We all know the paper specs for the Nikon D800: 36MP, 4fps, full frame. Same ISO range as the D700 – 100 to 25,600. 100% viewfinder, full HD movies, and an improved 51-point AF system derived from the previous camera. And to boot, a D800E version with no anti-aliasing filter for even more resolution, as if 36MP with a weak filter wasn’t enough for you. What we don’t know is how it fares in the real world.
What follows is what I believe is the one of, if not the first, complete, real-world test by a photographer of a production D800. 8 hours of non-stop flat-out work – so, please leave a comment if you enjoyed it.
I first heard D800-shaped noises way back at a Nikon event in March 2011, both locally and from my sources in Japan. These definitely wasn’t the same information as what was going around on the popular rumor sites at the time – I was told specifically D3X replacement, slightly higher pricing. An interesting strategy; too bad the initially planned May-2011 release got derailed by the tsunami. The Sendai plant that produces the D700, D800, D3S and D4 was inundated and had all of its precision machinery replaced; an amazing feat considering the magnitude of the disaster.
Stall chef. D800, 85/1.4 G.
All images in this review were shot as 14-bit lossless compressed NEF and converted in ACR 6.7/ PSCS5.5.
Still, the camera has finally arrived, and delivered precisely on the promised date – even in a small market like Malaysia. That’s impressive. I got mine through NPS; apparently there are around 200 members, 90 D800 orders, and…only 18 cameras to go around. Mine must be one from the very very first batch – serial number 234.
Literally, Mickey Mouse color. D800, 85/1.4 G, DX crop mode.
Initially, I wasn’t going to order one. Then my high-mileage D700 began to give up the ghost, and I downloaded some sample images – which in short, blew me away. They were honestly better than the output from the Hasselblad H3D-39 I used a couple of years back in mid-2010 – and quite close to what I’ve seen out of the Leica S2 (I do have access to one, I will try to do some comparisons soon) so far. I called my local NPS rep and put in an order for the D800E; however, playing with both sets of demo files further, it became clear that a) you weren’t really giving up that much getting the regular D800, and as a bonus, it would arrive sooner – an increasingly important factor given this month’s shooting commitments – and b) lenses and diffraction would be the limiting factor for me, not the camera’s sensor. Furthermore, for most purposes outside the studio environment, I intend to shoot the D800 in 14 bit compressed RAW, but downsize by half to 18MP for manageable output, lower noise, and better per-pixel detail.
Untitled. D800, 85/1.4 G
At some point, I will probably source a split prism screen and have the focusing screen and mirror precisely adjusted for manual focus planarity; for now, I’m relying on AF. I do really miss the focusing snap of the custom-cut F6 type-J screen on my D700; it’s just so much easier to tell if things are in focus or not. The standard D800 screen is bright but doesn’t have much snap. This may sound odd, but I’m having trouble getting used to the 100% finder again – I’ve become so accustomed to mentally adding a little bit around the edges of the D700 frame (97% finder) that now I’m chopping things off. Just one of those little differences between the two cameras, but important nevertheless.
Minor copyright infringement hotel. D800, 85/1.4 G
First impressions on lenses
But this is a camera review! Glass matters. Two big things: a) AF fine tune matters a LOT; b) the optimal set of lenses for this camera is different to the D700, again. The 24/1.4 never quite focused properly on my D700 – I was at the extreme limit of AF fine tune adjustment – but it’s bang on with the D800 with zero adjustment, and incredibly sharp all over. The 85/1.4 needs a lot of shutter speed while handheld to shine; probably double what you’d expect – in the 1/125s range or higher. I’m also seeing a lot of edge CA that wasn’t there before (1-2 pixels worth; that’s probably less than a pixel on the D700). My 60/2.8 G Micro is soft until f5.6 and focus shifts, which isn’t something I’ve ever seen before. Oddly, the 28-300VR is actually rather impressive at 300mm on the D800 – NOT something that could be said about the lens on the D700. In fact, it performs much better on the D800 than it did on my D700 – curious considering the demands of this sensor.
Mall performance. D800, 85/1.4 G
And a 100% crop – this is a best case scenario for CA, with the lens wide open at f1.4. There were other, much worse shots; I suspect being ever so slightly out of focus also contributes to visible CA in a big way. The older 85/1.4 D is very likely going to be unusable wide open with any subject that’s even moderately contrasty.
The sole lens that has been outstanding on every camera it’s been mounted on is the Zeiss ZF.2 2/28 Distagon – wide open, I think it has the highest resolution of any of my lenses. Makes me want to get the 2/100 Makro-Planar again, and possibly also the 4/18 Distagon. Generally, lenses I though were good wide open on the D700 are showing a slight but noticeable improvement stopped down, even if only by a stop – I’m talking about my workhorse AFS 24/1.4 G, AFS 60/2.8 G Micro and AFS 85/1.4 G here. Also, lenses that vignetted a bit before will vignette more strongly now; I suspect it’s because the individual photo sites are smaller, and there’s no trick offset micro lens array like in the Leica M8/M9 to counter it.
