Nikon D810 via Adorama
Photo geeks, gear heads, and camera nerds listen up! This post is just for you. Nikon today (or yesterday by the time I post this…) just announced the new D810, a consolidation of the D800 and the D800E. I’m a photographer and not a gear review guy, but I get a lot of requests from readers to weigh in…. should you get one? Should you pass? While that is much more of a personal question, my hope is to add a little value to the core camera geek’s potential purchaser’s day by sharing my initial thoughts. Keep in mind, I’m referring mostly to the ‘concept’ of the camera (is it a good camera in the line of pro / am lineup), do the specs make sense, and do I think it’s a good value.
So then, here’s a quick 2 cents… The D800 was a super solid camera when I posted about it two years ago, but the D810 adds a handful of meaningful upgrades to the system. Some of its improvements below:
_36.3 megapixel full-frame sensor (same as D800) but paired with Expeed 4 processing for sharper images, 30% faster
_up to 5fps still image shooting (7 if you’re in DX with a battery grip)
_1080p HD video at 60, 30, and 24 fps.
_noise-free images from ISO range of 64-12,800 (expands to ISO 32-51,200).
_Live View with spot white balance
_Built in stereo microphone for audio recording
_weight = 31.7 oz (roughly the same as the D800)
_Expeed 4 engine
_51-point AF (straight outta the D4s)
_Zebra stripes for exposure checking in video mode
_Uncompressed HDMI output with simultaneous recording to memory card (bonus)
This might look and feel like the same camera as the D800, but that upgrade to the Expeed 4 processing is going to make a LOT of the difference here (same processing system from the D4s I think!) It’ll allow for crisper shots at high ISOs and jettisons the low pass filter from earlier iterations of the D800. Not only that, but thanks to the updated processor, the D810 shoots slightly faster as well. Note: I have had ZERO face time with the camera, so I can’t go too in-depth on all the changes, but if they send me one, I’ll have more to say/share (BTW, I’m not counting on it. They got scared of me when I started using iPhones and Canon’s to shoot video… Golden boy to Anarchist 🙂
If you haven’t seen the pictures of it, she’s very, very similar to the D800, but check out images of the camera below in case you want to get an idea of what you’re in for.
The question I’m asked every time a new camera comes out… Chase, are you getting this camera? My answer in this case is no. But not that I wouldn’t want it… It just can’t replace my D4. It would be great wildlife or portrait shooter, but I do too much high speed action and need that 10 or 11 Fps. I also don’t need to chop up my sensor to get 36 megapixels… But I see why some people would love it. So that’s all for me on this quick hit. You asked, so I posted 😉 LMK what y’all think/ first impressions/feelings and I’ll try to respond?
[Reminder that Nikon plays close attention to this blog, so your comments on this post — glowing or otherwise — might help inform Nikon about what you’re thinking.]Get all the juicy Nikon D810 updates and/or pre-order over at Adorama.
I’ve beaten my D800 up with adventure travel /expedition work where weight really matters. Its been a workhorse, but it’s beat up and the D810 is perfectly timed for me as a replacement. I’m excited for the Expeed 4, improved intervolometer, AF, and frame rate. I’m bummed they didn’t bring wifi in camera. If gopro can let me frame shots and trigger remotely from my phone, I know Nikon could too. I am jealous of my Canon and Sony compatriots ability to do that. 4k would also have been nice, but overall I’m very excited to have my pre-order in.
Hey Chase!
Thanks for writing this article. I was wondering if you give me some advice. I primarily shoot skiing, other action sports and landscape photography/timelapse. I currently have a d7000 that is on its last legs (a few buttons are useless) I think because it is not weather sealed like the higher-end cameras. If I had the budget, I would go for the d4/d4s. So now there is the d810. Do you think the framerate of 5fps will be high enough to shoot freeskiing? Also, do you think the d810 files will be too massive to process with a MBP for time-lapse?
If high action is your goal – the 8-9-10-11 frame per second is needed to keep up with the pro’s. thats what you’ll need.
if you’re strapped for cash or not at that level, the 5fps is the next acceptable tier.
re: timelaps, it depends entirely on how long is the timelapse and how tough is your MBP 😉
Re Action / speed.
Also depends if you shoot RAW or jpg.
With 36Mpx RAW (even compressed) that buffer is going to fill fairly quickly so you’ll only get the 5/6/7fps for a brief amount of time.
Great upgrades that are welcome to see but it is too little too late. I’m a Nikon guy but I have a strong feeling that the Canon train is going to run over Nikon in a hard way with an update to the 5D MKiii sometime in the next 12 months.
More than that though, these updates are less than inspiring with the waves that Sony has been making with their A7 lineup. While I don’t expect any of the A7’s to be a huge threat to either Nikon or Canon DSLR’s in the immediate future (mainly because you can’t compete with the Nikon/Canon lens lineups and what is already collected by photographers out there…), updates like this to the D800 feels very boring and bland after seeing what Sony is doing as of late.
