CP+ D800

[BernardLanguillier]

Hello my friends,

I was at the CP+ camera show yesterday and happily inform that... there is not much to report about. 

I got the chance to line up 60 minutes for the rare privilege of laying my hands on a D800 equipped with the new 80mm f1.8. Here again, there is not much to report about. In terms of UI and usability it is exactly the camera I anticipated it would be as a long time Nikon shooter.

The weight seems close to perfect, lighter than the D3x but heavier than the D7000 that feels a bit too light in my hands. It should be an excellent option for hand held shooting.

I was impressed by how conservative Nikon was with the size of their sample prints that didn't go larger than A1 while Olympus and Fuji had prints from their recent 16mp cameras that were... about 80-130 inch tall. Still, those were in fact looking pretty good a meter away.

A famous Japanese photographer specialized in trains did a pretty interesting presentation about his experience with the D4/D800 shooting in -15C and heavy snow in Dec and January. He stressed the much improved AF for low contrast/low light situations with pretty impressive examples as well as the importance of live view for accurate focusing of high res images, especially in low light situations.

Cheers,
Bernard

[hasselbladfan]

I hear that the D4 still works at -35C.

Not that we need this every day, but still useful that the camera won't stop working once there is some snow.

[bill t.]

the importance of live view for accurate focusing of high res images, especially in low light situations.

Yes I routinely use liveview with the 5D2 (and sometimes carefully calibrated tape marks) and it really pays off.

SO WHEN THE HECK IS NIKON GOING TO GIVE US NEW LENSES THAT HAVE DECENT MANUAL FOCUS RINGS!!!!  

Or will I be shooting with my ancient AI and AIS Nikkors and/or Zeis$ lenses forever?

[BernardLanguillier]

SO WHEN THE HECK IS NIKON GOING TO GIVE US NEW LENSES THAT HAVE DECENT MANUAL FOCUS RINGS!!!!  

Or will I be shooting with my ancient AI and AIS Nikkors and/or Zeis$ lenses forever?

Well, that is true, but that gentlemen was focusing on the ability of the D4 to use contrast auto-focus from sensor data in those low light situations...

Cheers,
Bernard

[jonathanlung]

SO WHEN THE HECK IS NIKON GOING TO GIVE US NEW LENSES THAT HAVE DECENT MANUAL FOCUS RINGS!!!!  

When will they bring back split-prism focusing screens? I'm happy with my old AI-s lenses, but sometimes run into trouble obtaining good focus wide open without using LV.

[Philip Weber]

Hi Bernard - I noticed you mentioned hand held shooting with the D800 but with that much resolution, is shooting off a tripod realistic?

Thanks,
Phil