Disposal. D800, 85/1.4 G
It was dark by the time I got the camera and had a chance to shoot with it, so take it as a worst case scenario and impressions will almost certainly improve when I have more light to work with. I will not be providing full size files, so please don’t ask. There may be crops. Clicking on any of the images will bring you to a larger version on Flickr; the EXIF data is all intact.
Untitled. D800, 85/1.4 G
Autofocus
Seems to be about the same speed as the D700 in good light, no difference as far as I can tell in low light. Has issues focusing the 85/1.4 G accurately in low light; this may be true of the D700 but it’s a lot more noticeable here due to the higher resolution. Tracking ability seems slightly improved. More tests are required before I can reach a conclusion here. Contrast detect AF for live view subjectively seems at least twice as fast as the D700, and doesn’t require as many passes while hunting.
KL Tower peeking. D800, 85/1.4 G
Ergonomics
First thing you notice is the camera is lighter – about 100g, according to the specs. However, I personally find it not quite as comfortable as the D700; my fingers were cramping after use. This is because the lower section of the grip is thinner – not sure why, perhaps their testers had small 4th/5th fingers, or perhaps Nikon just really, really wants you to buy the vertical grip.
Fruit choices. D800, 85/1.4 G
That’s about the only bad thing ergonomically – I don’t know if it’ll be a deal breaker for extended use. Sadly I don’t find it anywhere near as comfortable as the D4, which is pretty amazing. Oh, there IS one more thing: the mode button is a stretch to access; I feel like I’m going to dislocate my index finger by pressing it. Too often I hit the movie record button by mistake and wondered why nothing was happening. A firmware fix to make the movie button change exposure mode when shooting stills would be a nice easy fix. I do like the new angle for the shutter button, though – it’s much more comfortable.
Taxi man. D800, 85/1.4 G
There are a lot of nice touches though. Live view is a lot easier to access thanks to the button where the AF mode switch used to be; am I the only person who misses the AF mode switch though? That little button near the lens mount is not so easy to find, but at least you can see what the camera is set to in the finder. The new drive mode dial is also a lot easier to use – it locks and still has detents, so you can count positions and change modes in the dark – there’s a big difference between using CH and Q in a theatre, for instance. Speaking of the shutter, it’s slightly more hollow sounding than the D700; crisper, too. Sadly not as quiet as the D7000, which is nearly silent in Q mode. Interestingly, the mirror doesn’t cycle when shooting in live view – just the shutter – so the camera is actually very quiet, and doesn’t vibrate much. Although the maximum frame rate is 4fps, it doesn’t feel any slower than the 5fps D700. Mirror blackout time is the same, which is to say, effectively instantaneous.
Dial-a-sunlight. D800, 85/1.4 G
Metering
I mention this because it seems that Nikon’s newest meter isn’t quite as accurate as the last one. My D800 definitely meters a bit hot compared to the D700, and seems a bit more erratic. Further investigation is required here.
Plugged in. D800, 85/1.4 G
Turning AUTO ISO on and off is an option from the button, finally! You use the front command dial to toggle on/off, and the rear one to select ISO. There’s also an option to automatically select minimum shutter speed as a 1/focal length, with some fine tuning in either direction – sadly, the fine tuning isn’t granular enough. For example, the 85mm defaults to 1/90; adjusting this to ‘faster’ gives 1/200 rather than say 1/125, which would be perfect. Back to manually selecting shutter speed again, it seems. In short: you will be needing to use higher shutter speeds than 1/focal length would suggest. Think about what you’d set on a D7000, and that’s about right – remember, the pixel density is the same.
Communist taxi. D800, 85/1.4 G
Image quality
Bearing in mind that I’ve only shot it under low light/ night/ available darkness conditions, I’m impressed. It’s doing a decent job for the pixel density – though I would not pick this over a D700 for reportage work. The few flash-based tests I have done have left me stunned. Color accuracy is slightly better than the D700, but resolution is out of this world. Dynamic range is about the same, subjectively; however, instead of being highlight-biased as with the D700/D3, it’s shadow biased – you’ve got to be careful not to blow highlights because there simply isn’t as much recoverable color information there. Still, I wish I’d had the camera earlier today for the food assignment I just shot; it would be the ultimate tool for things like that. No matter, because I’ve got several watch shoots in the coming weeks. Early impressions are that the pixels don’t have the same degree of elasticity/ integrity as the D700 (duh) and are probably somewhere between that and the D7000; probably closer to the D7000.
