D810... am I worthy?

[runnah]

If you can afford it without mortgaging your house than whats the harm?

 

[CmazzJK]

If you can afford it without mortgaging your house than whats the harm?

I agree, you only get one go around and if you think it will make you happy then do it.... If it ends up not making you happy sell it.... You can ask all the questions in the world and get all the peer reviews in the world but the only way you'll know for sure is through first hand experience.

 

[Mike_E]

Congrats on the camera.

You may want to Think more about which lenses you get though. As has been stated the D8xx's do well with 'good', and superb with excellent glass -but the biggest trade-off is in being able to carry your gear.

A 28-70mm f2.8 is freaking heavy and let's not even bring up the 70-200mm Vll.

A wide-angle, a midrange, an 85mm/105mm and a 180mm though being 4 separate lenses are actually manageable to carry without a pack mule. A bonus is that all four can be had for the price of one new f2.8 zoom.

Good shooting.

 

[D-B-J]

I've found the D800 has greatly improved what I'm capable of. For example, I can shoot at ISO 50 (huge on landscapes). I no longer need HDR all the time (because the DR is amazing). The list goes on. Just enjoy it!

 

[D-B-J]

Congrats on the camera.

You may want to Think more about which lenses you get though. As has been stated the D8xx's do well with 'good', and superb with excellent glass -but the biggest trade-off is in being able to carry your gear.

A 28-70mm f2.8 is freaking heavy and let's not even bring up the 70-200mm Vll.

A wide-angle, a midrange, an 85mm/105mm and a 180mm though being 4 separate lenses are actually manageable to carry without a pack mule. A bonus is that all four can be had for the price of one new f2.8 zoom.

Good shooting.

Yes, the D800+Grip+70-200 2.8 is around 8lbs. I shot with it *almost* exclusively for a 7 hour event, and the next day my shoulder and fingers were sore from carrying/shooting with it. So something is said for lighter gear. That's why, when I can, I shoot with primes. [emoji106]

 

[JimMcClain]

...if you post pictures on this forum, please be prepared for a negative comment or critique.

I don't mind photo critique - in the appropriate forum. TPF has a number of them. This ain't one of them, unless someone mistakes it for one and asks for C&C. This is a forum to discuss Nikon gear. That's what my topic is about and I didn't ask for C&C about the pictures I used solely to illustrate my OP. I may not have thousands of posts here, but I am a long-time forum owner and hands-on managing webmaster, so I feel I have the experience to qualify my comment that C&C in this particular topic is inappropriate.

Lenses... now that's appropriate. I didn't mention it before, but these are my thoughts on that: As I stated, my current rig is a D5300. I have 2 lenses, a 16-85mm 3.5-5.6G ED VR, which is a pretty decent DX format lens. The other is a 70-300mm 4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR. Again, not a bad lens and this one is an FX lens. So, for a little while, I will need to keep both lenses and the D5300, which I will mount the 16-85 on pretty much full-time. I'll be using the D810 with only the 70-300, until I can find a replacement for the 16-85.

When I have the dough, my next lens purchase will be the Tamron SP 24-70mm 2.8 Di VC USD. That is a firm commitment. I haven't fully committed to a specific wide angle zoom yet, but am considering the Nikkor 14-24 2.8. The really expensive filtering options for that lens are a serious drawback though. When I make a decision, I can then sell my D5300 and the 16-85 lens. My final goal will be to get, probably, the Tamron SP 70-200mm 2.8 Di VC USD.

I realize that quality lenses are a vital component to any FF setup. It also adds considerable weight, which can challenge someone with compromised breathing, like myself. But I shoot mostly from a tripod (Manfrotto 294 CF & Manfrotto 3-way Pan/Tilt). All my locations are easily gotten to by either my minivan or my Segway, which has a handlebar bag that carries most of my gear. At this point, I can only hope to be prepared for the extra poundage I will want and need with the D810. No doubt there will be plenty of hand-holding of the camera and lens and my limitations may become even more apparent. Emphysema is a progressive disease with no cure, so my condition will degrade. Heck, I'm already 4+ years past my expiration date, so whatever I can eke out of my life is a bonus, in my mind.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.

