Nikon D850: Am I Selling My D810? My Thoughts

Nikon D850: Am I Upgrading From The D810? My Thoughts

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[greyhoundrick]

Hi Eric,
Always great to watch your content!
I think why the D850 will be a legend is because of its revolutionary versatility.
It truly can shoot anything and shoot it well. With the D5 auto focus system, the focus stacking, the larger and improved BSI sensor construction, higher ISO capabilities etc., this camera can be used for sports, portraits, macro, landscapes and more and will produce at a pro level.
I think for someone who is looking for a camera that can do it all this is the best DSLR ever made. And the price is very reasonable. At $3300 I think its an excellent purchase.
Take care Eric and best to you always!

[krys]

Hi there I just sold my D850 after two months of using it and bought again beloved D810 instead which I sold to get D850.
I'm not trying to say that D850 is not better than D810.It wasn't for me, I didn't see any improvement in image quality and extra features wasn't worth for me to upgrading .I rather invest in best glass possible and stick to my D810.

[LanielPhoto]

No built in flash on the D850. That means I am keeping my D810. It already gives me 20X24's where the body oil is seen squeezong out of the pores like toothpaste out of a tube. That's sharp enough for me! What Nikon needs us a zoom lens that is quiet and motorized for video work!

[jamesr]

I enjoy watching your videos and hearing your honest evaluations on gear. I am kind of a dinosaur I guess with gear as I use a D3s and D700 for most of my needs street photography, objects and a little cityscape. I have a D7100 which I bought mostly for macro, but that is a small fraction of my photography. I guess I don't get incensed with buying new camera bodies, go for what I can create with the old Nikon legends. Personally I invest more money into quality glass. Switching camera bodies constantly seems obsessive and a waste of money as they devalue rather quickly as opposed to good glass that can increase in value. It is something I noticed as a crutch for lots of young photographers, to stay trendy. However to each his own. But I might add that Vivian Maier used the same camera for decades and she will be remembered when most people here in this forum are dust and forgotten albeit for all the fancy high tech gear they bought. In reality the camera only accounts for 25% of the outcome, the rest is up to the photographers skill, enthusiasm and love of art that creates wonderful and memorable photos that with stand the test of time.

[Hei_hey]

I use photos for casual personal use, download images of things I want to buy. Sort of pinterest side effect. I like idea of growing in photography to print images for personal use and keep in a physical file, like vinyl record covers ;) Large size but easier to flip through like a large book without binding. It is hard to tell how you will react to a camera design and lifestyle it was intended for and if you can pull certain things you like and ignore others. I will be saving until January 2017 and think will go for Panasonic Leica 100-400 1.2 to shoot telephoto photography. Like the idea for portraits as it seems more powerful statement to have the subject be your one and only focus. I also have had fun with picsart app to do photo collages and that kind of casual take a break design is in the Olympus Pen F. Going from canon PowerShot as 14 year old in 1992 -2006 to tablet camera for digital casual documentation from 2012 to now. So new hobby and probably would have kept doing photography if it had not changed to digital. I dropped it all and just used what was available online. But Pen F has the weight I want and gives some space for casual shooters who want to invest in art lenses. It has a casual and fun color wheel you can change for jpegs. I will like to see how that works before taking photo, in shot prep. Captures the inspiration of the moment I would imagine. Agree with medium format too and its history of taking time to set up shot. The Nikon seems to be for business photographers with a very serious menu font, as if their clients are there too looking at the screen. Maybe they are. Glad to shed some of that professional work culture for my photo hobby. And maybe Nikon will reimagine business aesthetics to reflect other successful companies like Google Amazon. Helping new customers be flexible, faster and more expressive in their digital experiences.

[caabhishekmahajan]

Hi Eric.
I have been using Canon Rebel t2i since 2011/12, and now I'm planning to upgrade to a full frame camera. D850 looks great specs wise, but its too expensive, since I am not a professional photographer and just shoot for fun.
So, firstly, should i, at all, upgrade to full frame? And secondly, is d810 body only(for around 2100 USD) a good deal in 2018, in place of d850?
Thanks in advance!
And keep doing the great work!

[senaritradutta]

Don't u think BSI CMOS sensor first in the DSLR itself is unique which can be great for low light plus 10 megapixel bump but ISO 1stop improvement which Nikon claiming its just out of the world ....for sports n wildlife its awesome more cropping fast camera

[flatheadfletch]

Exactly. Most carry two cameras. You need a back up period. With the D4s as my go too camera I couldn’t see an d850 being a good second shooter when the D810 would give me everything my D4s lacked. So that’s my two cents and my two shooters !!!
If I only carried one camera, it would be a D850 !

[jammyn]

I think your assessment is correct re: the D850. I am currently shooting a D700 and now want 4k video, so I will purchase the camera once the reviews are in, and I am satisfied that there are no major issues.