The burden. D800, 85/1.4 G
Noise
See the following crops; they were shot under pretty dark conditions and tungsten light, i.e. a torture test. Subjectively, I think it’s ~1 stop behind the D700 at a pixel level; if you downsize to D700 size, it’s actually a stop ahead. Now if only Nikon would give us a pixel-binned half-resolution sRAW size for low light! If you are shooting full resolution, I recommend stopping your auto-ISO at 6400; anything higher than that has to be downsized to look good. 3200 is definitely acceptable, and anything below is good. The reality of printing, however, is that because you’ve got so many more pixels, a print will look a lot better than at 100% on screen. There’s no sign of banding, but beware of strong noise in one particular channel over another in the shadows, but it depends on the temperature of your light source – for instance, heavy shadow recovery or dodging under fluorescent lights is going to give you a red cast to that area.
Note that I didn’t bother with ISO 100 and 200, they look the same as ISO 400. Click to go see larger versions on flickr – the ‘original’ size is a 100% crop.
ISO 400-800
ISO 1600-3200
ISO 6400-25600
Here’s a real world ISO 6400 example, sodium-vapor street light. Yes, it’s noisy at 100%, but I’m fairly confident it’ll print just fine.
And a 100% crop.
Movie mode
I’m not a huge video person, though I have dabbled (to be the subject of a future article). I do know what good quality footage looks like. The D800 is excellent. Dynamic range is great; noise is low, and above all, there’s no rolling shutter effect that I can see – even while panning rapidly under fluorescent light operating off a 60Hz AC supply.
Battery life
Pretty darn good, I think – I just grabbed the battery that came with the camera; 36% charged; shot about 650 frames, and it went down to 6%. Extrapolating, that’s about 2,100 shots per charge. And that was with heavy LCD use and some live view. One battery should more than get you through a day – you’ll run out of card space far, far sooner. I can’t honestly say I’m pleased about the complete battery system change (I have plenty of EN-EL3es and EN-EL4as) – but at least the new power system lasts longer, and also has a little catch that allows for a spring loaded (read: easier to replace) battery.
Salad days. D800, Zeiss ZF.2 2/28 Distagon
Buffering and file handling
The manual claims 25 images for 14-bit compressed raw – the camera shows r13, but I’m getting 17, using a UHS-I Sandisk Extreme 32GB SDHC card. Still trying to find out where the difference is; auto ISO gives back three more frames, but curiously NR makes no difference. The buffer flushes surprisingly quickly, and you never feel like you’re waiting for files to write – although there is a slight lag when playing back images, probably due to the file size.
It’s probably worth noting that file handling is a bit slower, but not 3x slower (despite 3x the resolution) – however some operations like brushes etc. and even converting in ACR definitely take longer, so budget time accordingly. I’m using a mid-2010 MacBook Pro with the 2.66GHz i7 and 8GB of RAM. I don’t even want to think about retouching files this big yet.
100% crop of the above.
Early conclusion
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that getting the most out of the D800 is going to require a lot more care than the D700; the resolution is so high, in fact, that I think the AF system may be letting it down slightly – not from a speed point of view, but from a precision standpoint. And I’m not sure it’s the AF sensor per se, but possibly the granularity with which the lens motors can move the elements small distances. I know that in live view, there’s a point of critical sharpness that’s usually very tough to hit using the focusing rings of AF lenses; the travel is simply too fast.
Untitled soaking tomatoes. D800, 60/2.8 G Micro
I don’t think the D800 is a general purpose tool. It definitely isn’t a run-and-gun photojournalist’s camera; in fact, I find it more demanding to shoot street with this than the Leica M9-P. It’s probably at a two stop or more disadvantage to the D700 if you want critical sharpness at the pixel level – firstly, you’ve got a slightly noisier sensor, and secondly, you’re going to need higher shutter speeds to maintain pixel integrity and combat camera shake. Although downsizing the files to 12MP yields lower noise and more detail than the D700, I don’t think I’ll be using the D800 for photojournalism at the moment; I’m going to have to figure out the AF and lens foibles first.
100% crop of the above.
Where the camera will shine is in the studio for work with controlled lighting, or landscapes – the resolution is outstandingly impressive, and dynamic range at base ISO seems subjectively on par with the D700 – no mean feat indeed. However, I need to do more testing in daylight (not experiments with flash) to determine for sure. Stay tuned for more images and thoughts over the next few days; at some point I want to try to get hold of a Leica S2 to do a head to head comparison. Please leave a note in the comments below if you’ve got any questions or have something you’d like me to test, and I’ll do my best. Right now, I’m going to get some sleep. MT
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Ming, very good review, best I have read, thank you. I am awaiting my D800, but what I am really interested in is the Zeiss 28mm. The colors are just outstanding on the Zeiss tomatoes shot, by comparison the onion and peppers shot with the 60MM Micro Nikkor look washed out. Is that “pop” typical with the Zeiss?
