Nikon D750 & D780

David, some really wonderful shots there. The waterfall ones are simply superb. I think you will love the 85 G. I have it too.
 
David, did you use any filter(s) for the long exposure shots of waterfalls?
 
I used a HOYA pro-1 CPL for most shots which i bought especially for this trip. Great piece of kit.

The long 5 minute expsoure was taken with a cheap XCSOURCE 10 stopper. Hardly any cast at all and as you can see from zooming in it hasn't caused any visable loss in IQ.
 
The 85mm is a mighty fine lens - great sharpness from what is quite a cheap lens!
 
I think I have found a bag I finally like for my D750 and 1 prime set-up for family time! I came across the Billingham Hadley Digital on the weekend and it fitted the D750 and 50mm the shop had with ease and room leftover for either another prime laying flat or the SB-700 in the front pocket. I didn't intend to find it but was browsing the tech section in Selfridges for an RX100 and came across it amongst other shiny toys.
 
Im still loving my Thinktank for a prime walkabout bag. Think about 3 people have bought once since too. Hadley Digital looks nice though - very un camera like!

Actually - I like it a lot... what colour you going for?

@redlion - would it fit D750, 35mm and 85mm?
 
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JJ! said:
Im still loving my Thinktank for a prime walkabout bag. Think about 3 people have bought once since too. Hadley Digital looks nice though - very un camera like!

Actually - I like it a lot... what colour you going for?

@redlion - would it fit D750, 35mm and 85mm?
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I am going for the Sage/Tan colour. I would primarily use it for my Nikon kit but would double it up as a travel bag for any family trips where I take a smaller point and shoot. The Sage/Tan in person looked really slick over the other options.

I tried it with a D750 + 50MM 1.8 in the shop and depending on how you configure it there should be room for the 85MM 1.8. You can place the camera on the side, flat or minus the lens on. The main attraction of the bag was the small size and it blending in when out.

My intention is to use it for 35/85 and leave my 24-70 and remainder kit in my massive backpack.
 
My first real D750 experience from a recent trip

Here’s a D750 user experience (don’t want to call review as it isn’t) on using the D750 (upgrade from D600/D610). Thought of sharing my first real experience shooting with the D750.

Bought the D750 from Panamoz (grey) last week in UK and got a chance use it for 4 days in Bruges and Ghent on a family holiday trip. I was always sceptical about this upgrade as I never felt my D610 was lacking in what I shoot, but the discussions on the D750 and why it is better than D610 along with few odd issues I had with the D610 let me ponder about the upgrade. The issues I had with the D610 were minor and it is a much capable camera compared to my skills. Having said that, when I found I could get the D750 for £250-300 more after selling the D610 to MPB, I decided to go for it (partly to put my mind to rest which I guess many are going through in terms of D610-->D750)

What I took with me
D750, 24-85 VR (yeah only one lens while travelling with family on short trips), OP/Tech camera strap, 3 batteries (2 original Nikon and one aftermarket that I have been using with the D610), Benro IT15 Tripod and Haida 10 stop ND (didn’t get a chance to use it).

What I shot
Apart from usual travel shots, I had lot of hopes of shooting golden hour and night scenes, but could only manage little time as travelling with a kid always slows you down. I mostly shot cityscapes in Ghent and Bruges, both beautiful cities and we had a great time. While most of the shots were in daytime I shot quite a few in challenging light to see how the D750 compares to the D610 in terms of focussing capabilities and getting the shot. I shot around 500 images and once I have done my culling, I will start editing the images.

Experience
How was my experience with the D750? In summary it was fantastic as a whole. It was not like night and day compared to the D610, but the overall experience was much nicer and I will get to those points.

What I liked about the D750
Grip and body handling: First thing that I noticed after a day’s use is the grip. No doubt, the grip is much ergonomic for my hands and a good upgrade from the D610. As I mentioned earlier, the D750 feels a bit wider due to its compressed design and that also helps immensely on the left hand grip compared to the D610. With the D610, I had some uneasiness on the left hand grip and the tight space between the right hand grip and any wider lens. The D750 wins this round and I suggest all D610 users to try out a D750 at a store and see if see any advantage in upgrading.

Controls: In terms of layout the D610 and D750 are very similar. I found few things useful on the D750 like assigning the ISO to movie record button and this is a substantial advantage as you don’t have to use the left hand at all which was always bit odd with the D610 while shooting and you had to take your eyes off the viewfinder while changing ISO.

Responsiveness: While shooting the camera is very responsive with the AF and locking to subjects. I used a 95 mbps(Transcend) card and a 60 mbps (Sandisk) card. They worked fine and didn’t had any instances like I had on the D610 where the writing to card took some time with the green light on.

Useful features: The 100% zoom to focus point is a fantastic feature that was not present in the D610 and I can understand why lot of people complained about that missing in the D610. It is not always about IQ, such features makes the whole shooting and reviewing experience much better and D75o gets full point for including that. The focus point orientation memory is really nice while switching between orientations. This helps particularly when you are travelling and shooting a mixture of scenes in front of you and occasional family portraits. The OVF led lights are better than the D610 and clearer.

