Let me begin with my conclusion. The Nikon D800 is the best buy for photographers since digital photography came into being. The ability to capture quality/high resolution images is amazing. I have shot thousands of images with the Nikon D3 and Nikon D3s, hundreds with the Nikon D4, and nothing compares to the images fromt the D800. Everything comes with a price and I'm not talking about money. The auto focus of the D800 is much slower than the D3 series. I have not used the D800 to track wildlife but no doubt the D4 smokes the D800 in this category. But those images, nothing compares to the D800. Now I'm going to give you an example and I could fill this blog with similar examples. So here is the wide shot.
Here is the crop! Can you believe this? Folks this is an extreme crop, one you would never do.
These files come out of the camera at between 41-44MB, quickly become 100MB's. I really don't know what else to say. I was using a 24-70mm/2.8 lens and the camera ISO was 400. You can lower the ISO to 100.
For landscape photography, there is nothing like this camera. Now you could talk about Phase, and yes it is a great camera. But I have tons of lenses including a 600mm, wide angles beginning 10.5 so my flexibility is enormous and outweighs medium format. Secondly, I can quickly switch to a Nikon D3s or D4 and track any animal on earth with the best focus system tracking on the planet.
Prior to digital photography, I used medium format. Specifically a Contax 645 and loved it. I still have the entire lens kit, body, etc. I have been waiting for the backs to become reasonable. I considered the 120mm macro planar to be the best lens on the planet. The D800 changes the game for me and anyone who wants high resolution. Next question, why do you need high resolution?
If you are shooting only for the web, the argument weakens. Or, if you are going to limit your prints to smaller sizes, the argument also weakens. Here are my two main reasons for the higher resolution. First, I like to crop, sometimes I get 2-3 images out of a single frame. It is the way I like to think and create. Secondly, I like big prints, and my printer is an Epson 9900 so resolution is critical for me.
There are likely shortcomings in the D800 I have not experienced besides auto focus. But thus far, after a 3 days of shooting hundreds of images, this is what I think. I'm not a technical guy. In fact, I picked up the camea started shooting before I even corrected the date/time in the camera. I'm a shooter, I judge by the images and because I'm familar with Nikon controls, I just turned it on and began pressing the shutter. And you should have seen the smile on my face when I zoomed in on the first image from the camera back. And bye the way, it is still there.
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