I am debating to get the Nikkor 24 f/1.4 or the Zeiss 28 (or maybe 25 f/2). I have the Nikkor 24-70 and 17-35 f/2.8 and liked the idea of a smaller and faster fixed prime. Any thoughts?
Thanks you
Jim
Thanks Jim. The Zeiss 2/28 Distagon is possibly my favorite lens, ever – I think it’s a combination of the unique signature afforded by its curved focal plane, plus the color transmission and micro contrast – which I suppose is an artifact of the superb coating. The first few elements simply aren’t visible – there are few reflections off the element surfaces, which is a sign of high transmission in all spectra.
In short, yes – this ‘pop’ is typical with Zeiss, but it may also be an artifact of the lighting.
I’ve got both the 24/1.4 and the 2/28 (obviously) – the 24/1.4 gets more use because it’s AF and a little wider, but the Zeiss signature is unbeatable. If cost isn’t a concern, get both. They’re different animals. The 2/28 isn’t so easy to focus with modern screens (and I’m going to need another modification to my D800′s finder, to match my D700) unfortunately.
Excellent review.
Thanks Bob!
Thank you for the review. I am looking to upgrade to FX for ISO and crop reasons. Could you give an advice on whether to get d700 or d800? Video, pixel count, and cost differences are not a major concern, but ‘impeccable technique’ is.
If d800 is set to lower resolution, can I still use my sloppy techniques that I acquired shooting 12mp and get acceptable results?
Regards,
yuri
Yes and no – I think you’d be better served by a D700. You can be a bit sloppy and downsize, but it still won’t be as forgiving as the D700, and since you’re going to downsize anyway, why start with huge 50mb raw files? The entire workflow is just faster if you don’t need the resolution.
Thank you for quick reply and advice.
No probs!
Great review. I got my D800 yesterday. You talked about the importance of calibrating lenses with this camera. Could you please briefly elaborate on what you mean by this. Is it color calibration or focus microadjustment or both? Do you use some tool to do this?
It’s the AF micro adjustment. Just lock it down on a tripod, focus with live view wide open (that gives you optimal focus) and adjust the setting until you can match it consistently using AF with the mirror down (i.e. using optical finder) – make sure you use single AF mode and defocus the lens manually before each attempt.
Ok, when you say “adjust the setting” you’re referring to adjusting the AF Fine-Tune setting in the setup menu on the camera? Thanks!
Yes, precisely.
Nicely done! Nice to read a review that is informative without a bunch of crap attached. Keep up the good work! i’m looking forward to the daytime shots / review.
It’s already up, here
Thank you for the review! If you could take some long lens, >200mm, shots, and report your experience, will much appreciate it.
A lot of the shots in the daylight update here were shot with 200mm+.
Regarding the crop of the woman in the mall holding the mike. You talk of the CA issue being worse case. I assume you are referring to the purple fringing on her fingers and arm, right? You do realize that there was a purple gelled spotlight hitting her from high left though…….
Yes, perhaps not the best example in hindsight – I do have others where there’s definite CA all around highlight edges and nary a gelled spotlight anywhere. It’s something I’ve noted with the 85/1.4G on the D700 too – if your focus is slightly off, you’re probably going to start seeing purple fringing.
Thanks for the great early review. Your photography is excellent.
Glad you enjoyed it, Mike!
I like your rich blog. great information. I hope you produce others. I will carry on reading
Very detail review! Looking forward for some watches shots with the D800.
In the plan – I have some commercial work coming up soon, so look for a post in the next couple of weeks.
Wow, a great review and the images and composition on the street shots are just top notch dude. On my D3s and D700, I have found the 85 f1.4G to have some issues with the dreaded purple CA shot wide open, and also similarly, the 24 f1.4G can be susceptible depending on background contrast and light positioning. To be honest, the only Nikon Lens I have found with no CA issues whatsoever is my 200 f2G. But I absolutely love the colour that has come out in the images you shot with the D800. For the moment I do not see a “need” for the D800, but I reckon that I will get one next year to experiment and enjoy. I shall look forward to your further efforts and thank you for the time and energy devoted to the testing and above all posting of your results.
Thanks Husaimee! Yes, both 24 and 85 can show CA at high contrast edges even on the 12MP FX bodies – especially if your focus is slightly off (I presume you’ve checked your AF fine tune, and are using AF-C?)
There’s definitely a difference in color between the D800 and previous 12MP bodies – it’s as though we have a lot more subtle gradation especially in blues and reds, which is a great thing.
Yes, all my lenses are fine tuned and I run AF-C by default in Aperture mode. On retrospect, the D800 will be also be interesting for my macro work, since I sometimes prefer to use my D7000 with my 105VR for the pixel density it offers, so its great that we can get the same density in FX now. Hmmm it may be that I will get this body a little sooner than I first thought after the first flood of orders gets cleared and more bodies hit the market. I look forward to your watch and product photos too.
