D800 or D800E ?

xaldub · 11 Mar 2012 at 18:31

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 !

xaldub · 11 Mar 2012 at 20:25

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.

xaldub · 13 Mar 2012 at 13:53

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 !

xaldub · 20 Mar 2012 at 19:15

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 !

xaldub · 22 Mar 2012 at 22:17

Anyone succeeded in picking up a D800 in the first batch of arrivals ?

xaldub · 6 Jun 2012 at 22:33

Have had some time last few days to play with the D800E .... still yet to come across a photograph where moire is visible. Yes, I'm sure it's going to happen at some point, but I really think it's not going to be as major an issue as people in some quarters have made out. Absolutely no regrets at choosing the D800E over D800 here.

xaldub · 7 Jun 2012 at 23:19

D.P. said:
Good. what kind of things do you photograph?

i'm worried for my architecture and nature work. Bird feathers are not nornally a big issue with moire but it would be horrible to have moire affect photo like I too the other week of an osprey attacking a bald eagle!

Mainly shoot landscapes & nature with some studio / models thrown in for good measure.

I don't think I'd worry too much about feathers exhibiting moire. Seen plenty of images from birders using D800E ... and no issues reported thus far. I have seen a few examples of moire showing up in cityscape / architecture shots, but then the same scenes also showed moire when using a D800.

I have absolutely no regrets choosing a D800E ( over the D800 ).