Nikon D810

Having a breather while shooting my second wedding with the D810, the D3s's days are numbered, love this camera. Battery life is crap though, 18% remaining after 404 shots, have tweaked some of the monitor off delay settings, hopefully that will help a little.


You using live view a lot? Can't imagine why with a wedding, but simple shooting I get MUCH more than that. I doubt the D810 would be so much different. Are you using the new battery that came with the D810? They take a few cycles to reach optimum, so it may improve if that's the case.

You chimping a lot?
 
I chimp like a baboon and I get serious life from a battery on the E. Often zooming well in to see all is sharp. Shot a wedding early June and didn't have to switch batt's until well into reception. Would the new processor be sucking up that much more life?
 
I chimp like a baboon and I get serious life from a battery on the E. Often zooming well in to see all is sharp. Shot a wedding early June and didn't have to switch batt's until well into reception. Would the new processor be sucking up that much more life?

LOL at the chimp like a baboon!!
 
I reckon it's just a new battery needing a few cycles to get up to speed
 
You using live view a lot? Can't imagine why with a wedding, but simple shooting I get MUCH more than that. I doubt the D810 would be so much different. Are you using the new battery that came with the D810? They take a few cycles to reach optimum, so it may improve if that's the case.

You chimping a lot?

I chimp a bit, especially for the first few shoots when using new gear, but not as much as some I see.

Much better today after changing display option 700+ shots at 20% remaining. Hopefully with cycles it will improve even more.
 
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I found the D800 batteries were best after around 3 cycles... same with the D700 (same battery).
 
What's the story on overall battery life? One of mine shows as 3/4 on the battery age meter
 
What's chimping, taking numerous shots ? Why chimping - monkeying about ? I've never come across that bit of slang before,
 
What's chimping, taking numerous shots ? Why chimping - monkeying about ? I've never come across that bit of slang before,
when someone constantly keeps looking at all their shot images on the LCD screen, they look like a chimp sat picking fleas off another chimp, hence chimping
 
when someone constantly keeps looking at all their shot images on the LCD screen, they look like a chimp sat picking fleas off another chimp, hence chimping

would be more appropriate to some mobile phone users …….. the younger generation
 
What's chimping, taking numerous shots ? Why chimping - monkeying about ? I've never come across that bit of slang before,

As Gary said.. but usually when it's used as a means of actually working... Shoot... check.. that's crap... twiddle settings... ahh.. that's better... Rather than actually knowing what you're doing. For weddings though, it's usually accepted practice as checking for blinks is pretty important. Having said that, we managed with film perfectly OK :)

As Steven does, I have image review turned off. It's easy enough to press play as he says.
 
I thought it came from showing others the pics on the LCD, and they'd go "Ooooh, ahhhh, ooooh ..." sounding like chimps. And this then became the slang for even doing it solo.

Either way, I do it a lot, I do it on the fly to check exposure, I've gotten so used to just using a quick glance at an image I just shot as a guide. And it works, as I rarely have to balance exposure in post. I don't care how it appears, if it works for me, I'm doing it. I've seen pro's 'chimp' on the fly too, so I don't feel any lesser for it. Chimp away I say!
 
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Of course, I'm thinking events/gigs/family shooting, where you have little time between shots.

If I'm out shooting for myself, I'm taking a lot more time per shot. But I don't see 'chimping' as bad in any case.
 
The problem with chimping is that if you are paying attention to the back of your camera you are not paying attention to what is going on. You *should* be able to check, make one adjustment (maybe multiple settings) and not need to look at it again until the situation changes significantly. And the better/more experience you are in a given situation the more likely that first image should be completely usable.

What I don't understand is someone firing off 10 shots and then checking all of them... If you weren't sure of the exposure WTH did you take 10? And if you missed the focus, oh well, too late now. And WTH would you take 10 shots unless you were fairly certain at least a couple were going to be in focus?

If things are slow, do whatever you want... LV/ETR/Bracket/whatever... that's NOT "chimping;" and chimping isn't going to hurt anything other than battery life.

** there are some situations like w/ tiny/fast birds in flight where "chimping" is really just checking to see if you "got lucky." And it's still a "mistake" because it's diverting your attention.
 
The photographic language evolves... I'm pretty confident with my exposures, as you say never had it in the film days. Mind you back in the late 70s /80s the word bokeh didn't exist. And in standard photographic reference books (Langford) there were no references to street photography. They were all 'candid' back then.
 
