Actually I've thought about this. I voted yes (D800 not the D800E) but now I'm not so sure.
I need a camera that can do both photo + video (a D700 with video would be awesome) but I don't want/need 36MP files. When I come home with 2500+ shots that are going to take up close to 200GB I don't need my (already high powered) computer getting sluggish as I cull the less usable images.
On the video side of things, I *really wanted* 1920x1080 100% crop mode like the D4. That's perfect for getting more DOF and being 36MP that area would have been even smaller meaning I could use even wider angle lenses for even more DOF. Shame it's not there. DX crop is not enough to make the difference.
Also, I really wanted it to have the remote HTTP stuff that the D4 does. If it had EITHER the 100% or the remote control mode I'd have been all over this one - but it has neither.
If the D4 were more like the D3s in price I wouldn't hesitate, but the huge premium over D3s prices makes it unrealistic, so I guess I was hoping the D800 would have what I needed.
Damn. Now I have to wait for the 5D3 announcement before deciding on our future video direction, which also means I have to pause on buying more Nikon stuff for a while. Damn.
I know I am. It's going to be a heck of a landscape camera!
Yup, I've ordered one at B&H and it's all your fault!
All the past posts you've made about the d3x convinced me to get the next high MP body that I could afford. So, this is the one. Now, I'll wait for the d400 to go with it. Of course, that assumes that there will be a d400. No d7000s around ATM, but I'm in no hurry. The DX mode on the d800 will do d7000 pics. Dunno if DX mode will be as fast as I like though. I hope that it at least equals the performance of the d7000 in DX mode.... Will find out soon enough, I guess.
Regardless, I'm thinking that this is going to be a very nice body to use with my current gear, but it's going to be a killer on my poor old computer. I just hope that I can tighten up my hand held technique to the point that I don't goof the resolution of the camera when I'm doing freestyle stuff.
Probably not, unless the big surprise is actual high ISO noise turns out to be better than the D700. But even then, I don't think I want to deal with the file size.
For a hobby I take pictures for my daughter's theater company and dance troupe performances, which is closer to low light sports photography than landscape. I could really use 3Ds high noise performance, and more cross-types AF's. A few more MP's would be fine, but as I typically shoot more 1,000 images per show, times two dress rehearsals and one actual show, in a matter of a few days, I don't need these hugh files.
Nikon did the right thing with the D800, going right after the 5D market with a better product (AF and overall performance). The pricing is key, and I'd expect the D800 to fall at least a few hundred US dollars by late spring\summer. That, along with the most MP's, will attract a much larger group of buyers than just the landscape\studio crowd.
This Camera is a Game Changer! Sorry Canon, the 5D mk2's 15min are up. Still a great value but the D800 trounces every dslr made for the ultimate image quality and video! (unless you need a very fast camera for sports) The D800E for sure will offer the highest image quality of a DSLR ever. It might even approach the image quality of MFDB's costing 5-10 times its price.
Nikon is the undisputable top dog in the DSLR world now. No doubt.
I must confess that initially I did not understand why Nikon is going on this path, hoping for a true D700 replacement... but I think that D800(E) is like a tsunami against the competition. This camera offers too much at an affordable cost and I predict a huge migration toward Nikon.
I'm figuring it will cost me net about $4,300 to go from D300 & Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 & Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 to a D800 & Nikons 16-35mm f4 & 24-70mm f2.8. I absolutely REFUSE to buy an expensive camera and then put second class lenses on it. That's a beginner's mistake. I have plenty of camera gear I'm not using to sell that will fund that, but I really first need to know what the D800 will give me over a D400. If the D800 does well at ISO 3200 that would mean I could get by with the Nikon 16-35mm f4 instead of the 14-24mm f2.8, and I would no longer need any f1.4 lenses either. It might also mean that I don't need the super high powered White Lightning X3200 monolights (I have seven) and could replace them with cheaper Alien Bees B1600 that have half the power. I look at things as a SYSTEM. It's all going to depend on how well a D800 does with ISO 3200, and what the actual print quality looks like.
Sneakyracer wrote:
This Camera is a Game Changer! Sorry Canon, the 5D mk2's 15min are up. Still a great value but the D800 trounces every dslr made for the ultimate image quality and video! (unless you need a very fast camera for sports) The D800E for sure will offer the highest image quality of a DSLR ever. It might even approach the image quality of MFDB's costing 5-10 times its price.
