images that the community rated as my top MidJourney prompts from versions 3 and 4 over to the brand-new MidJourney version 5 to find out. I generated new images in V5 using the exact same prompts to keep things fair.
Remember that MidJourney version 5 is in beta, so things will continue to change over the next few months. That said, here are my results and conclusions as of this writing. Click any image to see a larger version of it.
Young Woman in Front of Old Bookstore: MidJourney Image Prompt
This is an image prompt where I created the background and the character in MidJourney separately and then combined them via image prompting to get my character into the scene I wanted. My original MidJourney V4 character sheet and background images are below:
Original MidJourney V4 Prompt:
[character sheet link] [bookstore background link] blonde graphic designer on a street by an old bookstore shop, cinematic, professional photography --ar 4:5
V4 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Scene: Leather Briefcase in Old Baroque Library: MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V3 Prompt:
Scene, Old Baroque Library, Antique Leather Briefcase sitting on floor, photorealistic, highly detailed, Terry Redlin style, 8k, --ar 9:16
V3 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Cute Little Blue Bird: MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V3 Prompt:
cute blue bird by Craig platt in the forest, ultra detail, intricate details, photo realistic, lifelike, digital art, 8k, --ar 9:16
V3 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Watercolor Lemons: MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V4 Prompt:
watercolor illustration of lemons
V4 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Coloring Book MidJourney Prompt (Multi-Prompt)
Original MidJourney V4 Prompt:
coloring page of a magic garden by Johanna Basford, highly detailed, sacred geometry, simple illustration, lineart, black and white:: watermark logo border frame::-0.25 --ar 2:3
V4 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Anthropomorphic Black Kitten – Pixar Style MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V3 Prompt:
Pixar Style, Tiny cute and adorable black kitten adventurer dressed in hoodie, jeans, autumn - Baptiste Monge, anthropomorphic, dramatic lighting, 8k, portrait, --ar 9:16 --s 5000
Note: I had to change stylization to 1000 because MidJourney V5 only goes up to 1000 – so that’s what I used (–s 1000).
V3 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
People Blending in MidJourney V5: Johnny Depp and Matthew McConaughey
Original MidJourney V3 Prompt:
beautiful hippie man played by a mix of Matthew Mcconaughey and Johnny Depp, summer of love, woodstock, slight smile, fantasy character concept, volumetric light, pure, benevolent, strong, portrait, line art, realistic, hyper-maximalist, intricate details, epic composition, golden ratio, CryEngine render, 8k --ar 9:16
V3 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
British Medieval Fantasy Character: MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V3 Prompt:
Young woman. Freckles. Wild curly dark brown hair. Striking blue eyes. Full lips. High cheekbones. Naturally full eyebrows. Fierce. Brave. Thoughtful. Kind. Loyal. Honest. Clever. British medieval fantasy figure. --ar 9:16
V3 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Pink Yarn House Colored Pencil Illustration: MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V3 Prompt:
burnished color pencil Illustration of a yarn house in a post-apocalyptic world, pink crocheted house --ar 9:16
V3 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Medieval Couple from Modern Photo: MidJourney Image Prompt
This prompt began with a picture of me and my husband, which I wanted to turn into a medieval version of us. The image link referred to in the original prompt is that picture. The V4 version looks somewhat like us, but the V5 version looks nothing like us.
Original MidJourney V4 Prompt:
[image link] portrait of man as a bard, beautiful blonde woman as a tavern wench, medieval clothing, medieval hairstyles, medieval tavern, ornate, detailed, realistic, 8k
V4 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Medieval Room with Fireplace: MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V4 Prompt:
Award winning interior design photograph of a cozy spacious Medieval room with a big fireplace in the center, golden hour, cinematic, Grand Rustic, Comfortable, Medieval Period, Cozy, Crackling, Roaring, Radiant, Soothing, Nostalgic, Woodsy, Relaxing --ar 16:9
V4 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Watercolor Lilo and Stitch: MidJourney Prompt
Original MidJourney V4 Prompt:
Watercolor illustration of a cute adorable doll, lilo and stitch
V4 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
Colorful Birthday Cake: MidJourney Food Prompt
Original MidJourney V4 Prompt:
Photograph of a beautiful colorful delicious feminine birthday cake. Photoshoot. Sparkles, flowers, fruit. DOF
V4 Results:
MidJourney V5 Remake:
MidJourney V5 Prompts vs V4 & V3: Final Conclusion
Based on my testing so far, MidJourney V5 is good at producing stunning photographic-type images (with normal hands most of the time!). I noticed when image prompting in V5 that I’ve had a lot of blur in many faces, though. It’s almost like the photos are “softened” too much. Food photography is on-point with tons of textures and realistic details too.
I’m not impressed yet with the “artsy-style” images. I’m a huge fan of watercolor illustrations, and it falls flat in that area, so I’ll stick to V4 for those for now, where I’ve mastered the prompt to get what I want.
The coloring book pages I’ve generated with V5 have been slightly better than V4. I have noticed some grayscale shading in some areas using the same prompts that worked with V4. That’s great for some projects but not so much for others.
Overall, MidJourney V5 is a huge improvement for realistic photographic images without having to put extra effort into learning new prompt techniques. I will have to spend a lot more time experimenting with the art styles to see what V5 wants to get the results I’m looking for.
What do you think? Which versions do you like better? Have any tips for any artsy-style images? Let me know in the comments!
