Nikon Announced D800 and D800E, 36MP FX-Format

<p>A practical question. I would like a full-frame Nikon. Like many, I don't think I have any real use for 36MP. On the other hand, the D700 is unavailable, and even if it were, it's not much less expensive than the D800. (You can get a *refurbished* D700 from Nikon's site today for $2500 or a brand-new D800 in a couple months for $2999.) The D3S and D3X are thousands of dollars more than the D800, and regardless I prefer a smaller form factor. So I'm considering the D800 seriously, almost *despite* its garish pixel count.</p>

<p>My practical question is: How much trouble are those giant NEF's really going to be? I use Lightroom 3 on a 2.4GHz Intel iMac, with 4GB of RAM. Working with my 7D's RAW files (18-24MB) is no problem. But will the D800's 75MB NEF's paralyze my system? I can afford the D800, but I can't afford a 12-Core Mac Pro to go with it! Perhaps this question's unanswerable without first-hand experience, but I just thought I'd throw it out there; I bet I'm not the only one asking himself this question! Thanks.</p>

<p>Take a look at here for D800's ability to shoot videos/movies:</p>

<p>http://vimeo.com/36326055</p>

<p>Shun, do you have one of these at the moment? I am curious on something. For me, video is a key feature (and growing by the day, where as photo is in much less demand), and I am wondering if you can shoot 1080p with a DX lens mounted, or if it has to be an FX lens. My main lenses are currently DX, with a few particular FX lenses, and I'm just curious if my main DX lens (standard zoom with VR) will be able to shoot in 1080p or if I'll need to replace it.</p>

<p>Not set in stone on this camera, but if I get enough freelance stuff between now and Christmas, I could see buying myself a new present.</p>

<p>Hi Zack,</p>

<p>Nikon Quote..</p>

<p><strong>Multi-area D-Movie </strong>records FX- and DX-format Full HD (1080p) movies in 30p, 25p and 24p. Max recording time approx. 29 minutes 59 seconds. Offers uncompressed HDMI output to external devices and high-fidelity audio control.</p>

<p>This <em>seems</em> to imply 'YES' you can use a DX lens...</p>

<p>On the D4, you can shoot video in full FX, DX crop or even CX crop (CX is the Nikon 1 mirrorless 2.7x format). On the D800, you have the FX and DX crop options, but CX is not available.</p>

<p>Sorry, I don't have a preview model of the D800. Like everybody else, I too am wondering whether the D800 or D800E is "better." Only side-by-side testing with both can tell us what the pros and cons are. Photo.net will try to borrow a D800 and hopefully a D800E as well as D4 for testing. None of them is available at this point.</p>

<p>I have tested samples of the D3, D3X, and D3S. However, personally I only own a D700 plus various DX-format camera. I intend to add another FX DSLR this year, but it is not clear which one is best for me yet. As I said, if there were a D800 with the D4's sensor and electronics, that would be a very easy choice for me.</p>

<p>Mike, Shun, thanks! The way Nikon (and several other manufacturers) write the video specs always confuse me. </p>

<p>Forgive my confusion on the AA filter. Do current Nikon bodies have an AA filter? I know AA is important in video. Has Nikon optimized the 800 for video at the expense of sharpness in still photos, and is charging extra for the version optimized for stills?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Do current Nikon bodies have an AA filter?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>AA filter is the norm but there are varying degrees...</p>

<p>Well, the first email asking me to pre-order the D800 has arrived in my Inbox....</p>

<p>UK offer @ £2399, so much for the $3000, spot check at 1.56 $>£ = £1923 </p>

<p>I make that about 20% cheaper. Maybe I'll buy it on my next trip over... ;-)</p>

<p>Well I have been at 12 megapixels for pro digital work for nearly 7 years, what a great file size, consistency in workflow etc. I have had those images run from web sized to billboard, never a complaint from any client. <br /> But...when one client spends some $6,000 on a helicopter, more resolution would be nice. Add to the fact that I only shoot raw in about 10% of my images now and I am using a roaring fast computer system with 28TB of storage, adding a D800 to the kit will not be that hard. For some event work, I can just shrink the file size on camera to be faster if I need to go that route, no big deal. I bet the D800 at ISO 6,400 will be close to the D700 so that should be fine too. I think Nikon has really nailed it here with the D4 and D800, of which I expect to own both.<br /> Since I have spent over 4K in film, paper and darkroom supplies in the last few months, I will keep my D700, add a D800 and cancel my D4 order until later this year....that ought to tell you how I feel about the new Nikon bodies making my need for film obsolete, total BS.</p>

