If you're contemplating a D800 and reading some of internet angst regarding it, I'll offer up a few thoughts based on shooting with it for a while:

- The image quality is really something else. It's not just the resolution, but also the dynamic range. Especially when combined with LR4, raw files are very flexible. You can stretch shadow detail, recover highlights and end up with a quality that's remarkable. You can avoid having to merge images in Photoshop or use HDR in some situations. It's like the same jump in flexibility and quality that I saw when I first got a D3, but maybe more so. Don't fixate on the resolution. There's much more to this camera than resolution (although it's mind boggling at times).

- You're not likely to see what it can really do with in-camera sharpening. It's too coarse. Try smaller radius sharpening or preferably a sharpener that can do deconvolution sharpening (Photoshop's Smart Sharpne, Lightroom/ACR, or Topaz InFocus).
- Autofocus works great in my limited experience, but doesn't seem dramatically different than before. Just because I knew people might ask, I tried the far left, center, and far right AF sensors with my 85mm 1.4 wide open. No errors.

- The construction quality is comparable to the D700 - very high quality.

- D700 users will immediately take to the camera and will barely notice they're shooting with a different body. It's that similar as a whole. The minor differences are just that - minor differences.

- Matrix metering is improved over previous Nikons and isn't "hot" like the D700.

- Auto white balance yields more neutral results in flourescent and incandescent lighting than before unless you use the "preserve warm tones" option.

- It's great having an accurate (100%) viewfinder.

- The LCD might have a very, very mild greenish tint, but it's miniscule and nothing I would ever worry about.

- The reversed exposure controls initially threw me, but I've come to prefer them and now have my other Nikons set that way.
- All of my lenses seem to function well with it. No unexpected behaviors. Good ones remain good. Great ones remain great.

- I get nice images at ISO 6400 when processed in LR4 with a minor amount (15-20) of luminance noise reduction and effective use of the masking slider. It's not just a low ISO camera. The colors remain vivid at that ISO setting.

- No special problems handholding it. My past guideline of 1/2*focal length for lenses without VR remains good.

- It's very easy to focus manually on the LCD in Live View mode, and the function works better than it did on the D700 (more like the D3s or D3x, but better). For optimal manual focus, open up the aperture to its widest setting and then stop back down.

- The revised auto ISO function is super. Having it automatically vary based on the focal length, coupled with individual overrides for steadiness (or lack thereof) is a great feature. Being able to switch between fixed ISOs and auto ISO via the front sub-command dial is brilliant.

- There are many thoughtful enhancements. Take time to explore the user's manual.

- If your computer is getting a bit old or is low on RAM, either be patient or plan on upgrading.

All in all, I love it. It may be the most satisfying Nikon I've ever owned, and I look forward to greater use of it. It's definitely not a one-trick pony by any means. I'm not certain I need its sister D800E model that's still on order, but we'll see. I gave my D700 to my son, so my past plan of using it as a backup has changed.

BTW, I got mine at Mike's Camera in Boulder, Colorado. Great staff, and it's nice to support a local business.

Hope this helps!

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Rick,

Thanks for the post. I'm still unsure of what to do but your post helps......

Mark Sloane
Danville, CA

Rick,

What do you mean with:
The reversed exposure controls initially threw me, but I've come to prefer them and now have my other Nikons set that way?

Have you checked your lenses vs. camera in Fine-tune AF?
I have done some tests/adjustments:
14-14: -15
24-70: -5
105: -15
24-300: -5
for best results, both for short distance and long distance. Tuning makes a big difference on the D800 output, I have noticed.

Hans

Happy with my new D800!
My Gallery
My webpage: Photoklix

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Visit my Nikonians gallery.

>Rick,
>
>What do you mean with:
>The reversed exposure controls initially threw me, but I've
>come to prefer them and now have my other Nikons set that
>way?

The exposure displays are reversed relative to previous Nikons. Positive (+) exposure compensation or manual exposure metering used to be on the left and now it's on the right.

>
>Have you checked your lenses vs. camera in Fine-tune AF?
>I have done some tests/adjustments:
>14-14: -15
>24-70: -5
>105: -15
>24-300: -5
>for best results, both for short distance and long distance.
>Tuning makes a big difference on the D800 output, I have
>noticed.

I haven't messed with this so far.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

You have the option to change the meter display back to the old Nikon default of minus on the right and plus on the left.
I decide to retrain my brain to the new configuration and it took some time but I'm happy with it now. When I let some long-time Nikon users try my camera, it drove them nuts as did the change in position of the +/- magnification buttons.
Dave Jolley

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Yes, I knew that. I decided I prefer the new orientation.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

The D800's only problem for me is it's just too damn good. Colours and 14bit depth are incredible.

