In the end, what did it was my dissatisfaction with the overall focus performance, fringing behaviors and bokeh (as perfect as it may be) of the lenses, especially the slow focus of the 35mm, the misfocusing of distant subjects and backlit subjects with 35 and 85...and the inferior live view implementation.
I am now waiting for all the people who said that I wouldn't be happy with Nikon either to chime in and say "I told ya so." I like the D800 a lot overall...just not the lenses.
But then, I could have done something REALLY stupid and sold off my canon kit to buy a completely new nikon setup...and then I'd be up the creek with an unsatisfactory paddle, and I'd be broke to boot.
Yep I know. I will probably end up with at least one 5d3, but I am still waiting until the price comes down to sub-obscenity.
A particularly dissatisfying situation with the Nikon comes to mind: One day I was second shooting in December, and we were indoors in, say, ISO3200 f/1.8 1/100 sec lighting on average. I was shooting with Canon 5d2 + 85L and Nikon D800 + 35 f/1.4g, neither one had a flash mounted...and the D800 kept misfocusing, over and over and over...while the Canon kept nailing focus over and over...at like f/1.4ish on both counts. And as I was reviewing the Nikon images on the LCD, I was seeing all the OOF images...and I decided, **** this, I'm putting away the Nikon and going with 35L and 85L...and it was like old times, I knew the behaviors of the lenses and they were pretty accurate for me. And if I really wanted a critically in focus shot and could stand still for a minute, I turned on live view for focus and it was quick and relatively responsive as always...
....But the moral to that story is that the D800 was failing me when the 5d2s were not, and this was part of the de-moralization of my Nikon experience.
awad wrote:
why are you using a d800 and a 5d2 together anyways? Seems like it complicates things unnecessarily.
The short answer is, I'm a Canon shooter who wanted to see if Nikon would work better for me.
Since September, I had decided to give Nikon a shot because I was not satisfied with Canon's AF performance and sensors having very limited dynamic range and bad shadow pattern noise when pushed hardly at all. The Nikon performs great as far as the sensor is concerned, but the AF performance has lots of other quirks and difficulties that have taught me it isn't as reliable and consistent as I had previously thought. Backlit subjects are very common for me because I often shoot into the light or have windows/etc. as backgrounds, and the D800 very consistently locks onto the backlit edge (which is the side of the person's head) and gives me backfocused images in those situations. I don't have that problem with the 5d2. D800 also seems to misfocus more often in dark environments for me (only when I'm working, coincidentally enough) than my 5d2s do...even using center point only.
Since I have trialed Nikon and found some important parts wanting, I have decided I should just sell it off...if I was a studio shooter using f/2.8 zooms all day and working in controlled environments, the D800 would probably be my favorite camera of all time. If I was a zoom shooter with weddings, it would probably be great for me. However, 35mm is a main focal length for me and it's just very slow to autofocus...I remember several "capture-the-moment" shots I missed because the focus took too long to rotate to the desired point...and sometimes it was even misfocused after locking, especially indoors. The 85 tracks great but has boring bokeh (imo). Then, the customer service reports are horrid for Nikon, while I have had great service from Canon for years...and service/service reputation does go a very long way in encouraging buying into a brand.
It's interesting to me that of all the bodies from Nikon you could have chosen, you went with the D800. If you wanted the best focus you should've tried one of the pro bodies, dumdum.
That animation is weird. It's as if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence... and when the guy goes over to that side, the other side is greener. Weird.
TTLKurtis wrote:
It's interesting to me that of all the bodies from Nikon you could have chosen, you went with the D800. If you wanted the best focus you should've tried one of the pro bodies, dumdum.
AFAIK, the focus system in the D800 is about the same system (minus higher voltage) as the D4...which was the only other alternative for a modern Nikon and definitely out of my budget...incidentally, that's more than Canon can say since they dumbed down their 5d3 focus system to be inferior to the 1dx.
Literally every single reason you expressed dissatisfaction with Nikon's performance after shooting Canon is every single dissatisfaction I have with Canon bodies and glass after shooting Nikon. Every. single. one. Wish I could switch back to my old Nikon setup.
form wrote:
Backlit subjects are very common for me because I often shoot into the light or have windows/etc. as backgrounds, and the D800 very consistently locks onto the backlit edge (which is the side of the person's head) and gives me backfocused images in those situations
Did you ever do a test to find out the actual size and location of the 800's focus sensor? It can be different from the little box you are looking at through the viewfinder when taking the shot.
That you say the 800 consistently catches the backlight on the side of the person's head suggests to me that you were letting a portion of the focus sensor wander off the face. If the focus sensor was completely on the face, the sensor could not pick up what's outside the face.
As I recall, I had asked you previously if you wanted to know a method for finding the actual size and location of the sensor but you never got back to me.
Joey, I hope you take this in a way that is meant not to offend but I think for a guy who shoots weddings great with whatever camera you have that you will never ever be happy. It's so bizarre to me. My suggestion, spend less time on here, less time pixel peeping, less time looking at gear and go shoot with intention and feel it.
Good luck with the switch. Ps, I sold my D800, I just couldn't handle those files.
Joshua Gull wrote:
Literally every single reason you expressed dissatisfaction with Nikon's performance after shooting Canon is every single dissatisfaction I have with Canon bodies and glass after shooting Nikon. Every. single. one. Wish I could switch back to my old Nikon setup.
Entirely possible that being completely used to one way has tainted me against the other...although there's no denying that the 35g's autofocus is slower and the D800 takes TWO hands to change ISO, WB and af drive mode vs. the 5d2's one hand.
