Camera Labs

Wow Thomas... You're certainly making my choice between the D800 and the 5D Mk III a Harder decision to make!

That was my intention
And to make things even harder I'll soon be testing the new AF-S 85/1.8G on the D800. After all that I've heard so far this could be an excellent combo. But let#s wait and see, what my tests reveal...

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

Hi folks,

An interesting take on the D800E can be found here:

I have done some more tests with my D800E and posted the photos on my Flickr "Schafphoto" stream. My biggest issue with the camera is not moire which seems to be minimal, but the D800E is so sharp and well resolved that it shows all the pixel-level flaws like CA.

The only way to get those amazing image files that jump off the screen/page is to take the NEF files into Nikon capture NX2.3.1 (update) this applies the Nikon lens and D800E camera parameters from Nikon's secret database and VOILA everything looks cleaner, sharper, distortions get fixed and CA vanishes.

Follow the link for the sharpest picture...

Another take is from the ever busy Kai from our price partner site DigitalRev. Check out the video Nikon D800E vs Nikon D800 - What Is The Difference? for some high-stepping action.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

High praise from Michael Reichmann.
---
You've heard not much from me yet, because I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of this monster body. Doing the 85mm three-way lens-shootout all I can say: working with this body is a snap, results are very satisfying and some lenses are sending stress-signals
If Nikon only could offer a firmware-update to eliminate the nasty live-view bug

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

I'm reading your reports/tests with interest Thomas, they're most informative.

Re any firmware updates, do Nikon pick up on any teething problems from reading users comments on forums, or do they have certain selected pro's testing in their everyday use & reporting back?

I guess they'll tend to wait for quite a few weeks, so any issues can be sorted with just 1 update if poss.

_________________

Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 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/

I'd guess that Nikon is mostly looking at the defect reports coming in from their service departments/partners.
That is ok as any problem that is discussed in the fora certainly has a proportional number of owners bringing in their gear or opening tickets. Every Nikon Website has a point where you can enter service-requests or defect reports. That was the case what I did.
What happens then? Well, certainly Nikon seldom rushes a firmware fix and you can bet there are a number of bugs/issues to be found in the current version. So they track the complaints, evaluate the severity and then (perhaps) they go out in the fora and see how big the "wave" is that this defect creates. This should influence the priorities for debugging - but who knows
Then normally a batch of issues is planned for elimination through a firmware-update with development work and testing the next steps.
Although I'm pretty sure that even at the date of the D800-release they already have a list of known (low-priority) bugs that did make it into the first release. Proper testing through own quality-control departments and feedback from professional test-users before the release normally creates such a long list of "issues" that they cannot all be ironed out - and some never will

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

Hi everyone, just a quick update to let you know I have not forgotten my D800 review nor my 5D3 RAW results.

As some of you may know I'm currently travelling so have had to put my own reviews on hold for a short while, but the D800 will be my priority once I get back in action properly. Watch this space!

Can't recall my user/pass or what email I used, so had to create a new one.

Definitely looking forward to that review.

I've been waiting for Nikon to bring this baby out (still using a D300) though got to admit I sure wish they reduced the Megapixels for some better higher ISO. I mostly use the camera for concerts, night, long exposures. So you can see why I am upset a tad. I can't afford a D4 so to be honest, in the first time in my life, I'm looking at Canon. All previous lenses are DX, so I'd need to upgrade them as well.

I heard a rumour that there may be a FX/DX model with lower MP than the D800 that will have better higher ISO capabilities later this year. No idea where I heard it, but would love to know if that's true and if I should wait a little longer. I'm guessing it might be a D7100.

I've tried down sampling the sample images and, albeit jpegs, Canon clearly still has the upper hand here . I've briefly looked at RAW from both and while not the same/similar photos, Nikon seems to have the upper hand here as Canons processing on JPGs is rather aggressive to make them look that good.

Funnily enough I've noticed the Nikon being more 'natural' and Canon the one with more saturation this time. I've always liked Nikon for adding that little touch of saturation. Maybe this is just due to the settings being flat, but interesting to note that they seemed to have swapped.

So what am I to do? wait yet for another model to come out (which may be years) that offers better high ISO, switch to Canon (though I'm sure I'd regret that next time round), or put up with it. as it's obviously still be better than the D300.

I've thought about pre-loved D3s that no doubt will start appearing on eBay etc, but 12.1MP doesn't leave much room to crop if required.

