I'm not buying the D800 any time soon. The FPS is low and the MP really is too high with only a modest improvement to high ISO. It looks like Nikon is still chasing MP count. Maybe Nikon wants to attract the landscape and medium-format shooters with this camera?
If this causes some people to go on an upgrade spree, people who were holding out for a D700 might be able to get one soon.
No interest in a D800, too many MP and I don't do video. Love the sensor in the D4, but hate the form factor of the body and the price. Conclusion: D700.
wjmeyer wrote:
I am a wedding photographer but I am not drooling over the D800, way too many MP for our uses. I shot a family portrait with a 5D some years ago, did a 24x36 wall portrait that came out stunning, I rarely sell above 16x20 so why would I need 36MP, I just don't get it Nikon?
There is one good thing about the D800, if enough people migrate to them, it means we'll be able to buy some nice (like new) D700's for a great price!
philipj wrote:
No interest in a D800, too many MP and I don't do video. Love the sensor in the D4, but hate the form factor of the body and the price. Conclusion: D700.
This. Put the D4 sensor in a D800 body and I'm there. I really don't consider the D800 to be the D700 replacement - too many MP's, slower frame rate, etc.
The D800 is definitely not a wedding camera. If you seriously think you'd 36MP for weddings then you are nuts. I prefer the lower 12-16 MP with better high iso that 36 with not as high. I get it, 6400 ISO is way better than where we were just a few years ago. But I think for what I do, a D3s would be better fit for my needs. SO I wont be getting a D800. I may pick up a few d700's after the d800 hits the streets and everyone is selling theirs.
paparazzinick wrote:
...But I think for what I do, a D3s would be better fit for my needs.
The D3s is incredible and the D4 looks to be even better. I shot with the D3s for a short while and decided it wasn't worth $$$$ more than the D700 for my needs; however, with the D4 being what it is, I suspect the D3s will drop below $3000 hopefully within a year or so and if that is the case then I might look into that. Quite honestly, I think the D700 will be more than capable for many years to come and if I can hold out another four years, I bet I can get a D4 for under $3000 after the D5 is released I think we've finally gotten to a point where you aren't forced to upgrade every 3-4 years. The D700 really was the ultimate wedding, portrait and even light sports type body, but for some, it did not have enough MP; however, Nikon eliminating the D700 line and now only offering a D800 which is so different from the original D700 design, I just don't get it Well I do get that it is the reigning champion of high MP, but they just shot themselves in the foot because I do not think it is going to appeal to a lot of the photographers who bought into the D700.
for 2010 I shot two D3s bodies and they are great except for the weight and form factor. 2011 downsized to two D700, and now plan to reconfigure to a D4/D700 for work, and D7000 for personal use. D800 can be a great video body though if you shoot motion.
i am not sure what nikon is up to here, and agree that the d800 is not a pure replacement for the d700 but a new segment that nikon wants to capture. i am sort of stuck as a d3 user....the 800 has more mp than i need or want, and i'd like a faster shooter for wildlife, but the d4 is ridiculously expensive relative to the d800 imho....so i stick with what i have for now and see how it all plays out. if i am right that the price point for the d4 doesn't hold (wishful thinking perhaps), maybe there will come a time when i can afford to upgrade my d3 to get slightly more resolution and better low light performance. is that too much to ask?
It's not too much to ask, but manufacturer's sometimes like to put their customers into a corner and it seems this is what Nikon is doing. Honestly, what are you gaining with the D800 over the D700 if you don't need or want 36MP? A few tweaks to the AF, a few tweaks to exposure, maybe a little bit better high ISO?
It's like if I bought a nice 4x4 truck with 300HP and it worked great and a few years later I'm looking to upgrade so I go down to the dealership and they say, "oh yes, we have a great replacement for your old truck, it's now 2WD and has 900HP". So I say, "but I don't want 2WD, I want 4WD and I don't need 900HP" I just don't get "replacing" a model with something so vastly different. Heck, I was pretty ticked when Canon announced the 5D Mark II with 21MP, I was fine with 12MP from the 5D and wanted higher ISO, sure they bumped the ISO but it wasn't as good as I thought it could have been had they left the MP count lower. They did offer sRAW thought and guess what, 99% of the time I shot it in sRAW.
As my friend, a long time photographer keeps reminding me, with 36 megapixels to play with the opportunities for creative cropping are legion. Since I'm not a member of "if you frame it perfectly there is no need to crop" school, my friend's argument interests me.
I too was miffed when Canon released the 5D Mark II with a larger sensor, but that was because they kept the same crippled focusing engine. Nikon, on the contrary, has put its top of the line focusing system taken from the D4 into the D800. I fully expect the new cameras to shine on every level, so even though I wasn't hungry for megapixels or for video, I certainly can't say no to this new offering, which represents remarkable value for money. They're offering three formats at varied megapixels. I'm very curious about what that might mean for me shooting. Yes, I'll need bigger flash cards and larger hard drives but those are hardly deal breakers over the long term.
All of that said, Chuong, you've just bought a great camera in the D700. I fully expect you'll get outstanding use from that camera for many years. Yes, I bought mine 2 years ago for a bit over $2,000 and got great service from it but that means nothing to you. You own the camera and some sweet lenses. Enjoy yourself. A couple of years from now, if you feel so inclined, there will be a used D800 on the Buy and Sell board with your name on it...
Most people are rather apathetic about the D800 it seems, but head over to the Canon board and those boys are whipping into a mad frenzy!
I guess years of putting up with the 5D2's poor AF performance just to get high MP in a cheaper body has caught up with them. I'm sure some will be jumping ship over to Nikon.
I'm very glad to be perfectly content with my gear
I just bought my D700 2 weeks ago. I sent for a RMA number from Bhphoto and put myself on the preorder list. I didn't expect the D800 to be only $300 more than D700. I was thinking it would be at least $800 more. Within only being a few hundred dollars more, I don't see how I could pass this up. Hopefully I'm under the 200 shutter count
Wonder how many d800's bhphoto will get and if I'll mke the first round of sales. Probably not.
How quickly do they typically get more in?
cputeq wrote:
Most people are rather apathetic about the D800 it seems, but head over to the Canon board and those boys are whipping into a mad frenzy!
C'mon! Canon-heads were always on the higher MP side. They think if more megaparrots they rely upon the better photography they do. I was aside those wars forever.
The D800 will be a nice body. I'm sure I'll consider another body in several years, but I am grateful to have had my D700 for a few months now. I'm still hoping for an even smaller, lighter FX sensored body from someone with similar MP. The high-ISO from the D700 is crucial to me. I'd have 0 usuable pictures of my little boy without clean ISO1600-3200 and very usable 6400. I know that the D800 files will look great downrezzed to 12MP, but I'm not going to goof around with that for each shot I take.
And I certainly didn't want to buy a new computer and huge memory cards.
I think many of us feel Nikon should offer a "pixel binned" 18MP RAW mode in the D800. Why don't we do something about it? Start an e-mail campaign, write Nikon and possibly put up a blog.
The 5DMK2 has sRAW/mRAW because 21MP can be too much and there's no technical reason why Nikon can't do the same. Canon listened and introduced better video modes in the 5D.2 so there's hope Nikon might listen.
I think we've finally gotten to a point where you aren't forced to upgrade every 3-4 years. The D700 really was the ultimate wedding, portrait and even light sports type body, but for some, it did not have enough MP; however, Nikon eliminating the D700 line and now only offering a D800 which is so different from the original D700 design, I just don't get it
Well I do get that it is the reigning champion of high MP, but they just shot themselves in the foot because I do not think it is going to appeal to a lot of the photographers who bought into the D700.
