D810... am I worthy?

[JimMcClain]

Thanks to @TheLost, I went from waiting for a D750 and battery in the B&H shopping cart to re-open late Saturday to adding the refurbished D810 to the Nikon USA store shopping cart. With the 10% discount and tax figured in, I am getting it for just a bit over $2,800.00. It's 500 more than I had originally planned, but also 500 less than a new D810. Just too good a deal to pass up.

But now the feeling of worthiness washes over me. I re-entered amateur photography, after a nearly 30-year absence earlier this year. Back in the 80s, I had a short climb into high end Canon equipment. I was doing a lot of abstracts, street shooting, models and some weddings. But I was also a full-blown alcoholic and drug addict and gave most of my gear up, in 1984, to get more dope. I got sober the following year, but never regained the quality of equipment or the passion until earlier this year.

The D810 is a pro camera, but I know that I will likely not make it into those ranks. Foolish living and poor choices have left me with late stage emphysema. But I make the best I can of it and I get out and make pictures as often as I can. I believe I have an eye, a creative spirit and the desire to keep learning this art.

I was convinced I was worthy of the D750. My pictures seem to be popular where I live and I have been encouraged by local artists. My development skills are improving and I felt moving up to full-frame was the best next step. The D750 is quite a good camera, but to be truthful, its selling point for me was the tilting LCD on the back. Lung disease makes moving around, contorting my body into the positions I find make the most compelling pictures very difficult. Landscape photography, which is what I enjoy the most, is quite taxing physically. The D750 would limit those periods of shortness of breath - not quite as much as the D5300 I have been using, but enough to continue to make photography an important part of my life's enjoyment. But then I recently became aware of a product called CamRanger. It effectively removes all the physical limitations that drove me to only those cameras that had articulating/tilting screens.

My recent plans have always included getting into full-frame, so that I could also get the sharper and much better quality lenses that I felt would improve the quality of my images. In fact, I recently completed building a high end PC, with an i7 processor, 32GB RAM and all SSD drives totaling 768GB to give me the power and storage needed for 14bit RAW and Adobe products processing.

I am not against anyone who can afford a D810 from getting one, if they want, even if their style is more casual and point & shoot. But my personal desire is to take full advantage of the tools I have. I have had this philosophy in home remodeling, in my former work as a floorcovering specialist and in other hobbies that have come and gone. So, I don't want to think of myself as only getting the D810 because I can afford it (barely), but because I deserve it... that my work shows the promise of someone who should be using high quality gear.

But I still ask myself the question, am I worthy? Since the camera is already (effectively) on its way, I'll spend the time waiting for its arrival convincing myself that I am - or will be soon enough. Maybe I could call it one of my bucket list items. Or I will just keep looking at some of my better (to me) pictures and telling myself they are an indication that my skill and art will improve because of the quality of a D810 and the far better glass that will soon follow.

That plant picture (or another one I submitted) will be published in the March issue High Times Magazine, on newstands in January. I just got the email confirming it today from the editor. Nope, I still don't use (it'll be 30 years in April), but I do get high making pictures.

Jim

 

[D-B-J]

Lovely black and white. And... Worthiness is relative. What if you "aren't" but will be in a few months? It's something I don't often think about with gear. If you can afford it, buy it. Use it. Enjoy it.

All I can say is enjoy the hell out of the camera, and to me, if you do that, then you ARE worthy.

 

[dannylightning]

If you want it, have the money for it and you know you will get allot of use out of it why not get it.

people buy all these expensive super cars and drive them around the city streets, that car may be capable of doing 250 miles per hour but will probably never go over 80mph yet people still buy them, they cant take full advantage out of that kind of thing. now a camera you can use it how ever you want and you wont need to hold back on the way you use it and what its capable of. you will probably get some awesome photos with the thing and you can always become a better photographer as time goes on, looks like you already do pretty well to me so I don't see it being a waist. if you go look around at some other photos that people post on other websites who take terrible photos and think are really good but there nothing more than really bad snap shots, now someone like that owning that kind of camera would be a waist.

 

[snerd]

You know what the snerdman says.............. you only live once!!!



..................

 

[ruifo]

Great choice. The D810 is amazing.

 

[goodguy]

Here is what I think.

I think the D810 is one of the best cameras money can buy!
As few others said if you can afford it and feel this camera is calling your name then by all means go for it.

Only a week and a half ago I had the Nikon D7100 which is an AWESOME camera and I loved it dearly but the urge to go FX was stronger then me and I got only few days ago the D750.
Did I need it ?
Can I really fullfill all its potential ?
Was the D7100 limiting me in any ways ?

The answer to all these 3 questions is not, I got the camera because I wanted to and I am happy I made the move.
Enjoy your new camera and don't worry about the buyers remorse, it will disappear soon after you will have the D810 in your hand.

 

[photoguy99]

It's not a pro camera! It's a very good camera, it is a rather expensive camera, but it is totally a prosumer camera.