<p>What about that much anticipated D900?</p>

<p>Ilkka, Leif,</p>

<p>Thanks both of you for the enlightenment. I was always carried away by "film faithfuls" and kept thinking no sensor has equaled film till now. By the way if a bought D800 would my ordinary Nikkors 24-80 AF-G and 70-300 AF-G good enough? I also have Nikkors like 50 mm 1.8, 105 mm 2.8 and 85mm 1.4.</p>

<p>In pondering a decision between a D4 or D800, there is one important cost consideration to keep in mind. Upgrading computer costs to handle the size of D800 RAW files and then downstream storage costs for the digital files. I shoot roughly 2 TB worth of pictures a year on my D700. On a D800, the equivalent would be 10-11 TB for a single copy. </p>

<p>Shun:<br>

How do the cameras size and weight compare to current Nikon DSLR's? The unit looks a lot like the d7000. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>-Owen</p>

<p>I have not read every post here, but I'm one of the few people who make my living shooting video on a DSLR. This camera is ridiculously priced bargain, the next camera that is capable of some type of RAW video with a reasonable sized sensor aside from the D4 is $25,000+. $3,000 is so cheap I feel like I'm stealing it. Admittedly its going to be a lot tougher dealing with the 36MP sensor, especially in the lens department but I seriously suspect that in a year from now, we'll all be wondering how we lived without 36MPs. Sure I think a great picture can be taken with any camera, including the old D1 series, but as professionals I think after a while of shooting 36MP we will find we can deliver something to our clients that is far superior to the 12MPs of Nikon's previous professional generation. Is it worth the low light trade off? That depends on what you shoot and how good\bad you are at creating good lighting in sticky spots. I think ISO 12,800 is about as far out there and unneeded as 36MPs, it just depends on which side of extreme your jobs fall on. For me personally, I'm perfectly happy with the D800, I've got one on pre-order. For my business, the D3x, D3s, D3, & D700 aren't even an option, because none of them have a video mode (And before anyone reminds me that the D3s does have video, 720P in motion JPEG compression that has auto ISO\shutter and drops frames frequently is not by a remote stretch of the imagination a video mode, any more than the voice recorder is a sound studio). While the D4 is very nice, I've got to have tons of artificial lots for all my shoot anyway and rarely shoot above ISO 800 where the D4 and D800 are very similar. I don't need 10FPS, and the cheaper batteries are very enticing. I could care less about 36MPs for video mode, but since my final product will be 2MPs (which is what 1080P is) I could care less about the 16MPs the D4 offers too.</p>

<p>While I enjoy a lot of the process of film use, I no longer have a darkroom. As such, I scan my own 4x5 work for large print. The D800 will probably have me cease the use of 4x5 and MF film altogether. I'll keep some 35mm bodies for certain projects with B&W film....but the D800 will certainly see me end my use of the majority of film shooting I do now. It came as a surprise...but a welcome one. I've been considering this moment for a few months now.</p>

<p>Kind of sad for me as my first rolls of 35mm film came out of my developing tanks in my own darkroom almost 30 years ago to the day. But between the D700 and D800, my professional as well as personal work is pretty much taken care of. For some of my fun stuff, I'll just use my new Fuji X10.</p>

<p>Goodbye film.</p>

<p>Hey everyone, a couple of d800 related questions:<br>

1. I once went to a seminar of a wildlife/landscape photographer whose presenter was a D3x shooter. He insisted on going no further than 200 ISO, 400 if desperate, and 800 at the highest if any shot was better than none. This was due to 24MP making the noise unmanageable at higher ISOs. Doesn't 36 MP scare people in terms of performance in not-daylight situations?<br>

2. Resolving power... Would the 14-24, 24-70, and 70-200 VRII be what is required here? I actually own an old 70-200, with a d90. I remember people saying there will be dropoff on the corners on an FX... Wouldn't know as I never owned an FX. Would this lense be even more useless with such a large sensor?<br>

