D800: Can You Handle It? Find or make a way to afford this camera

Okay, I know, another 5 Stars across the Board Review. First and foremost I am a photographer and then a Nikon acquisition addict or NAA. The D800E was a no-brainer. It was a made for me camera. Martha my dear, you are going to need to buy some new things.

This is a major step up the Nikon Food Chain if you are just coming into FX. If you are already shooting Full Frame it's still a step up and you may still need/want to upgrade some things.

First the transfer cable is a USB UEC-14 cable. You will probably need a spare or two. Secondly, you will need a Extreme Pro CF card and a Extreme Pro SD card. (I recommend Sandisk 32 G/B each card.) There is a great Eye Fi card that will upload the images straight to your laptop or Desktop with appropiate app installed. Also, you will need some spare batteries: EN-EL15 And then make sure you have enough hard drive space dedicated for images.
Again, I recommend between 1 to 2 terabyte external drive or an Ultra Book Laptop with 500 M/B for images.

Are you going to buy this camera? The most likely answer is yes. The only variable is the MTA, er Mean Time to Acquisition. (not poor ole Charley on the Mass. Transit Authority). The in camera High Dynamic Range customizable capability is astounding on initial contact. It's video potential is "professional" level quality.

If you are coming to D800 from FX, an adventure in serendipity awaits you. Those upgrading from the underworld of DX, expect and appreciate the learning curve. Depending on your passion and shooting schedule, give yourself 3 to 8 months. You get alot for your money.

Don't give a poohbah for all the Nikon fancy schmancy hoopla about the D800? Go get a D600. It's cheaper and it's FX so how bad is that? But, ask yourself, Martha, can I handle the Big Bad, He-Man Nikon D800?

Nothing, bar none, in the FX world eclipses D800. A few wannabees come close for more or less money but no cigar. In closing, I only have two words for the D800: Absolutely Stunning!

Do not worry about cost. Just put together your acquisition plan and then boogey on down and getcha one when you save up or earn up the do, ray, me.

Excellent camera for studio work, but requiring more careful manual control

As a film photographer for 30 years, I had been waiting for a Nikon digital studio camera that could replace my 6x6 square format film gear that I typically use with my studio strobes. In the past, I had been using the 12MP Nikon D300 for studio work and reached its limits of resolution where it reaches an acceptable level of detail only at ISO 100. Also, the 36MP EXPEED3 FX sensor would allow me much improved low light performance lacking in my D300 above ISO 1600. I also wanted to occasionally use my Nikkor lenses for natural light video capture without having to purchase a dedicated video camera and lenses. Lastly, I have been looking for a FX camera so that my AF-D and manual AIS prime lenses can be used at their natural focal lengths, rather than cropped to 1.5x. Most other features of the camera are nice-to-haves, duplicating or improving upon the features of the D300, but not critical for what I plan to use the D800 for. Since I shoot manual and incident meter my strobes, I have not tested the AE features nor the metering modes. I also have not tested the video functions except to see that they work easily enough in Live View mode.

Generally, the D800 feels very similar to the D300 menu systems and grip. I have always thought that the complexity of the menu system is unnecessary, except to confuse neophytes and the D800 is no better than the D700 or D300 in that sense. The video features seem to be nicely integrated and Live View modes simplified, compared with the D300, which I have long given up trying to use. Like a medium format film body, the extremely high resolution combined with shallow depth of field makes for amazing clarity in the large RAW files but also requires careful focus control, and requires some taming of the automated features to help slow it down. For example in single-shot mode necessary for strobe work, I find that the shutter trips a second or third image very easily. I also find that the spot focus mode only allows me to use the sweet spot of the viewfinder and lenses for focus determination and requires that I check focus and reposition frequently. In this case, the D300's 51 AF points are better laid out across the entire viewfinder than the D800, where they are all clustered in the center of the frame.

When reviewing some test images in Adobe Lightroom, I was able to zoom into 3:1 before I started to see digitization of the image details without sharpening and noise, making it more than adequate for studio work. However, it is clear that at this magnification that chromatic aberration and flare are more obvious, for example, when trees are backlit by sky.

Will I, or not, have a lasting relationship with a schizophrenic blond?

