The Nikon D800 | A Cursory Test
A Little History of Events
Not long ago my wife and me ordered a second hand Nikon D800 from mpb in Germany.
Last year we had made a decision to buy some classic Nikon DSLRs and lenses to enrich our equipment collection; secondhand of course. We got our second D700 (the most legendary DSLR from Nikon & my second ever digital SLR, after the D200; long ago sold to a friend) and also a few lenses I always wanted and had never bought, some of which I have recently written about here on this site.
I had read some excellent reviews by the estimable Ken Rockwell on the D800, in which he said it was his most favourite Nikon DSLR, ever, so much so that he had already ordered a second one. Well that was saying a lot, and it made me take a closer look at this model.
On mpb I found a very reasonably priced body with very few shutter releases on it, so I ordered it. It was sent to me about a month ago. I immediately liked everything about the classic Nikon feel of the body, the reassuring sound of the shutter clacking solidly when you fire it and so on, basically all the things us old analogue photographers loved about working with SLRs. Anyway, sadly this particular body, once I started testing it, showed serious focusing problems. And I mean severe. I shot a few frames using a Nikkor 85mm ƒ/1.8 AF-D lens on the D800, then the same lens and subject on my D700 (scroll down to see the shots at the bottom of this page). The focus was simply not on the subject I locked on, but more than that I tested it with many different lenses, both autofocus and analogue. In every case the focus was way off all over.
Anyhow, I contacted mpb and told them the issue and they, as promised, arranged for couriers to pick up the faulty D800, and to send me another camera of my choice. I chose another slightly cheaper but with fewer shutter releases on it which arrived a few days ago. In it’s original box I may add.
So below I am showing my first test results with the replacement body (as well as of course the comparative photos from the first faulty one at the bottom section of this page).
Note: I recently learned that the the AF-D lenses are naturally softer than the older manual prime lenses, though they are still very good indeed
Before I go any further I would like to point out that all photos posted here are jpegs made directly from the RAW camera files.
They are not manipulated in any way.
D700 with 50mm ƒ/1.4 S Auto at 1/80 sec, at ƒ/1.4 ISO 1600
D800 with 35mm ƒ/2 Ai at 1/125 sec, at ƒ/2 ISO 5000
D700 with 50mm ƒ/1.4 S Auto at 1/80 sec, at ƒ/1.4 ISO 1600
D800 with 35mm ƒ/2 Ai at 1/200 sec, at ƒ/2 ISO 5000
Above are two sets of shots I took using the normal sitting room standing lamp with a domestic light bulb (I think 30W, not sure, didn’t check). I shot the subjects; some of my leather work; laying on our sofa on top of a blanket.
The first and the third are shot on a Nikon D700, with a 1967 made Nikkor S-Auto 50mm ƒ/1.4 at ISO 1600 fully manual exposure, while the second and fourth are shot using the Nikon D800 mounted with a 1975-77 Nikkor Ai 35mm ƒ/2 at ISO 5000 on aperture priority auto mode. Both cameras are on automatic white balance, full frame with the Neutral setting. All handheld of course, I did no special preparation for these shots.
Testing the new D800 for focusing issues
A Note: After I bought the D800 and after I ordered the replacement, I did a little more research. It turns out that some considerable number of the 800s released where plague by a very serious issue with the auto focus function. It seems that they had a focus drop off on the left side of the sensor. If you do a search for it there are many articles and YouTube videos discussing this issue.
Below are two shots from the new D800, shot at the same distance from the same subject. The first is using a Nikkor 35mm ƒ/2 AF-D, the second with a Nikkor 35mm ƒ/2 Ai. These two demonstrate how much softer the AF-D lenses are compared to the older prime lenses of the same focal length. I is amazing. While the AF lenses produce beautiful images, once you see one next to the old manual primes the acutance and rendering quality is undeniable.
If you click on each image to pop it up and then click to magnify it to its full web size you can clearly see the difference in sharpness/acutance between them.
Shot on a Nikkor 35mm ƒ/2 Ai
Shot on a Nikkor 35mm ƒ/2 AF-D
As is clearly obvious from the two shots below the D700 performed, as the legendary DSLR always performs; pretty close to perfect.
The faulty D800 however was way off.
Nikon D700