I was thinking about a D7000 for the same reasons – it actually makes a lot more sense since I use high magnification for my watch photography. But since we can have the best of both worlds now…why not?
Great real worlds tests, mate and thanks for the effort!
Was initially very close to putting down my name on the list for the D800 but now you’ve made it clear that a D700 would suit my needs more since i shoot everything from portraits, landscapes, action, sports, abstract, street, etc and want a more versatile, forgiving and less fuss camera, but also want good High ISO results as well as decent AF speeds on an FX body. To top it all, i don’t print my images but mostly on-screen viewing so high resolution is not very crucial.
But out of curiosity, how is the AF image lock-down speed of the D800 compared to the D3S and D700 especially in low light. I was made to understand that the D3S is much more faster than the D700 which may hunt more in low light. Is that true? Thanks.
You’re welcome.
Under low light, AF speed is about the same or very slightly faster than the D700. Precision is better on the D800 when using single point, not so good when using 3D tracking – could just be the lens (85/1.4G) and its demanding razor-thin DOF though. It’s faster than the D700 under good light. I’d say subjectively, from fastest to slowest, we’re looking at D4, D3s, D800/D3, D700, D300/D300s. The pro bodies will always be fastest because of the higher drive voltage from the larger battery.
Ming, very nice job. Thanks for the hard work. I’ve ordered a D800e to replace my D700 and will only have one camera. Maybe the instruction manual will answer my question: You state, “I intend to shoot the D800 in 14 bit compressed RAW, but downsize by half to 18MP for manageable output, lower noise, and better per-pixel detail.” How is this done? Thanks, Terry
Thanks Terry. Simple – choose a different output size in ACR. However, I’m sticking to the full 36MP for now – the files aren’t that big, I suppose…
can you please do some tests with on camera flash? do you get more accurate flash exposure than with the d700?
I use the CLS system extensively for my studio work; I do have a couple of shoots scheduled for the next week using this, so please check back for my studio work with the D800 update soon.
Excellent review and it backs up my own assumptions on the usage for the D800.
I was looking for the D700 successor and ready to move up to full frame after D300, D300 and D7000.
I had a D800 on order and then I readNikon’s own technical manual which basically tells one everything you have verified in actual testing.
Yes it’s got the best sensor ever tested on DxO and it has huge resolution, but that a general camera it does not make.
I need something with high ISO capabilites and auto focus before I need huge megapixels.
It was a tough decision for me, but I sold all my DX lenses and D7000 and switched to Canon with their 5D MK3.
Nothing is perfect and the grass is never greener, but if BMW doesn’t product the car I want, I’m going to buy an Audi
Thank you. Choice is probably the best thing about where the industry is today. I’d probably have gotten the D4 over the 5DIII though, no need to change lenses. How are you finding the 5DIII? Is it what you expected?
I relate well with the real world perspective of your impressions .
Thank you , very interesting .
I recently lost 5D2 to salty water infiltrations and I’ ll update to 5D3 .
I bookmark your website…. a similar review of 5D3 , would be appreciated .
Sorry to hear that. It’s unlikely that I’ll review the 5D3 because a) I only buy gear I’m going to use for my commercial work, it’s too expensive otherwise; b) I don’t use a Canon system, so even if I did have access to the camera, I don’t have the same level of familiarity with the lenses etc as I do with Nikon – I don’t think it’d be a very useful or fair review in that sense. Sorry!
Bravo!!!!! I have scoured the web for days and nothing compares to this review of your – Top Notch Pro! I so appreciate this review. I do have one question- well, two- are you going to shoot everything at 14 bit and are you suggesting to leave the Auto ISO on (6400 cap) or do you think it is preferable to leave Auto ISP off?
Thank you again for your generous review!
Thank you! I want to maximize quality, so yes, I shoot everything in 14 bit raw because I also edit every file individually. I’m using auto ISO 6400 but of course turn it off for studio work.
Hi Ming – great review! Could you briefly describe your AF calibration setup (for AF adjustments)? Many thanks.
Nothing complex – rule out camera shake and changes in positioning by using a flash and tripod; set AF-S single point; pick a high contrast subject at an angle where it’d be a) easy to focus on and b) easy to see if it’s front or back focused. Use maximum aperture. Take one shot focusing using live view to set an optimal baseline. Then take a shot using normal AF and VF and compare. Adjust AF fine tune setting until you can consistently get the same quality as live view (live view focuses directly onto the sensor). Make sure you defocus between attempts. Finally, try again with AF-C single point to confirm your settings are okay.
Hello Ming
Fantastic your review of the D800.
