Nikon D800......

To be honest, I think it would be fine for many sports, just not the really excitable ones in dim lighting maybe. But then, I'm no sports photographer ... But, I mean, a footy match during the day and it'll be more than capable I'd say.
 
I used 5d2 for sports so can't see why d800 would not be able to do sports. Would just not shoot 100000frames per second as d4s can ;)
 
My camera is rarely ever out of single shot mode anyhow :D I'm not into 'ripping' off shots I can imagine the nightmare sports photographers may have when they upload their images to PC. 100s of shots pretty much the same, trying to pick out the best ones, and deleting the rest ... probably?
 
bastic said:
I used 5d2 for sports so can't see why d800 would not be able to do sports. Would just not shoot 100000frames per second as d4s can ;)
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Able to do sports - yes.

The best choice for sports - no.

Check out the pros in bibs at any football, rugby, tennis etc and those from the major agencies are going to be using D4/s, D3/s, 1Dx, 1DMkIV and not D800s or 5DMkIIIs.

I completely understand where if you are an occasional action photographer, or need a single body does everything photographer then the D800/5D2/5D3 is a great choice but if you have multiple bodies to suit different types of photography and you shoot sport then you are on a body which is designed for the job.

You wouldn't choose to walk up a mountain in a pair of brogues, you'd use walking boots. Doesn't mean you couldn't.
 
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My D800 came from Panamoz today, under £1500...delivered :D

I mainly do landscapes and outdoor, but wanted to familiarise myself with the controls. A ziess 21mm is coming for it soon.

I read a lot about the pixel count and unforgiving stuff about the sensor. The difference between mirror locked and not locked is noticable, and not really there with the 24mp D610 I have. I am confident using the 610 handheld, seems to yield sharp results. Think this 800 is a mirror locked/tripod beast, which is fine, as thats how I will use it.

Anyway, I stuck my 50mm F1.8 on and faffed around.


_DSC0032 by SFTPhotography, on Flickr


_DSC0036 by SFTPhotography, on Flickr

Just an A4 paper, F7.1 and 0.8secs at ISO400. Cropped down to about 7.89mp. Looks ace. My 1st attempt at anything close up or indoor. Its not how I will use it, but something maybe to dabble with.
 
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Anyone got any ideas what's happening here? Been out today with the 10-stop and 16-35 and am rather concerned at the results. I've been using this combo for a while now but not come across anything like this, all were taken in manual (30 sec exposures) and are SOOC, no editing at all. I also took some handheld faster shutter speed stuff and the problem doesn't present itself at all. The lens and filter were both cleaned before I set off out.

13357919894_16aa58f57e_b.jpg


13357923914_29f244b05d_b.jpg
 
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No, it was definitely closed.

EDIT: When I say 'definitely closed', I actually mean 'definitely closed-ish'. Just checked the camera and the blind isn't fully closed which I guess will account for the light leak. I'll be certain to make sure the thing is fully closed in future, thanks Mike. :) There are 2 plus sides however, my wife is delighted that her iPhone shots came out better than mine and I don't have to contemplate the torture of returning it to Currys. :eek:
 
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john_e said:
EDIT: When I say 'definitely closed', I actually mean 'definitely closed-ish'. Just checked the camera and the blind isn't fully closed which I guess will account for the light leak. I'll be certain to make sure the thing is fully closed in future, thanks Mike. :) There are 2 plus sides however, my wife is delighted that her iPhone shots came out better than mine and I don't have to contemplate the torture of returning it to Currys. :eek:
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Cool - pleased you checked and have worked it out.... threw me the first time it happened to me - now to go and re-shoot them again !
 
Can someone recommend an alternative to the Meike battery grip. I have one of these and the directional buttons are a bit crap.

Without buying the oem one, are there any other third party ones that are a little better?
 
not much help but after spending far too long trawling through reviews last year I ended up buying the Nikon grip, the cost stung but I don't regret it
 
I have the pixel one, it's pretty solid and works well. I rarely use it though, as I prefer the feel of the camera without it, and I've yet to run out of battery power. The only advantage to it for me would be more comfortable vertical shooting, but I don't find that much of an issue.
 
Cagey75 said:
I have the pixel one, it's pretty solid and works well. I rarely use it though, as I prefer the feel of the camera without it, and I've yet to run out of battery power. The only advantage to it for me would be more comfortable vertical shooting, but I don't find that much of an issue.
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I purely need it for the vertical shooting battery life isn't an issue.
 
Hi Everybody. After months of deliberation I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase the D800. This decision took some time as I delayed in the hope that the few issues that have been mentioned here would be ironed out by Nikon in the latest batches of cameras.

