First Day with the D800

Wired · 06-16-2013, 03:56 PM

As a continuation on from my "First day with the D600" post, this is will be an on going journal of my experience with the D800, and an open forum for it. I found a lot of great information from other users in the D600 thread and hope to continue that here.

Quick Coles notes: as a Pentaxian switching from a K5 to a D600 it took me a good 6 months to figure out the camera and fall in love. I was bouncing between love and hate for a long time, but once I grasped the differences in Full Frame shooting and what I had to do to get the results I was used too, my love for the system took off. The biggest issued was going from a K5 to a D600 was the step backward in build quality and features. So I finally sold the camera and upgraded to the D800 to get some of those features back!

What was I missing?

- 1/8000" shutter speed. This was a major issue for me on the D600. I like shooting wide open in sunlight, and even f2.8 in the middle of the day at iso 100 was forcing me to stop the lens down to get a proper exposure.
- 5-9 exposure bracketing. I'm like to dabble in HDR, and would like to have more than 3 exposures. I also will use bracketing when I don't got time to keep adjusting settings and I just got a quick few seconds to get the shot.
- flash sync cable and wired release cable. Yes, I do use wireless strobes and wireless remotes. But sometimes wired is the best way to go. Like in areas of high interference for my strobes for example.
- build quality. This one is huge, after coming from a k5 and going to the D600, it felt like going to my old K100D I gave my niece, not even the K30 I had for a short sting. It's really that plasticy. The D800 feels more like a tool while the D600 is more like a toy.

The 36mp is going to be nice for crops when needed, and really the computer is not bogging down as bad as I expected. My Dell Laptop XPS15 is handling the files in Lightroom 4 just fine, well the test goofy shots I've taken so far. I think it's a bit overkill though as I think 24mp is the best size for me when it comes to sensor resolution. I love doing large large prints, especially with high dpi (350+). I am worried about shake moreso than ever before.

The one thing I'm very happy about is the fact I don't feel the need to buy the battery grip already. The D600 was brutally uncomfortable for me, the grip was just too small. The K5 grip feels perfect to me, but the D600 actually felt "smaller". The D800 is a lil bit tight on the grip, but very comfortable for me.

I have a small collection of lenses right now, and will a new child arriving next month will only be able to upgrade my lenses with bonus checks from work or photography work (luckily I got a wedding and a family shoot this coming week! Perfect time to try this beast out).

The current lens lineup:

Nikon 24mm f2.8 D
Nikon 50mm f1.8 D
Nikon 85mm f1.8 G
Nikon 80-200 f2.8 AF-D
Nikon 105 f2.5 AIS
Nikon 135 f3.5 AIS
Carl Zeiss 50mm Planar T*2 f1.4

I got a Tamron 28-75 f2,8 on order as well (should get it tomorrow actually)

All of these lenses gave me great results on the D600... lets see if I'm going to hurt myself with the D800

DanWeso · 06-16-2013, 07:48 PM

Congratulations on your purchase.

I disagree with your comments that the D600 is more toy like. It is built rather solidly and even has all that weather sealing mumbo gumbo.

kenafein · 06-16-2013, 08:06 PM

Congrats, that is a pretty solid kit. I can't see you needing much more.

Wired · 06-20-2013, 06:47 PM

Wow, that was intense... Just got back home from a quick little casual wedding of two lovely ladies. I brought along way more gear than I needed... go figure, and made some stupid mistakes gear wise as well... Put my wireless transceivers in a pocket I never knew existed in my bag, only to not find them on location, making my planned flash setup fail hard. Forgot to bring fresh batteries for my K5. No strap for the K5. Forgot extra rolls of film... what film?

Anyways, this isn't about all that. This is about the D800 and how it handled a fast paced, energetic wedding, where photos and ceremony lasted a total of 90 minutes. Think about that, 90 minutes to get a ceremony and photos done. Why? Because these ladies wanted to get their drink on, and most of the guests had a time crunch to get on a plane and get home. It was also raining... like pouring.

I show up early at the venue to setup my flash guns. The plan was one flashgun behind the officiant set to wide to give some backlighting and get that nice glow out of them, and then one flash camera right and high to assist the sun due to the cloud cloudy mess we were in. Forget my triggers, so attempted for the first time in my life to setup my pair of SB700's with the built in triggering without a manual. Nope... sorry, can't figure that out. Cell phone? Forgot it at work. yea, brilliant start to this day. So I cranked the ISO upto 800 and said, screw the flash guns. They got nice and drenched anyways when the rain started pouring 30 seconds later. D800 with f2.8 80-200 lens sitting on the tripod, and I'm worrying about a pair of $300 flashguns? Yea... not smart. But the D800 and lens was unaffected. If I had the D600 today... I would have been crapping bricks leaving the D600 out as I never trusted it's sealing. The D800 I feel 10 times better about. My K5? I would have left it sitting there while I hid in the car.