It's aimed at you. It's designed for you. It's intended for you.

If you've got the money, go for it.

If you're worried it's too much camera, check out what you can sell it for, before you buy, and think that over.

 

[DevC]

You know what the snerdman says.............. you only live once!!!



..................

#yolo


Go for it if you want OP. The camera is not a judge of experience. It doesn't matter if you buy an expensive or a cheap one. Don't doubt yourself and consider yourself not worthy for things you want.

 

[KmH]

Jeez! I hope High Times fixed the white balance before publishing that photo!
If you can afford it, get the D810. I hope you have the scratch ($,$$$) to get lenses that will do it justice.
If you don't, you'll be wasting some amount of the D810 image sensor resolution.

 

[snerd]

#yolo

#QFT

 

[JimMcClain]

Jeez! I hope High Times fixed the white balance before publishing that photo!

JEEZ! Inappropriate for this particular topic!

 

[sashbar]

Jeez! I hope High Times fixed the white balance before publishing that photo!

JEEZ! Inappropriate for this particular topic!

KmH is right mentioning that having the D810 does not make much sense if you can not afford top glass. An extra high resolution modern camera and an average glass do not always go well together. What worries me is that, tilting mirror or not, it is a heavy camera and with your condition it might not be the best option in that sense. A lot of people switch from FF for mirrorless exactly for that reason.

Also, if you post pictures on this forum, please be prepared for a negative comment or critique. I think KmH did you a favour by pointing at your obvious mistake. I could also add some things about why as an editor I would pass on this photo. I will not do it because you say it is inappropriate. So I am at a loss why then did you post the images. If it is an example of your skill and vision, then, to be honest with you, I do not see anything extraordinary or advanced.

Having said that, I like very much the fact that you are asking these questions. A lot of people do not even bother, thinking that a better camera will improve their photography automatically.

So, to answer the question, that you are asking: "If I am worthy ?" , (it is a serious question, so let us put all that blah blah blah aside)- to answer it is actually quite easy, and the first indicator is - can you think in exact terms? Not just "oh, it will have better dynamic range, it will give me higher resolution, I can hammer nails with it etc."

Do you remember scenes that you would shoot differently with this camera, using functions and capabilities that your old camera is lacking? The scenes when you thought " Sh't, if only I had something like D810 right now"?

Let's take some difficult scene (that's where good cameras help after all), say some high range edge-lit scene where you were struggling to decide (and you need to decide fast) what the key tone was, what to expose for, how to deal with clipping and how to render a filled shadow? That's what often happens when we shoot people into the light, especially in the street. How exactly will D810 help you here? What exact functions, capabilities, controls of this camera will allow you to take a better picture?
If you know the answers then you are worthy of D810 without a shadow of the doubt. You have passed with flying colours.

If not, then D810 is just a camera that can POTENTIALLY help you improve your photography as long as you keep asking these question and looking for answers. As long as you keep doing it, this excellent camera will be a great tool for you. I think that honestly asking that question was a great thing. But much more important now is to keep looking for those answers.

Then again, some may say, WTF, I can afford it so I am worth it. I have nothing against that, people can buy whatever camera they fancy regardless of their skill, I can see nothing wrong with it. But something tells me that your approach aka "If I am worthy?" potentially is just that little bit more productive

 

[photoguy99]

Frankly, the expensive glass thing is a canard. Largely invented by Nikon.

The pixel pitch on the D800 isn't actually that high. It's about the same as the several generations ago crop sensors.

Overall sharpness is a product of the whole system, and better glass will produce sharper rnesults on any body, D810 included. But also, the higher resolution sensor will produce more sharpness paired with the cheap glass then the lower res sensor.

So, yes, to get the best performance, buy expensive glass. On this... And any other... Body.

 

[sashbar]

Frankly, the expensive glass thing is a canard. Largely invented by Nikon.

The pixel pitch on the D800 isn't actually that high. It's about the same as the several generations ago crop sensors.

Overall sharpness is a product of the whole system, and better glass will produce sharper rnesults on any body, D810 included. But also, the higher resolution sensor will produce more sharpness paired with the cheap glass then the lower res sensor.

So, yes, to get the best performance, buy expensive glass. On this... And any other... Body.

We are not talking just about sharpness. Do not forget about the quality of pixels.

 

[ruifo]

Photoguy99 is right. As an example and illustration of his point, this old, plastic and cheapo lens, from the film era, the Nikkor AF 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G produces amazing results with my D810, and it costs today $50 USD or less. You'd be surprised to see how the 36 MPix makes several not expensive lenses to become better and enhanced. Same thing with the even higher pixel density sensor, the 24 MPix DX sensor from my D5200.

For me, the FX 36 MPx sensor is a sweet resolution spot with most lenses out there, expensive or not. And as said, better lenses will produce better results in any body out there, any... Just like the FX 36 MPx sensors and the DX 24 MPx sensors will enhance any lenses out there too. The better the combination, the better the results.