The screen is a tool, use it to achieve the best results you can, just don't spend time staring at it or you'll miss whats going on around you. The film days are so yesterday man, move on! When I shoot posed groups (groan) I check every shot, with a hoodman loupe if its sunny, to make sure I have everyone's eyes open, I guess that makes me a super-chimp.

Going back to the D810 battery worries I had on Friday, looks like the image review display time was set to 10 mins, I've changed it to 10 seconds, but will change it still to off as with my other cameras. I've also switched off the LCD illumination, not sure why I turned that on either. 700 shots per battery is fine with me as it will get me through to the wedding breakfast comfortably, though would be nice to see 1k.
 
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The screen is a tool, use it to achieve the best results you can, just don't spend time staring at it or you'll miss whats going on around you. The film days are so yesterday man, move on! When I shoot posed groups (groan) I check every shot, with a hoodman loupe if its sunny, to make sure I have everyone's eyes open, I guess that makes me a super-chimp.

Going back to the D810 battery worries I had on Friday, looks like the image review display time was set to 10 mins, I've changed it to 10 seconds, but will change it still to off as with my other cameras. I've also switched off the LCD illumination, not sure why I turned that on either. 700 shots per battery is fine with me as it will get me through to the wedding breakfast comfortably, though would be nice to see 1k.

I don't disagree with you, I think the screen is a very useful for that reason for the occasional exposure / highlight check.

Good to hear the battery life is improved.
 
IIRC correctly there comments around the D700 and D3 saying similar -the AF should be the same but in reality aren't. The AF in the D810 is certainly better than the D3s, can't say how it compares to D4s though. One thing I'm very glad to see the back of is the focus inaccuracies caused by tungsten backlight.

Better than the D3S at AF? If that's the case then all the arguments about it being only a minor tweak over the D800 are over...

The D800 was far worse than the D300 at AF with moving subjects and the D3S was pretty much the master - absolute lightning.

Only trouble of course with AF is that the measurement is purely subjective, there are no numbers that can talk about focus speed/accuracy - only for someone experienced to go out, shoot a day's worth and have a feel for how many keepers they got compared to normal.

I shot all of the three I mentioned above back to back for British Superbike and that's my opinion of where they stand.... just need a D810 to test your theory now, but I'm endlessly optimistic that it could be true - if so, massive win!
 
Better than the D3S at AF? If that's the case then all the arguments about it being only a minor tweak over the D800 are over...

The D800 was far worse than the D300 at AF with moving subjects and the D3S was pretty much the master - absolute lightning.

Only trouble of course with AF is that the measurement is purely subjective, there are no numbers that can talk about focus speed/accuracy - only for someone experienced to go out, shoot a day's worth and have a feel for how many keepers they got compared to normal.

I shot all of the three I mentioned above back to back for British Superbike and that's my opinion of where they stand.... just need a D810 to test your theory now, but I'm endlessly optimistic that it could be true - if so, massive win!
I've no idea how AF on the D810 compares to the D3S in absolute terms... but I'd imagine D810's Group Area AF should be very useful for superbikes...
 
Better than the D3S at AF? If that's the case then all the arguments about it being only a minor tweak over the D800 are over...

The D800 was far worse than the D300 at AF with moving subjects and the D3S was pretty much the master - absolute lightning.

Only trouble of course with AF is that the measurement is purely subjective, there are no numbers that can talk about focus speed/accuracy - only for someone experienced to go out, shoot a day's worth and have a feel for how many keepers they got compared to normal.

I shot all of the three I mentioned above back to back for British Superbike and that's my opinion of where they stand.... just need a D810 to test your theory now, but I'm endlessly optimistic that it could be true - if so, massive win!
Spot on, d800 might have the AF of the D4 but no bleeding good when tracking moving subjects or in poorly lit conditions
 
Better than the D3S at AF? If that's the case then all the arguments about it being only a minor tweak over the D800 are over...

The D800 was far worse than the D300 at AF with moving subjects and the D3S was pretty much the master - absolute lightning.

Only trouble of course with AF is that the measurement is purely subjective, there are no numbers that can talk about focus speed/accuracy - only for someone experienced to go out, shoot a day's worth and have a feel for how many keepers they got compared to normal.

I shot all of the three I mentioned above back to back for British Superbike and that's my opinion of where they stand.... just need a D810 to test your theory now, but I'm endlessly optimistic that it could be true - if so, massive win!

I can't comment regarding motorsport and the D810 AF, been a while since I've done that with any camera. But I've shot 3 weddings with it now, two in horribly lit churches and the test for me is always the processional and first dance, D810 performed very well. Soon as my VAT bill is settled I'll be ordering a second one and selling another D3s.