Observation: SB700 flashguns are very well weather sealed in a downpour.

Next. Auto Focus. Since grabbing the D800 I setup my camera for "AF-ON" to focus only, and with constant focus on. I love this because it keeps you locked no mater what happens, makes for sharper images. On quick review at home, I'm right. BUT... I didn't trust it in the field because the screen on the D800 suuuuccccckkkkkkkkssssss........I'm glad I was forced not to trust the screen and trust the AF system... mental note, if you charge batteries for your backup camera (in this case a K5) bring them with you.

The above is a 1:1 crop of the focus point which was on the center of the mutli colored rose. On camera review this rose was very soft with little to no detail. I was very surprised... I expect that from the lower resolution K5 screen, but it was scarring me on the D800. I was very worried. I quickly was checking focus on all my lenses and noticed each one was giving me the same result, so I decided to trust that the AF was doing it's job properly and that the screen must be wrong. Thankfully, I was right to do so.

Critical point: Trust the AF system

The other thing I did pre-wedding was go and grab a CF card. My fastest SD car is a 60mb/sec Lexar 32gb card. More than fast enough for a K5. But the D800 has MASSIVE files. So I wanted to clear that buffer fast, especially since it only has 16 RAW shots before filling up. So I grabbed a 105mb/sec Promaster 32GB Card. Well worth the money in quick tests where the buffer does not 100% stall out for at least 20 frames. But...this is a wedding, and a new card. This day happens ONCE. So I decided to setup the SD card for jpg backup. After all...when I had the D600, once I figured out the "vivid" color setting had to be applied in Lightroom, I had very little editing to do of my photos in post to get the results I wanted. So, I was happy with just JPG backups. Yea.... bad idea. This killed the buffer, making it stall 100% after the 15 frames. And the buffer would take what felt like an eternity to start clearing, took at least a minute to refill. I did miss two shots because of this. But in the end, I'm glad I did because 4 photos were corrupted, but did make it out alive on the SD card. So next step? Upgrade the SD card.

Observation: Fast CF card should be coupled with a fast SD card if using both slots simultaneously

It was still early, and even though the battery light on the K5 was flashing...I was feeling frustrated with the buffer and the AF that I decided to keep the K5 on my hip with the DA*50-135 attached. It was funny having that combo on my hip, my D800 with 80-200 f2.8 in hand, and knowledge that my Q was in the glove box of my car with the 06 zoom..... but that is not the point here. The point is, that switching from D800 to K5 is not as seemless for me was it was with the D600. I already feel like I know the D800 fairly well, and aside from ISO I can adjust all major shooting functions without taking the camera away from my eye. The problem with the K5 is that the hand position is incredibly different. It's very similar with the D600, but the D800 spaces things out more, and the dial pad for moving focus points just feels better too. In fact the whole camera feels better. Both cameras are very solid, but when you swap instantly back and forth the K5 feels almost toy like...for a second until your brain switches back over and muscle memory kicks back in.

Oh, noise at ISO 800 by the way... none. Like what the K5 produces at iso 200.

So I complete my shoot, I get about 300 photos today. I always shoot burst so as to minimize the blinks, and I do a lot of candids. the D800 does NOT keep up with this as well as the K5. But that was to be expected. The file sizes are double that of the K5, and with the RAW+ mode I was shooting in...well that just made the camera work even harder. I'm sure when I do my next shoot (Saturday if the weather holds up), I will dial this in a bit better. But man was it fun to use this camera... and when I uploaded the photos onto my computer (took 10 minutes on USB3 to download the whole CF card to my machine through Lightroom. Granted I got a solid state drive on my PC) I was so happy with the results. I've done my quick selections, and took two of my favorite photos from the session and added them at the end of the post....and I obviously missed the focus on the kissing couple. But I still like it.

So what do I think of the D800 so far?

1: Major upgrade from the D600. The D600 to me was an "equal" to the K5 in terms of image quality, but inferior to the K5 in terms of ergonomics, weather sealing, and build quality. The D800 solves 90% of my issues with the D600, and is incredibly superior to the K5.