And great photos from your blog
At the same speed, I wonder if you find more trapidation at low speed (not too low) in the D800 than the D700.
thanks
Thank you Carlos – but what is “trapidation?”
I´m talking about shake. Excuse for my english, please.
Ah – well, there’s less because the shutter/ mirror mechanism is better damped than the D700, but you notice any camera shake more than with the D700 because of the higher pixel density.
You are very kind. thanks
have you test the face recognition? for both autofocus and exposure.
Works only in live view – it’s not bad, but can get fooled by other face-like objects. I still recommend sticking to normal AF.
I enjoyed very much your first impressions of the D800, and the images too. It remotely reminds me of my time in Bangkok, in my youth, last there 42 years ago. I am an American amateur, now living in a small city in rural New York State. It was the exotic, to me, scenes of Asia that first drove me to take up photograpy.
Thank you !
An outstanding review – which very down to earth. A casual shooter like myself can understand how demanding the D800 would need for both the person and the lenses.
Thank you! It’s a demanding camera, but it’s also capable of delivering some pretty incredible results.
wow what a writeup! that camera is simply amazing!
Well thought out review. It puts the camera in perspective. Thank you.
Hi Ming, Thanks for the very honest and real review of the D800. I appreciate how you give real world comparisons when reviewing the improved features of the D800. I was hoping the D700 successor would follow in the same path of being a mini version of their flagship camera body, but the D800 seemingly branched out in a different direction. It’s human nature to be curious about the improvements the next cameras may offer us, I was anticipating the D800 very much so, but in the end, I may just stick with the D700 for my needs (portraiture, weddings).
I am bookmarking your blog and will be looking forward to future posts. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it is very much appreciated.
No problem! The D800 is a different evolution of the flagship (and much closer in DNA to the D3x than the D3s) – think of it as a sniper rifle rather than a machine gun. See you again soon.
Thanks for the writeup, and like the images on your site
If you’re not already aware, the mismatch in buffer performance is likely due to options turned on that either hold images in the buffer or reserve buffer space that Nikon neglects to tell you will do so. Long Exposure noise reduction turned on will take a chunk away (good for 2-3 shots) as it reserves RAM for the black frame subtraction regardless of whether you’re actually shooting at a shutter speed that triggers it. The lens corrections (Auto Distortion Control) turned on will *really* murder the buffer. Would be nice if they made it clearer which options did what to the buffer.
I’ve actually turned all of those off and still can’t get the full buffer unless I shoot 12 bit – yes, it’s definitely misleading.
Excellent review, the resolution on this camera is a game changer
This is the best review of the d800 to date. Thanks
Thanks Robert!
Ming have you tested the ITTL system?
Yep – I’ve used it since the D2H days and love it. My studio work is done with four SB900s. Works fine on my D800, if that’s what you’re wondering – the only catch is the metering is like the D7000, i.e. very sensitive to what’s under the active AF point.
if it is focusing on the face I suppose it is good to be sensitive in the focus point. Nikon says that the d800 recognize faces even from the viewfinder and focus accordingly. can you confirm that?
It kinda does if you use the 51-point full auto mode, but it’s not 100% clear what it’s doing. Definitely does in live view. And it picks them up in image review, too.
would you suggest the d800 for wedding work?
No, except for the studio stuff. You’d be better served by a D4.
Love the colors in the zeiss 28 shot of the tomatoes! Can you post more Zeiss shots with D800 and more 24G shots pls.
Nice honest review.
Was wondering how you would compare the colors rendered by the D800 vs. the D3X?
Any differences that you see?
Thanks Wayne. I’ll post as I use it – not much on the cards for the Zeiss at the moment; the 24G focusing issue I’m still trying to resolve (it doesn’t work well with my D800′s left side AF sensors), so it’s not being used either.
D800 color is better than the D3x – not in a very obvious way, but more in terms of tonal accuracy than saturation. This is especially noticeable in the blues, I find.
great review. surley among the best on this subject out there. thank you!
My pleasure.
a really nice an helpfull review — I am very pleased with my D800, too. My is SN in the 5000, got it the same time as you, prob. the diff. countries got diff. lots of preprod. cams…. DOC
Are you finding any AF issues?
Thanks a lot .Very useful review.
Hi Ming, Ireally enjoyed your review. I have a D800 plus the 14-24 f/2.8 but I wonder which are the killer lens between te 14-24 and the older 17-35 f/2.8. Do you have any suggestion about it? Thank you.
Actually, of all of the current Nikon wide zooms, I prefer the 16-35/4 VR, but better yet, the Zeiss 21/2.8.
Hi Ming, Ireally enjoyed your review. I have a D800 plus the 14-24 f/2.8 but I wonder which is the killer lens between te 14-24 and the older 17-35 f/2.8. Do you have any suggestion about it? Thank you.
I’d go for the 16-35/4 VR or Zeiss 21/1.8 personally.