Nikon is the undisputable top dog in the DSLR world now. No doubt.
If it produces clean images to 3200, or 6400, sure! In that case the "lowlight" sector is filled, and nikon would most likely hold off a D4 sensor in a D700/D800 because there'd only be 1 stop diff, and if you really needed low light youd go for the D4. But its funny how all the nikon guys are saying this trounces the 5d MarkII..because yes it probably does, but the 5d Mark II is 3.5years old. I'm a huge nikon fan but i suggest we hold our horses. For all we know the 5d Mark III will match or surpass what the D800 is.
i was hoping for a replacement for the d700 but really what nikon seems to be after is a replacement for the d3x at a lower price point. i use a d3 currently, would have thought about a d800 that was a slightly higher resolution replacement for the d700, but the d800 specs don't suit my needs. the d4 is therefore camera i'd like but the price gap between the d700 to d800 is small, while the gap to the d4 is huge...i guess my d3 soldiers on for now, at least until the d4 is out for a while and comes down in price.
Amazing camera! I can hardly believe that Nikon has moved beyond its self-imposed technical limitations (12MP, etc.). Canon and Nikon seem to have traded places for the moment, with Nikon the tech leader. We'll see what Canon has in store with a 5D replacement, but so far 2012 is Nikon's year! This is a camera I'll have to seriously consider buying.
I know I am. It's going to be a heck of a landscape camera!
I think you nailed it in your first post... it will be one heck of a landscape camera; however, I am no longer a landscape shooter and simply cannot justify shooting massive 36MP files. That being said, if Nikon offered an sRAW option at say 18MP, then yes, I would have been very interested, but being fixed to a 36MP RAW file that will undoubtedly be bigger than 50MB, no thank you.
DPreview said this - wedding and event photographers for example, or those who work primarily in a studio. To these people, resolution at low ISO sensitivities is probably of more pressing importance than speed or high ISO performance.
I don't know what dream world they live in, but they obviously are NOT wedding photographers as there isn't a wedding photog I know who doesn't crave better high ISO. The reason I switched to Nikon is because they had low MP and high ISO, the D800 doesn't replace the D700 in my book, it is a new line entirely. What I'd like is a D700s and I think Nikon could still sell a bunch of those with very little R&D work. I'm dumbfounded with the D800 being a replacement to the 12MP D700
Well, I have pre orders in at B&H and Amazon but I didn't get those orders placed until about 4:30am eastern time. I wonder how many thousands are ahead of me.
I'd really love to get this camera shortly after it's release. My D700 has around 140K clicks and I'd love to move it to my back up cam before senior photo season kicks into high gear in June.
Hi CRFTony, interesting reading your post, you shoot Seniors, I am a wedding and portrait shooter myself; however, I already get incredible detail with my D700 for very large prints, what are you thinking the D800 is going to gain you over the D700? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm truly trying to understand the appeal of this MP monster for anyone but landscape/studio type work?
wjmeyer - I definitely don't "need" the D800 for seniors. I regularly get 20x30 prints made from my D700 which are pretty much perfect. The only area in which it would come in handy for seniors is the cropping aspect. I always get 10 or 15 clients a year that just have to have a full body shot cropped into a headshot. That's not a problem for wallets or 5x7s but a few times they wanted an 11x14 or larger and the pixels just aren't there. Still though, I wouldn't buy the camera "just" for that reason. I want it for landscape work and for fine art photography more than anything else.
Thanks CRFTony, I understand your point. When I'm doing a senior shoot I try and get full body, headshots and so forth, but yes, there is the occasional situation where the client says, I like how I look in this image (the full body shot) can you do a headshot from that. Fortunately those situations are not to common. I really wish Nikon provided an sRAW option, and maybe it's something they can do in firmware, but until I have the option for a smaller RAW file I don't think the D800 is going to appeal to me.
Of course, that assumes that there will be a d400. No d7000s around ATM, but I'm in no hurry. The DX mode on the d800 will do d7000 pics. Dunno if DX mode will be as fast as I like though. I hope that it at least equals the performance of the d7000 in DX mode.... Will find out soon enough, I guess. 
This is a camera I'll have to seriously consider buying. 