2: It's a professional tool. For a Pentax shooter who is not planning on selling his Pentax kit, I see no reason to make the D800 my daily camera. While it will be my primary camera for professional shooting, my K5 will be my primary camera for hobby or street. The D800 is just too big, too heavy, and too "attention grabbing" for day to day use out on the streets. My K5 with Limited series lenses are light, durable, and portable enough for me to take almost anywhere and not become a nuances. I feel with the D800 I'm just screaming "look he has a camera!"

3: The noise control is unreal. Really... you think the K5 is good? What about the D600? Well the D800 is better. Immensely better. Stupidly better.

4: The focusing system is fantastic

5: Either CLS (creative lighting system) is unreliable, or I have no idea how to use it. Quick google search reveals it's a strong possibility for both.

6: Weather sealing held up to a pretty hard downpour, confidence is high

7: Big files means the need to splurge on expensive CF/SD cards that are fast enough to keep up. Best deal I've found is $160 CAD for a Promaster 32gb CF card with an advertised speed of 105mb/sec from McBain Camera. Or $70 for a Acumem 32gb SD card advertised at 90mb/sec from Vistek.

8: The sensor is unreal.

9: I miss image stabilization on EVERY lens.

Lens update:
*50mm 1.8 D lens is going bye bye. will upgrade to 50mm f1.4 G
*85mm 1.8 G lens is still my favorite producing fantastic images on the D800. I need to use this lens more
*50mm f1.4 Planar from Zeiss is an amazing lens, but the focus ring is a bit too tight. Love it's rendering though. Does give off minor chromatic aberrations. Wish they offered it in an AF model. Is there another 50 that produces this kind of optical quality with AF?
*80-200 f2.8 really is an amazing piece of glass and is right up there with the 85mm 1.8 G. For $1000 less than the 70-200 f2.8 VC you can either get this or the 70-200 f4 VC. For the speed upgrade, and $200 savings.. I'll take the 80-200 any day of the week. That being said... I will probably eventually upgrade to the 70-200 f2.8
*24 f2.8 D has started to control my mind. It's surprisingly sharp, but has bad issues with purple fringing. Thankfully easy to correct.
*I need a standard zoom. Saving up for the VC Tamron. The original one I was looking at is so incredibly soft.
*I very badly want a 105 f2 DC. I use my 77mm Limited way to much on ASPC. I want this FOV on FF

Last edited by Wired; 06-20-2013 at 06:54 PM.

kenafein · 06-20-2013, 10:40 PM

Sounds like a fun, by the seat of your pants day, and you succeeded. I am glad the camera is working out for you, overall. You say you need a standard zoom. The 28-75 isn't working out for you, as a stop gap? Did you try it out at the wedding?

the swede · 06-20-2013, 11:35 PM

Wired: Give the CLS thing another chance. I found it to be fantastic once you understand it.

I really think you should read up on the differences between the 50 1.8G and 1.4G... many have switched from the 1.4G to 1.8G

The 1.8G focuses faster... and there was something about bokeh to... i dont remember what it was though.

Nesster · 06-21-2013, 06:44 AM

Originally posted by Wired

1: Major upgrade from the D600. The D600 to me was an "equal" to the K5 in terms of image quality, but inferior to the K5 in terms of ergonomics, weather sealing, and build quality. The D800 solves 90% of my issues with the D600, and is incredibly superior to the K5.

2: It's a professional tool. For a Pentax shooter who is not planning on selling his Pentax kit, I see no reason to make the D800 my daily camera. While it will be my primary camera for professional shooting, my K5 will be my primary camera for hobby or street. The D800 is just too big, too heavy, and too "attention grabbing" for day to day use out on the streets. My K5 with Limited series lenses are light, durable, and portable enough for me to take almost anywhere and not become a nuances. I feel with the D800 I'm just screaming "look he has a camera!"

Apart from what you mention, do you feel the D600 is significantly smaller than the D800, ie a good compromise between a K5 and D800?

apart from size, there's the whole Nikon thing --- people see Nikon and think CAMERA. I bought a F100 to get some taste of Nikon AF and to my amusement the biggest hurdle I have is to have the courage to walk around with a NIKON.

Wired · 06-21-2013, 08:07 AM

Originally posted by Nesster

Apart from what you mention, do you feel the D600 is significantly smaller than the D800, ie a good compromise between a K5 and D800?

apart from size, there's the whole Nikon thing --- people see Nikon and think CAMERA. I bought a F100 to get some taste of Nikon AF and to my amusement the biggest hurdle I have is to have the courage to walk around with a NIKON.

