Nikon D800 via B&H
Here’s some highlighted specs:
_36.3 megapixel, full-frame sensor (FX)
_up to 5fps still image shooting
_1080pHD video 24 or 30fps
_ISO Range 100-6400 (extendable from 25,600)
_Live View + External Monitor viewing for professional video applications
_Built in external microphone with audio monitoring capabilities via external headphones
_Twin card slots – one Compact Flash and one SD
_weight = 2 pounds 3 oz
The curve balls for me? The megapixels. There’s a lot of em. Also, this is geared a lot more toward video than I would have anticipated. But beyond that… Please note I HAVE NOT touched one of these cameras, and like the D4, NO I didn’t shoot the campaign. I haven’t yet spent time with the camera to tell you any gory details, although I’m assuming I’ll be able to chat more soon.
Aesthetics? Click thru a range of images of the camera via the above tabs.
So.. I (we) knew this was coming, but rather than me spouting off about having played with the system (I can’t – although some of you journalist types have I’m sure), or telling you what your feelings about this system should be (I won’t), I’m turning the tables on you.
What’s your take? Love, hate, indifferent? Insights?
[Reminder that Nikon plays close attention to this blog, so your comments on this post – glowing or otherwise – might help inform Nikon about what your thinking.]Link to all the Nikon D800 details and/or purchase here via B&H.
Depending on the forum one visits, there is a completely different atmosphere surrounding the D800. This seems to be the anti-D800 place to be. I suppose Chase tainted the waters with a opening comment involving “camera nerds”.
When rumors of 36 mp initially made their way around the rumour site(s) I was appalled at the thought of 36 mp, I admit. I have a D3s and I’m all about quality pixels. The thought crossed my mind to sell it, get the D4 and a used D700 as a second body/back up. But when the price for the D800 was announced, I couldn’t ignore it. It made more sense to keep the D3s as the high performance generalist and get a D800 as a specialist. For wedding work (I’ve never taken 2000 images), I see the D800 getting used for portaits, group shots and details and in high DR situations. Then on down time, I can take the ungripped body on landscape shoots at full resolution. Think outside the box people. Lots of pixels for perspective correction. Saves me T/S lens purchases. Lots of pixels will save you work flow time if you stitch panoramas together routinely. Anyway, it’s not for everyone I agree, but its not the Godzilla that its being made out to be. Bottom line is that there are more options to be had with a high mp camera, just as one had more options with what they could do with high ISO than they could pre-2007. The D4 is about getting the shot no matter the light level and getting it out to the virtual world. The D800 is about a slower work flow with some different flexibilities.
I was waiting on the D800 to upgrade to a FX with more frames per second than my current DX, as I mainly shoot sports and need a higher FPS body. The D800 was my hope for a sub $3k FX camera I could afford and it really doesn’t offer me anything worth upgrading to. The CS side of me keeps thinking Moore’s law applied to SLR’s will double the data able to be processed every 18months. While Nikon doubled the data per shot, I was wanting the FPS doubled not the MP/frame.
I like most of the updates to the video side but why 36mp? I’d rather have a more affordable mini D4 like how the D700 was a mini D3. Save the 36MP for the D4X. 36mp files are not something I want to deal with. For that reason alone I likely won’t be getting this camera.
A long waited and welcome addition of video, the 36MP is over the top but that only means Canon is on its heels. Somehow either N and C work together or have the best spies in the industry. Give it 2-3 years and DSLR resolutions above 36 will be the norm.
One thing I was not too pleased to see was the same simple memory card door from d700. D300 has a lever, D4 has a special opening, but this stayed the same pull slide.
I would also like to hear what others think of the focus assist light. I currently have d300 and the light is only good for small lenses, with 24-70 and a hood the light is useless. I can’t believe there is not a single engineer at Nikon that would say ‘hey, we should move the light so it doesn’t get blocked’. Otherwise I can’t wait for mine to show up in March.
I think this is brilliant. I think the market it’s aimed at is perfect. This is a studio camera. Also by attractive for a stock shooter. This gives you the resolution to crop and still qualify for the largest image sizes.
To those complaining about it’s price (or, ironically the price of the D4 by comparison) *News Flash* this is photography. It ain’t cheap. A 24-70/2.8 and a 70-200/2.8 together cost a grand more than the D800. Cards are expensive. Hard drives are easy to buy and connect.
If costs are that much of an issue for you, get a D7k and an 18-200. Or sigma glass. I’d bet the pixels of the D800 are technically the same as the D7k. Do the math. This MP count is exactly the pixel pitch of the D7000, expanded to full frame size. Even has the exact ISO range.
If you want cheap, don’t shop the pro bodies.
The practical applications of 36 available megapixels can’t be overstated.
Of course, if those complaining have more industry insight than Nikon does. And by industry I mean all of it. Not just your little piece of it.