D850 compared to D810?

. My computer did not recognize the Nikon software when I attached the Z7's USB cable to the desktop computer.

Thanks for explaining. I didn't understand because I never use the cable that comes with the camera to transfer files - OK maybe once or twice in the past. Typically the cable stays inside the camera box it comes from.

I remember agonizing over whether to buy the D850 or Z7. Finally the decision was to move on with the mirrorless technology and planning to just buy only Z lenses in the future while phasing out the older lenses (except the 200mm micro lens).

As it turns out, according to reviews, the D850 does it better for BIF photography. If you shoot birds most of the time, perhaps it's a worthy investment. Good luck Sally.

Thanks for explaining. I didn't understand because I never use the cable that comes with the camera to transfer files - OK maybe once or twice in the past. Typically the cable stays inside the camera box it comes from.

 

I remember agonizing over whether to buy the D850 or Z7. Finally the decision was to move on with the mirrorless technology and planning to just buy only Z lenses in the future while phasing out the older lenses (except the 200mm micro lens).

 

As it turns out, according to reviews, the D850 does it better for BIF photography. If you shoot birds most of the time, perhaps it's a worthy investment. Good luck Sally.

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Thanks, Mary. I don't use the cable the cable, either, I was trying to get something to work in order to troubleshoot the problems. I shoot a variety of subjects, lately a lot of birds. When a bald eagle flew overhead, I either had to skip it altogether or take a picture I knew would be out of focus. I waited as long as I could for the camera to focus as the eagle moved further and further away. The picture is sharp enough for ID (that beak!) but that's all.

How do you like the Z7?

Thanks, Mary. I don't use the cable the cable, either, I was trying to get something to work in order to troubleshoot the problems. I shoot a variety of subjects, lately a lot of birds. When a bald eagle flew overhead, I either had to skip it altogether or take a picture I knew would be out of focus. I waited as long as I could for the camera to focus as the eagle moved further and further away. The picture is sharp enough for ID (that beak!) but that's all.

Sally, think I understand. This is not an easy task because catching a bird flying (already not simple) is just one of the pieces of a good image. This photographer (

How do you like the Z7?

I have used Z7ii more than my Z7. I like it, it fills the need. As far as comparison with the other Nikon cameras that I have used, I prefer its lighter weight, but I have not used it enough to compare its merits with the others. I like to hear other people's reviews. I used Z7ii and Z6 to shoot landscapes, including nightsky photography, but took neither with me on my recent South African trip for wildlife, mainly because long lenses are not yet available for Z. I will definitely try it for birds sometime in the near future.

Good luck with your decision Sally.

i have both d810 d850 d4s canon r5 etc D850 is much better at focusing then d810 so is d4s. Just buy a card reader instead of directly to computer . Unless you want to tether in a studio setting. do you have nikon raw codec installed on computer?

Nikon | Download center | NEF Codec

i have both d810 d850 d4s canon r5 etc D850 is much better at focusing then d810 so is d4s. Just buy a card reader instead of directly to computer . Unless you want to tether in a studio setting. do you have nikon raw codec installed on computer?

Nikon | Download center | NEF Codec

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From what I can tell NEF Codec is for Windows. I have a Mac.

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From what I can tell NEF Codec is for Windows. I have a Mac.

Can you upgrade to Mojave, catalina, or Sierra.

Can you upgrade to Mojave, Catalina, or Sierra.?

my Mac computer is so old (OSX 10.13.6) it can't be upgraded

There's your answer...Guess Not...;)

Here's how I got my old Mac running the even older Mac OS 10.12.4 to import Z7 NEFs.

Step 1 - use an XQD card reader not the camera to copy NEFs to your computer

Step 2 - use a legacy version of Nikon Capture NX-D to convert to TIFF

Step 3 - open TIFF in Lightroom, PS, etc

Getting a legacy version of NX-D from the Nikon website is not straightforward with an older Mac OS - although you can download it the installer probably won't run so the software won't install! At least it doesn't run on my machine running Mac OS 10.12.4.

I do have an older NX-D - v 1.6.2 - which runs on 10.12.4 and successfully converts Z7 NEFs to TIFFs. I can dropbox NX-D to you if you want to try. I'll message you a link if you want to try it.

The main downside of course is working with TIFFs - not that you lose much information but that the files are quite a bit larger. Nevertheless my 9 year old Macbook pro handled them ok.

I shoot birds with a D810 and a D850, often using both cameras at the same time but with different lenses.

Yes, the D850 outperforms the D810, but will you really notice it?

To get the max performance from the D850 and its sensor, your lenses have to be very good to the very best. AF works better, other things the same, if the lens is a fast lens, like a f 2.8 vs a f 4 or f5.6. If you shoot mostly in sunny conditions this might not make much of a difference, but if you are shooting in low light, every extra edge you have available to you id a plus. That means a camera with fast frames per sec, cards with fast write speeds (from the buffer in the camera), fast lenses, fast AF, maybe a tripod and excellent shooting techniques. Bird photography requires a good system, not just a camera. And a D850 or other camera with a large sensor needs a computer with needed equipment and software to process the larger RAW files.

From Nikonusa, software, here are the MAC system requirements for D850 and Z cameras. (Earlier versions of View NX-i and NX D might have other MAC requirements like what you have right now.

ViewNX-i & Capture NX-D Version 1.21.010

macOS Big Sur version 11

macOS Catalina version 10.15

macOS Mojave version 10.14

NX Studio Version 1.1.0

macOS Big Sur version 11

macOS Catalina version 10.15

macOS Mojave version 10.14

This link compares features of the D810 and D850 and the D800e.

Nikon D850 vs D810 vs D800 / D800E

DXO PL5 Apple/MAC system requirements: (I use this software on win 10 pro laptop and desktop)

Since your computer is old, this might give you an idea as to the minimum things needed to run modern software.

Minimum system configuration:

Any CPU

8 GB RAM

4 GB available disk space

macOS 10.15.7 (Catalina), 11.0 (Big Sur) or 12.0 (Monterey)

Graphics card with 512 MB of video memory for handling GPU acceleration

Recommended system configuration:

Intel® Core™ i7 4th generation or higher, or Apple Silicon

16 GB RAM

6 GB available disk space

AMD Radeon™ Pro 580X or better for Intel® Macs

I shoot birds with a D810 and a D850, often using both cameras at the same time but with different lenses.

 

Yes, the D850 outperforms the D810, but will you really notice it?

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Thanks, Joseph. Interesting info and comparison chart. Lots to mull over.

You can't decode a Z6ii NEF without Windows 10.....(in windows at least

What?!

I'm still running Win 7 on my workstations and have had no issue installing Capture One or PS CC2019 with the latest ACR. Surely those programs would allow the latest NEFs to be decoded?

Can't check because I don't have a Z camera, but if the simple job of decoding a RAW file relies on the underlying OS, then somebody's software team needs a severe overhaul!

What?!

I'm still running Win 7 on my workstations and have had no issue installing Capture One or PS CC2019 with the latest ACR. Surely those programs would allow the latest NEFs to be decoded?

 

Can't check because I don't have a Z camera, but if the simple job of decoding a RAW file relies on the underlying OS, then somebody's software team needs a severe overhaul!

It may go deeper than the OS. The original poster is using a Mac. Mac have not only changed the OS but the underlying CPU as well. Macs use to run on an IBM PowerPC chip, then changed to Intel, and now Apples own propriety chip changing Instruction Set each time.

It also depends upon the software. If the authors stuck to the standard OS calls, then most of the time (in Windows) all is well. If, the authors took "shortcuts", then you can have problems between versions of the operating system.

What?!

I'm still running Win 7 on my workstations and have had no issue installing Capture One or PS CC2019 with the latest ACR. Surely those programs would allow the latest NEFs to be decoded?

 

Can't check because I don't have a Z camera, but if the simple job of decoding a RAW file relies on the underlying OS, then somebody's software team needs a severe overhaul!

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Thanks and agreed! I was shocked that the Nikon techies' answer was no-can-do. Nikon does not make previous versions of software available, unlike Capture One which does.

I've wondered about Capture One, would try it if I could find a 30-day free trial. Through the years, I've used Olympus, Fuji, and Canon cameras which Lightroom 6 can handle. Lightroom 6 is no longer available or supported by Adobe.

I've decided not to buy a new camera. It doesn't make sense to pay $3,000 (the D850 and Z7) for a new camera which would require workarounds and features (like wi-fi) to which I would not have access. When/if I get a new camera, I'm not wedded to Nikon. For mirrorless, Sony and Canon get the best reviews.

Macs use to run on an IBM PowerPC chip, then changed to Intel, and now Apples own propriety chip changing Instruction Set each time.

Not to mention the original 68000 that initially gave Apple the edge over IBM/Intel's cumbersome 8086 architecture.

Whatever, the CPU shouldn't matter if the software is written in C or one of its many offspring. The whole point of high-level languages is that they're machine agnostic and can be compiled to run on almost anything.

Sure, the GUI varies from OS to OS, but that has nothing to do with the maths algorithms used for demosaicing RAW files and the like.

It only matters if you lazily play shuffleboard with nothing but OS calls and Foundation Classes and can't be bothered to write standalone modules.

It's just lame not to provide a RAW conversion module that can be plugged into legacy software. And how many ways can you combine Bayered RGGB photosites anyway?

Not to mention the original 68000 that initially gave Apple the edge over IBM/Intel's cumbersome 8086 architecture.

 

Whatever, the CPU shouldn't matter if the software is written in C or one of its many offspring. The whole point of high-level languages is that they're machine agnostic and can be compiled to run on almost anything.

Sure, the GUI varies from OS to OS, but that has nothing to do with the maths algorithms used for demosaicing RAW files and the like.

 

It only matters if you lazily play shuffleboard with nothing but OS calls and Foundation Classes and can't be bothered to write standalone modules.

 

It's just lame not to provide a RAW conversion module that can be plugged into legacy software. And how many ways can you combine Bayered RGGB photosites anyway?

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Planned obsolescence is more profitable.

Planned obsolescence is more profitable.

I'm afraid Apple are far more guilty of that than Microsoft. Microsoft are just Kings of Bloatware that slows down older machines to a crawl. Your old Celeron and 4 gig of Ram will still run Win 10.... Just very slooowwly.

It's a shame that the Linux community are still wedded to their geeky command-line mumbo-sudo-jumbo.

Whatever, the CPU shouldn't matter if the software is written in C or one of its many offspring. The whole point of high-level languages is that they're machine agnostic and can be compiled to run on almost anything.

Agreed. But you just hit the crux of the matter when you wrote "can be compiled". Yes, they can be compiled or in some cases just relinked (rebuilt) to run on other hardware or a later operating system.

And that is the problem the OP has encountered. The camera the OP wants is a later model that is supported in the latest release of the software - the software that is compiled and built to run on contemporary hardware not legacy hardware. Can Nikon recompile and link the software for legacy hardware? Possible or it may require some changes in which library routines are called. Are they going to do it? No. They probably feel there are not enough uses to warrant the effort to do it and maintain it. It is a matter of cost.

Agreed. But you just hit the crux of the matter when you wrote "can be compiled". Yes, they can be compiled or in some cases just relinked (rebuilt) to run on other hardware or a later operating system.

 

And that is the problem the OP has encountered. The camera the OP wants is a later model that is supported in the latest release of the software - the software that is compiled and built to run on contemporary hardware not legacy hardware. Can Nikon recompile and link the software for legacy hardware? Possible or it may require some changes in which library routines are called. Are they going to do it? No. They probably feel there are not enough uses to warrant the effort to do it and maintain it. It is a matter of cost.

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"Matter of cost" on more than one level.

"Matter of cost" on more than one level.

I place most of the blame on Apple. Back in the late 1960's or early 1970's I.B.M. with System 360/370, made sure that programs would run the same on each generation of machine. In the 1990's I had programs that were compiled and linked on early 370 systems running on the latest and greatest 370 hardware; no recompile or relink was needed. Of course, there were very few of these programs. Most programs were changed and recompiled for business reasons or to correct logic errors in the programs.

Microsoft seems to have taken a page from the I.B.M. book. Right now, I am running a Home Inventory suite of programs that I purchased in 2006 under Windows 10. The programs, which use the Jet DB must run in XP Compatibility Mode", but they run.

Next time buy a Windows machine and forget the silly let's change hardware instruction sets every few years. I.B.M. stopped that when they transitioned from the 1401 family to 360.

Sallymack, does your version of Apple OS support running Windows as a Virtual Machine? That might be a way around the issue.

Even if Nikon's software only runs slowly in the VM, once the NEFs are read and saved as DNG or Tiff files you can return to working under the native OS.

FWIW, Apple's original Motorola chipset was designed from the outset to support virtual machine configuration. It seems a backward step if they've abandoned that architecture.

Sallymack, does your version of Apple OS support running Windows as a Virtual Machine? That might be a way around the issue.

 

Even if Nikon's software only runs slowly in the VM, once the NEFs are read and saved as DNG or Tiff files you can return to working under the native OS.

 

FWIW, Apple's original Motorola chipset was designed from the outset to support virtual machine configuration. It seems a backward step if they've abandoned that architecture.

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Thanks but from what I can tell the Mac OS 10.13.6 (High Sierra) can't run Windows as a VM although Windows can run OS 10.13.6. Like I said, there are other features of the camera that would be problematic, as well, so I'll continue on with what I have and do the best I can with it.

Thanks but from what I can tell the Mac OS 10.13.6 (High Sierra) can't run Windows as a VM

Is this not true then?

Is this not true then?

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Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that.