The tilt screen is a real nice addition while shooting long exposures and placing the camera as odd heights. I loved this on the D5100 and it was great to use this when needed. The screen seems well made and sturdy. Cleaning inside for dusts will be necessary if used for long duration.
I have not used other useful features like extended bracketing, Highlight weighted metering, group AF etc., so I will refrain from commenting this time.

AF: In one word ‘Brilliant’. For most well lit situations I couldn’t find much difference to the D610 and I think that is applicable to most DSLRs anyway. What I found was that the D750 not only locks focus quick without hesitation in low light and challenging scenarios, it also snaps more convincingly. All shots I clicked inside low light churches, cathedrals and streets snapped focus better than the D610. It is not placebo effect, I noticed it every time even on the modest 24-85 VR. I never had major issues with the AF on the D610, but I found its limitation in low light where it used to hunt a bit and also with tungsten light where it tends to front or back focus in certain shorts. I noticed no such thing with the D750 (happy). The upgrade is worth for this feature alone depending on what you shoot. I shot many scenes with outer focus points and found all shots fine, but the real test will be with wide open primes which I will do later with the 85F1.8G. On AF, the D750 simply rocks. The AF spread is not a lot wider compared to D610, but it does help with the outer points stretched out a little bit.

What I didn’t like or may need some to adjust to using the D750
  1. The top LCD is slimmer and shows less info now and the White balance and Quality settings are only changeable with the back LCD. While this does offer more info and in better graphics, I preferred the D610 way where I could change it using the top LCD only.
  2. The Fn and Preview buttons are placed bit differently on the D750 and I think I would get used to that soon. One of the things that was annoying was accidentally I was pressing the Zoom out button instead of the Zoom in as they changed the order in the D750. Nikon need to stop fiddling with button positions and stick to one format. I am sure I will get used to the new layout, but it is bit annoying.
  3. I wish it had an OVF screen curtain like the D810 for long exposure shooting. I noticed banding on some shots as light will find its way inside through the OVF. Need to find a solution. Any recommendations is greatly appreciated.
  4. Wifi and Nikon App – Not so happy with the performance and eats batteries a lot. Nikon needs to improve on the app as it is pathetic. I don’t see myself using wifi much, but it’d be good to have something that works in a simple manner.
  5. Reviewing images: At times it felt it takes time to load up images or a menu. Can’t really figure out what exactly, but there seems to be a bit sluggish at times.
Image Quality:
Bit early to comment until I start proper editing, but here are my first impressions going through images on PC. I haven’t done any comparison with the D610, but was not expecting much difference in terms of raw file output. What I did notice was the grain structure and colour noise while shooting high ISO (3200 and up) appears slightly better than the D610. It could be Expeed or some tweak they did on the sensor. The grain is finer and I am glad to notice less purple noise on the D750 at 6400 and 12800 compared to the D610. Need more testing to comment further. This was also the first time I used the Auto ISO more in this trip and up to 8000 as the upper limit and so far on a quick glance on images, I am impressed with what I am seeing so far. As I start editing I will be able to comment further on IQ.

Colour: The D750 has a slightly different colour rendering compared to D610. It is bit colder, but pleasing. It seems to have bit less saturation than D610 which I am liking. The flat profile used in camera editing shows an enormous amount of detail, but with a flat tone curve which could be useful for not only video, but also certain stills.

Exposure: I noticed that with standard profile (sharpness set to 1 and clarity to 0) and Matrix metering, the D750 tends to underexpose by around 0.3 EV compared to the D610. I need to test this more. This is not a deal breaker as long as one knows it is the case and compensates either in setup or while shooting.

A note on Raw2 Nef: I was also keen to use Raw2Nef and edit the files in CNX2 and see how it works being a long time CNX2 users. Made a copy of originals for Lightroom and converted one copy using Raw2Nef (The files after conversion are around 50% larger at 40-48 MB). The files open up perfectly in CNX2 after the conversion and I was able to use it straightaway. Few observations I had are
  1. The default setting on sharpness is set to 4. It would be great to have a configuration where it can be set to 0 or 1. It just saves one more step in editing.
  2. After processing a NEF and converting to jpeg, I noticed the exif loses the lens information on site like Flickr just below the camera. Not sure why. The same mage converted in LR and saved as jpeg and uploaded to flickr shows the lens make just under the camera model – Curious to know why.
LR: I used it briefly and noticed one thing straight away. The default rendering on camera profiles are much better than D610. Adobe did something to the D750 settings.

Summary:
I had fun shooting with the D750 and I can say honestly that it is one of the advantage the D750 has over the D610 in terms of a whole experience. It is not night and day difference between the two in IQ, but the grip, the minor changes to handling, snappier AF, some advanced controls, tilt screen, slightly better high usable ISO, all add to the experience. The D750 is just more fun to use. Happy to be a D750 owner and so far the upgrade from D610 is worth it at a difference of just over £200.

