Nikon d810 owners

Hi my name is Michael I'm thinking of buying a Nikon D810. I've read some reading some reviews it seems like a very good camera great image quality I'm wondering how the auto focus is compared to today's cameras just cameras what 3 or4 years old what are and how good the auto focus is?.

 

I'm also wondering is far as portraits go I know Sony has eye detection and face detection what does Nikon use to lock in on the eyes of someone you want to take a portrait of do they have this type of thing on the camera or not? if not what do you do is there something else that Nikon has that will track the eye or the face to get it in the focus ?

 

I have a Nikon d7200 I'm using Sigma art lens is on it and they focus really well so I'm how they're going to work on the D810.

 

Thank you in advance for all of your answers.

The D810 has nearly the same AF unit as the D7200; it's probably slightly better but basically the same amount of AF points, same options, same behaviour. It's still a very competent AF system compared to a lot of today's camera, but the newer high-end cameras (like the D850) sure have it beat.

If you like the focusing system on your D7200, you will not be disappointed with the AF on the D810. It improves on what you have by adding a new mode called Group Area AF. Basically, it is a single sensor mode where the sensor is a composite that also is using the four surrounding AF sensors, thus creating a larger single sensor. This is highly usable for tracking moving subjects.

 

I prefer to use single point AF for portraits and manually select an AF point close to the subject's eye, so I need to recompose as little as possible.

is there something else that Nikon has that will track the eye or the face to get it in the focus ?

The closest Nikon has on the D810 is 3D Tracking - which I never found to work particularly well.

 

I'm using Sigma art lens

Be aware of firmware 1.13 for the D810 - it has been reported to disable AF on ART lenses. Don't know if Sigma has provided a firmware update for the lenses yet - the last reports I read on this are about 3-5 months old. In the meantime, 1.14 was released - don't know whether or not it cured the 1.13 issue with Sigma lenses or not. You can check for updates of Sigma's firmware here: Firmware | Lenses | Download | SIGMA GLOBAL VISION (you would need the USB dock to update ART lenses, older Sigma lenses will need to be send to Sigma for the update; you can find the list of USB-dock-compatible lenses here: USB Dock Compatible | Sigma Corporation of America).

D810 here...Nikon glass...If I have something that I am critically focusing, I go manual with live view zoomed in. Yes, that does mean the camera is on a tripod. Most often of the three things that can hinder sharpness to me, ie subject movement, camera movement or focus, the first two are more likely than the third. The sharpness achieved with live view zoomed in is amazing to me.

Thank you very much for all of your guys replies didn't know anything about the firmware update with Sigma lens problem that's interesting I just spoke with Sigma today on the phone and they said you can basically buy any of their art lenses and send them in for free to Sigma and they will calibrate them to your camera for free.

 

I'll have to call Sigma back and ask him about that 1.13 firmware update problem see if they have an answer for that thank you for all of your replies keep them coming I'm very interested in this camera.

I did Google it and there is a known issue all over the Internet about firmware update 1.13 disables Sigma art lenses that crazy.

 

I don't know if Sigma has a fix for it most people I rather going back to 1.12 and having no problem but what does 1.13 bring to the camera I'm going to call Sigma and see what they say about this issue.

I have both the D7200 and D810. I think you will find the D810 focusing performance and functionality to be similar (actually a little better) to the D7200.

 

I use the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art lens on both and have no problems on either camera.

 

For sports photography, I employ the D810, 70-200 E FL ED and 3D tracking. It works great in that application. I have not used it for portraiture (in the way that you describe), but I suspect it would do well if you lock onto the eye of our subject.

 

Hope this helps. Reach out if you need more info.