Yes, walking around with a Nikon gets eyeballs flying your way. It's like driving around with a corvette. Everyone looks at you. You shoot a Pentax and only the enthusiasts give you any attention. It's a security thing for me.

The body size.... that's personal preference. I hated the way the D600 felt. Grips too small, pinky kept falling off... so I bought a battery grip and my experience was much better. The D800 I don't need the grip, I'm happy without it, camera feels really good. The K5 same thing, it's the most comfortable DSLR camera I've ever held. Your mileage may vary depending on what you find comfortable.

Wired · 06-21-2013, 08:08 AM

Originally posted by the swede

Wired: Give the CLS thing another chance. I found it to be fantastic once you understand it.

I really think you should read up on the differences between the 50 1.8G and 1.4G... many have switched from the 1.4G to 1.8G

The 1.8G focuses faster... and there was something about bokeh to... i dont remember what it was though.

Hummm....okay I thought I read that before. I'll look at the 1.8G again. I had bad luck with three consecutive copies. But they were all from the same shipment. Maybe it warrants a revisit.

How is the 28 1.8?

And I won't give up on CLS. Just 20 minutes before a wedding starts is not a good time to learn it.

Wired · 06-21-2013, 08:09 AM

Originally posted by kenafein

Sounds like a fun, by the seat of your pants day, and you succeeded. I am glad the camera is working out for you, overall. You say you need a standard zoom. The 28-75 isn't working out for you, as a stop gap? Did you try it out at the wedding?

I didn't buy it. I grabbed CF card and Sb700 instead. I use wide angles so infrequently I decided to see if I could get by with just primes. And I can. But it's a tool I still should have in my bag.

the swede · 06-21-2013, 11:32 PM

Originally posted by Wired

Hummm....okay I thought I read that before. I'll look at the 1.8G again. I had bad luck with three consecutive copies. But they were all from the same shipment. Maybe it warrants a revisit.

How is the 28 1.8?

And I won't give up on CLS. Just 20 minutes before a wedding starts is not a good time to learn it.

I believe the 50 1.8G is a gem, for the price, its a treasure... But i can understand if bad copies turned you of.

The 28... oh my... I think the words would be (like what J.Sherman said about DA 15 Ltd) "The Nikon AF-S 28 1.8G controls my mind"

Haha, ok, 20 minutes is nothing... took me months to read up and understand the CLS thingy... still havent learned it 100%
The thing is... while one is reading and learning, its easy just to let the CLS do the work and forget about it. Your D800 as well as my D600 has nice new flash comp options where you can adjust the ambient and flash exposure individually. Nice!

Wired · 06-22-2013, 03:20 PM

I was playing around with the CLS setup on my Sb700's today, just messing around. Wow that system works, and well. I think Pentax tried to do something similar with the FGZ540 flashes, as I believe some of this functionality exists, but it's a pain to get it to work. On the Nikon it actually works!

I gotta get myself at least one more SB700...maybe even a 9 series, just to do some of the lighting setups I want. Very excited.

Wired · 06-22-2013, 10:59 PM - **1 Like**

Ok, this little 24mm f2.8 D lens is controlling my mind. I can't seem to leave it at home! I just love it.

Here are some shots from today.

(9 frame HDR)

the swede · 06-23-2013, 02:28 AM

Excellent Winder! The 24 is nice!

I have two SB700, they're awesome and small. So easy to work with. I run them wirelessly in CLS with Aokatec triggers, works very well for a fraction of the price the big radio brands cost!

Aokatec - Products

Wired · 06-23-2013, 07:41 PM

Originally posted by the swede

Excellent Winder! The 24 is nice!

I have two SB700, they're awesome and small. So easy to work with. I run them wirelessly in CLS with Aokatec triggers, works very well for a fraction of the price the big radio brands cost!

Aokatec - Products

Winder's a different member here, I'm "Wired".

The SB700 is amazing, what a fantastic flash. It's so well priced too, I got both of mine for just over $300 Canadian... can't think of a better deal in the photography world. Even if I just kept them in manual mode I would have been happy, now that I know about CLS and how I can control the output from my camera without going to the flashgun... oh man, what a dream! I can do that with my Elinchrom strobes, but had no idea I could do that with portable flash guns!

