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Thanks for the explanation & your thoughts Thomas.

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Nikon D800E & D700 bodies + Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f4.5-5.6G ED VR, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

NOW, it looks like the probability for a D800 announcement on Feb 7th is high enough to believe in the real thing...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Maybe 2 versions of the "real thing". As it's been rumoured that there will be one version w/ AA and one w/o. One with a debut $ of $3000 and the other $3900. Both 36 MP DSLR's. Will be interesting to see what we end up with in the D800.

Yeah, the "no-AA" thing seems a bit mysterious.
The D7000 which has the same pixel-pitch as a 36MP FX sensor still has an AA-filter. So everybody is speculating about the "problems" you'll have with the extra-expensive non-AA version.
From my perspective it would be great to have maximum clarity and sharpness with small(est) details. But as I shoot test-targets that are built to exceed the resolving power of the sensor I fear that a non-AA sensor could produce ugly and disturbing moire in my test-shots.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I don't think most of us need the 36 MP. I'd rather have a 18 MP, maybe 7 FPS, FX body, 100-12,800 native ISO, 1080p video REC DSLR but at around $2000-2500. People got great photo quality with the 12 MP D3's and D700. If Nikon does expect us to pay up to $3900 USD for a D800...too much money for a D800 IMHO...I'll either end up buying a D3s for a little more...or maybe going with the 5D3 (though Canon hasn't really leaked much specs...yet). I might consider even the D4? I dunno yet...

Well, a D800 with AA-filter for 3000$ looks more reasonable.
And remember: If you don't need the speed: 36MP can always be down-sampled with a respective increase in signal-to-noise ratio. So at 9MP output it should have a 2 stops better SNR than the D7000 today.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Ah, I have to qualify my remark:
The 2 stops better performance of a 36MP D800 image downsampled to 9MP compared to the D7000 is based on comparing on a pixel-level / 100% view. But that is unfair, as this is comparing 16MP (original D7000) to 9MP (downsampled D800).
So the fair comparison should be on identical output size (say 36" print). There the D800 should have roughly 1 stop advantage regarding noise!

Btw. what would you do, if price is not an issue: Get the D800 with AA-filter or without? Please let us know and give some reasoning as to why you would get one or the other version.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

IF price was not an issue. And Nikon priced both D800's under $2500...I still wouldn't consider the D800 (assuming current rumoured specs are spot on). Since it is still a "studio oriented" camera at 36MP w/ typical nativo ISO of 100-6400. A camera based on the D3x rather than the D3s (or D4). I want a camera that is capable in very low-light. So a camera with good native ISO range (D3s/D4 or Canon 1D-X..maybe the 5D3...no leaked info about the 5D3's native ISO).

Before any rumoured specs were floating around for the D800...I was so hoping it would be based on the D3s rather than the D3x. FPS/wider ISO range vs high MP. Looks like Nikon is going the high MP route with the D800.

they're making it specifically to please landscapers/ portrait guys.

4ps.

large megapixel count.

low iso.

tsk tsk tsk.

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So now, if I choose to stick with Nikon...it will be either the D3s or D4. Great cameras but more than I'd prefer to spend. Will have to see what Canon does with their 5D3. If it's also a high MP landscape/studio portrait camera...

I find it a little amusing that if these rumours hold out, Canon and Nikon seem to be doing a role reversal in the lower cost full frame area. I'd rather have the high MP model myself, and given a choice, without AA filter. While theoretically less good at faithfulness, I'd risk the degradations of aliasing to get closer to the resolution limits.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Then I guess the $3900 D800 is for you (popo). Ready to place your order? That is when the D800 is announced next week and shops start taking pre-orders.

Oh, btw.: A French website claims the the D800 version sans-AA will be only 10% more expensive than the standard version. That would then be 3300 EUR. But they admit not knowing whether the 3000 EUR for the standard version is street-price or list-price.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

That would be good news for people wanting this type of camera. If true. We'll find out on Tuesday.

BTW...for Canadians...I found out yesterday that in Montreal they will be selling the D4 for $5999.99. It's just shops in Toronto that will be asking $6300.00.

Finally: Some discussion about the benefits and risks of the non-AA version (purportedly called D800E) is in full swing now over at NikonRumors.
Within it there was a post directing to the test-images of the AA-less Leica M9 (18MP). I'll post the link here, but it is a .dng file. so you should only download that if you have a converter for this file-type (like Photoshop or Lightroom).
Here (right-click and "save as")
Have a look at the test-chart and tell me that this is not awful.
This probably decides it for me: The test-shots for my lens-reviews will be unusable with the D800E

P.S.: I don't believe that the higher resolution of the D800 (compared to the Leica M9) will alleviate the problem.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses