New D810 for Old Eyes

<p>Ok -- so my new D810 just comes in the other day, so I start going through the settings to tweak them to what I am used to with my 'main' body (D3s) and, so far, all the things that are important to me with the D3s seem to be comparable in the D810-- cool. That is, until I look through the view-finder! I only shoot in manual mode -- always have; always will -- but the exposure indicator (see item #21 in the Viewfinder Display section of the user's manual) in the D810 is about the size of a pinhead! Nikon has got to be kidding, right? It appears Nikon decided to cram everything possible in that tiny little bar! Of course I could use the top panel or the info panel for a larger view -- but that seems tedious, and when you spot meter (as I almost always do) I'm not sure it is even feasible, unless the subject is quite stationary and I'm shooting from a tripod. It will definitely add extra steps. :-( Does anyone know if the exposure indicator can be customized? Thanks!</p>

<p>From camera viewfinder, to camera viewfinder there are differences in how dioptrics work. Sometimes when changing the diopter knob to suit ones vision for the image, the information panels in the viewfinder fall out of this focus range. Installing the right diopter disc regardless of the adjustable diopter knob supplied will bring all information into focus. So, those that were hoping to do away with the inconvenience of having to seek out a diopter disc with their new camera, might find it ironic.</p>

<p>Hi D.<br />

<br />

Short answer: No, you're stuffed. Sorry.<br />

<br />

Longer answer: The D3s vertical exposure indicator is a separate LCD display, still separate on the D4s. The Dx00 series only have the single readout - and always have had, possibly because adding room for a vertical read-out would make the prism bigger. The D810 is almost identical to the D700 in this (the D800 added a "BKT" indicator and the on-screen horizon displays; the D810 adds a digit to the ISO readout and shrinks the size of text in the exposures remaining to make room. But they all have the same, small, meter readout. There doesn't appear to be a way to use the horizon displays as an alternative, though that's an interesting idea.<br />

<br />

The F5 has the same meter read-out as the other cheaper Nikon DSLRs, so I'd never really missed this until you brought it to my attention. Now I look into it, the vertical exposure seems to have been introduced with the D3 - the D2x had a <i>different</i> vertical panel, mostly full of white balance settings. The vertical meter always made more sense to me from a logical perspective.<br />

<br />

The LCD (or OLED in the case of the D810) readouts aren't configurable - they'd be marginally less legible and efficient if they were general-purpose LCD strips, though I can't imagine they'd cost <i>that</i> much in this day and age. Maybe there's something to be said for Nikon switching technology to improve configurability in the future, though there's plenty else I'd like them to make configurable too!<br />

<br />

I just had a panic that the control panel LCD looked to have been hugely cut down on th D810 compared with the D800, but I think it's just that the D810 manual shows (on p.5) what the control panel looks like when first activated, where the D800 manual shows (on p.6) everything it can do.<br />

<br />

Anyway, welcome to how the other half have lived. :-) I'd give it a go - I've always found the Dx00 series meter read-out perfectly serviceable, but I appreciate that if you like having +/- three stops of leeway with 1/3 (or 1/6) accuracy, it's a step backwards. If 1/3 stops are good enough, mixing the meter with exposure compensation gets you some more range. Sorry I don't have better news!</p>

<p>@ Don -- thanks! the screen in the viewfinder is actually quite sharp and I can see it well; even better than the D3s, actually; the D3s has yellow digits, while the D810 are white, and nice and crisp -- which is going to help with my dilemma. <br>

But it sure would have been nice to put the meter along the vertical edge - how much trouble would that be??<br>

@Andrew - lol! :-) Thanks -- I figured as much. :-( <br>

Oh well, I will just have to get used to it. I ran the camera through a "test roll" today, side by side against the D3s -- and it's a really nice camera. I'll adapt to the miniscule exposure meter. :-) I do quite a bit of tripod photography, so once I have the image composed, I'll hit the info button for the on-screen view. I think the D810 will make a nice companion camera -- but not until Adobe figures out how to get CS6/Bridge to read the RAW files -- that was a bummer. According to the Adobe site, LR is supposed to be ok -- but I prefer CS6 so I guess that is another animal (one would think they would focus on their more expensive product first?) <br>

I was hesitant to get the D810 because of the file size - see no need for such huge files; so I'm anxious to test out the various NEF sizes to see how much is really 'lost' with the "small NEF" -- but even the small NEF appears to be 30MB, about the same as a Fine JPG, as far as I can tell. wow.<br>

Thanks, again!</p>

<p>@D<br>

I think it's the reverse, CS6 is currently able to open D810 files while LR is not. At least that's the way it is on my computer. This obviously is after installing the new ACR Release Candidate.</p>

<p>As to the viewfinder you had me confused for a while as the D810 exposure indicator is the same as the D800 and the previous Nikon bodies I had in the past. I have never used either the D3 or D4 so I wasn't aware they had a vertical panel. I also mainly shoot in Manual mode the D810 small horizontal indicator has never been an issue to work with. I never use the back or top LCD panels to check the indicator.</p>

<p>@ George -- it does not work with my CS6, for sure, but I had not heard of an ACR Release Candidate -- is that a plug-in for CS? The Adobe staff member on their forum said he tested the D810 files with his LR4 and had no issues (don't know - I don't use LR).<br>

I guess the miniscule information just will take some getting used to -- the D3s and most film Nikon's of the past that I owned, always had a 'dedicated' vertical space for checking the exposure in manual mode. Perhaps Nikon's bean-counters determined that it saved them a few cents without the side bar -- but then again, could be just me and my old eyes. :-) thanks! </p>

<p>@D<br>

Here are the link:<br>

http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/cameraraw8-6-cc.html?PID=3006718<br>

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2014/07/camera-raw-8-4-rc-and-dng-converter-8-4-rc-now-available-on-adobe-labs.html?PID=3006718</p>

<p>A Release Candidate is like a beta version close to the actual official release. This one allows you to open D810 files in CS6 but it doesn't seem ready to take full advantage of the camera sensor enhancements yet. At least it is a start.</p>

<p>As per LR, there is no direct import of the D810 files yet but you can use the new DNG Converter also available to first convert the D810 files to DNG format and then open these new files from LR.</p>

<p>very cool -- thanks, George. This should make me a happy camper with my new toy. :-)<br>

Diane</p>