Hello, I believe your site may be having browser compatibility problems.
When I take a look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however when opening in I.
E., it has some overlapping issues. I just wanted to
provide you with a quick heads up! Aside from that, great blog!
Thanks for the feedback – how wide is your screen in pixels? To preserve large images and the sidebar, I had to make minimum screen width 1160px.
Ming, amazing cinematic shots of KL street scenes with the 85/1.4!
I know you recommend the 85 1.8G now over the 1.4G, but do you find the 1.8G capable of rendering the creamy bokeh as shown in your wide-open shots featured here?
Thank you. Yes, I think the 85/1.8G is about 95% there…there are situations (mostly involving backlight and flare) where the 1.4 G will be creamier and smoother, but the 1.8 still has better edge definition up to f2.8 or so.
hi dear Ming
Thanks for the great job , awesome review , i have several questions
1- After your great analysis and dealing with his camera for while what your recommended lenses for landscape , macro and
portrait (Nikon or any other brand that fits ) to get the maximum result from this monster ? what about 24mm 3.5 PC-e for
landscape ?
2- Can u summarize your final thought about the camera performance regarding auto focus system regarding accuracy and speed
(day light and low light)? any significant improvement ? i know u have mentioned it in your article but i did not get it well.
3- I read in several reviews that that auto focus system in live view is miserable due to interpolation ,especially compared to canon
5D mark 3 ? any fixes for this ?
4- what is the best technique to get good focusing at low light condition within the limitation of the camera
5- you mentioned it is not all around camera and not for every one , that being said and for some one coming from DX world
( D7000) mainly shooting landscape, nature, macro and sometime portrait do u recommend it ? and what is the best techniques
that i can follow to the get the maximum of it ,I lean more towards D800 and i can not afford another camera for holidays, my
alternative is d600 ,so your feedback is very crucial for me to decide which way i go D800 or D600.
i hope i explain my questions clearly and excuse me for my bad English
best regard
thank a lot for your help
You are asking all of the same questions I answered in the review…
1. Read the Camerapedia and recommended lenses for the D800
2. Not as good as the D700. Potential accuracy issues with the left side. Doesn’t feel as positive overall.
3. No, the maximum magnification goes beyond 100%. Don’t zoom in all the way. Set JPEG sharpening to high, which helps with the preview (but doens’t affect your raw file). I deal with those issues here
4. Single point AF-C and proper AF fine tune calibration on all your lenses. This is for every camera, not just the D800.
5. No. Don’t buy it unless you need to make very, very big prints – the D600′s 24MP will be more than enough for even a 40×60″ if you have good technique and processing.
dear Ming
I’m very grateful for your great advice and kindness , regarding the live view focusing, setting jpeg sharpening to high will be helping in good light condition , but is it true the live view in low light condition will be very noisy and useless as mentioned here http://www.ronmartblog.com/2012/05/fail-nikon-d800-live-view-vs-canon-5d.html
have u encountered such problem and if you did , do u have any advice
The D800 previews at shooting exposure, which the 5DIII doesn’t – as far as I can tell. Switching over to A mode helps. The D600 avoids this by always showing a useable exposure. Yes, the usability of the D800 is not ideal here…
hi dear Ming
Thanks for the great job , awesome review , i have several questions
1- After your great analysis and dealing with his camera for while and from your article i understood this camera needs special consideration on the lenses choice because some lenses were known to perform very well in previous models seems not giving the same good result with this camera, so i would love to know what your recommended lenses for landscape , macro and portrait (Nikon or any other brand that fits ) to get the maximum result from this monster ? can u give me special comment on 24mm 3.5 PC-e for landscape ?
2- Can u summarize your final thought about the camera performance regarding auto focus system regarding accuracy and speed
(day light and low light)? any significant improvement ? i know u have mentioned it in your article but i did not get it well.
3- I read in several reviews that that auto focus system in live view is miserable due to interpolation ,especially compared to canon
5D mark 3 ? any fixes for this ?
4- what is the best technique to get good focusing at low light condition within the limitation/specifications of this camera
5- you mentioned it is not all around camera and not for every one , that being said and for some one coming from DX world
( D7000) mainly shooting landscape, nature, macro and sometime portrait do u recommend it ? and what is the best techniques
that i can follow to the get the maximum of it ,I lean more towards D800 and i can not afford another camera for holidays, my
alternative is d600 ,so your feedback is very crucial for me to decide which way i go D800 or D600.
finally i hope i explained my questions clearly and excuse me for my bad English
best regard
thank a lot for your help
one more thing Ming , if i down-sample the big file form D800 (36mp) for web posting ( as small as 800px-550px or a little bit larger ) .any artifacts and jaggies impact on the final small image , i will using D800 mainly for web sharing and sometime for small print , i know u are going to say it i it is a waste to use D800 only for these purposes , to be honest i love to have it unless my final result will be degraded with such artifacts
thanks a gain
It depends on your processing. But yes, it’s a waste to use the D800 for that because you’ll have to deal with enormous files for tiny output. Just doesn’t make any sense.
