{"id":5111,"date":"2012-04-07T15:35:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-07T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=5111"},"modified":"2012-04-07T15:49:05","modified_gmt":"2012-04-07T15:49:05","slug":"first-impressions-of-the-d800","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=5111","title":{"rendered":"Impressions, after two weeks with the D800……."},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’ve now had my D800 for two weeks and have really worked it hard, and thus have come to some “initial” conclusions. \u00a0I say initial, because over time one’s feelings about a camera can change, but usually in subtle ways. So after a good workout, what are my thoughts? \u00a0Here goes;<\/p>\n

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1. \u00a0The D800 is the most “complete” camera I’ve ever held in my hands<\/strong>,<\/span> and that takes into account that I’ve worked as a photographer for over 43 years!!!! \u00a0Complete? \u00a0It has he most gorgeous, rich, smooth gradations I’ve ever seen, period. \u00a0Images of any subject with a large range of tones, looks significantly different than with any other camera, made by anyone. \u00a0The D800 is so spectacular that it makes you not want to shoot with anything else, because you know you’re going to see the difference. \u00a0A good problem to have!<\/p>\n

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2. \u00a0The D800 is the right size.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0It is very rugged and feels great in your hands, but it’s not burdensome. \u00a0It is, at least for me, the perfect compromise between a sledge hammer and something that doesn’t feel substantial enough. The weight and size are very close to the D700, though it feels a little thicker in your hands, which if you have large hands, feels just right. \u00a0It feels like a camera that will stand the test of time.<\/p>\n

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3. \u00a0My fears about the difficulty some may have getting it’s full potential have only partially been realized.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0It has tremendous resolution and “does” require more care than anything else you’ve ever shot with. \u00a0However, it is very possible to get outstanding results even when hand holding. \u00a0My recommendation would be use a tripod whenever possible, when it is not possible crank up the ISO enough to give you a shutter speed that will assure sharpness. \u00a0the old rule at National Geographic used to be that your hand held shutter speed should be twice the focal length of the lens. \u00a0So if you were shooting with a 105 mm lens the closed shutter speed would be 1\/125th of a second, they demanded that you go up one stop to 1\/250th of \u00a0second. \u00a0I would suggest that the same rule apply to the D800. Each of us knows how steady we are, and how much VR helps us, but my “strong” suggestion is that with the D800 you should increase your shutter speed as much as you need to, to regain that sharpness! \u00a0The reward will be breathtaking images! \u00a0The big surprise has been that cranking up the ISO does not bring on disaster. \u00a0For me, and this will always be an individual determination, I think it is very usable with very low noise out to 3200, and can be used at 6400 with the post application of only moderate amounts of \u00a0noise reduction. \u00a0The big plus is that because of the extreme amount of sharpness, even applying noise reduction and reducing the sharpness, doesn’t really change things much, you have so much sharpness that the reduction of it by even 20% leaves you with an image that is still extremely sharp!<\/p>\n

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4. \u00a0O.K. not all is perfect.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0The image files are large. \u00a0The computer will slow down in most normal operations, even saving files like jpeg fines. HDR crunching is two to three times as long. \u00a0Now, I’ve been using a laptop (3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro with 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 ram), the newer Quad Core machines with 8 gig of faster ram should improve that situation some. \u00a0My 27″ iMac at home has 8 gig of ram and I hope to see an improvement there. \u00a0But the fact is to get the sweet files this camera produces, expect things to slow down in the pipeline! \u00a0I have to admit, I am less irritated than I would otherwise be, because of how wonderful the resulting files look! \u00a0If the spinning beach ball drives you crazy, it’s your call!<\/p>\n

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5. \u00a0How does it perform with anything less than the best Nikon glass? \u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Can’t say, I’ve been on the road for almost three weeks and all I have with me are my prime zooms, 16-35 and 24-120, and with both of them it has been stellar. \u00a0I have shot a few images with my beloved 70-300 AFS – VR f 4.5-5.6 and fortunately the images have been razor sharp so at least that once feared, lost lens, is still very good. \u00a0When I get home next week I plan to shoot sample images with every lens in my arsenal (29) and will have a better idea then. \u00a0Based in my experience so far, I would tend to say that if a lens has been tack sharp for you in the past it will work well with this camera. \u00a0But, that is a guess at this point. \u00a0More testing to come….<\/p>\n

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6. \u00a0The Intangibles:<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0I am a gun owner and have found that I always shoot better with guns that I know are extremely accurate. \u00a0At first thought that would seem dead obvious, but I suspect that at least some of the great results comes from the point that I am “expecting” great results! \u00a0I believe the D800 has the same affect on me, I expect stellar performance and so I usually get it from this camera. \u00a0This camera makes you work like you were shooting a 4X5 film camera, you know what it can do, and work hard to get the most out of it! \u00a0One you’ve seen the images it produces, you don’t want anything less, and thankfully now you don’t have to settle for less!<\/p>\n

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7. \u00a0Who is it for?<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span>First let me tell you who it is not for. \u00a0If you shoot sports and need frame rate in the 8 to 11 fps range it’s not for you. \u00a0If you want a camera that is the absolute example of ruggedness and you might be tempted to drive a nail with it, it’s not for you, though it is a pretty tough character. \u00a0If you shoot for the web, or newspaper print or conventional magazine stock, it has more resolution than you need. \u00a0If you want a bigger, heavier camera, it’s not for you, though you can add a battery pack to make it feel bigger. \u00a0It is for you if;<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0you want all the resolution and gradation possible, if you don’t mind buying some larger memory cards (32-64), and if you don’t mind adding some ram to your computer (I think 8 gigs of ram, is going to be minimum). \u00a0It’s for you, if you want to make enormous prints (think feet instead of inches). \u00a0It’s for you if you get a real kick out of looking at images at 100% and have your breath taken away! \u00a0It’s for you if making the best possible image you can make is all you will accept! \u00a0 That’s why it is definitely for me!<\/p>\n

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8. \u00a0The price.<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0Nikon has made two cameras in the recent past that have prices I find hard to believe. \u00a0The D7000 at around $1,195. and the D800 at $2,999. are both simply, screaming bargains!<\/p>\n

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The “last slice” of Humble Pie.<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span> I’m not going to admit to my overly aggressive reservations, ever again! \u00a0I now have seen the light, the D800 is everything I hoped it would be, and more, and lot less trouble than I had feared. \u00a0The 36.3 mega-pixels have a great deal more impact on my photography than I would have ever guessed! \u00a0Save some new revelation, which I’m not expecting, I feel certain, I’ve found the camera that will be my constant companion for years to come, naturally, someday, the next model will come and we will see what we think then……..<\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/p>\n

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Cropped image from above, gotta love it!<\/p>\n

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  I’ve now had my D800 for two weeks and have really worked it hard, and thus have come to some “initial” conclusions. \u00a0I say initial, because over time one’s feelings about a camera can change, but usually in subtle ways. So after a good workout, what are my thoughts? \u00a0Here goes;   1. \u00a0The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles","category-learning"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5111"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5118,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111\/revisions\/5118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}