DSLR 850 and beyond

[lancebell]

What are the latest rumours of a new DSLR from Nikon replacing the D850?

[nirpat89]

Very difficult to figure out - D850 has $500 rebate this month, best I have ever seen.  I thinking of pulling the trigger as I am tired of waiting for the successor if it ever comes.  May be this big rebate is harbinger of  a replacement?  Who knows! 

:Niranjan.

[Eric Brody]

No inside knowledge, I do not follow the Nikon rumors sites, but given that Nikon is a relatively small company and with the tide turning toward the mirrorless world, I'd be quite surprised if there was a D850 successor. This is despite the D850 being arguably the best DSLR ever made, certainly the best from Nikon (I don't want to anger Canon & other brand afficianados). Time will tell. In the meantime, if you have one, use it, enjoy it it's a great camera. I have been using mirrorless cameras since my Panasonic GF-1 in 2010. I now use Sony A7... cameras and personally would never go back to a camera with a mirror for many reasons, though I'd be hard pressed to find fault with the D850.

Nirpat89, if you do get one, be prepared for there being fewer new lenses for it though, clearly there are a huge number of Nikon SLR lenses out there on the used market.

Good luck what ever you do.

Eric

[nirpat89]

No inside knowledge, I do not follow the Nikon rumors sites, but given that Nikon is a relatively small company and with the tide turning toward the mirrorless world, I'd be quite surprised if there was a D850 successor. This is despite the D850 being arguably the best DSLR ever made, certainly the best from Nikon (I don't want to anger Canon & other brand afficianados). Time will tell. In the meantime, if you have one, use it, enjoy it it's a great camera. I have been using mirrorless cameras since my Panasonic GF-1 in 2010. I now use Sony A7... cameras and personally would never go back to a camera with a mirror for many reasons, though I'd be hard pressed to find fault with the D850.

Nirpat89, if you do get one, be prepared for there being fewer new lenses for it though, clearly there are a huge number of Nikon SLR lenses out there on the used market.

Good luck what ever you do.

Eric

Thanks, Eric.

I think you are probably right that this might be the end of the road for FX DSLR for Nikon.  A couple of years ago there were a few rumblings in the rumor mills but nothing in the last year or so.  On the other hand huge new introductions in the mirrorless space so it's clear that’s where their priorities are.  Covid and supply chain issues probably are playing a role in promoting one over the other too.    And looks like there are many discontinuations in the DSLR lenses as well.  Luckily I have a few FX lenses that I use on my D7100.  I had planned to buy a full frame long time ago which I never got around to.  The only one I will need to get initially is a wide zoom as the one I have in that range is for APS-C cameras, although I am using less and less of the wide angle  these days so it is not that urgent.

:Niranjan. 

[kers]

i am using my d850 for 5 years now and shot 360.000 images with it without a hickup- a great tough camera.with an excellent sensor... like you i am waiting for the ultimate mirrorless successor. The Z9 and  Z7II  are not there yet for different reasons.
For me the sensors dynamic range and colour are most important. I see no camera getting much better than the d850 at this point; ( or it must be medium format) Probably we reached about the most we can get?  If i look at the images made with phones it is obvious there is still room for improvement on handling the data.

[bobfriedman]

The D850 is a terrific camera and my recommendation is that it might be time to pickup a low shutter count D850 on the used market... like someone's backup camera that was never used. All my Allpass, IR and monochrome converted D800's were low shutter count used (< 1000 actuations) for $850 or less.

My lens investment (Nikon + Zeiss) will last for years.


Just checked B&H, $2000 for cam with 25k actuations. So might not be as a good a deal as the quotes I gave for D800, of course when I bought the used D800's they were two generations behind.

might have to wait until they announce a compact version of the Z9, which appears to be the only "pro" body Nikon mirrorless.

[nirpat89]

Looks like D850 might be it after all:

https://nikonrumors.com/2022/07/12/nikon-to-stop-making-dslr-cameras-withdraws-from-slr-development-after-60-years-of-history.aspx/

:Niranjan.

[StephaneB]

I do landscape, cityscape, portrait. For my usage I fail to imagine anything that could be improved on the D850 and would make me produce better photos. The D850 is at a such level in my opinion that the only way Nikon could sell lots of replacements was by making the Z system. But I don't know how a Z7 II would help me better than a D850. I know mirrorless, I have spent 7 years with Fuji.

[BernardLanguillier]

It really depends on the application. I shoot a bit of everything, I used to work with D850/D5/D6 and moved to mirrorless with the Z7. Now using a Z7Ii and Z9.

