Nikon D850 - Owners Thread

Second time out with the D850. I thought I'd try an early evening shot and a memory for Snerkler.

Locally, we have a place called Matlock Bath and every year for about six weeks, all the trees, buildings and the river Derwent are lit up. The village calls this the Venetian Nights and it started around 1835. At weekends, there are fully lit and decorated boats that get rowed along the river Derwent. The big shame is that at the weekends, it is almost impossible to park and it's hard work just moving about. The whole place gets packed. This one was taken on Tuesday evening when it was a bit less hectic.

Matlock Bath by Mike Swain, on Flickr
 
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Second time out with the D850. I thought I'd try an early evening shot and a memory for Snerkler.

Locally, we have a place called Matlock Bath and every year for about six weeks, all the trees, buildings and the river Derwent are lit up. The village calls this the Venetian Nights and it started around 1835. At weekends, there are fully lit and decorated boats that get rowed along the river Derwent. The big shame is that at the weekends, it is almost impossible to park and it's hard work just moving about. The whole place gets packed. This one was taken on Tuesday evening when it was a bit less hectic.

Matlock Bath by Mike Swain, on Flickr
One of my favourite places, it's like a seafront but not by the sea :LOL: We tried to get to the illuminations a couple of years ago but ended up having to turn around and go back as the roads were gridlocked. We're going to try again this year but head out earlier.

Lovely image btw. I'm going to have to pick your brains one day about your PP ;)
 
Even midweek, when the lights are on, the car parks fill up pretty quickly. I arrived about half past five yesterday evening and managed to get one of the few parking spots that were still available. The lights, fireworks and illuminated boats at the weekend are brilliant but you probably need to be there by Tuesday to book your parking spot. ;)
 
Not sure if it's my imagination but although the D850s files are bigger, for me, they seem to load quicker than those from my D810 using a CF card. Don't know if that's anything to do with the XQD card or what.
 
Not sure if it's my imagination but although the D850s files are bigger, for me, they seem to load quicker than those from my D810 using a CF card. Don't know if that's anything to do with the XQD card or what.
Load to where, into software or just transferring them across to the computer? Transferring my files to the computer is super quick, but that's to be expected as read speed of my XQD is 400mb/s vs 95mb/s of my old SD cards ;)
 
Load to where, into software or just transferring them across to the computer? Transferring my files to the computer is super quick, but that's to be expected as read speed of my XQD is 400mb/s vs 95mb/s of my old SD cards ;)

Loading from the card into Lightroom on the PC Toby, I bought one of the Sony XQD USB adapters that was recommended on here. Transferring files from my D810 through a Lexar card reader and the CF card was never quick.
 
Loading from the card into Lightroom on the PC Toby, I bought one of the Sony XQD USB adapters that was recommended on here. Transferring files from my D810 through a Lexar card reader and the CF card was never quick.
I would guess it's due to the read speed of the card. I would imagine LR takes more time to process the files, but the transfer should depend primarily on the read speed (and of course the transfer speed of the reader)
 
I agree lovely images. I would also be very keen to hear what you have done in PP if you wouldn't mind please?


Thanks for the kind words. Regarding the PP, I can't say as I do anything really different. Most of the work is done in Lightroom and then into Photoshop to look for dust and to tidy any odd things up. I never spend more than 15 to 20 minutes on an image where as in the photographic group I belong to one of the members often spends up to 10 hours or more processing his images but they are amazing when he's finished.

I like to enjoy my photography from start to finish. For me, that's from planning the shots I'm going after, including looking where the sun is and the weather in general, taking the shots and finally sitting down for the PP. I probably spend far longer planning a shot than actually taking it and doing the PP. A bit sad really.:)
 
I would guess it's due to the read speed of the card. I would imagine LR takes more time to process the files, but the transfer should depend primarily on the read speed (and of course the transfer speed of the reader)

Thanks Toby.
 
Thanks for the kind words. Regarding the PP, I can't say as I do anything really different. Most of the work is done in Lightroom and then into Photoshop to look for dust and to tidy any odd things up. I never spend more than 15 to 20 minutes on an image where as in the photographic group I belong to one of the members often spends up to 10 hours or more processing his images but they are amazing when he's finished.

I like to enjoy my photography from start to finish. For me, that's from planning the shots I'm going after, including looking where the sun is and the weather in general, taking the shots and finally sitting down for the PP. I probably spend far longer planning a shot than actually taking it and doing the PP. A bit sad really.:)
I'm the same, I spend little time in PP these days, I have a preset that I use on import (mainly just a bit of sharpening, and camera profile with yellows turned down) and then the odd crop and exposure tweak. I would say you have very good use of highlights, shadows and clarity by the way your shots look, and of course good use of light in the first place (y)

Re the member who spends 10 hours PP'ing an image, does it look anything like the original when he's done? :eek:
 
Another one on the D850 learning curve. This is a shot from the interior of St Peter's church in Edensor village on the Chatsworth House estate in Derbyshire. It's a really beautiful church but very dark inside, it also has some form of lighting system that switches off if you don't move so I also had that to contend with.

