justin_matsen

<p>I'm overwhelmed at the number and depth of your responses. Thank you! I just returned home today, but wanted to upload this jpeg made by importing from the D810 with Nikon Transfer 2, then opening with Photoshop CC, resized to 700px wide, and saved at max quality. This is with the 24-70mm f/2.8 vii. I also shot with a couple other lenses for comparison: 105mm f/2.5, and 200mm f/4 AI/s Nikkors. They look similar.<br /> <br /> This was during the golden hour tonight, and the image on the camera monitor looked spot on to what I saw in the finder and just viewing the scene.<br /> <br /> What I got was a cool, washed out image. There is no broad tonal range, it is cool, and a bit contrasty. The sky is washed out. It is possible I can use the camera raw (9.2) to adjust things to get close, but I'm still having trouble getting it even close to what I saw on the monitor or through the finder.<br /> <br /> BUT, HERE IS A PROBLEM I JUST NOTICED: All images shot later in the day (like the last 4 hours) indicate they are shot at +.3, when a) I almost never shoot overexposed, and b) I know I set many of the shots to either 0, -.3, and even a few at -.7. How can that be? It would explained the washed out look I see.<br> <br /> One other thing: The NEF in Photoshop CC reads as 8bit, even though the camera is set to 14bit. Is that normal?</p><div></div>

I guess I left out some things. My monitor is calibrated, I use Nikon Capture and View with PhotoShop CC (6). I always process .NEFs, but do also capture jpeg for speed of sorting. I will try to upload some examples.

KEH is good at mentioning those parts as missing, if they are.

I recently purchased a Nikon D810 and I have been using previously the D7100 D300 and D200 cameras. I don't think the image quality on the D810 looks very impressive compared to my previous cameras. I'm not sure how to even put my finger on the problem but when I take images they seem to come out flatter, not all that sharp, and not very colourful as I would expect from using a Nikon high- quality lenses. I'm using lenses such as the 14-24 millimeter and the 24 - 70 millimeter f/2.8 vrii lens in addition to other lenses like the 35 millimeter F 1.4. It just seems the image is flatter and not as colorful or contrasty as I would expect or am used to. And I'm not sure where to turn at this point because I don't know if it's the camera, or a setting, or the post processing that might be the problem. I wondered if anybody has advice on this and could point me to the direction that I maybe should be looking to try to get better images with the D810.

I owned one for awhile while doing architectural work. I also have owned the 14mm, but currently own the 14-24mm f/2.8. The 15mm had straighter lines and was a very good lens. Mine was an AI. I got rid of it after buying a d200 some years ago. It had purple fringe around highlight areas, but was sharp and contrasty. My feeling is the newer lenses may assume the software will correct barrel distortion, but it does add an extra PP step. Though the 15mm is built like a tank, the CA cod be a deal killer, though my lighting was pretty controlled for architectural work. If used for landscape, I would lrobably buy a newer 14mm. There are pros and cons to each.