D800 or D800E ?

xaldub

xaldub

xaldub

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Just wondering how many are planning to purchase a D800, and in particular, which version have you decided on ? Personally, I'm going for the D800E - mainly because I shoot subjects where I'm not as likely to get moire ( ie. landscapes, wildlife and studio/models ) and I'd value that slight extra detail / depth to my images.

According to Nikon, they had considered that the D800 would outsell the "E" version by 10:1. My impression is that the "E" version is going to be much more popular than Nikon imagined. Could be awhile before the "E" version is available off the shelf !
 
I will wait to see real world experiences with the E version as I also mostly just shoot landscapes and wildlife. But dealing with moire is much more annoying than applying a slight USM, and the plain d800 offers so much resolution anyway that the gains from the E version are not be so important as with lower res sensors.


Just trying to put my finances together before I buy. Not sure if I will pre order or wait until it is in a high street shop.
 
I have a feeling it won't be too long until the D800 is available in the high street shops - in fact I think you might be able to find one on the day of release if you search hard enough.

Agreed, moire can be a real pain to deal with ... but I can count on my fingers the number of images I've had handicapped by aliasing artifacts using a camera without an AA filter in the past. Most of those were with fine fabrics, and one was a close up of a parakeet ( where a maze pattern appeared over some of its feathers ).

So long as the D800E doesn't produce moire in a large percentage of images ( eg 1 in 10 ), then I'm content with that.
 
One has a filter which removes an annoying coloured area that appears in images with a repetitive pattern (moire) but reduces the sharpness of the final image. The other doesn't have the filter.

The basic thing is, if you shoot images that are repetitive in nature (fabric is the example Nikon are using), then you'll be best sticking with the filtered version.
 
You used to sometimes see it on TV if someone wears a tweed suit etc then there is a strange colour distortion called moire (not so common any more with digital cameras). Almost all camera have an anti-aliasing filter that will remove the fine details and prevent moire form being visible (Leica M9 doesn't, some Medium formats don't).

The presence of the filter takes away some of the pixel level sharpness and is usually why applying a slight USM is required to bring back this sharpness, but the USM is not ideal and doesn't retrieve true pixel details.


Having the AA filter removed will increase the measurable resolution remarkably let alone the D800's very high resolution sensor. The 36MP D800 without the AA filter may act more like a ~48MP Canon or Nikon camera with an AA filter.
 
^^^
According to maxmax, most AA filters typically blur pixels by 30% (but varies from camera to camera).
So if we assume the same numbers apply to the D800, by removing the AA filter you will get a 30% boost in detail and also better micro-contrast.

As the actual resolution increase is linear, that would translate to an equivalent 61mp body using an AA filter with 30% blur at pixel level.
 
Looks like the D800 is going to sell like hot cakes. According to rainforest online shop top 100 selling electronics product it is sitting at top 10.

There is going to be serious waiting list!
 
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I'll be waiting for some real life comparisons, however, for weddings and portrait work I can't see the E providing any extra benefit.

I mainly just want it for the video if I am honest :D
 
Yup, looking like a very impressive camera. Have a couple of upcoming shoots and really wish I had the D800 in my hands already. Not long until the non E version is with us !
 
Seems some possibly legitimate price drops of the D800 already, 300 quid price drop at the rainforest. 2099GBP for a brand new D800! They had this price last week and I think they honored the pricing so I doubt it is a second mistake.
Could be Nikon being very aggressive to seal the deal with Canon user contemplating the leap.

Nikon also are saying the D800 pre-orders have far outnumbered production numbers to date and their estimates.
 
They dropped the price transiently for several hours on two occasions. I think it's just a case of aggressive marketing attracting custom away from other retailers ... the rainforest didn't announce they were doing pre-orders for the D800 until about 2 weeks after the usual online photographic retailers. As a consequence they probably found themselves in a position of having more stock than orders. Certainly seems to have worked, as they have announced that their allocation of stock has all been accounted for now. Wish I could have taken advantage of the price drop ... I caught the first one just too late. The price was set at £2099, but when I tried to process it the price came up as £2399. A few mins later the front page had the price listed as £2399 again ! Got to have eyes like a hawk with that rainforest company !
 
Mathers of Lancashire and the large Jersey based store also have it listed at £2099. I'm not too sure I'd want to order it from the Jersey place though. Still...could be an indication of the what we may see a bit more as retailers start to compete more.
 
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