Thanks in advance,<br>

Florian</p>

<p>On the subject of a FF 35mm-style DSLR having- or besting- the absolute enlargement quality of medium format film for big prints, I've been hearing such claims for years, but have never found any DSLRs' resoultion to be quite as good as a well-scanned piece of low-ISO 6x7cm film for making a 16-inch, or larger, print. And I'm not a film purist- I'd much rather shoot all digital.</p>

<p>That said, I'd be lucky to get $3,500 for the $11,000 in Mamiya 7II gear I bought about ten years ago. So, if one of the D800 variants does eclipse the image quality of scanned MF film, I guess I'll sell my Mamiya gear, or give it away to a college for a tax write-off; but given the hit I'll take, I won't be in a hurry to do so. </p>

<p>Skyler, it doesn't have a "RAW" video codec. Or are you just referring to the uncompressed HDMI out? It records in H.264 (.mov).</p>

Hi,

 

Nikon Japan listed D800 and D800e to their catalogue today.

The sample photos can be seen on the page http://www.nikon-

image.com/products/camera/slr/digital/d800/sample.htm

 

Mostly FX size cameras are products of their Sendai factory in Japan. Thailand factory is producing middle

to entry level cameras. Sendai factory had been stopped almost half year after the quake.

<p>i had really mixed feelings about the file size that will be produced by the D800, but the more i think about it the more i realize that it will require what thom hogan calls "shot discipline" to manage the volume of image data this monster can produce.<br>

up until now, it's hardly mattered how many images one took. if you shot 1,000 pictures in an afternoon, hey, it's not like buying and processing film!<br>

now, of course, there begins to be a cost associated with shooting digital. not exactly the same as with film, but most of us won't be able to just machine-gun a D800 without concern. many of us will probably become more selective, both in shooting and with what we archive. that by itself may be the most beneficial thing about the D800.</p>

<p>First thing I would do with an AA-filter-less new Nikon D800 is to put on a Zeiss 100mm f2.0 Macro Planar ZF and shoot the hell out of it :-) That would show the limits of lens OR sensor.<br>

Would be interesting also to see how the softness of the out of focus areas of this particular lens will be presented by the sensor, resolution is not everything but resolution plus superb rendering is, for me it is.<br>

So please - someone send me a D800 for testing :-P<br>

PS Certainly a number of Nikon lenses will be good enough for the new sensor :-) (Running for cover)<br>

Cheers Shun and thanks for the info. (Re emerging in +-OK health)</p>

<p> </p>

Sorry I forgot.

 

Another sample photos are shown in http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/d800j/

Samples are available by clicking each photographers bottom line.

<p><blockquote>Nikon engineers have developed a unique alternative for those seeking the ultimate in definition. The D800E incorporates an optical filter with all the anti-aliasing properties removed in order to facilitate the sharpest images possible.<br />This is an ideal tool for photographers who can control light, distance and their subjects to the degree where they can mitigate the occurrence of moiré. Aside from the optical filter, all functions and features are the same as on the D800.</blockquote><br>

the above was taken from a nikon website. it makes the earlier assertion that the D800E has an AA filter ring a bit hollow. if the camera has a filter over the sensor with anti-aliasing properties removed, doesn't that mean the same thing as saying it doesn't have an AA filter? this is entirely different from having an AA filter with a second, counteracting, anti-AA filter.<br>

it's confusing to me. or is this just hair splitting?</p>

<p>I'm finding the concern about disk space for newer, larger NEFs to be a bit misguided. Storage is stupifyingly cheap, even with the Thailand-flooding-disk-drive-price-hike factor taken into account. Anyone who can even come close to sensibly paying for a D800 and appropriate lenses should feel very silly complaining about buying <em>2-freakin'-terabyte</em> disk drives for just over $100. Storage is cheap. 14-bit pixels aren't at this new resolution, at capture time, aren't. But this camera is really something for the price. Don't let the it-got-cheaper-while-you-were-reading-this storage market make your decision, if you if you shoot a thousand at a time during events. Just don't plan on doing your post work on an iPad.</p>