One of the reasons I didn't get on with the D800 was that I found it hard to trust it to deliver sharp images in tricky conditions, I've never had that with the D3s, D3 (or even D700) and don't have it with the D810. A lot of it is down to technique Im sure, but that is how it was for me.
 
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The problem with chimping is that if you are paying attention to the back of your camera you are not paying attention to what is going on. You *should* be able to check, make one adjustment (maybe multiple settings) and not need to look at it again until the situation changes significantly. And the better/more experience you are in a given situation the more likely that first image should be completely usable.

What I don't understand is someone firing off 10 shots and then checking all of them... If you weren't sure of the exposure WTH did you take 10? And if you missed the focus, oh well, too late now. And WTH would you take 10 shots unless you were fairly certain at least a couple were going to be in focus?

If things are slow, do whatever you want... LV/ETR/Bracket/whatever... that's NOT "chimping;" and chimping isn't going to hurt anything other than battery life.

** there are some situations like w/ tiny/fast birds in flight where "chimping" is really just checking to see if you "got lucky." And it's still a "mistake" because it's diverting your attention.

I guess there's a big difference then, between what I do [and thought of as chimping] and actual excessive chimping. I really only do it when shooting groups, or portraits. it's the best way to check everyone, or main subject, is in sharp focus. As said earlier, I can tell right off, especially when using manual flash, how I need to adjust my settings for correct exposure after viewing just one shot quickly. I'll zoom in on groups to check for sharpness/eyes open across the board [I can do all this within seconds] - I'll do that once per group/set up, and when they change about I'll do it on the next first shot for that group/set up. I trust my settings for the next round of shots on same. As someone said, it's a tool, and I use it as such. I don't check it after every shot.

And just because film photographers never had this advantage, and I do see it as an advantage once used moderately, doesn't mean it's wrong to do so today. Film users will always harp on, let 'em on ... :D I used to shoot film as a kid myself. It's not as fascinating as the rose tinted spec wearers have people who never used it believe. I remember all those badly underexposed shots coming back from the printers!

Back OT: from what I can gather on this new model, it's pretty much same as what we already have, D800/E shooters, but 'could' attract more sports/gig/action photographers as a back up because of the faster speeds. It's definitely not a must have IMO say for wedding/portraiture/event/wildlife/landscape photographers.
 
I guess there's a big difference then, between what I do [and thought of as chimping] and actual excessive chimping. I really only do it when shooting groups, or portraits. it's the best way to check everyone, or main subject, is in sharp focus. As said earlier, I can tell right off, especially when using manual flash, how I need to adjust my settings for correct exposure after viewing just one shot quickly. I'll zoom in on groups to check for sharpness/eyes open across the board [I can do all this within seconds] - I'll do that once per group/set up, and when they change about I'll do it on the next first shot for that group/set up. I trust my settings for the next round of shots on same. As someone said, it's a tool, and I use it as such. I don't check it after every shot.

And just because film photographers never had this advantage, and I do see it as an advantage once used moderately, doesn't mean it's wrong to do so today. Film users will always harp on, let 'em on ... :D I used to shoot film as a kid myself. It's not as fascinating as the rose tinted spec wearers have people who never used it believe. I remember all those badly underexposed shots coming back from the printers!

Back OT: from what I can gather on this new model, it's pretty much same as what we already have, D800/E shooters, but 'could' attract more sports/gig/action photographers as a back up because of the faster speeds. It's definitely not a must have IMO say for wedding/portraiture/event/wildlife/landscape photographers.

I have never heard any film users says it's not a good idea. Mind you I did have a polaroid back so I could check studio shots on my Hasselblad 500cm. Which was the 80s equivalent of an LCD screen. I never sent anything off to the printers doing all the D+P myself or getting one the the lab techs to do it for me. (C41 and monochrome) but I have seen a lot of horrendous stuff from truprint, triple print etc. I personally wouldn't want to see a return to the those days. Digital photography is so much easier and far less stressful.
 
How owners of the d810 found it for needing AF micro adjustment for lenses? On US forums a lot seemed to claim the d4s seemed to sort any need for this and I've seen one post saying similar for the d810,can anyone confirm?
 
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Well, got mine and I stand amazed at the low light capability. My D4s still has the edge but it's close. I wonder if the AF illuminator light has something to do with it? Why does it need it with the Expeed 4 processor?
 
trying to fight the urge. Someone tell me how rubbish this camera is!
 
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