Gadgetory

the nikon d800 is a great full-frame model it's targeted at non-sports professionals you know like wedding landscape and architectural photographers people whose subjects generally don't sprint across the scene the d800 actually comes in two versions standard one in a more expensive d800e the d800e incorporates a modified low-pass filter system the results in little to no anti-aliasing and therefore produces generally sharper photos the body design remains quite similar to that of the d700 and uses the now standard nikon conventions it's really sturdy and comfortable to shoot with despite being a bit heavy because if it's magnesium alloy construction it's got slightly improved Dustin weather sealing over the previous model as well the group has an inset for your fingers that ensures extra stability one of the big updates over the d700 is the viewfinder now covers a hundred percent of the scene still big and bright and extremely comfortable to use you can also now program these function buttons for silent aperture operation during video shooting with the exception of the new 36 megapixel sensor the d800 uses a lot of the same core components as the d4 including the grape viewfinder the updated autofocus and metering systems and it also has new capabilities enabled by the X speed 3 image processor things like improved white balance face detection boost for exposure and dynamic range optimization as well as in-camera HDR it also includes the same set of enhanced and expanded set of video capabilities for Nikon that is which include uncompressed 422 hdmi out mic and headphone jacks live aperture adjustment while shooting and expanded set of frame rates to me a couple of the subtle standout features are support for USB 3 0 which is essential if you shoot tethered with those large files for example and two card slots frankly I wouldn't expect the photo quality in this camera to be less than spectacular and it delivers it's impossible to apply a hard upper limit on the usability at any particular ISO sensitivity because unlike a lot of cameras the d800 no noise where it doesn't need it I'm sure it's probably gaining up the sensor uniformly but the photos simply don't look it Plus at even slightly less than a hundred percent view in a lot of cases you won't see the noise at all and when you scale down the higher resolution of the sensor compensates for any loss of sharpness due to noise reduction the dynamic range is great as well while JPEGs have expected clipping in the highlights of high contrast photos there's plenty of detail recoverable in the raws I didn't see much in the way of clipped shadows but there's plenty of recoverable detail there too and it handles bright saturated Reds pinks and purples very well without blowing out any detail all the exposures are dead on the automatic white balance is just a touch cooler than I like that's eminently tweakable to your taste right down to an option to preserve the warmth of indoor lighting in full auto white balance the video looks really good as well though I can't yet say whether it's better than any of the alternatives while there some Waray there's no rolling shutter to speak of videos reasonably sharp in the tonal range in both light and dark looks very smooth and brought low light video is a noise free at full size but I think most commercial shooters will find it acceptable if they need to shoot an ambient light and even some independent video pixel papers will be quite happy with it my one complaint the battery seems to drain faster than almost any high-end DSLR I've used in recent memory drops a few bars on the indicator every shooting session and while the LCD is larger it doesn't seem up to the high resolution images for judging sharpness and it's also difficult to use in direct sunlight the d800 is an unsurprisingly great camera that's worth every penny of its higher price for its target market of non-sports pro photographers and it should definitely please those who've been waiting patiently to replace their older and icon equipment I'm Lori Brennan and this is the Nikon d800