File size is not such a big deal. NEF lossless compressed file approx sizes:
D800 = 41MB
D5100 = 27MB
D5000 = 20MB
USB3 transfer speed is fast. Upgrade via Ebay, $10 for an IDE or PCMCIA USB3 card. $20 for a USB3 card reader. Or just upgrade your old PC.

I was planning to keep my D5100 with 10-24mm lens but now I will get the FX 16-35mm VR lens and another FX body. Maybe D800E, D600 or the other rumoured FX body before Christmas.

Meh on the 4 frames per second. I prefer single targeted shots.

And why can't make rugged cameras that weigh less?

Colin

"We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are" - Anaïs Nin

Your work is very impressive.

Gator Bob in Gainesville FL
D700 & SB800 * D800 on order
Nikkors: *14-24 * 28-300 * PC-E 85mm *50mm 1.8
Tamron 90mm Macro

Thanks!

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Hi Rick,

I hate posts like this, because it's such a great and informative post and makes the D800 even more appealing!!

I'm trying to avoid the D800 but it's becoming very difficult Rick !!

I have a question for you. I've always been a 2 body man and currently have a D700 and D7000. I only shoot both together about 10% of the time, depending on what I'm shooting.

I could sell both bodies to fund a single D800, or stay with what I have. If you were in my position Rick and didn't want to invest more money outside of selling existing kit what would you do and why?

Regards, Ray

Visit: My Nikonians Gallery

It's very difficult for me to say. Both of the cameras you own are excellent, and I can easily imagine circumstances where it would be advantageous to have both. For example, I'd rather photograph small birds with a good DX camera. Similarly, photographing certain sports with a DX format camera can save you a lot of money, as well as size and weight, compared with an FX body. If you use your D7000 a lot, I'd probably stick with what you have, knowing that both remain great camera bodies. If you rarely use your D7000 and can live with 4 fps, trading them in could make sense.
As always, I always advocate spending money on a really great photo trip or shoot rather than new equipment. Some of the newer photo software would also fall in that category, too.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

>It's very difficult for me to say. Both of the cameras you
>own are excellent, and I can easily imagine circumstances
>where it would be advantageous to have both. For example, I'd
>rather photograph small birds with a good DX camera.
>Similarly, photographing certain sports with a DX format
>camera can save you a lot of money, as well as size and
>weight, compared with an FX body. If you use your D7000 a
>lot, I'd probably stick with what you have, knowing that both
>remain great camera bodies. If you rarely use your D7000 and
>can live with 4 fps, trading them in could make sense.
>As always, I always advocate spending money on a really great
>photo trip or shoot rather than new equipment. Some of the
>newer photo software would also fall in that category, too.
>

Hi Rick, Thanks for the well thought out reply. I'm pretty much in a very good place with the D700 and D7000 combo and besides the D800 is effectively "not for sale" in the UK at this time anyway. I've all the glass, software and accessories I could wish for and travel when my "time poor" business schedule allows.

That said the sale of these bodies would all but pay for a D800....

I don't shoot sports but looking to shoot more wildlife and birds this year so I hear what you are saying about shooting DX for the reach. But one aspect of the D800 that's touted as a major benefit is it's DX mode with pixel density that's basically the same as a D7000. So I'm curious as to what you think of the D800 as a DX substitute or not (if you've had the chance to evaluate it yet ?) I can live with 4 fps ...

Regards, Ray

Visit: My Nikonians Gallery

I've used many cameras with DX crop modes before and while they don't have the pixel density of the D800, another factor remains: the reduced image size within the viewfinder in that mode. I would rather use a camera like a D7000 and have a larger view of the subject. This is a personal thing, though. I like larger viewfinder images for compositional reasons.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

I am not sure how most of your images in your gallery could get much better.
Maybe you would take pity on us and go back to a Browne for a few years to give us a chance to catch up,

My original interest was the D4 but after seeing the results, the image quality with wonderful DR, I re-evaluated my priorities to want a D800. I really do not need speed or a night-vision system or $3000 less to spend on lenses. Unfortunately a few hundred thousand people got the same brilliant idea and are seeking a D800 also. I have only a small window of time, now until May21 when I return to my adopted home where a D800 will eventually be $5500. I will be back to the States in September for 2-3 weeks so all hope is not lost.
To sooth my raging NAS, I decided to buy the 24-70 I have long been wanting to replace my 17-55 with. There is one left at the two locally owned stores. I can't even try it on my D7000 for two weeks because I just took it for a calibration and alignment a couple days ago.
Your description and comments probably swayed a few more people to go for it so I will be that much later in getting one;>(
Stan
St Petersburg Russia

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Thanks, Stan. Sorry about the queue.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Wonderful images Rick!
I enjoyed your site.