- Z7II for landscape and street: same image quality as D850, much more compact, better lenses, IBIS (helps get tripod like results without one for those times when time is limited but there is a nice opportunity on the move), easier to get perfect focus with evf in bright conditions when live view is hard to see,

- Z9: for people with shallow DoF eye AF is really a game changer. On a recent beauty shoot at used the 50mm f1.2 S at f1.2 and got 1 slight miss focus in 200+ images. It just removes focus out of the equation. I just got the new 85mm f1.2 S and first results indicate it’s another landmark lens.

The upcoming Z8 may be the best of both worlds.

As much as I loved my D850 I am not going back!

[StephaneB]

All reasonable points. Being a hobbyist just having a good time taking pictures, I actually went from mirrorless back to SLR. I had the more precise focus, EVF, IBIS and pretty good lenses with Fuji.

Then I picked up an old F3 on eBay, again just for fun and out of curiosity, never having touched an F"something".

Then I looked in the viewfinder. Wow!

Frankly, it killed the joy of the EVF for me. Highly subjective, of course.

Lens-wise, well, I find the old Nikkor AI-S primes pretty interesting. So much so that when I had an occasion to touch a D850 in a shop, I mounted the 50mm AI-S on it. Works perfectly. The D850 viewfinder is not at glorious as the F3's but still very, very good and that ground glass gives a pretty positive feedback on manual focus, slightly more decisive than the F3's, even. Since the shop was selling the D850 for a discount, I bought it with the plan to sell my Fuji kit.

Since then I got a few other AI-S primes and 3 modern AF-S zooms.

I have no plan to go back to mirrorless.

Those AI-S primes, well, they are good, much better than one would believe reading all the hype on the latest and greatest lenses. I knew they were great on film. The surprise is they are good on a D850 too. They knew how to design prime lenses 40 years ago and they really knew what they were doing in choosing their compromises.

Zooms are another matter, there I did not consider AI-S, nor even AF-D. The AF-S 16-35mm, 24-120mm (I know) and 70-200mm fl are absolutely more than good enough for me . Having even more resolution in certain cases will do nothing for me. I don't print large enough for one thing. And I don't see the Z lenses being more compact nor lighter than the DSLR counterparts.

In AF, they all focus well enough for me. In manual focus I find I have a much easier time with the D850 than with the Fuji and its EVF.

I don't need the 45MPix, really. I do enjoy the other aspects of the sensor, like DR, colour subtleties and low noise.

I enjoy the OVF, the mechanical soft shutter and mirror noises, all very well damped but giving some life to it all. I enjoy the shape of the camera, the worry-free battery, the excellent light meter, the multi-format, etc... I love than I can share excellent prime lenses between film and digital.

So, I still don't think mirrorless will be everyone preference, and the original question was about a D850 DSLR successor. I don't see any need. I don't see what they could do, really.

[kers]

The old F3 (high eyepoint) viewfinder is so beautiful because the mirror is not semi translucent as you need for autofocus....
NEW! is not always better... this is one example... The D850 (and Z7) sensor is image quality wise still better than that of a Z9.
I have my hopes on a Z8 to be like a Z9 light with pixelshift. Just tested the Z9 and the sony 7rV - both great but different cameras and different lenses.
Both the 14-24mm f/2.8 nikon S-line and the Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 GM are a lot better than the good old Nikon AFS 14-24mm f/2.8
Pixel shift on the Sony works, but is still not perfectly done - My hopes are Nikon can do it better in a Z8.
I tested the 50mm f1.2 from both and like the small Sony lens, but prefer the rendering of the big Nikon lens.
With Pixel shift i tested all my Nikon lenses to find out most are still really good ( like the Sigma- Arts)
The Nikon PCE 85mm is one of the simple lens formula old timers that still delivers at F8 shifted.

I noticed that Thom Hogan takes a 'vacation' till 24 of april- so I think he has a Z8 for testing and 24 of april we will know what a Z8 will bring.

The best recent quality jump came from software: try DXO Pure Raw 2 from 800 asa to 6400 asa and use Pure Raw 3 up to 512.000 asa and be amazed.

[kers]

Two months later and i am going with the Z8;
There is also much in favor of the Sony 7rV, but i have many Nikon lenses that will work flawlessly and even better with the Z8. Can also appreciate that i can still use all my old d800-d850 batteries.
Then you can put Sony E-lenses on a NikonZ but not vice versa.
Compared to the Nikon d850 the Z8 has a much faster processor and electronic shutter; and not to forget has IBIS, is completely silent and and a electronic viewfinder; that makes it a very different camera from the nikon d850 that still has the better sensor in terms of absolute image quality at 64 ASA.
The Z8 it is all about getting the shot and then image quality. Before i will buy any Z-bajonet lens i first have to discover the weak spots in my lens collection.
My old 14-24 AFS was recently repaired by Nikon and came back better than ever...