Jim

 

[annamaria]

Really nice b/w photo.

 

[Derrel]

Well, the D810 is the "new standard" by which all other d-slrs are measured in terms of resolution, color depth, and dynamic range. It's...a new-era, 2014-era, high-resolution Nikon. Anybody with the scratch to buy one can buy one. There's no such thing as being worthy of one camera or another. "It's out there." The Nikon D810 is the Speed Graphic of its era. It is the Rolleiflex 2.8 of its era. It is the Hassy 500 C of its era. It is the Leica M3 of its era. It is the Nikon F of its era. Many people have bought the best of their era, no matter their skill level. Nothing wrong with that!

You don't really "need-need" super high-end glass with the camera: there are plenty of decent lenses, and with 36 million pixels, you'll end up reducing most of the shots way down in size, and applying unsharp masking and tone manipulations and contrast adjustments, so the overall image quality really is a combination of high MP count and a LARGE output size, lens performance, file size-reduction, and software image enhancement and sharpening.

We've gotten to the point where a BIG output image, with 36 million pixels on FF, gives the kind of image quality medium format used to provide, even with a fairly low-performance lens, like the modest-quality lenses that cheap TLR's used to have. The images from modern sensors from Sony are so low in noise, so "clean", that we can sharpen the crap out of the files to compensate for lens weakness. Resolution is a mixture of MP count, sensor size, and lens performance, and software processing of the images.

 

[greybeard]

If you can afford it you are worthy.

 

[JimMcClain]

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.

I'm curious why you say that. I disagree only because Nikon disagrees. They claim to have Entry-Level DSLRs, Enthusiast Level DSLRs and Professional DSLRs. When you go to the Professional D-SLR Cameras page, you will find the D810 front & center. Now, I'm sure that not every camera on that page will suit every pro. Some may work better with one camera over another. But when I researched pro-level Nikons for landscape photography, which is what I am primarily interested in, guess what pros recommend the most?

Maybe you were confusing the D810 with the more recent D750. That one appears to be the best enthusiast DSLR from Nikon. I was this close to ordering that. I was lucky that B&H closes for the Jewish sabbath and during my waiting period, I happened upon a thread here about refurbished cameras.

The D810 is a professional camera. Owning it doesn't make me a pro. But I certainly do appreciate pro quality tools and I will endeavor to make pictures that will do that tool justice.

Jim

 

[D-B-J]

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.

I'm curious why you say that. I disagree only because Nikon disagrees. They claim to have Entry-Level DSLRs, Enthusiast Level DSLRs and Professional DSLRs. When you go to the Professional D-SLR Cameras page, you will find the D810 front & center. Now, I'm sure that not every camera on that page will suit every pro. Some may work better with one camera over another. But when I researched pro-level Nikons for landscape photography, which is what I am primarily interested in, guess what pros recommend the most?

Maybe you were confusing the D810 with the more recent D750. That one appears to be the best enthusiast DSLR from Nikon. I was this close to ordering that. I was lucky that B&H closes for the Jewish sabbath and during my waiting period, I happened upon a thread here about refurbished cameras.

The D810 is a professional camera. Owning it doesn't make me a pro. But I certainly do appreciate pro quality tools and I will endeavor to make pictures that will do that tool justice.

Jim

I'll agree. While it's truly an argument over semantics, the D8x0 series is a professional series of bodies.

 

[runnah]

lol @ pro bodies.

 

[D-B-J]

lol @ pro bodies.

Isn't it foolish?

 

[runnah]

lol @ pro bodies.

Isn't it foolish?

Beyond foolish. Just another imaginary line for the photo snobs to use to put themselves up on a pedastal.

 

[hamlet]

For me personally at this moment in life the d7100 does everything i need it to. A couple of months ago that was the d3200. If you've outgrown your current camera, then i would say that you should upgrade.