Instead of going outside and enjoying our hobby on a sunny Sunday like any sane individual, I spent the last few hours trying to determine if my new purchase had the dreaded left point AF issue. I'm convinced from my tests that I do not, but I thought I would share some interesting (or not) observations about some popular lenses.

The key for each of the following comparison images is:

Bottom row: Live View
Top row: View Finder AF

Going across the image left to right aligns to left, centre and right focal points.

Focussed at 'bullseye'

Colour differences due to WB on auto. oops!

24mm f/2.8D (Not a recommended lens) Surprising



16-35mm f/4 at 16 and f/4 (on recommended lens list)



16-35mm f/4 at 35 and f/4



105mm f/2.8 VR (on recommended lens list)



50mm f1.4G (not on list, and quite right too!!)



50mm f/1.4G at 5.6



I tested the above 50mm lens on my D3S and it was sharp across the board. Have comparison images if any interest.
I also have test from 70-200 F2.8 VR I if any interest.

Comments welcome...apart from, 'you should get out more'!! :)
 
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An interesting result, and glad you did all the work!!. It looks like lenses on the Nikon "approved list" are ok;
anything else seems hit or miss. Now get out and enjoy your new purchase.
 
Thank you mate, and absolutely need to get out more! :)

Those left and right View Finder AF images for the the 50 at f/1.4 were quite a shock, but I guess the 24mm made up for it!
 
It appears that the 24 f/2.8D may be an under appreciated lens!

Due to how sharp my 105mm f/2.8 Macro and 16-35 f/4 lenses were across the board, e.g. Live view compared to View Finder AF and across the extremes of focus points (please see my post above) I felt that my D800 wasn't suffering from the AF issue that is well reported.

However, when I compare the 50mm f/1.4G wide open between my D3S and D800 the differences are dramatic. Is this just the limitation of the lens on the D800 or am I interpreting the results incorrectly and my D800 needs attention?

50mm f1.4 on D3S (one of my favourite lenses on this camera)




50mm f1.4 on D800 (Live view shots (bottom row) all look sharp but the left and right focal points through View Finder (top row) are terrible)



When I stop the lens down to f/5.6 the differences are far less dramatic.

Thanks for any help.
 
Hi Osmo

I don't think that your D800 needs attention - they're just a bit, well, odd really!

I have a Sigma 120-300 2.8 which is stunning on my D3x but less than great on my D800.

The only focus issue that I had was one of unpredictability.

I found occasionally that stationary subjects shot with locked down kit would be soft say 75% of the time.

Then it would be fine.

The camera went back to Nikon and was returned to me "checked and adjusted" but they did more than that to it as it was transformed.

So I guess what I'm saying is if you think you're missing more shots than you should then get it back to them.

It's a stunning camera and I hope you really enjoy it!

cheers, cw
 
Hi Chris.
Many thanks for your comments.

Each of my tests were performed three times and were almost identical each time. I've only posted a representative set from each test.

If you check out the images taken with the 105mm macro in my post #4419 above you will see that the view finder (top row) and live view (bottom row) shots are pretty identical and no asymmetry between left and right focal points. This test alone convinced me that the D800 I've got is ok.

Is what I'm seeing in my test with the 50mm wide open, what they refer to as edge softness, e.g. Im trying to focus on a point where the lens is at its softest and as such it fails to do so? and if this is the case how does using live view not show up this flaw in the lens as well?

The live view shots are all spot on (to my eyes at least). The view finder centre is also sharp however the left and right focal points are way off.

Looking forward to using the camera properly, just need to make sure the camera is a good one before I do. The risk of pretty much reading this entire D800 thread all the way through...if I hadn't, I might not be doing these tests and just getting out and using it! :)

Thanks again

Osmo
 
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I think I agree with the above. If you have done the test more than once and the results are the same with other lenses in terms of quality, the camera is most likely fine. Pity about the 1.4g on the d800 though I use it all the time on my D3 and it is probably my favourite lens on that body though haven't tried it on the d800.
 
Thanks Nguss. I was gutted the 1.4g appears to have limited use on the D800 as its barely off my D3S too. Very interested to hear how the 1.4g performs on your d800.
 
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Osmo said:
Thanks Nguss. I was gutted the 1.4g appears to have limited use on the D800 as its barely off my D3S too. Very interested to hear how the 1.4g performs on your d800.
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Why is it of limited use? Your test show the 1.4G performing perfectly when live view focused, so optically, there's nothing wrong with it. Your D800 clearly isn't AF focusing with that AF point accurately. If the softness was a result of the lens's optics, it would be the same whether live manually focused or using AF.

There's nothing wrong with the 50 1.4G. The fault is clearly either the camera, or you.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Why is it of limited use? Your test show the 1.4G performing perfectly when live view focused, so optically, there's nothing wrong with it. Your D800 clearly isn't AF focusing with that AF point accurately. If the softness was a result of the lens's optics, it would be the same whether live manually focused or using AF.