Nikon has been my camera of choice, aside from the Hasselblad, since 1958. I came into digital late with a D200 for a specific initiative and found shooting requirements exceeded the ISO of the D200 and so lurched into the world of the D800. Yes, Photoshop, the other part of this hideous equation of complexity and opaqueness and F-90 learning curves, hovers in the background on my wheezing computer.

The metaphor for a D800 is schizophrenic and when lucid, bi-polar. It has moments when it is lucid, the majority of the time it is quite mad, all a product of scores of "controls" one never masters, one only fights as a salmon going upstream against an 100 mph wind with the firm idiotic conviction that genes will prevail, and perservence in the effort will be rewarded, and the government won't get any more commie-like than it is already.

I had a Jaguar sedan in my late teens that resembled a Rolls Royce. It was absolutely beautiful, a damn work of art. It got fantastic gas milage (about which I didn't care at the time with gas being 19.09 a gallon) because it wouldn't run but 25% of the time.

The D800 is one thing. The Nikkor lens are quite another and I have a broad selection of glass all of which are stunning. Now, married with these 1.2, or whatever masterpieces, you hit it just right and WHAM! You get breathtaking shots. But these shots are the product of laboring with ISO (forget it, ISO 200 and ISO 800 digital means nothing to film ISO/ASA), Metering, Exposure Modes, Shooting Banks (Oh god! Shooting
Banks! Get somebody to explain Shooting Banks to you because the hardcopy available certainly doesn't have a goddamn clue), 11 different available Settings all the way from Image Quality to Auto Distortion Control).

You begin to get the picture, pun intended. Available Modes, A, S, M and P (Aperture, Shutter, Manual and so-called automatic) priority settings are not constant and the checked histogram showing on target (bell shaped curve or close to it) is really about 1/2 stop or worse over exposed. And this really becomes an issue when shooting in a dynamic venue like a football game. I shoot Manual -1 stop to get a rich, full exposure.

I have friends who are astrophotographers. They have tons of equipment and miles of wires hanging off their scopes and computers. Beyond complex. But what is being sold as complexity if really versatility.

If you enjoy tons of equipment and miles of wires hanging off your equipment, and you have an Expodisc, oh you must have an Expodisc, and certainly a variable density filter and the best circular polarizer you can buy, You will adore holding the D800, it's just like sitting in a dead Jag.

Buy hey, when the Jag was running, and the dash was glowing with purple lights, and the moon roof was rolled open, and the red Connoly hides giving off that sweet smell along with that 17-year-old blond sitting close to the right, there was nothing better.

When you get home from a football game and there are 60 shots our of 350 that are art, well, there's nothing better, but scary when you look at that string of bleached out crap you just knew was fine when you glanced at the damn histogram.

So, if you ain't a-skeered of not being able to trust that blond to take your money and run, get a D800. That one stunning shot is certainly worth it. But I do wish all the shots were as stunning. Almost strangling yourself on the sidlines with an Expodisc is problematic.

Tough learning curve, but the result is near medium format quality photos.

This camera, beyond low f-stops and fast shutter speeds, requires planning and knowledge of the accessories used with it. In the FX setting, image blur with high ISO, chromatic aberration and motion blur are unforgiving enemies that were more tolerated with lower pixel cameras and even in the DX setting of the D800. I have taken thousands of test shots to learn the limits of my Nikkor lens' and filters when used with the D800.

Once mastered, the quality of the photo printed as a 6'X4' photo is unparallelled. I rarely print, but when I do, it's large. I now have the choice to crop down and still be able to keep good resolution in larger prints. The details in the photos are amazing. This camera will force one to become more technically aware of equipment, setup and post processing.

You're technique will be challenged by the D800. If you are not willing to work through the learning process, there will be a question on why you purchased the camera. I found that my D700 allowed me to have a less rigid technique and still produce good shots. You will not have that with the D800; which is good if you aspire to improve your abilities.

The D800 is a "game changer" for Nikon the most sought after camera today

This camera is a "game changer" - with the pixel resolution and the HD video capability - nothing else can touch it at this time. I had the D-100, D2x
D3 and D700 - each camera was a quantum leap from the previous camera and the D800 is no exception. It handles and functions similalry to the D700 - however the upgrades are significant as one might expect over the last 3 years. If you want current state of art this is it....