Hello all...as I am new to the forums, I have a question and I apologize if its been asked before....I am going to upgrade my current D700 body and I am looking at either a D800 or a used, relatively low mileage D3s. I shoot primarily weddings, and was wondering if any of you D800 owners can give me a little information regarding the RAW file sizes of the D800. Are they as bad as everyone says? Right now, I'm pulling 20mb raw out of my d700, with finished file sizes ranging anywhere from 5-7 MB. I am intrigued by what I read about the D800, but to be honest, I don't want to have to upgrade computer RAM and also purchase a bunch of external storage just so I can handle the raw file size.
I use a Macbook pro, with 8gb of Ram.....also purchasing a 21" IMac with 8gb of ram as well...what are you using for processing and do you find it bogs down your machine when trying to process such large raw files?
If you are shooting a lot of weddings, stick with the D700. While I do love my D800, the files do bog my quad core with 8GB of ram a bit. Nothing real bad, but if I were processing large numbers of files It would bother me.
I'm running 8gb RAM on my Mac and yes it does slow down in comparison to my D700 files, but not badly. The file storage is probably the biggest issue, as the resulting file sizes are a lot lot bigger.
But, the image quality is a big jump forward and whilst I held back from buying a D800 for ages, I now think I should have upgraded earlier
I shot a 5d3 recently, 22mp, and I could not believe how those files bogged down my Macbook..to be honest, thats the big drawback for me buying a D800.....processing speed and file size....
I believe I read somewhere on here that people use Capture Nx2 to view and cull, or did I misunderstand that? Apparently using the native software allows them to load quite quickly.
i use capture one as well as fsviewer for culling.
files are 40-45 MB compressed NEF lossless
hard to say if you'll need hw updated as that can vary a lot and what you are used to prior. I think everyone has a different 'fast enough' threshold.
what I would recommend is that you get some NEF sample files, make a few hundred duplicates and load that on to your SD card then do about your workflow to see how it works:
copy to the PC, browse to see how fast culling would work, load up in an editor see how fast editing is.
I am working with a new mac mini i7 2.3Ghz - with 8gb of ram and it works just fine for me with the D800 raw files - I shoot compressed RAW so files at 45mb give or take. No issues whatsoever in bridge/PS.
I shoot weddings with a D800 using 12 bit compressed and net 30 MB files. You'll be stoked on the 30 mb files compared to what you are working on now with the D700. The highlights are so much more forgiving in post and you can imagine what the shadows are like in comparison to yours. You'll have better IQ at higher ISO's due to less noise and from less banding at really high (6400+) ISO's. You'll get ISO 100, better focusing in low light, and so on. These are things that probably matter to you as a wedding photographer.
I have two D700's that i use a backup. I used one once this summer on an 'in the water' shoot. Otherwise it's hard to go back to them.
Recently picked up a D800, not shot a wedding yet but even after a landscape shot, did not find the files slow to work on in Lightroom (Macbook Pro I7 with 16GB of RAM).
First I'd recommend Photomechanic to injest and quick review, delete all the rubbish and mark per your workflow. Photomechanic is great as it uses the embedded jpegs for previews.
If you use Lightroom and convert to DNG, you can use the new feature to compress the DNG file, this is explained in the following article; D600 vs D800 for weddings
The other thing you could look at is using the new Smart Previews in Lightroom, so import the RAW files to an internal drive and during the import create the smart previews, then when you come back you work off-line from the external drive usign the smart previews.
Someone did a test in LR and the time for the majority of operations went up very linearly (expected really) ie. 36MP eveything takes 3 times as long as 12MP. Canon guys were shooting 22MP when the D700 arrived so 36MP 5-6 years later really isn't a huge deal given the progess of computers. That said, the D3S is probably a better wedding camera unless you need the DR of the D800.
Edit: worth adding a lot of people that compain about the D800 file sizes seem to have have horrible workflow. Use something with instant preview (photomechanic, faststone image viewer) to cull rather than import everything into LR, delete RAWs your don't deliver so you don't end up with 4Tb of files to manage etc.
I have both a D3s and a D800 and I second shoot weddings for a friend. IMO, if it's a choice BETWEEN (not having both) the two, I'd go with a D3s. The High ISO is better, and the buffer is bigger. Granted, buffer size is not usually that big a deal, but I have had to wait a couple of times for it. I think the D3s is at least a stop or stop and a half better at the higher ISOs.
As for file size, I shoot 12bit uncompressed and mine are about 55 mb. As for viewing and culling I do use View NX. It is practically instantaneous and it's free. I have a quad core with 8 gig ram and while the 800 files are slower it's not terrible. As someone else said, it depends on your threshold for speed. However, IMO, the big file sizes just aren't needed for for 99% of wedding needs. You just don't need that much to make an 11x14 print or a page in a wedding book.
The D800 does have some advantages. If you're in the back of the church it's nice to be able to crop and still get a close shot of the kiss or ring exchange. And the DR is nice too.
I'm loving all this input guys...keep it coming, and thank you to everyone who has taken the time to respond to this question....It is still a tough choice to make for me...