I am yet to process images, but here is one I shot from a moving bus (at 70 mph) through the window while returning from Bruges and on our way to Calais. I fell asleep and woke up and saw wonderful colours on the sky. Grabbed my D750 and focussed on a distant set of trees with AF-On on AF-C and fired a few shots. Didn’t get time to change settings and out of 4 shots this one had no objects on front like bushes, structures and poles. This pic proves nothing, just a casual shot, but liked the no nonsense way the camera responded through glass and glare and returned an usable image.


Bruges to Calais by Anirban Acharya, on Flickr
 
minnnt said:
Yep. Was gonna go for the 35 art on the 750 and just leave the 24-70 on the 7000 but i couldn't warrant £450 tbh.
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Where did you see the 35 Art for £450? I am still liking my F2 D 35mm but have an itch for the Sigma that needs sorting at some stage.
 
Nice review! It's nice to read so many positives and the fact you enjoyed it so much using what people call a kit lens makes it even better. Lovely shot too.
 
JJ! said:
Im still loving my Thinktank for a prime walkabout bag. Think about 3 people have bought once since too. Hadley Digital looks nice though - very un camera like!

Actually - I like it a lot... what colour you going for?

@redlion - would it fit D750, 35mm and 85mm?
Click to expand...

I bought a retrospective 7, in the end. Love it! I can see how not having a clip could put some off but the velcro is pretty sturdy which you would hear being tugged at and I like how you can mask the velcro off for times you want quick, easy access. Can see me buying a Retrospective 40 later on, or when my Stealth gives up.

I now need to have a serious clear out of bags, only problem is the damn postage, so awkward posting bulky stuff. I will sell my Billingham 207 (love this bag, but); Lowepro Classified 160; Lowepro Mini Trekker, Lowepro Nova 160 - I think that's it. Leaves me 3 bags.....
 
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redlion said:
I am going for the Sage/Tan colour. I would primarily use it for my Nikon kit but would double it up as a travel bag for any family trips where I take a smaller point and shoot. The Sage/Tan in person looked really slick over the other options.

I tried it with a D750 + 50MM 1.8 in the shop and depending on how you configure it there should be room for the 85MM 1.8. You can place the camera on the side, flat or minus the lens on. The main attraction of the bag was the small size and it blending in when out.

My intention is to use it for 35/85 and leave my 24-70 and remainder kit in my massive backpack.
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Let me know when you get it - interested too see it loaded up!
 
Livin The Dream said:
I bought a retrospective 7, in the end. Love it! I can see how not having a clip could put some off but the velcro is pretty sturdy which you would hear being tugged at and I like how you can mask the velcro off for times you want quick, easy access. Can see me buying a Retrospective 40 later on, or when my Stealth gives up.

I now need to have a serious clear out of bags, only problem is the damn postage, so awkward posting bulky stuff. I will sell my Billingham 207 (love this bag, but); Lowepro Classified 160; Lowepro Mini Trekker, Lowepro Nova 160 - I think that's it. Leaves me 3 bags.....
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I like the look of the Nova Classified 160, looks like an old model no longer available...:(
 
JJ! said:
Nice review! It's nice to read so many positives and the fact you enjoyed it so much using what people call a kit lens makes it even better. Lovely shot too.
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Thanks. It was really fun using the D750. I know the 24-85 is a kit lens, but I like it for the purpose of travel and casual shooting. Light and easy to carry and creates decent images. I might buy the 24 or 20 mm F1.8 later. I still need to go through all images and see how the 24-85 managed.
 
kraftyskillz said:
Proud new owner of a D750. Can't wait to test it out over the weekend. Great shots David, what lens did you use for the waterfall? You know, i'd actually buy one of them as a print. The detail is amazing.
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Thankyou @kraftyskillz

I used the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 with a Hoya Pro-1 circular polarizer filter.

mikeysaling said:
Really happy images of your family - like a lot
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Thanks @mikeysaling much appreciated! (y)

razer said:
View attachment 49400 View attachment 49401 I went for a walk along the river, as you can see I'm no landscape photographer. hence the use of a 80-200. but I love my D750..
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Great colours!!
 
@redlion i was speaking about second hand prices in general athough a few grey retailers have it for around £450-460 i believe?

Was considering picking up a 35mm f1.8 DX lens as i plan to shoot as wide open as possible so it should just about be ok with some vignette correction in post. Will probably just stick to my 24-70 though for most of the day tbh.
 
minnnt said:
@redlion i was speaking about second hand prices in general athough a few grey retailers have it for around £450-460 i believe?

Was considering picking up a 35mm f1.8 DX lens as i plan to shoot as wide open as possible so it should just about be ok with some vignette correction in post.
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I won't suggest that option. I tried my D610 with my brother's 35 F1.8DX and while images wide open are usable, they are not great.
 
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