06-16-2013, 03:56 PM	#1
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519	First Day with the D800 As a continuation on from my "First day with the D600" post, this is will be an on going journal of my experience with the D800, and an open forum for it. I found a lot of great information from other users in the D600 thread and hope to continue that here. Quick Coles notes: as a Pentaxian switching from a K5 to a D600 it took me a good 6 months to figure out the camera and fall in love. I was bouncing between love and hate for a long time, but once I grasped the differences in Full Frame shooting and what I had to do to get the results I was used too, my love for the system took off. The biggest issued was going from a K5 to a D600 was the step backward in build quality and features. So I finally sold the camera and upgraded to the D800 to get some of those features back! What was I missing? - 1/8000" shutter speed. This was a major issue for me on the D600. I like shooting wide open in sunlight, and even f2.8 in the middle of the day at iso 100 was forcing me to stop the lens down to get a proper exposure. - 5-9 exposure bracketing. I'm like to dabble in HDR, and would like to have more than 3 exposures. I also will use bracketing when I don't got time to keep adjusting settings and I just got a quick few seconds to get the shot. - flash sync cable and wired release cable. Yes, I do use wireless strobes and wireless remotes. But sometimes wired is the best way to go. Like in areas of high interference for my strobes for example. - build quality. This one is huge, after coming from a k5 and going to the D600, it felt like going to my old K100D I gave my niece, not even the K30 I had for a short sting. It's really that plasticy. The D800 feels more like a tool while the D600 is more like a toy. The 36mp is going to be nice for crops when needed, and really the computer is not bogging down as bad as I expected. My Dell Laptop XPS15 is handling the files in Lightroom 4 just fine, well the test goofy shots I've taken so far. I think it's a bit overkill though as I think 24mp is the best size for me when it comes to sensor resolution. I love doing large large prints, especially with high dpi (350+). I am worried about shake moreso than ever before. The one thing I'm very happy about is the fact I don't feel the need to buy the battery grip already. The D600 was brutally uncomfortable for me, the grip was just too small. The K5 grip feels perfect to me, but the D600 actually felt "smaller". The D800 is a lil bit tight on the grip, but very comfortable for me. I have a small collection of lenses right now, and will a new child arriving next month will only be able to upgrade my lenses with bonus checks from work or photography work (luckily I got a wedding and a family shoot this coming week! Perfect time to try this beast out). The current lens lineup: Nikon 24mm f2.8 D Nikon 50mm f1.8 D Nikon 85mm f1.8 G Nikon 80-200 f2.8 AF-D Nikon 105 f2.5 AIS Nikon 135 f3.5 AIS Carl Zeiss 50mm Planar T*2 f1.4 I got a Tamron 28-75 f2,8 on order as well (should get it tomorrow actually) All of these lenses gave me great results on the D600... lets see if I'm going to hurt myself with the D800

06-20-2013, 10:40 PM	#5
kenafein Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Southern California Photos: Albums Posts: 4,082	Sounds like a fun, by the seat of your pants day, and you succeeded. I am glad the camera is working out for you, overall. You say you need a standard zoom. The 28-75 isn't working out for you, as a stop gap? Did you try it out at the wedding? Last edited by kenafein; 06-20-2013 at 11:41 PM.

06-20-2013, 11:35 PM	#6
the swede Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 2,310	Wired: Give the CLS thing another chance. I found it to be fantastic once you understand it. I really think you should read up on the differences between the 50 1.8G and 1.4G... many have switched from the 1.4G to 1.8G The 1.8G focuses faster... and there was something about bokeh to... i dont remember what it was though. Last edited by the swede; 06-20-2013 at 11:43 PM.

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06-16-2013, 07:48 PM	#2
DanWeso Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Buffalo, NY Photos: Albums Posts: 191	Congratulations on your purchase. I disagree with your comments that the D600 is more toy like. It is built rather solidly and even has all that weather sealing mumbo gumbo.

