Well it’s official… I got my Nikon D800 last week. I’ve been using (well, borrowing) one for months now from whoever I could, but I finally pulled the trigger and bought one of my own. A few weeks back I wrote about my comparison on the D800 vs. the D800E. In the end I said I was going with the D800 because I didn’t see enough extra sharpness in the D800E to make it worth it. Here’s the link to the comparison I did in case you want to go read it.
However, there’s one more reason I chose the D800. See, even though the extra sharpness of the 800E wasn’t incredibly convincing, I almost thought “Why not?”. I mean, I don’t shoot things where moiré patterns would be a problem so I was almost tempted to just get the D800E. I mean, extra sharpness (even if it’s just a little) is a good thing right.
The Reason
So the final reason I chose the D800 (and not the E) is because of resale. I’m the kind of person that will probably buy the next version of the D800 when it comes out. That means that selling my existing D800 will eventually become a reality for me. Well, I noticed how much uncertainty revolves around the D800E. And you know what uncertainty leads to right? Yep, the dark side of the force…. oh… sorry wrong movie ;). Uncertainty leads to indecision. We’ve probably all been there. We have a decision to make, but because of some little nagging thought/idea/rumor that we heard about something, we hold off. So I thought to myself, when it comes to resale of the D800, nobody is going to second guess buying it based on any information they heard about possible moiré (even though it’s highly unlikely most people will ever see it).
Anyway, I’m now the proud new owner of a Nikon D800. It’s a little weird though, because I’ve been shooting with this camera for months now already. In fact, my wife saw the box last night and asked if I was “excited” to get it. I am definitely excited to own one, and not have to worry about whether it’ll be available for me to borrow when I need it. But I don’t have that New Camera Excitement that we usually get when you make a purchase like that because I’ve already shot with it so much. But I guess that’s a good testament to the D800. I’ve been shooting with it, on and off, for at least 6 months now. Given the choice to buy it or something else, I still went with with the D800. I’m heading out to Arizona and Monument Valley this weekend with Bill Fortney and His Light Workshops and I’m really psyched to put this baby to the test in some of those places.
Have a good one!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Hey Matt! Just one quick question, because I doubt someone can answer it better that you. I have almost the same hardware setup as you have. Nikon d800 and Nikkor 16-35mm lens. Before d800 I used d700 and was absolutely happy with 16-35mm lens. Now I’m traveling and I tried to use d800 with this lens and found out that it still razor sharp in the center but awfully soft at the corners and the edges of the frame. Never seen anything like this on my d700. I can even see it is soft through the viewfinder! I’m shooting landscapes and cityscapes in Prague now and it bothers me a lot. Even new 24-85 Nikkor at 24mm is much sharper then the 16-35 which by the way Nikon itself recommends to use with d800. Just wanted to know, maybe this is only my sample is acting weird or this is normal? Did you ever notice such a thing? I’m shooting almost always with the aperture closed to f8 or f11. Thanks!
I haven’t noticed anything but then again, I haven’t really looked. I’ll have to test it out.
Maybe you can help. I’m seriously thinking of upgrading from my D300S to a full frame and cant decide between the D800 and the D600. A refurbished D800 is about $500 more than the D600 and used either/or CF or SD cards while the D600 only uses SD.
Some articles and posts say why go with “old” technology when the D600 is the latest and do you really need 36MP?
I’ve tried to do a comparison chart and aside from some minor (I think?) differences, cant see significant reasons to pick one over the other.
Would appreciate you thoughts and the thoughts of anyone else who cares to respond.
Thanks in advance,
Allen
Hey Allen,
I’m not sure what articles you’re reading that call the D800 “old” technology. And I’m really surprised you can find refurb’d ones already. The D800 is by no means old so don’t let that hold up your decision. The question right back to you is what are you going to shoot? If you’re just looking for an all-around travel camera for shooting kids sports games, family travels, photowalks and street shooting then the D600 would be my choice.
Get the D800 if you’re shooting in the studio or you’re an avid landscape photographer. The huge files sizes will come in handy then (but only if you’re printing large). If you’re not printing large then there’s no reason to go for the D800 and the D600 will do just fine.
Hope that helps 🙂
Good luck!
Thanks Matt,
Forgot where I read the D800 was “old” technology but it was N Internet article comparing the two cameras. Something about when the D800 was announced and how several months later the D600.
Much appreciate your points.
My one final question, I think I know which camera I’m going to buy, was a point made by Ken Rockwell. He said no one needed a camera above 24mp no matter how large a print you made and that he never shoots above 10mp (I think otherwise it was 6mp) and that 36mp just slowed you and the camera processing noise in camera.
Adorama is listing refurbished by Nikon D800’s by the way.
Thanks again. I appreciate your insights.
Allen
Just saw that. Looks like $2600 for the refurb. Not bad.
