Dream Camera thread

[robbins.photo]

Well there is an alternative. Get yourself a bigger cat.

Then I'd need a 200MP camera.

So you can take kitty pictures from space?

Ok, ya. I can see that...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk

 

[Solarflare]

I would be surprised if someone buys a Phase One to photograph his cat ... Maybe Pussycat, or Pussy ...what ...

Very likely in 20 years a still working Phase One 100 Megapixel wont be expensive at all anymore.

The issue will be compability: get batteries that work, get memory cards that work.

Also the lenses still wont be cheap.

 

[Donde]

I already have my dream camera or close to it, a Sony a6000 but what I dream of is a similarly compact and light weight 400mm prime lens for it. A light weight and compact set up for birds to replace my heavy Canon camera/400mm lens would be great.

 

[Frank F.]

No. That only affected 25% of them and Nikon genrously replaces 100% of the shutter units, not questions asked. So if you come after 100k shots, you still get a new shutter unit... that alone makes the D600 the best used deal ever.

Friend of mine had hers replaced with a new D600 which had the same issue; then she returned that one and got a D610. She saw my D810 and sold off the D610 and is much happier with the D810.

I used the D600 and D800E in parallel for one week of heavy shooting when they came out in 2012

Result: The D800E was better in in the field, better AF, more consitent white balance, the D600 was better in the studio as Digiback on my Sinar P2 monorail, had a much better tonality and only slightly less spatial resolution. The D600 was for my usage simply the better camera. I got her used with grip for 1600 Euros in early 2013 and she is still my main camera although I still have my D3 which gets no use at all (pity, she is a hell of a camera) and my beloved D500 that does every thing better than the D600 except for some magic "analogue" feel in the tonality and rendering that comes from the recording chip.

I used the D600, D750 and D810 in parallel for a week of heavy shooting.

Result: The three cameras are very near together. Even compared to the D600 the D750 feels "amateurish" light weight, very "snappy" sound design, but she is also very fast and responsive plus she has exactly the same image recording chip as the D600. The D810 is a clear upgrade to the D800E, everything fell into place, she is a wonderful well rounded package, yet the price upgrade (today 2300€ vs. 700€ used @ebay.de) does not justify the difference for me as I already had the D600. Sound design is much better, ergonomics feel much more professional. Tonality is better than in the D800E, but everthing is only slightly better than it is in the D600.

When I tested the D500 it was clear that she is a real upgrade to any camera I had before and that the next big thing will be the D850 or whatever she will be called. I got her immediately.

PS: Just now I noticed that amazon.de and amazon.co.uk do not list the D810 any more, only market place listings. Amazon.com listzs the D810 but only the "Black Friday Bundle" with grip for 2500 US$. I hope the D850 will be these soon. A D500 with full frame / FX recording chip and 42 MP? I would not hesitate to buy her!

 

[chuasam]

The only thing I feel really lacking in my d810 is edge to edge auto focus points.

 

[Frank F.]

The only thing I feel really lacking in my d810 is edge to edge auto focus points.

The only Nikon that features edge to edge AF points is the D500. Not even the D5 has that. Pity.

 

[Solarflare]

You can have edge to edge AF on a full frame DSLR even now, in Lifeview, when the AF is done by the sensor via the contrast autofocus algorithm. Normal operation however is using phase autofocus on a separate, specialized sensor.

In normal mode its impossible to cover the whole frame on a full frame sensor, because the AF system actually works with a second mirror behind the first mirror (which is a half transparent mirror) that directs the light down into the optics of the AF sensor. Since all the measurements have been descided at a time when there was no AF, the space behind the first mirror is limited, and the second mirror cannot send the whole frame down onto the AF sensor.

Thats also why the D5 / D500 sensor is wider on the left/right in landscape orientation (or up/down in portrait orientation). Its no issue to make the second mirror WIDER its just impossible to make it higher. Thats also why the D500 cant focus in a small band on top and bottom of the picture (in landscape orientation).

In the long run of course on sensor autofocus might get better and better, and the second mirror and separate af sensor might turn superflous. Then full frame DSLR will easily manage AF in (basically) the whole frame, much like mirrorless. The main problem with this is though that then the sensor will run all the time, much like with mirrorless - i.e. the battery life will be just as awful as with mirrorless. But then maybe we'll then have better batteries.