Dan

Thanks!

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Very nice analysis. I would add that it is a much more complex camera than previous Nikons; it will get some time to get to know it really well.

http://galleries.gorji.com

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Rick,

Thanks for the report. I'm even more excited about this camera.


Eric Bowles
Nikonians Team
My Gallery
Workshops

Nikonians membership — my most important photographic investment, after the camera

Thanks for your review, Ive had mine for 2 week and agree with every thin you said.

Rick,

Thank you for your excellent thoughts! Your sayings only reinforce my own feelings about this camera. Nikon has hit one out of the ballpark with the D800, as many people will soon discover.

The only place I differ with you is on the reversed controls. That aggravated me to no end so I used Custom Setting Menu > f controls > f12 Reverse indicators to change the -/+ to +/- for the exposure indicators, which changes it for the Control panel, Viewfinder, and Information display. Additionally, I used Custom Setting Menu > f controls > f9 Customize command dials > Reverse rotation > Exposure compensation to reverse the direction of Exposure compensation so that it adds and subtracts compensation in the same direction as the exposure indicator.

Now my camera works like it my D300S, D2X, D7000, D90, D100 and every other digital Nikon I have owned since 2002. I'm just glad Nikon gives us a choice.

That's a valid choice. The reason I elected to go with the controls as is and change my older Nikons is that I sometimes use other brands and (more importantly) darker on the left and brighter on the right makes more sense to me psychologically. I think it aligns with reading left to right. Despite having used Nikons for many years, I often found myself turning the dial for exposure compensation in the wrong direction in the past. With the older cameras, I used the equivalent custom functions to alter them, and it's important to do both so that the compensation direction is aligned with the directions you move the controls.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

>That's a valid choice. The reason I elected to go with the
>controls as is and change my older Nikons is that I sometimes
>use other brands and (more importantly) darker on the left and
>brighter on the right makes more sense to me psychologically.
>I think it aligns with reading left to right. Despite having
>used Nikons for many years, I often found myself turning the
>dial for exposure compensation in the wrong direction in the
>past. With the older cameras, I used the equivalent custom
>functions to alter them, and it's important to do both so that
>the compensation direction is aligned with the directions you
>move the controls.
>


Rick,

Your comment on the psychological effect made me think. I thought about the histogram as an example and realized that, indeed, it is dark (-) on left and bright (+) on the right. Sigh...

I think that I am going to set the camera's exposure indicator and compensation back to the new default of -/+. It makes using the histogram match the exposure indicator. Dang it! Now I gotta go change a comment in Chapter 3 of my upcoming book.

>
>Rick,
>
>Your comment on the psychological effect made me think. I
>thought about the histogram as an example and realized that,
>indeed, it is dark (-) on left and bright (+) on the right.
>Sigh...
>
>I think that I am going to set the camera's exposure indicator
>and compensation back to the new default of -/+. It makes
>using the histogram match the exposure indicator. Dang it! Now
>I gotta go change a comment in Chapter 3 of my upcoming book.
>

I've used all my Nikons like this, it's one of the first things I change on a new camera. The point you made about the histogram makes even more sense to use it this way.


I thought I would share this shot as it has not been cropped and was taken hand held. Click the link to see the full res on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nccaptured/6983196160/in/photostream

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Visit my web site.

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Sorry to complicate things!

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

>Your comment on the psychological effect made me think. I
>thought about the histogram as an example and realized that,
>indeed, it is dark (-) on left and bright (+) on the right.
>Sigh...
>
>I think that I am going to set the camera's exposure indicator
>and compensation back to the new default of -/+. It makes
>using the histogram match the exposure indicator. Dang it! Now
>I gotta go change a comment in Chapter 3 of my upcoming book.

Gave me a chuckle to see a long time user of 50/50 option switch to the other one for a good reason. I think that's why things become 'a standard'. I'm glad we have options, even if it makes the menus longer. My background is Olympus film cameras so I changed my D500 and D5100 to -/+ straight out of their boxes.

Now if only I could get Nikon to 'focus the right way'. Nikon focus direction is opposite of most other cameras.

Colin

"We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are" - Anaïs Nin

>
>Now if only I could get Nikon to 'focus the right way'. Nikon
>focus direction is opposite of most other cameras.
>
Probably not likely, just like the direction you turn the lens to mount it on the camera. These things date back to the fifties and are due to the Zeiss Ikon influence upon Nikon vs. the Leica influence that Canon and others had. (Nikons started as Zeiss copies and Canons started as Leica copies. It's one of the reasons why Nikon's name ends in "ikon". Zeiss actually got Nikon to change their camera's name to Nikkor in the German market for a while in the sixties due to the perceived trademark violation.)