Anyway, the bigger the megapixel the bigger the print. I wouldn’t get too caught up in it. The difference between the D600 and D800 is probably 5 or so inches on the print size. But they’re both big 🙂
Hi Allen, the question wasn’t to me at all but maybe I can help you. I wrote an article about those cameras and compared them in a different way. The article is “sadly” in Swedish, but there is a plugin that will automaticly translate it to a language of your choice. I checke’d the translate and it’s not perfect but it should be ok and understandable. http://jonashellsen.se/?p=2980
Thanks Jonas,
Yes it was both understandable and helpful but left me more in doubt this morning than I was yesterday. If I understood your position, you clearly favor the D88E over the D600 for a host of reasons.
Matt’s comment was the choice depended on the type of shooting you do and his description of the shooting suggested for the D600 described me while the shooting for the D800 described him and not me so yesterday I was pretty sure I was going with the D600.
Ach.
Allen
Hey Allen – did you read Scott Kelby’s blog this morning (www.scottkelby.com). He’s got a write up on the D800 vs. the D600.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for pointing out Scott’s article. It was like he was addressing my very question! Cook. It was excellent and like Matt’s comment made it clear for me anyway and I will go with the D600 since it’s ideal for the kind of photography I do.
Appreciate everyone’s comments and thoughts.
Allen
I did see the write up and it got me thinking about selling my D800 and getting the D600 as I’m predominately a wedding/event photographer and the 36 mp is killing me in workflow, album design, and image storage. I wish Nikon would come out with a firmware update that would allow me to shoot a “small raw”.
I doubt you’ll see a small raw setting. Sounds like the D600 would be great for you.
Hi Allen,
Great that you understood most of my article. I checked it in english now and I almost laughed through the whole text. The automatic translation is horrible. Anyhow. To clarify why i didn’t like the D600 was for personal reasons only. I didn’t like the AF, I use both the flash-sync-port and the other I don’t remember the name on below the flash-sync. The D600 doesn’t have those. I miss a lot of buttons on the top of the camera where the mode-wheel is placed on the D600 instead. Otherwise it’s a great camera, just as Scott says in his article it’s more like a replacement for the D700. But since it lacks some things I use daily, it wasn’t a choice for me. Sadly. Because I rather have 24mp than 36mp and it’s only positive that it’s lighter than the D800.
Best of luck in your choice!
Jonas
I think I have discovered a problem with my D800. I am getting addicted to large prints. Now I am faced with the problem, what do I do with a 9 foot pano.
Hi Matt, congrats on the purchase! I’ve owned the D800 for a couple of months now, and wanted to ask if you have noticed any increased noise in darker or more “shadowy” areas of an image, when zoomed in at 100%? In my experience the D800 requires a little more noise cleanup in Photoshop than the D4 or even D700 does. I am unsure if it’s because of the ridiculously high pixel count, or maybe my very mediocre shooting skills 🙂 Thanks for sharing your work and experiences…it’s both entertaining and educational!
Will be curious to see your ‘settings’. When you decide to post, can you also share your file so we can download it? Thank you.
Have you tried the D800 vs the other best camera you own using the same lens, then printing a 13×19 unsharpened from each. Can you also check the color comparison.
I just ordered mine today 🙂 I tested the 800 during a week-end (coming from the D700) but was still unsure; a bit like yourself (especially since I didn’t test the 800E and because there are so many articles on the web about the sharpness of the E version, the fact that the moiré pattern is a myth and the AF left focus issue less of a problem with the 800E). The funny thing is I wanted to read your comparison again just to make sure I did the right thing and here you go: “One More Reason I Chose the D800 Over the D800E” ! Perfect timing 🙂 Thanks a lot for this great blog, many people benefit from your articles and your work on LR. Cheers.
Well Matt at least now you have your very own “new camera box and packing” as well as a brand new owners manual, now can you not be excited?
I also bought my D800 last week (25th) and I’m so darn satisfied. I reasoned just as you did with the extra sharpness but it was actually a D3x that made my decision. I borrowed one and shot with it for a couple of days and I must say it’s an amazing camera. The quality of the images is staggering. The first time I really thought it couldn’t be better. Then I thought to myself, if I think that of the D3x, and the D800 actually is better, then it’s probably good enough for me. Do I need more sharpness then I got with the D3x? Na. Do I need a battery-grip? Yes! So thus I saved the difference between the 800 and the E and bought a grip and a 800 for the same cost as a ‘E’. Happy? Yes!
Great! Glad to see you’re happy with it. So you touched on something interesting though… I actually purposely didn’t get a battery grip for mine. I ALWAYS get a battery grip right away but I’m holding off. I kinda like shooting with a smaller camera. It’s got a nice feel to it. That said, when I do my portrait shoots I’m probably going to miss the battery grip and end up getting one anyway. But for landscape stuff, I’ll just bring along an extra battery.
Thanks!
Matt, can you share your settings for the D800? Are you running particular presets when you import your raw files into Lightroom?
Hey Bill. I actually have an Evernote note all ready with my D800 settings in it. I sat down over the weekend and customized the whole camera (and even found a few settings I didn’t know about) and wrote down everything I changed (which ended up being quite a few). I’ll probably post it early next week.
As for LR presets… not really… just the auto-fix preset I released last week.