Nikon does sometimes use sensors designed and made by other companies, but that's not the case for the D800. You're buying a sensor designed by Nikon, which I would call a "Nikon sensor".
Now, sensor fabrication facilities ("fabs") are huge investments (over $2 billion), so Nikon does not have its own fabs. It outsources fabrication of its sensors, and Sony is one of its biggest (maybe its biggest) fab supplier. But if Nikon hires Sony (or anyone else) to build a sensor for them, that does not make it a "Sony sensor". See what I mean? It's like Toyota asking GM to assemble some Toyota cars in a GM factory. After fabrication, the car is still a Toyota.
hugop wrote:
So if I buy a D800. I'm buying a Sony sensor?
Yes.
Unfortunately the sensor does not get you photos.
If you want photos as well, you need to buy in addition a Nikon to your Sony sensor.
Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
I question the logic of anyone who buys a $6,000 whose primary benefits are low-light performance and speed, and then balks at an additional $300 (barely 5%) for a key piece of gear to maximize the benefits of that speed.
AndreasE wrote:
Yes.
Unfortunately the sensor does not get you photos.
If you want photos as well, you need to buy in addition a Nikon to your Sony sensor.
No. You are buying a Nikon with a Nikon designed sensor manufactured by Sony.
I suppose we could look at it like this. We're buying a Nikon camera, but we are using Sony film
It just so happens that Nikon has "commissioned" sony to make a specific type of film.
Anyway, yeah I'm not griping to much about the XQD prices, just that I have SOO much invested in CF cards, and I don't need the speed of XQD, I never fill up the buffer.. It's not like I machine gun it at work, I just work REALLY long hours. Weddings here sometimes run from 6am till 1am, if it's a proper chinese wedding. With maybe a few hours of break in-between where I'd rather be sleeping then unloading CF cards
Fashion shoots, it's easy to fill up cards when you're running 39-50mp a file. If using a more modest camera, then you're usually ok with a few small CF cards. Tethering I find to be a pain in the ass, since 90% of the time, I really don't need to use it. Good luck to wedding shooters who opt for a D800 BTW, it's gonna eat CF cards for breakfast.
well it looks like Sony "twisted " Nikons arm and forced them to give up some real estate in their D4 boxes for some samples of XQDware. that being a 16GB XQD card and matching USB3 XQD card reader. this of course coerses the new D4 owner to actually try it.
I like the XQD card actually, its robust and FAST. I have some sandisk extreme pro cards and to unload them over USB2 through USB 3 port was 3mins50secs, Unloading the XQD card was 30secs....and you have seen the speed when shooting...whats the big deal. I have the 16G XQD card and 2 16G CF cards...Nothing to worry about.