There's nothing wrong with the 50 1.4G. The fault is clearly either the camera, or you.
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Thanks Pookeyhead. Appreciate your comments.

This was my concern as well, as LV focus was spot on across the range and VF Centre point but left and right focal points were well off.

My question though is if my 105 f/2.8, 16-35 f/4 (both focal lengths) and my 70-200 f/2.8 VR (both focal lengths) gave either excellent or at least acceptable (to me) results across all focal points both in Live View and View Finder AF would that not indicate that the camera was fine?

My 50 f/1.4G performs superbly on my D3S and it looks like it is just this lens, but only on the D800. When stopped down, the results get significantly better on the D800.

I sent all of my images to the shop that I bought it from they said that because my other lenses all performed well, wide open, that the camera was fine.

You say the problem may be me. I really hope so, as that should be easily rectified! However, I performed all of my tests (for all lenses) in triplicate and the results were highly consistent.

Can you help me out so that I have a better case to argue when/if I need to take my camera back to the shop?

Many thanks

Osmo

PS Thanks Chris W as well for your views.
 
All I can say is that the lens is CAPABLE of producing a sharp image at 1.4, but the camera is preventing it from doing do when using the left or right AF points. Why it can with other lenses and not the 50mm 1.4G I've no idea... but I think it's something I'd be asking Nikon.

Osmo said:
I sent all of my images to the shop that I bought it from they said that because my other lenses all performed well, wide open, that the camera was fine.
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I could say the same about the 50mm on the D3.. as it performs superbly on the D3, then the problem must be with your D800 :)
 
Osmo, I may have missed it, but have you calibrated the lenses to the D800? I found that to be the single best improvement I've done in a long time.
 
gbmphoto said:
Osmo, I may have missed it, but have you calibrated the lenses to the D800? I found that to be the single best improvement I've done in a long time.
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+1

I have a 50/1.4 D that works just fine (on a D800E) but a friend's 50/1.4 G took some serious adjustment to make it acceptable on his D800, I believe he's now traded it in

Personally, I'm planning on getting the new Sigma 50/1.4 this year
 
Thanks Pookeyhead. I'll discuss with the shop again today and then go from there!

Thanks Gbmphoto and Colda. No, I have to admit that I have not calibrated that lens to the D800 nor any of the others that I tested either. It appears from the results that only the 50 f/1.4 may benefit from this. Colda, thats interesting that your 50 f/1.4D is fine on your D800E. So spot on focussing across all focal points and when comparing Live View to View Finder?

I will callibrate that troublesome 50mm and re-test.

Even my old 24 f/2.8 gave relatively good results on the D800 although not as great as the 105mm macro wide open. Perhaps it is a lens issue for the 50mm and only shows up on the D800 as the results on my other camera were fantastic, at least to my untrained eye!

Thanks all
 
to be honest, I've never gone into so much detail with my testing, I calibrate to the center point and then for me it's been more a case of looking into it if something's not right in my photos, previous to getting the D800E I was lazy with calibration and paid the price when I started using the D800E - before owning the D800E, I had a D800 but found no advantage in image quality over our D3X upgrading to the E makes quite a difference (in my opinion)

also found (as many others have) that the D800 (inc. E) is a very unforgiving camera, ideally I'd like a Df (or D4) as my main camera and keep the D800E for when I really need the extra resolution i.e. copy work for artists
 
Unless I've missed something calibration won't solve this issue - it'll just move the sweet spot from live-view to AF.

I think that your problem is the disparity between the two focus systems and on that basis I'd get it back to Nikon.

I spent a long frustrating time trying to get to grips with my D800, a quick return to Nikon really sorted it.

IMVHO these were designed by Nikon's "A" team but assembled by their "B".

And I owe you an apology for that earlier post Osmo - I can't have got my varifocals in the right place............;)


cheers, cw
 
Chris Wilson said:
Unless I've missed something calibration won't solve this issue - it'll just move the sweet spot from live-view to AF.
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I don't know Chris, but it's well worth a shot. At least if you are 100% certain that the lens is calibrated to the body, then you can be sure there is a fault if the two tests are still showing inconsistencies. Also, I am not sure how Osmo is focussing in live view, but if he is zooming in to the focal point then surely it will have greater accuracy than when AF through the viewfinder? In other words, if not calibrated and you try to AF in viewfinder it might be front/back focussing which calibration will sort out.
 
Reading all the above and to be quite honest I have never been completely happy with my D800 with regards to focusing, I get many shots which are out of focus. I put this down to my inexperience, however I would like my lens calibrated to my camera to see who is at fault, so how is this calibration carried out.
 
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