I have been thinking about getting another camera body and came across the D800. Giving that the camera is going on 10 years, for those that have used one, what are your thoughts regarding the camera (price, other considerations, etc)?
I've been looking at older Nikon bodies as well. My assessment so far is that the D810 is a better choice, if you can manage it, because of the shutter improvements. Or D750. I'll be interested in what others say.
The D800 had some quirks, whether it be shutter or autofocus, that the D810 solved.
cjbutler wrote:
I've been looking at older Nikon bodies as well. My assessment so far is that the D810 is a better choice, if you can manage it, because of the shutter improvements. Or D750. I'll be interested in what others say.
Still have the D800 I bought right after it became available in 2012, despite also having a 2018 Z6 and 2021 Z7II.
Looked into the D810 when it became available, and while it admittedly is a more refined camera in some area's (like a.o. shutter shock, mirror operation), in the area's that at least for me matter for real life taking pictures, like IQ, the improvements were too incremental for me to justify the expense of an upgrade.
In particular found my decision confirmed after reading DP Review's comments in their in depth review of the D810 https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d810/8 on the D810's low light AF capabilities
'Low light focus
Despite being formally rated to -2EV (only one stop less than the Nikon D750), in real-world use, we were surprised to find the D810 failing more often than it should in low light. As part of the Sony a7R II review we compared the performance of the Nikon D750, Canon EOS 5DS and the Sony in extreme low light. The D810 simply couldn't keep up in this company. It even falls well behind its predecessor, the D800/E, which we found to focus down to -3 to -4 EV in our lab (it was under-rated). '
Admittedly my D800 sees little action after getting the Z bodies and a cheap 2nd hand D4S I got to for the rare occasions I shoot in low light low contrast conditions (I shoot a fair bit of catwalk, dance and event) as a replacement for a D850. Sold that body after using it alongside 2 Z6's for a year and a half, and it seeing too little use because of the Z6's (and despite the aforementioned subjects).
But while I'm very pleased with the Z I have held on and the recently bought Z7II, I'm not willing to give up on DSLR's like the despite 'only' 36 megapixels still pretty high pixel D800 and fast AF D4S yet.
jcw1982 wrote:
I have been thinking about getting another camera body and came across the D800. Giving that the camera is going on 10 years, for those that have used one, what are your thoughts regarding the camera (price, other considerations, etc)?
I shot with a D800 for several years and really liked the camera. It wasn't the greatest action camera performer but I loved it at the time for landscapes, astro work and lot's of wildlife that didn't require lightning fast auto focus.
I agree with the posts above that the D810 ironed out many of the D800's quirks but really the D800 or D800E are both very good cameras capable of capturing fantastic images and these days can be found at very reasonable prices.
Paul_K wrote:
In particular found my decision confirmed after reading DP Review's comments in their in depth review of the D810 https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d810/8 on the D810's low light AF capabilities
'Low light focus
Despite being formally rated to -2EV (only one stop less than the Nikon D750), in real-world use, we were surprised to find the D810 failing more often than it should in low light. As part of the Sony a7R II review we compared the performance of the Nikon D750, Canon EOS 5DS and the Sony in extreme low light. The D810 simply couldn't keep up in this company. It even falls well behind its predecessor, the D800/E, which we found to focus down to -3 to -4 EV in our lab (it was under-rated). ...Show more →
+1
When using both the D800 and the D810, I experienced the same problem. The D810 definitely took a step backwards in low light AF performance.
I was adamant about replacing my D800 with a D810 about a week ago but then changed my mind when I compared the two.
The lack of an AA filter was much less of a resolution difference than I thought it would be. When zoomed in at 100% or more, the difference is very subtle, and not visible at all unless you're actually zoomed in that much and looking for the differences. The difference is easily equalized with a slight bump of the sharpness fader in post, and again, only noticeable at 100% or more, effectively making it a non issue.
I will say, the D810 does have a much smoother shutter/mirror actuation. But for my use, as a byproduct of using heavy lenses which dampen the vibration, I don't have an issue with the mirror shock of my D800 anymore.
The D810 wouldn't really do anything for me and I wasn't willing to take the hit in low light AF performance. I'm keeping my D800.
MRomine wrote:
FYI, I once hired another photographer to shoot a wedding for me and he used a D800 and roughly 30% of the images were out of focus.
Suggest operator error
I've shot weddings > rodeo > BIF with my D800 and I'd say less than 2% were ever OOF.
Still have as a backup to my D850/D810/D750's. Just sayin'
The biggest downside in my experience to the D800 are the file sizes which may add some constraints to your workflow or at least makes it less efficient depending on your use case. Other than that, if your computer can process the larger files without issues, and you don't care about disk space, I feel the image output is sort of special. It has a character and look to it I really dig. It resolves enough yet its not too detailed or digital like some of the more modern sensors. I suspect out of focus issue people talk about must be related to how stabalized or lack there of the camera is while they are shooting, in combination with the lens used and shutter speed. I've had my share of photos being slightly out of focus shooting handheld but never had any when shooting on a tripod.
I would go with the D800e version that does not have the AA filter. The concerns that moire would be more evident with this camera never really materialized in real world use. The only downside is that the camera uses CF memory cards but these are still readily available.
jcw1982 wrote:
I have been thinking about getting another camera body and came across the D800. Giving that the camera is going on 10 years, for those that have used one, what are your thoughts regarding the camera (price, other considerations, etc)?
I've had (and still have) my D800E since 2012 and it still functions well today. I also have a D850 that I bought this year. Yeah, the D850 is the newer "better" camera, but depending on needs the D800/E is still a capable body today.
Today I still both the D800E and D850 with either taking a leading role depending on lens attached or features needed.
Sayer wrote:
The biggest downside in my experience to the D800 are the file sizes which may add some constraints to your workflow or at least makes it less efficient depending on your use case.
Perhaps one should consider cost of ownership of a high mega-pixel body? - In this case storage space? If that's not an option, you can always shot jpeg basic files @ 1.4 meg each.
For me having both a D800 and D850, I also understood I needed more storage space and so upgraded my SSD drive when I added the D850 to my gear.
I also understand not everything I shoot is a keeper so those non-keepers find the recycle bin instead of sitting on the drive taking up space. And those files that are keepers but no longer needed are archived off the PC.
I am sure others will disagree and perhaps a firmware upgrade helped the D800 but when I owned 2 of them, I thought they were by far the absolute worst cameras I had ever owned. Focus was completely unreliable even in very controlled situations. I wasted a ton of time trying to get the focus calibrated using software and targets. Whenever I went through all this, I'd find that the next time I shot, things were off again and I found that if I calibrated for one distance or zoom setting things would be different at others. And mind you, this was with 2 different bodies.
Again, I know that the D800 was a good, reliable camera for many, but I hated it. The D810 was light years ahead.