Hi All
New to this forum. Discovered it while trying to discover a delivery schedule for D800's in NZ. If any one has any clues or definite information beyond The Camera Warehouses mid May I would love to hear.
Anxiously awaiting the arrival of the D800E I have ordered & killing time by spending all my days and nights reading every piece of information regarding the 800's. It is approaching fever proportions, which is silly really, though I feel that knowing a definite time of arrival may assist in re-establishing realism!

Hello Neofin, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
----
I can feel with you regarding the wait for the new D800(E). Mid May isn't too long a time now so I hope that it arrives as promised.
What type of photography are you into and what equipment did you use so far?

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

Hi Thomas
Thank you for your warm welcome.
I am very grateful for your posts - which are very helpful.
I am upgrading from the D200 which I have had for quite a few years now. My photography is quite eclectic, mostly artistic, including landscape and scenic, travel and observations of life. I have for some reason or another ended up doing a lot of stitched panorama photos also - I hope I will being doing less images to make up the panorama now by at least a factor of 2! - I greatly admire Henri Cartier Bresson & Ellliot Erwitt (among many) along with the impressionistic & cubist artists. So - capturing the moment, some humor and the essence of the scene with a human response to what I am seeing I guess is what I am after.

I suppose I am reasonably old school - my first Cameras were Edixas, Exacta and Contarex's with Zeiss Biogon manual lenses before obtaining a Nikon El followed by, F2 Ai Photomic AS , F3's, F4's and an F5 before switching to D70 then D200 (you will recognize my Nom de Plume as being after a Beutler type developer - I preferred the Blau, but often also used the Rot!). I spent many years as a medical/scientific photographer, as well as quite a lot of professional work before moving away from my work for love and starting a new career! (Why else).

I managed to retain some good Nikon glass and have acquired a 24-70 f2.8 Nikkor for the new camera (Also planning to use 60 and 105 f2.8 macros) as well as 20mm f2.8 (with floating element) an older 70 - 200 f2.8 and 50mm 1.4. I am also looking forward to trialling my Sigma 15 - 30mm f3.5 and 24-70mm f2.8 (EX Aspherical) to see how they go in comparison.
So thats me.....

Thank you for your little introduction, Neofin! And quite some experience/background you have.
From your glass I expect the 24-70/2.8G to become a sort of "fixture" to your new D800 body, because it is excellent.
That I can say without having done the proper review yet - but it's coming! I'm just waiting for the new Tamron to be available for a 24-70/2.8 zoom shoot-out and which is better
---
Hmm: Edixa, Exacta... Might I venture a guess that you're from Germany?

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

Same thought

Greeting from my Edixa:


The 24-70mm is a great lens but quite short. Well - that's not a problem on the D800 I guess. There is no other camera that's so good for cropping. Still I'm very interested in how the Tamron compared to the Nikon 24-70mm lens.

_________________
Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

That brings back memories Jiko (nice example). They were a very advanced camera in their day -interchangeable prism/waist level finder and though I never used the long exposure train, the 1 - 12 second exposure ability - great engineering. Though i regularly electrocuted myself when using them paired with a Mecablitz electronic flash - it was a relief to get a Sunpack which did not do the same thing!

No I am not from Germany, I am English by birth, have lived in NZ for 50 years. Though I did learn a smattering of German from the labels on various German products (entwikler for developer - zeit for time etc).

I notice that on some other forums some people become convinced that the forums represent very one's experience with the D800/E with a heavy emphasis on everyone who strikes a difficulty (auto focus/focus module - locking up etc) with the cameras leading to speculation that there are serious difficulties with it, rather than the large number of positive experiences which actually far outweigh the negatives.

I think that we may be on the brink of seeing the phasing out of Anti aliasing filters on cameras and software taking this into account. It looks as if Nikon capture NX2 certainly does now, - sounds superior to Lightroom 4.1 which I currently use. I am looking forward to comparing the 2 Raw converters.

I am also prepared for the fact I may need to invest in some longer focal length lenses to account for the transition back to full frame angles of view - as you say the 24-70 range may be a little short. Depends on how the older 80 - 200 f2.8 performs and if it fits into the camera bag (forgot to mention I have a very light 55-200 f4-5.6 G which is quite good on the D200 - may be found out on the D800E). It will be interesting to see how the Tamron 24-70 performs in real life.

when can I expect your review of the Nikon D800? I'm looking forward to it very eagerly.