Advice needed about resolution settings for D800E

Shmelvis · Jun 15, 2016

Hi,

I run a portrait studio in St.Albans UK, and have been taking all my portraits on a Nikon D700 (12 MP) set to Large / Fine resolution. I have just upgraded to a Nikon D800E (36MP) and if I set that on Large / Fine resolution the file size triples.

I have conducted an experiment taking the same photo with both cameras set to all the different combinations of size and resolution and to match the Large / Fine file size of the D700, I need to have the D800E either set to Medium / Norm or Small / Fine.

What would be the best setting for portraits on the D800E out of these two? Does it really matter? All of my prints range from 6x4 inch prints to 18x12 inch prints, and canvasses up to 40x30 inches.

Obviously if I set the 800E to small / Fine I have the ability to enlarge the photo with less noise showing, but if I set it to Medium / Norm, I don’t have to enlarge so much but then any noise wont show because of it.

Any advice will be most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Martyn

tirediron · Jun 15, 2016

Not sure why this matters? Large/Fine are options which only affect the quality of the .jpg and not the raw file - I set mine to the smallest .jpg file size possible..

astroNikon · Jun 15, 2016

I'm guessing OP only uses JPEGs and not RAW files.

Braineack · Jun 15, 2016

Why would you buy that camera if you're not going to utilize the reason you bought it?

tirediron · Jun 15, 2016

Braineack said:
Why would you buy that camera if you're not going to utilize the reason you bought it?

'Tis a mystery indeed!

robbins.photo · Jun 15, 2016

tirediron said:
Braineack said:

Why would you buy that camera if you're not going to utilize the reason you bought it?

Click to expand...

'Tis a mystery indeed!

Well I could see it, you know, if it came in bronze...

robbins.photo · Jun 15, 2016

Shmelvis said:
Obviously if I set the 800E to small / Fine I have the ability to enlarge the photo with less noise showing, but if I set it to Medium / Norm, I don’t have to enlarge so much but then any noise wont show because of it.

Any advice will be most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Martyn

Greetings, so of course first question, are you shooting in JPG, RAW, or both?

I guess the next question would be how much post processing you normally do and what size your final images need to be to get your desired results. Do you do a lot of cropping or is more straight out of the camera as far as composition?

Braineack · Jun 15, 2016

tirediron said:
Braineack said:

Why would you buy that camera if you're not going to utilize the reason you bought it?

Click to expand...

'Tis a mystery indeed!

You're literally capturing 3x as many pixels, then confused the file size is also 3x as large. Much mystery.

Trever1t · Jun 15, 2016

Why aren't you shooting in raw (NEF) format????

PaulWog · Jun 15, 2016

You say "obviously", but that isn't quite correct. You will not reduce any of your noise any more than you could if you shot in full size and properly used noise reduction.

It would be fair to dance around the truth if you were a hobbyist, but you're shooting professionally.

If JPeg works for you, shoot in the highest quality possible, and utilize the storage space you need. If you're doing bulk work (an entire high school or something like that), then a lower quality might make sense. Bulk editing in RAW should be, in most cases, better than auto JPeg settings. Especially in a studio setting.

Dave442 · Jun 15, 2016

While it sounds like you had perfectly good results with the D700, the general consensus is to use the extra information that the D800 can provide and just go with the bigger file sizes. If you are shooting JPEG and not doing any processing then the larger file size is really just a matter of buying more storage space and using larger CF cards.

crzyfotopeeple · Jun 15, 2016

Anybody know how to activate the crop sensor setting in my new medium format camera I just bought. The files are so dang big.

Shmelvis · Jun 15, 2016

tirediron said:
Not sure why this matters? Large/Fine are options which only affect the quality of the .jpg and not the raw file - I set mine to the smallest .jpg file size possible..

Sorry, I should have said I'm shooting the portraits in jpg

Shmelvis · Jun 15, 2016

astroNikon said:
I'm guessing OP only uses JPEGs and not RAW files.

Sorry, should have said I'm shooting in jpg

Shmelvis · Jun 15, 2016

Braineack said:
Why would you buy that camera if you're not going to utilize the reason you bought it?

Lol..fair comment. I'm using it for family portraits in my studio and I rattle through them at quite a rate. I can't afford the time to work in such massive files hence I want to emulate the D700 as far as that's concerned. However I'm also a photographer to one rather famous Rock guitarist and when I do work for him I will be using the full resolution the 800e will allow. I'm also a fan of aircraft photography and even with my 500 mm lens, I still need to crop quite a lot and don't want to lose quality. I needed an extra body as the hdmi socket on the d700 started playing up and I shoot tethered in the studio.