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06-20-2013, 06:47 PM	#4
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519 Original Poster	Wow, that was intense... Just got back home from a quick little casual wedding of two lovely ladies. I brought along way more gear than I needed... go figure, and made some stupid mistakes gear wise as well... Put my wireless transceivers in a pocket I never knew existed in my bag, only to not find them on location, making my planned flash setup fail hard. Forgot to bring fresh batteries for my K5. No strap for the K5. Forgot extra rolls of film... what film? Anyways, this isn't about all that. This is about the D800 and how it handled a fast paced, energetic wedding, where photos and ceremony lasted a total of 90 minutes. Think about that, 90 minutes to get a ceremony and photos done. Why? Because these ladies wanted to get their drink on, and most of the guests had a time crunch to get on a plane and get home. It was also raining... like pouring. I show up early at the venue to setup my flash guns. The plan was one flashgun behind the officiant set to wide to give some backlighting and get that nice glow out of them, and then one flash camera right and high to assist the sun due to the cloud cloudy mess we were in. Forget my triggers, so attempted for the first time in my life to setup my pair of SB700's with the built in triggering without a manual. Nope... sorry, can't figure that out. Cell phone? Forgot it at work. yea, brilliant start to this day. So I cranked the ISO upto 800 and said, screw the flash guns. They got nice and drenched anyways when the rain started pouring 30 seconds later. D800 with f2.8 80-200 lens sitting on the tripod, and I'm worrying about a pair of $300 flashguns? Yea... not smart. But the D800 and lens was unaffected. If I had the D600 today... I would have been crapping bricks leaving the D600 out as I never trusted it's sealing. The D800 I feel 10 times better about. My K5? I would have left it sitting there while I hid in the car. Observation: SB700 flashguns are very well weather sealed in a downpour. Next. Auto Focus. Since grabbing the D800 I setup my camera for "AF-ON" to focus only, and with constant focus on. I love this because it keeps you locked no mater what happens, makes for sharper images. On quick review at home, I'm right. BUT... I didn't trust it in the field because the screen on the D800 suuuuccccckkkkkkkkssssss........I'm glad I was forced not to trust the screen and trust the AF system... mental note, if you charge batteries for your backup camera (in this case a K5) bring them with you. The above is a 1:1 crop of the focus point which was on the center of the mutli colored rose. On camera review this rose was very soft with little to no detail. I was very surprised... I expect that from the lower resolution K5 screen, but it was scarring me on the D800. I was very worried. I quickly was checking focus on all my lenses and noticed each one was giving me the same result, so I decided to trust that the AF was doing it's job properly and that the screen must be wrong. Thankfully, I was right to do so. Critical point: Trust the AF system The other thing I did pre-wedding was go and grab a CF card. My fastest SD car is a 60mb/sec Lexar 32gb card. More than fast enough for a K5. But the D800 has MASSIVE files. So I wanted to clear that buffer fast, especially since it only has 16 RAW shots before filling up. So I grabbed a 105mb/sec Promaster 32GB Card. Well worth the money in quick tests where the buffer does not 100% stall out for at least 20 frames. But...this is a wedding, and a new card. This day happens ONCE. So I decided to setup the SD card for jpg backup. After all...when I had the D600, once I figured out the "vivid" color setting had to be applied in Lightroom, I had very little editing to do of my photos in post to get the results I wanted. So, I was happy with just JPG backups. Yea.... bad idea. This killed the buffer, making it stall 100% after the 15 frames. And the buffer would take what felt like an eternity to start clearing, took at least a minute to refill. I did miss two shots because of this. But in the end, I'm glad I did because 4 photos were corrupted, but did make it out alive on the SD card. So next step? Upgrade the SD card. Observation: Fast CF card should be coupled with a fast SD card if using both slots simultaneously It was still early, and even though the battery light on the K5 was flashing...I was feeling frustrated with the buffer and the AF that I decided to keep the K5 on my hip with the DA50-135 attached. It was funny having