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

>>Now if only I could get Nikon to 'focus the right way'.
>>Nikon focus direction is opposite of most other cameras.
>
>Probably not likely, just like the direction you turn the lens
>to mount it on the camera. These things date back to the
>fifties and are due to the Zeiss Ikon influence upon Nikon vs.
>the Leica influence that Canon and others had.

I was half joking about the focus direction. Video production houses use professional focus pullers to manually focus when filming. They are use to working on Canon lenses, the industry 'standard'. The Nikon direction drives them nuts when they manually focus. Yes, they can use things like the Hocus Focus device which has a clockwise/anticlockwise option.

The opposite focus direction is one unfortunate barrier to Nikon making inroads into professional video IMO.

Colin

"We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are" - Anaïs Nin

Darrell,
The -/+ relationship to the histogram is the reason I chose to bite the bullet and learn the new meter orientation. It's working fine for me. Just remember to change it on your other cameras or you'll go crazy the next time you try to use one of them.
Dave Jolley

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Thanks for the summary, Rick. It makes me even more "justified" in having one on order, no matter how long it takes to get here. (The "e" model.) I really love the dynamic range in my D3x, and can hardly wait to use something that is even better in that regard !

Steve

A Nikonian in northeastern Ohio

http://stephen-bishop.com

Glad I could help with your rationalization.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Thanks a lot Rick for your summary, it is very informative!

I have a d800 coming in a few days (pre-ordered 2 days after announcement) and I'll be upgrading from my honest and capable D200 It has almost 200,000 activations (bought it pre-ordered also).

I have upgraded all lenses to FX (except for DX 10.5mm fisheye).

For the first time I feel I would love to have a Nikonians' D800 training but schedules of classes don't fit my travel agenda.

Rick, what do you think the biggest adaptation will be for someone upgrading from a D200 ?

Cheers,

Yvan
Quebec Nikonian
http://yvanbedardphotonature.com

Ah, another D200 user! I'm also upgrading from my trusty D200 (only 60K activations). I've got some FX glass (70-200 VR I, 24-70 and a f1.8 50mm, so looking to augment the 12-24 DX lens). Unsure with the cost of the body (still on pre-order with Amazon), RRS L-plate and some larger CF cards if I'll be able to swing (hide) the 14-24 lens.

Keep the hints, tips, and general usage of the D800 coming! It'll be helpful to me to get ahead of the game!

I think the change from the D200 to the D800 will be much easier than you think. As I mentioned above, I gave my D700 to my son, who had been using my old D200 for quite a few years. While there are some differences between the D700 and D800, they're fairly minor in my opinion - a few extra options and slightly revised controls. The changes from the D200 to the D700 were similar: fairly minor. My son picked up the D700, didn't even bother reading the instruction book, and immediately got great shots and figured out how to work everything. I skimmed the instruction book for the D800 quickly and then went at it with no problems. Nikon DSLRs are quite consistent in their behavior for most functions. Personally, I wouldn't bother with a class given your experience with the D200.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

I think that before any purchase of new or expensive equipment we all go through those moments where doubt and the proverbial "will it do and do I need it" come into play.

Your sometimes looking for comments that may dissuade you from making a decision one way or another.

I appreciated your review because in the cold hard light of day it seems objective and based on your own testing of this tool. Subsequently I feel better just now as I look down on my desk at a D800 sitting on it. It took me a lot of humming and ha-ing to finally lay down the cash. Thanks for helping me make that decision and to feel I made the right one.

Gerard Pas

Ars est celare artem — It is true art to conceal art.
http://www.gerardpas.com

Hi Rick,

Totally concur with your assessment as you will find here:

http://www.wolfwillow.com/Photo/WPhoto/PhotoTopics/CR_D800/WPTNikon_D800.php

Owing to the very high image quality and not having to enlarge so much to reach a given presentation size i find I am actually saving time despite the large file sizes. That's because I do not have to do so much finicky processing it takes to get what you need out of a smaller frame.

My only caveat has to do with hearing complaints the burst rate may be marginal for sports. As I seldom use/need burst mode this is not a consideration.

Best wishes,
JH


http://www.wolfwillow.com/Photo/WPhoto

Thank you for your thoughtful message. Believe me, it's very, very helpful and you answered a lot of questions and brought up features I didn't know about, like the auto-ISO.

I'm glad you hit on the 100% viewfinder and that the matrix metering isn't hot anymore(!)(my biggest beef with the metering in the D700).

Now I want the camera since it was the one I was hoping the D700 would be. Thanks for making me want to spend a lot of money.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Glad to help.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

What about the latest on Rumors about the D800 and D4 lock-up issues? No wonder the price of the D3s has not dropped much.

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