[ninoliberatore]

Eric, thanks bud i was really struggling with the thought of selling my d810 and my d500 , big reason, as funds get harder to put in the camera lens account, it is nice to know my cameras can do almost everything the new d850 does, and there is no new bill to come with it
please keep up the great reviews

[theminimalist]

Good for you, do what you feel comfortable with.... I went from the Canon 5D Mark III to the D850 and wow, I'm really impressed with this camera..

[AndyAstbury]

Eric - theoretically, the BSI tech COULD be something radical for both dynamic range and diffraction limitation. So the D850 could well bring something of major benefit to the table. But right now it's all conjecture - so who knows!

[jaimeduncan]

Height thanks for sharing your perspective. Even from you own video : I believe that people that skipped the D810 and are using the d800 (not the d800e) the jump forward will be amazing. They will feel the extra resolution (no Aa filter and a little extra pixels ). Other people that may benefit a lot is high volume wedding photographers: they can shoot at lower resolution (25mpixels) an excellent auto focus system and when the moment of group photos comes then jump to 45. Notice that I am aware that resolution is not a problem for some wedding photographers that can afford very high speed storage arrays. Again, nothing of this negates your video, I am just adding to the conversation

[moSahl]

Hi Eric. Thanks for your thoughts. The D850 looks like it rocks as a landscape camera, but I do not want to shoot 46MP images for events. So there is the option of Medium Raw at 25MP. So the question is how does Medium Raw perform on the D850. Does it compromise ISO performance in low light? Is there enough dynamic range shooting in Medium Raw, as 12-bits lossless files have less than 11-bits of usable data? On a positive note, I hear the camera actually captures 45 MP worth of information and is just down-sampling from there to the mRAW and sRAW.

[WhittyPics]

I have been wondering what your thoughts were. I have 2 D800 bodies and a D500 body. It would be nice to have the focusing in a high resolution body but for landscapes and still subjects it isn't a requirement for what I do. They are saying the dynamic range will be about the same or a little better than the D810 so nothing killer there. Picking up another 9 megapixels is an improvement but as you said it isn't a leap. I figure it is about 25% more pixels. I have NO complaints about the image quality from my D800. Yes it is slow and the buffer can fill fast but it is good enough for what I do with it and if I need the speed i have the D500 with it. The main thing I want to wait and see is if Nikon will have their quality control locked down on this camera like they do the D810. I suspect they will since it is their flagship camera but when the D800 came out there was some left focus issues that they had to fix. I don't want to see any kind of shutter issues like they have with the D750 nor do I want to see any oil spot issues like they have on the D600. Not only image quality and speed I want to see what if any issues they have after they are out a while. I think it may be best to wait 6 months for them to iron out any bugs. It looks like it is going to be a hell of a camera that Canon has nothing to compete with. I am happy with the equipment I have so I don't see any need to rush out and get the next hot greatest and best thing. I also want to see some of the test images after the production models get out in the hands of the public.

[davidlaplante]

I have the d800 d810 and d850 now and i can tell you it is really good iso performance iso the screen speeds up the workflow pinching lime on a phone its really an upgrade!

[nikonusertoday]

I think XT-2 is great for landscaping, street and portrait. Nikon for sports and wildlife. I did get the D850 and the revolution is the fact it can do it all. It can do wildlife, sports, street, lansdcape, etc... in FX and DX. That is significant. My 300mm f2.8 can be 450mm with a touch of a button. It rendered myD500 and a D3s, obsolete. You should see the files! That said. The D810 is still a superb camera.

[Harryontwowheels]

I'm really excited about the D850. I think is a great package. BUT ... as I visited Gamescom and had the X-T2 with the beautiful 90mm F2 with me all day, my thoughts were ... "Man, I wouldn't have done it with a DSLR!" That's where a system like the Fuji-System shines because you can carry it the whole day in your hand ... with a "big" lens like the 90mm ... you are not getting exhausted ... and you do not lose image quality. That's why I will stay with Fuji but I have to admit that I really like the D850 and I'm happy that Nikon is not doing the same BS as Canon is doing with 5DIV and 6DII.

[tronderikbrekke]

My good sir, I'm afraid you are wrong. I got my hands on one today, and it is a big leap forward from the D810. The D800e and D810 felt almost like the same camera, with small improvements. This was a whole new thing. 9 frames per second with the grip, and that D5 focusing system was insanly snappy. The touchscreen was a really nice addition, and the bigger viewfinder was really nice too. You need to try one out. And the files seem much cleaner than the D810 files.

[Bilalizaddin]

Very nice camera, I think the canon 5dm2 and xt1 was the revolutionary cameras which developed to m3 and xt2, nothing after that made WOW, and a lot of folks in wedding business will still shoot with canon 5d or Nikon d750 for smooth and reasonable megapixel count