Just my 2 cents.
How is that possible? The lineup of Nikon is just great. They should add a d400 or somewhat. But if Canon does bring out some new stuff, would it make the d810/d610 less good? No
That d400 might be the rumored d9200, maybe for Photokina
I’m so bummed they’re switching to Dxxxx naming convention for D300s successor. I’d prefer D310 to D9200. 4 digits feels so consumer grade.
I got the D300s when it first came out and loved it. Just had it rebuilt after much abuse. It is like new and serves me well for outdoor activity. great frame rate and not too bad in moderately low light. The thing I liked most when it came out what that it was weather resistant, I’m not sure any of the 4 digit Nikons carry that upgrade and hence I have been reluctant to switch even though I know their low light ability is better. My other body is a D600 btw…
The D810 seems like a decent update to the D800, and the ISO range is pretty awesome. I wish Nikon, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, would make a DSLR with less megapixels, but the same level as the D800/D4. I don’t want 36 megapixel files, and I’m probably not going to drop $6000 anytime soon.
Agreed. As someone currently looking to upgrade to FF the only choices I am considering are the D610 and 5D Mkiii. The D4 would be fantastic but the price wouldn’t be worth it for someone like me, and 36 MP is just stupid. I would also like something that shoots faster than only 5 fps, even if it is only 6 fps with the two options I mentioned.
You can easily get 6fps on the D800. Two tricks.
Shoot 1.2 mode which is still 30mp
Add the grip.
Both tricks give you an extra 1fps each.
I shoot mostly landscapes but also do some equestrian work. For the horses I add the grip and 1.2 and I get 50% more plus a couple of extra frames in the buffer due to the file size.
I like my D610 and feel it is a great value. My only complaint is the position of all the focusing points being concentrated around the center. I compose many of my images along the rule of thirds intersections and find myself constantly focusing, locking focus, and recomposing. I think the D810 may have the same focus pattern and therefore wouldn’t improve on that issue for me.
That’s one of the beauties of the D810…it now shoots 9mp RAW files as well as the full 36.3.
It’s a marketing thing 😉
Then shoot in crop mode that still gives you roughly an 18meg NEF RAW file that still gives you sharp images…
You mean like the D750? 😉
dissapointed that it doesnt have wifi or gps. wifi for light studio work and gps for us landscape heads.
but congrats on Nikon for small raws! took them long enough.
Surprising that small Raws are of interest, but I can see the application given the resolution of the larges 😉
Hey Chase, since Nikon closely follows this blog, here’s something for them…
The D800/D800e was a revolutionary camera when Nikon first released it in 2012. It was [near] medium format quality in a DSLR format. In fact in some instances it’s hard to tell the difference between a picture taken with a D800E and one taken with smaller Medium Format cameras like the 40 megapixels Mamiya Credo 40, Hasselblad H5D-40 or the Phase one IQ140. So this D810 is a welcome improvement to an already amazing camera especially those improvements [like the new shutter mechanism] that are meant to reduce the risk of blurry photos. As someone else pointed out, I also like that Nikon merged the two cameras into one, making for less confusion and easier choice for their customers and I highly hope that the newer camera will not produce moiré in situations where the D800E did.
However though Nikon should’ve better integrated the technological advances available today into their cameras to improve the image making process (or at least not get in its way). Per example here are 5 points that I think deserve to be high on Nikon’s priorities, they’re almost no brainers but yet it’s almost IRRITATING that Nikon is making us beg for them.
1- Image Quality and Focus engine/sensitivity
As I previously mentioned: the D800/D800E and now the D810 (also the D4/D4S even the D600) are amazing cameras not just for their low light capabilities but also for their image quality and dynamic range. They excel in situations where medium format was the only king: Landscape, Studio and Portrait (in fact Nikon themselves have compared images coming from the D800 to Medium format). So why not provide a more full fledged solution? Why not bring 16 bit image processing to a DSLR like the D810. 14 bit color is great but it’s annoying to always have to correct for pink/magenta [ish] looking skin tones when you pull your portraits in Lightroom.
It’s good that Nikon has brought the same focusing engine of the D4S to the D810 but Nikon needs to improve on the focus points, not necessarily adding more focus points (I think 51 focus points are more than enough) but rather spreading those focus points more throughout the image area instead of having them all tightly packed in the center of the frame like on the D600. Also an improved focus screen with focus peaking or split image focus confirmation (for manual focus like on old film cameras or the Fuji X100s/Fuji X-T1) would definitely improve a camera’s usability in nailing focus. And no I’m not suggesting to completely drop optical viewfinders in favor of an all electronic one: I love my optical viewfinder.
2- X-Sync Speed.