that combo on my hip, my D800 with 80-200 f2.8 in hand, and knowledge that my Q was in the glove box of my car with the 06 zoom..... but that is not the point here. The point is, that switching from D800 to K5 is not as seemless for me was it was with the D600. I already feel like I know the D800 fairly well, and aside from ISO I can adjust all major shooting functions without taking the camera away from my eye. The problem with the K5 is that the hand position is incredibly different. It's very similar with the D600, but the D800 spaces things out more, and the dial pad for moving focus points just feels better too. In fact the whole camera feels better. Both cameras are very solid, but when you swap instantly back and forth the K5 feels almost toy like...for a second until your brain switches back over and muscle memory kicks back in. Oh, noise at ISO 800 by the way... none. Like what the K5 produces at iso 200. So I complete my shoot, I get about 300 photos today. I always shoot burst so as to minimize the blinks, and I do a lot of candids. the D800 does NOT keep up with this as well as the K5. But that was to be expected. The file sizes are double that of the K5, and with the RAW+ mode I was shooting in...well that just made the camera work even harder. I'm sure when I do my next shoot (Saturday if the weather holds up), I will dial this in a bit better. But man was it fun to use this camera... and when I uploaded the photos onto my computer (took 10 minutes on USB3 to download the whole CF card to my machine through Lightroom. Granted I got a solid state drive on my PC) I was so happy with the results. I've done my quick selections, and took two of my favorite photos from the session and added them at the end of the post....and I obviously missed the focus on the kissing couple. But I still like it. So what do I think of the D800 so far? 1: Major upgrade from the D600. The D600 to me was an "equal" to the K5 in terms of image quality, but inferior to the K5 in terms of ergonomics, weather sealing, and build quality. The D800 solves 90% of my issues with the D600, and is incredibly superior to the K5. 2: It's a professional tool. For a Pentax shooter who is not planning on selling his Pentax kit, I see no reason to make the D800 my daily camera. While it will be my primary camera for professional shooting, my K5 will be my primary camera for hobby or street. The D800 is just too big, too heavy, and too "attention grabbing" for day to day use out on the streets. My K5 with Limited series lenses are light, durable, and portable enough for me to take almost anywhere and not become a nuances. I feel with the D800 I'm just screaming "look he has a camera!" 3: The noise control is unreal. Really... you think the K5 is good? What about the D600? Well the D800 is better. Immensely better. Stupidly better. 4: The focusing system is fantastic 5: Either CLS (creative lighting system) is unreliable, or I have no idea how to use it. Quick google search reveals it's a strong possibility for both. 6: Weather sealing held up to a pretty hard downpour, confidence is high 7: Big files means the need to splurge on expensive CF/SD cards that are fast enough to keep up. Best deal I've found is $160 CAD for a Promaster 32gb CF card with an advertised speed of 105mb/sec from McBain Camera. Or $70 for a Acumem 32gb SD card advertised at 90mb/sec from Vistek. 8: The sensor is unreal. 9: I miss image stabilization on EVERY lens. Lens update: 50mm 1.8 D lens is going bye bye. will upgrade to 50mm f1.4 G 85mm 1.8 G lens is still my favorite producing fantastic images on the D800. I need to use this lens more 50mm f1.4 Planar from Zeiss is an amazing lens, but the focus ring is a bit too tight. Love it's rendering though. Does give off minor chromatic aberrations. Wish they offered it in an AF model. Is there another 50 that produces this kind of optical quality with AF? 80-200 f2.8 really is an amazing piece of glass and is right up there with the 85mm 1.8 G. For $1000 less than the 70-200 f2.8 VC you can either get this or the 70-200 f4 VC. For the speed upgrade, and $200 savings.. I'll take the 80-200 any day of the week. That being said... I will probably eventually upgrade to the 70-200 f2.8 24 f2.8 D has started to control my mind. It's surprisingly sharp, but has bad issues with purple fringing. Thankfully easy to correct. I need a standard zoom. Saving up for the VC Tamron. The original one I was looking at is so incredibly soft. I very badly want a 105 f2 DC. I use my 77mm Limited way to much on ASPC. I want this FOV on FF Last edited by Wired; 06-20-2013 at 06:54 PM.