Tremendous review. Thank you for your time and effort!
No problem.
Hi Ming,
I turn to you for answers regarding the D800E because I’m not getting clear answers from other sources.
I set my camera up to model my D700 when it comes to AF-S where AF-S priority selection (a2) is set to “focus.” I do this so that the camera will not take out of focus images after the shutter release is depressed half way. By doing so, I can tell if an image will be in focus, since the camera will not allow me to take a picture when the subject goes out of focus after locking has occurred (assuming shutter speed is set to freeze the scene properly).
If I set up my D800E this way, according to page 282 of the manual it should work the same way as the D700…”This option [a2] controls whether photographs can be taken only when the camera is in focus…” However, it is not behaving this way.
Amazingly, on page 101 of the D800/E manual, it states that when using manual focus, the image can be out of focus and the shutter can still be released! Who wants to take out of focus pictures?
Is there a way to set the D800E up so that after the shutter button is depressed half way and locks focus it will not release all the way and take a picture if the subject goes out of focus after lock has been achieved?
Thank you! I appreciate all your good work.
No, the D700 will also release if you’re in AF-S focus priority then move the MF ring after the camera thinks it’s achieved focus. Otherwise, you should use AF-C and focus priority instead…this will automatically compensate for movement of the ring (deliberate or otherwise).
Thank you for the comments, Ming.
I would like to ask this question: Is there a way to set up the D800E in AF-S mode so that after the shutter button is depressed half way and locks focus it will not release all the way and take a picture if the subject goes out of focus (e.g. moves a bit) after lock has been achieved?
Nick
No.
Dear Ming,
In this article you say that “I intend to shoot the D800 in 14 bit compressed RAW, but downsize by half to 18MP for manageable output, lower noise, and better per-pixel detail.” Can you describe what method you use to do downsize properly?
Thanks,
Nick
I would downsize in ACR, though the reality has turned out a bit different – I shoot it at full resolution, or not at all. File handling has turned out to be a bit more of a bottleneck than expected. This might change with a faster computer, though.
Is there anything stopping the D800/e from functioning as a kick-ass street/travel/reportage camera? I usually shoot this style and all your advice points to the D600 or 700, but the call of the sirens of Ultimate Detail is difficult to resist. 45MB files do not scare me. 4fps is enough. I understand I wont get pixel-level perfection if I shoot “undisciplined” with this camera, but files downsized to 24mp should look at least as good as the D600 with equivalent glass, right? And there is better autofocus sensitivity and coverage. Worse case, I’ve just spent too much money for image quality I could get with the D600 instead, right? Thing is, I can only afford one camera. With a refurbished D800 for $2300, Im asking why not spend the extra cash and have that insane detail in the bank for when I do bust out the tripod and the fancy glass? And use it for general travel/street as well. But the D600 on a tripod will never do what the D800 can. Is my thinking misguided? Your blog is great. Many Nikon ‘experts’ out there, but few who back up their talk with top-quality work. Thanks for all the insights and photos.
Physical size and weight, handling those large files afterwards, not always being able to make the most of the resolution due to camera shake/ marginal shutter speeds/ less than perfect focus, etc. In short: all sorts of reasons covered many times in the comments and other parts of this site.
Your thinking isn’t misguided; so long as you go into it knowing that you’re going to have to compromise somewhere if you’re off a tripod or outside the studio, you’re fine.
Thank you, Ming. Yes, it’s a big camera, with big files. So those are indeed compromises when travelling and planning to shoot quick and light. However, I think I am going for the D800e. The chance to have medium format level resolution is just too hard to pass up.
But for the quick-shooting situations, head-to-head with the D600, I am curious: how much difference in file detail would you expect to see between a D600 file and a 24mp down-sampled D800 file in a spontaneous street shooting scenario with ‘average’ shooting technique? Would the D800 still be able to squeeze more usable detail out of the scene, despite some pixel-level imperfections? Or would run-and-gun style shooting completely even out the IQ difference between the cameras?
They’ll be pretty close. If you’ve got average technique, you may not see any difference at all.
Hopefully the new camera will inspire enhanced technique. Thanks again. The work you do on this blog is really invaluable for less experienced photographers. And how amazing to personally answer all of these messages! I wish you luck with that as your reputation grows. haha.. I don’t see a referral link for Adorama, but I’ll keep you in mind the next time I buy something through Amazon or B&H.
Thanks – it all takes a lot of time and work, though. Note that you can actually buy through Adorama via Amazon; just click on the ‘other buying options’ button when you find the product. The referrals still go through.