Not content with announcing just one professional-grade SLR in the past month, the D4, Nikon has revealed the D800 with a whopping 36.3-megapixel CMOS FX sensor (35.9 x 24mm).
It has been a long time between drinks for the full-frame D700, with many speculating that it was due for an upgrade. Its successor takes plenty of inspiration from the D4, such as the same 3.2-inch LCD screen at 921,000 dots, an auto-brightness sensor, similar video capabilities and the Expeed 3 processor. The D800 is more than just a D4 lite, though.
Aimed at studio and fashion photographers, the D800 has a similar shape to the D700, but with refined ergonomics. It's also lighter. There are 51 AF points — which astute readers will note is the same as on the D700 — but it has a completely new sensor module. This ensures precise subject tracking, and also that the AF system is initiated faster. Nikon also claims that the D800's AF system has improved sensitivity in low light. Like the D4, there's face detection, which meters more accurately for people in the frame.
Video capabilities
The D800 has the ability to shoot in FX and DX formats at full 1080p (H.264), and has selectable frame rates of 30fps, 25fps or 24fps at full HD, or 60fps, 50fps, 30fps or 25fps at 720p. More exciting is the headphone jack that lets you monitor the sound recording in live-view mode, just like the D4, and an auto-flicker reduction that lets the D800 select either 50Hz or 60Hz, depending on the lighting conditions.
Uncompressed video can be recorded from HDMI output, but you'll need to make some space — Nikon's own tests showed that three seconds of footage takes up 1GB.
As well as the tweaks to the LCD monitor mentioned above, the LCD monitor elements are gapless, which means that it's less reflective and less prone to condensation forming. Card slots are the regular CF and SD configuration (no XQD like on the D4).
Shooting options
Additional shooting settings for photographers include an in-camera HDR mode (though it only uses two exposures), a time-lapse controller (which also calculates how long the resulting movie will be when the interval is set), a virtual horizon to level shots and enhanced retouch menus. The native ISO range sits at 100 to 6400, expandable to 50 and 25,600 using the low and high settings, respectively. The shutter has been tested for 200,000 cycles, and the battery is rated for 900 shots. It's the same battery as found on the D7000.
The D800 isn't blisteringly fast, but with a 36.3-megapixel sensor, you're not buying this camera for machine-gun speeds. It can shoot 4fps in FX mode, 5fps at 1.2x crop mode (25.1 megapixels) and 6fps in DX mode (using the battery pack only). New connectivity options include USB 3.0 for fast transfer speeds.
The second D800
Thought that was enough surprises? Nikon is releasing not one but two models of the D800. The second model is designed "for ultimate resolution", for landscape and artistic photographers in particular. This camera (the D800E) is identical to the regular D800, except that it disables the low-pass/antialiasing filter, which is found on most cameras to help reduce moire. Removing the filter means that the resulting image has a greater gradation of colours — but is more susceptible to moire. Medium-format photographers, this second camera is definitely designed for you.
Outlook
Local pricing hasn't yet been determined for either D800 model, but you can expect the two cameras to arrive in Australia in late March. The D800E is expected to be a couple of hundred dollars dearer than the regular D800.
Add Your Review