06-21-2013, 06:44 AM	#7
Nesster Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: NJ USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 13,072	Originally posted by Wired 1: Major upgrade from the D600. The D600 to me was an "equal" to the K5 in terms of image quality, but inferior to the K5 in terms of ergonomics, weather sealing, and build quality. The D800 solves 90% of my issues with the D600, and is incredibly superior to the K5. 2: It's a professional tool. For a Pentax shooter who is not planning on selling his Pentax kit, I see no reason to make the D800 my daily camera. While it will be my primary camera for professional shooting, my K5 will be my primary camera for hobby or street. The D800 is just too big, too heavy, and too "attention grabbing" for day to day use out on the streets. My K5 with Limited series lenses are light, durable, and portable enough for me to take almost anywhere and not become a nuances. I feel with the D800 I'm just screaming "look he has a camera!" Apart from what you mention, do you feel the D600 is significantly smaller than the D800, ie a good compromise between a K5 and D800? apart from size, there's the whole Nikon thing --- people see Nikon and think CAMERA. I bought a F100 to get some taste of Nikon AF and to my amusement the biggest hurdle I have is to have the courage to walk around with a NIKON.

06-21-2013, 08:07 AM	#8
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519 Original Poster	Originally posted by Nesster Apart from what you mention, do you feel the D600 is significantly smaller than the D800, ie a good compromise between a K5 and D800? apart from size, there's the whole Nikon thing --- people see Nikon and think CAMERA. I bought a F100 to get some taste of Nikon AF and to my amusement the biggest hurdle I have is to have the courage to walk around with a NIKON. Yes, walking around with a Nikon gets eyeballs flying your way. It's like driving around with a corvette. Everyone looks at you. You shoot a Pentax and only the enthusiasts give you any attention. It's a security thing for me. The body size.... that's personal preference. I hated the way the D600 felt. Grips too small, pinky kept falling off... so I bought a battery grip and my experience was much better. The D800 I don't need the grip, I'm happy without it, camera feels really good. The K5 same thing, it's the most comfortable DSLR camera I've ever held. Your mileage may vary depending on what you find comfortable.

06-21-2013, 08:08 AM	#9
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519 Original Poster	Originally posted by the swede Wired: Give the CLS thing another chance. I found it to be fantastic once you understand it. I really think you should read up on the differences between the 50 1.8G and 1.4G... many have switched from the 1.4G to 1.8G The 1.8G focuses faster... and there was something about bokeh to... i dont remember what it was though. Hummm....okay I thought I read that before. I'll look at the 1.8G again. I had bad luck with three consecutive copies. But they were all from the same shipment. Maybe it warrants a revisit. How is the 28 1.8? And I won't give up on CLS. Just 20 minutes before a wedding starts is not a good time to learn it.

06-21-2013, 08:09 AM	#10
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519 Original Poster	Originally posted by kenafein Sounds like a fun, by the seat of your pants day, and you succeeded. I am glad the camera is working out for you, overall. You say you need a standard zoom. The 28-75 isn't working out for you, as a stop gap? Did you try it out at the wedding? I didn't buy it. I grabbed CF card and Sb700 instead. I use wide angles so infrequently I decided to see if I could get by with just primes. And I can. But it's a tool I still should have in my bag.

06-21-2013, 11:32 PM	#11
the swede Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 2,310	Originally posted by Wired Hummm....okay I thought I read that before. I'll look at the 1.8G again. I had bad luck with three consecutive copies. But they were all from the same shipment. Maybe it warrants a revisit. How is the 28 1.8? And I won't give up on CLS. Just 20 minutes before a wedding starts is not a good time to learn it. I believe the 50 1.8G is a gem, for the price, its a treasure... But i can understand if bad copies turned you of. The 28... oh my... I think the words would be (like what J.Sherman said about DA 15 Ltd) "The Nikon AF-S 28 1.8G controls my mind" Haha, ok, 20 minutes is nothing... took me months to read up and understand the CLS thingy... still havent learned it 100% The thing is... while one is reading and learning, its easy just to let the CLS do the work and forget about it. Your D800 as well as my D600 has nice new flash comp options where you can adjust the ambient and flash exposure individually. Nice!

06-22-2013, 03:20 PM	#12
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519 Original Poster	I was playing around with the CLS setup on my Sb700's today, just messing around. Wow that system works, and well. I think Pentax tried to do something similar with the FGZ540 flashes, as I believe some of this functionality exists, but it's a pain to get it to work. On the Nikon it actually works! I gotta get myself at least one more SB700...maybe even a 9 series, just to do some of the lighting setups I want. Very excited.

06-22-2013, 10:59 PM - 1 Like	#13
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519 Original Poster	Ok, this little 24mm f2.8 D lens is controlling my mind. I can't seem to leave it at home! I just love it. Here are some shots from today. (9 frame HDR)

06-23-2013, 02:28 AM	#14
the swede Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 2,310	Excellent Winder! The 24 is nice! I have two SB700, they're awesome and small. So easy to work with. I run them wirelessly in CLS with Aokatec triggers, works very well for a fraction of the price the big radio brands cost! Aokatec - Products

06-23-2013, 07:41 PM	#15
Wired Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Edmonton, AB Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,519 Original Poster	Originally posted by the swede Excellent Winder! The 24 is nice! I have two SB700, they're awesome and small. So easy to work with. I run them wirelessly in CLS with Aokatec triggers, works very well for a fraction of the price the big radio brands cost! Aokatec - Products Winder's a different member here, I'm "Wired". The SB700 is amazing, what a fantastic flash. It's so well priced too, I got both of mine for just over $300 Canadian... can't think of a better deal in the photography world. Even if I just kept them in manual mode I would have been happy, now that I know about CLS and how I can control the output from my camera without going to the flashgun... oh man, what a dream! I can do that with my Elinchrom strobes, but had no idea I could do that with portable flash guns!