Edensor St Peter's Flickr by Mike Swain, on Flickr
 
Cannot be anything but envious of the shot of Matlock bath and the church interior. Just wish I could get images like them.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I have to admit to be a bit anal with the shot of St Peter's, I must have spent five minutes rearranging the red books on the shelves behind the seats to get them all facing the same way. Now that is really SAD.:(
 
Another one on the D850 learning curve. This is a shot from the interior of St Peter's church in Edensor village on the Chatsworth House estate in Derbyshire. It's a really beautiful church but very dark inside, it also has some form of lighting system that switches off if you don't move so I also had that to contend with.

Edensor St Peter's Flickr by Mike Swain, on Flickr
Nice pic, I've never actually been into Edensor although driven right past it many many times. Is it empty more often than not in the church?
 
Nice pic, I've never actually been into Edensor although driven right past it many many times. Is it empty more often than not in the church?

Toby, there are notices on their website with various meetings listed but I think on the whole, St Peter's is not all that busy. There were a couple of workmen in and out of the church this morning but they, along with the villagers all spoke or came to talk. If it's of any interest, there are two "Fire Trees" on the Chatsworth Estate, not too far from the bridge over the Derwent and just off of the road leading to the house. They are in full colour at the minute being almost bright red. Not sure how long they'll last though with the high winds that have been battering the area.
 
Toby, there are notices on their website with various meetings listed but I think on the whole, St Peter's is not all that busy. There were a couple of workmen in and out of the church this morning but they, along with the villagers all spoke or came to talk. If it's of any interest, there are two "Fire Trees" on the Chatsworth Estate, not too far from the bridge over the Derwent and just off of the road leading to the house. They are in full colour at the minute being almost bright red. Not sure how long they'll last though with the high winds that have been battering the area.
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Yeah the weather's not great at the mo, hopefully I can get next week (I'm at Donington this weekend) (y)
 
Now the D850 can be picked up for £2330 new would you consider it a good move from my D500 (I would move on the D500) I have had an itch to get one since they came out but were so expensive and still are now but obviously around 1/3 less than release date, I fancy going back FF as I did love my D810 but wanted the D500 for nature and rapid fire when needed plus snappier focusing. the rapid fire has not been used that much on my D500 apart from Sea Eagles snatching fish in Scotland so not sure that is so important, any thoughts ? I may even look second hand but with places now selling new at £2330 it would seem mad to buy second hand unless it was a steal of a price? I have not ruled out getting D810 again and keeping the D500
 
Now the D850 can be picked up for £2330 new would you consider it a good move from my D500 (I would move on the D500) I have had an itch to get one since they came out but were so expensive and still are now but obviously around 1/3 less than release date, I fancy going back FF as I did love my D810 but wanted the D500 for nature and rapid fire when needed plus snappier focusing. the rapid fire has not been used that much on my D500 apart from Sea Eagles snatching fish in Scotland so not sure that is so important, any thoughts ? I may even look second hand but with places now selling new at £2330 it would seem mad to buy second hand unless it was a steal of a price? I have not ruled out getting D810 again and keeping the D500

I swapped out my D500 for a D850 on the basis of carrying only one camera that enabled me to shoot FX with super resolution and DX with almost the same resolution as the D500.
I don't regret the change as the D850 is great, especially for cropping where, in wildlife, detail is retained even in quite large crops ... where it doesn't match the D500 for me is in the "snappier focusing" comparison, it's good but it just doesn't have that superb edge that is instantly noticeable in the D500.
 
Now the D850 can be picked up for £2330 new would you consider it a good move from my D500 (I would move on the D500) I have had an itch to get one since they came out but were so expensive and still are now but obviously around 1/3 less than release date, I fancy going back FF as I did love my D810 but wanted the D500 for nature and rapid fire when needed plus snappier focusing. the rapid fire has not been used that much on my D500 apart from Sea Eagles snatching fish in Scotland so not sure that is so important, any thoughts ? I may even look second hand but with places now selling new at £2330 it would seem mad to buy second hand unless it was a steal of a price? I have not ruled out getting D810 again and keeping the D500
Obviously I'm assuming they're grey D850 prices? The D850 is a superb alrounder and has the best of both worlds as already said. The biggest drawbacks that I can see you having is that extra weight if you want to shoot at high fps (you need to buy the battery and grip to get the high fps and together they do weigh a bit) and the AF is not quite as fast as the D500, although tbh it's plenty fast enough for every application I've thrown at it and only a smidge behind the D500 from my experience (when comparing both with the 24-70mm and 70-200mm f2.8)
 
I swapped out my D500 for a D850 on the basis of carrying only one camera that enabled me to shoot FX with super resolution and DX with almost the same resolution as the D500.
I don't regret the change as the D850 is great, especially for cropping where, in wildlife, detail is retained even in quite large crops ... where it doesn't match the D500 for me is in the "snappier focusing" comparison, it's good but it just doesn't have that superb edge that is instantly noticeable in the D500.

