D800 is here..

[MajorPanic]

Pre ordered from BH the morning the D800 was released.

Did some hunting around & the consensus seems to be delivery in mid to late March

[knumbnutz]

[knumbnutz]

[reaction]

I wonder if they've spread out the AF points to cover the frame better- that's my one gripe.

no they haven't. it's designed to cover DX view exactly like the D300.
is it true all 35mm sensor cams don't have AF points cover the whole frame?

[Tommo1965]

wow..what you reckon that would have cost ?..some great gear and loads of manpower.....

[Xebadir]

March 18 is the US release date. I'm just waiting for a cheque and I'll be ordering mine.

[Patagonia]

Received BHPhoto email some days ago and I was wondering how it was...then I open the forum and there are 3 pages of discussion already! I´m really thinking on this one for replacing my D90, only concern would be the full res RAW images, how many Mbs should they have approximately?

regards

[Patagonia]

ups, just read the review quoted before...
NEF: aprox 75 Mbs
Tiff: aprox 108 Mbs

...My 2008 Macbook is already struggling with the 12 Mbs ups!

[arthurking83]

Yeah, if a 12 Mp NEF produces a 20-25Mb NEF file on the camera and PC, then 3x that will be in the order of 60-75Mb per file, if uncompressed and 14bit.

That could make CaptureNX2 run a bit sluggish on a mid to low level PC.

[bgolds99]

I'm going to wait and see what happens in the next 12 months... I'm gonna hold out and hope that a D800 sized, FF cam comes out with the D4 sensor.... I'm in no rush to upgrade. I really want FF in my next cam, but don't think i need 36 MP, and dont really want to continually juggle/upgrade my storage capacity (both CF/SD cards, and computer)

I realise others opinions will differ with this.... and Nikon probably won't come to the party... but hell, as i said, i'm in no rush.

[N*A*M]

i'm with you on the wait and see approach. i'm not in a rush because it's not going to suddenly improve my images, and will bring new issues with the rest of my imaging chain. i'm currently able to do 1m high canvas prints with 12mp now. i don't have that much wall space to cover with large prints, that i would need 36mp all the time. i'm still secretly happy that nikon just killed the competition though, even though the new bodies are not for me.

[bgolds99]

Yeah its going to be really interesting to see how Canon responds with the 5D mkIII....

[Bennymiata]

Yeah its going to be really interesting to see how Canon responds with the 5D mkIII....

I'm with you.
I'm waiting with baited breath for the new 5D MkIII, or whatever they call it.

This D800 sounds like a great camera, and even at the introductory price of US$3K, it sounds like good value.
I wonder what the price will be like 6-12 months from now, when all the "I must have one now" brigade have had their fill?

Canon will really have to pull a cat out of the bag to better it.
Mind you, they could just upscale the sensor in the 7D to FF, and turn the new 5D into a FF version of the 7D, and it would come close.

[bgolds99]

the biggest thing canon have to address is the AF of the 5D series right? even the 7D has better AF than the 5D II, so yeah, your right.... if they make a FF version of the 7D, they'd be on the money i reckon. However, i'm not sure if the AF of the 7D is quite up to the D700 and D800/D4 AF?? Whaddayaknow Benny?

[Wayne]

I'm reconsidering getting this to replace my D700 now that I have dismissed the D4 for the short term as a result of getting a steal on a D3s.

[gqtuazon]

i'm with you on the wait and see approach. i'm not in a rush because it's not going to suddenly improve my images,

During the C & P exhibit in Yokohama, they (Nikon) displayed several images comparing the D800 and D3s on various apertures using the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens. Images of the D800 were actually more detailed compared to the D3s. So to answer the question, the images does improve at higher resolution at certain ISO level.

The emphasis and integration of video is here to stay. There is also a market for videographers who work for companies to produce commercials, music videos, short movies, and wedding videos that wants a HD movie capable DSLR camera. Canon used to dominate this area with the Canon 5D MkII and 7D, but not anymore.

The 36mp pictures will fit nicely once the 1440p HDTV arrives. This is a step forward into the future. Yes, if you are in the business of photography, you will need higher capacity memory cards, hard drives and a decent computer to process everything especially the HD movies. BTW, it is not cheap and it is not for everyone.

Quick view between my D700 and the new D800.


Nikon D800 with D700 by gqtuazon, on Flickr

[swifty]

I'm going to wait and see what happens in the next 12 months... I'm gonna hold out and hope that a D800 sized, FF cam comes out with the D4 sensor.... I'm in no rush to upgrade. I really want FF in my next cam, but don't think i need 36 MP, and dont really want to continually juggle/upgrade my storage capacity (both CF/SD cards, and computer)

I realise others opinions will differ with this.... and Nikon probably won't come to the party... but hell, as i said, i'm in no rush.

That's why I think the problem with offering 36mp is not the pixel pitch/high ISO noise etc, it's the lack of pixel binning to produce eg. 18mp and 9mp raw files.

[rirakuma]

Ordered the d800 yesterday. It's gonna be a long month

[richardb]

It is so exciting. Sensor critical dimensions are far smaller than the 40 nanometer node.
16 nm has been reached last December.
Guess, next sensor features are stacks of atoms, with dimensions in angström
No worries, Canon can get any sensor from the semiconductor foundries in Jpn. Even from Korea.

[arthurking83]

I'm not really understanding the point Richard.

If you're implying that the D800's 36Mp makes for a very small pixel pitch, I think you should look to the Canon 7D, Sony A77 and others for smaller pixel pitch, tightly packed sensors!!

The D800 is basically 'middle of the road' in terms of pixel size, and 16Mp P&S cameras are far more advanced in terms of pixel spacing and count per sq millimeter of sensor surface.
I think it you created a full frame 35mm sensor with the pixel pitch of a common P&S camera the pixel count will be in the order of 150Mp or more.

I'm sure Canon is already working on a 40+ Mp sensor as we speak for release in a few years time, and unless the MF sensor manufacturers produce something new in the short term, I think that within a few more years a high end full frame 35mm sensor with exceed the 60Mp of the largest MF sensor.
(other than for marketing, I can't see why anyone would need that .. but each to their own I guess!)