It’s absurd that today, DSLRs are still stuck at an X-Sync speed of 1/250 of a second (even less on some models). I don’t wanna have to worry about time of day, sync speed, HAVING TO carry heavy pack and heads for high power, fiddling with neutral density filters or HAVING TO gang multiple speedlights together (in FP high speed sync) to have enough power and fast recycling time when I wanna shoot wide open while also combatting bright sunny conditions. Since it might be impractical to change/rebuild their wide lens selection, why not build integrated leaf shutters or some sort of electronic shutters into every new [Semi-Pro to Pro] DSLRs while also adding some built in neutral density capabilities similar to the fuji X100s? I think David Hobby has been screaming this from the top of his lungs quite enough now: faster sync speed virtually increases the effective power and usability of speedlights or any strobe for that matter.
3- Radio Triggering
I LOVE Nikon’s CLS system mainly the ability to control every speedlight from camera position. I think in it’s time, it was truly revolutionary but it’s long (too long) overdue for an update. Joe McNally does wonders with it, but It’s ridiculous that this system still relies on line of sight. In fact at times Joe has had to use some contraption like attaching 2 or more SC-28 cables together to get his master speedlight off camera so the remote speedlights could see it. Canon has already updated their speedlights with radio transmission. Pocket Wizard, Phottix, Radio Popper and other manufacturers have already demonstrated the ability to transfer Nikon’s triggering commands over radio triggers, WHY oh WHY is Nikon still numb on this subject? And while we’re at it, it’s time that the CLS system be updated to more than just 3 groups.
4- Wifi and GPS
The D810 is a Landscape and location Photographer’s [dream] camera so why not completely integrate GPS (useful for location scouting and file cataloguing based on place) and WiFi (for full wireless tethered capture) into every camera? I don’t mean the dumb down version available with the WU-1a/WU-1b adapters but rather something full featured and more similar to what’s available on the D4 with the WT-5A. Every smartphone today has WiFi and GPS built in (as standard equipment), why does Nikon insist on charging an arm and a leg for a WT-5A? Why can’t a [big] camera (professional or otherwise) allow me to take an iPad on an outdoor shoot (especially now that the new iPad air has desktop class 64 bit processor) and have my clients and art director follow along on their own iPads (or any other tablets) without me being first tethered to a laptop via a wire? A tether cable increases the risk of accident (amongst other inconveniences) not to mention all the additional abuse/hazard a location shoot can subject your laptop to including water, excessive dust, etc. Besides, taking a laptop on location also involves bringing additional [heavy] grip equipment to support it.
5- Flash Power
By now I thought Nikon with such a beautiful system as the CLS would’ve thought about producing more than just 50 Watt/second speedlights. Sincerely, I thought they would’ve come up with some sort of bare bulb speedlight (Sunpack 120J style like the Cheetah Light CL-360) or a Monolight already. I tip my hat to PROFOTO for their new B1 (though I wish it was less than $2000 a pop). Seriously Nikon?!?!?!
And if I may add one more thing: impeccable quality control should definitely top the list cuz its unacceptable that an otherwise great camera be plagued by a flaw that could’ve been caught on time with good Q C. I’m talking about the D600. What’s worse is Nikon being silent about it for a long time and suggesting that merely cleaning it should resolve the issue only to release the D610 a year later (which is what the D600 should’ve been in the first place).
So those are just a few quick ideas I think should really be no brainers of a priority for Nikon. I’m sure other photographers will contribute to that list.
Wow… so many complaints! Yes… wifi, gps, and RF CLS built-in would be nice–but would you pay $4300 for it? Thats what they’d sell it for with those added features. Its all about the money. Either way. Ive had thr D810 for about a week, I absolutely love it. I have 2 D600 bodies and just sold my D7000. Its a bit of upgrade as far as 51AF, 1080p60p, larger buffer, and the giant 36MP Tiff file of 108MB. But it goes down to your avg. use…. for me its 5fps minimum, large buffer, dynamic range, and the -2EV AF. For the price, oh and the battery life is amazing–I shot +1100 photos on one charge (some with TTL built in flash). Its perfect.
Don’t get me wrong, it IS an AMAZING camera. In fact my friend just bought it and let me try it this week. I love how it handles and that shutter mechanism is really nice: I can see how it helps with getting less missed shots due to shutter vibration. But you actually illustrate my point: Nikon keeps Nickel and Diming their customers and making us beg for things that should’ve been standard equipment with pretty much no major cost added. I mean $559 for a WT-5A (pricing on B&H as of this writing)? Seriously why is that when an iphone 5C can be had for $549 full price? and it has WIFI and GPS built in on top of everything else. Yes it’s about the money, but does it really cost that much to have those things added (except maybe for the Leaf Shutter and the 16bit image capture I mentioned above, but WIFI, GPS and RF) ? Cuz the reality is these are no longer break throughs, these are things that should have made their ways in Nikon’s (and any camera manufacturer’s) lineup by now.