Thanks Roger, the D500 is pretty special on autofocus for sure and of late my wildlife photography has slowed right down (mainly due to getting a new puppy!) last night took some distant stag shots but didnt need anything special for that as they dont move much, I am picking up an 85mm 1.8 at the weekend as want to do some more portrait/family pics again and that on the D810 was really special

Obviously I'm assuming they're grey D850 prices? The D850 is a superb alrounder and has the best of both worlds as already said. The biggest drawbacks that I can see you having is that extra weight if you want to shoot at high fps (you need to buy the battery and grip to get the high fps and together they do weigh a bit) and the AF is not quite as fast as the D500, although tbh it's plenty fast enough for every application I've thrown at it and only a smidge behind the D500 from my experience (when comparing both with the 24-70mm and 70-200mm f2.8)

Thanks Snerkler pretty much backed up Roger's comments on focus, I really dont need the machine gun effect ive only ever used it for the Sea Eagles this year where it was needed at collection of fish from water as they so quick ! but since then i tend to sit in QC mode which is slower as well as quieter
 
I was going to ask the same sort of question as I am hopefully picking up a Sigma 500mm f/4 sport in Nikon mount at the weekend. I mainly use Pentax but if it's anything fast moving then I have some Canon gear but this 500mm has come up (used) at a very good price, so much so I could just about scrape up enough for a D500 or D850 at a push. Grey D500 is only £975 (unless I can find a cheap used one ;)) what does the grip give me extra FPS wise?
 
I was going to ask the same sort of question as I am hopefully picking up a Sigma 500mm f/4 sport in Nikon mount at the weekend. I mainly use Pentax but if it's anything fast moving then I have some Canon gear but this 500mm has come up (used) at a very good price, so much so I could just about scrape up enough for a D500 or D850 at a push. Grey D500 is only £975 (unless I can find a cheap used one ;)) what does the grip give me extra FPS wise?

D500 gives 10fps ... D850 with grip and the large battery (EN-EL18/18a?) gives 9fps
 
Will a third party grip with non oem batteries still give the extra fps? I have never bought a knock off grip before but the originals are rather pricey.

TIA.
Most do, but check the reviews/questions on amazon to double check.
 
Will a third party grip with non oem batteries still give the extra fps? I have never bought a knock off grip before but the originals are rather pricey.

TIA.
Most do, but check the reviews/questions on amazon to double check.

As snerkler says ... due diligence to avoid the odd one that won't. :)
 
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Has anyone compared the differences in the EN-EL15 and EN-EL15a batteries?

If I remember correctly the Nikon advertising said the new EN-EL15a batteries gave more shots on the D850. I've been running them side by side but can't say one lasts longer than the other. Both appear to have the same data on the labels regarding power and output and apart from the colour, there's not a lot I can see that sets them apart.
 
i turned my camera off before it had finished writing to the card looks like i have lost 79 shots today
i thought it would have kept the info in the buffer i only took about 3 shots max each time
can i recover them ?
 
i turned my camera off before it had finished writing to the card looks like i have lost 79 shots today
i thought it would have kept the info in the buffer i only took about 3 shots max each time
can i recover them ?

If you switch the camera off with data still in the buffer the power stays on until the images have been written to the memory card.
 
If you switch the camera off with data still in the buffer the power stays on until the images have been written to the memory card.
That’s my experience too.
 
the images come up on the back screen as a red square with a red cross through it but laptop says unable to recognise file format but all the other images on the card
show up no prob on camera screen and on laptop.
would like to get the images as im in Malta on hols and won't be able to get the shots again
 
the images come up on the back screen as a red square with a red cross through it but laptop says unable to recognise file format but all the other images on the card
show up no prob on camera screen and on laptop.
would like to get the images as im in Malta on hols and won't be able to get the shots again
Very odd, maybe try one of the card recovery software?
 
I was going to ask the same sort of question as I am hopefully picking up a Sigma 500mm f/4 sport in Nikon mount at the weekend. I mainly use Pentax but if it's anything fast moving then I have some Canon gear but this 500mm has come up (used) at a very good price, so much so I could just about scrape up enough for a D500 or D850 at a push. Grey D500 is only £975 (unless I can find a cheap used one ;)) what does the grip give me extra FPS wise?

Hi Mike, I'm looking for a D500 at the moment, can you please let me know where you have seen the grey's at £975 ?
 
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