Nikon D800 36.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) (Old Model)

Let me first state that this camera will not make you a better photographer. Not even close. It may even make you a worse photographer. Why? because the hand shaking that was forgivable before will now be more evident at 100% zoom. Wait, why are you pixel peeping a 36MP camera? For pixel peepers, avoid this camera at all cost! I'll explain more below. The beauty of a high megapixel camera is that it makes your pictures better at the same megapixel size as your last camera! Let me explain this, for most lens, sharpness differences can be viewed at 100% zoom. Unless you print at gigantic 36MP, which only a very small percentage of pros will be using, it's moot. Now, when you downsize a picture, the pixels are interpolated. Lens that were previously unacceptable at 12MP all of a sudden look pretty decent at 12MP downsized from 36MP! For example, a picture that was taken with slight motion blur at 100% pixel peep will disappear when I re-size it to 12MP. That's the thing, most will not print a 36MP picture at 36MP! You will have to resize it to make prints! It's pretty insane to upload 36MP JPEGS to make 4x6 prints anyway. Although someday, I will hang a 36MP picture on my wall. So what's the purpose of getting a 36MP? First, high ISO noise will be interpolated out of existence when downsized. Second, blurriness will be sharpened out of existence when downsized. Third, your not so sharp lens at 100% will look pretty darn good downsized. You need to compare the pictures produced at the printed size and not at 100% zoom! If you take a picture of your face and zoom in at 100%, it'll be pretty unflattering with all the pores and stuff. Same concept here. So if you buy this camera just to view pictures at 100% zoom, you will all be disappointed because that simply is not the point. Coming from a D90, these are the things that are better. 1. Full frame. Your 50mm prime now has a real 50mm FOV rather than a fake 75mm FOV. 2. Bokeh. You get to see more of that 50mm FOV which means the bokeliciousness that were lost on the D90 is now there. The further you go away from the focus point, the softer the bokeh is. When the DX picture is truncated, you lose that bokeh. This is why full frame appears to have better bokeh. 3. ISO. When downsized, my ISO 6400 looks like ISO 100 on a 12MP. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little...but not by much. 4. Sharper image with the same lens. Yes, at 100% zoom, all the short-comings are there to see. At 12MP downsized, it will look very great. 5. Cliff Mautner looking pictures. Yes, I went there. I've always looked at those nice midday pictures where Cliff take pictures of his models in front of a green background (trees) and the model's faces has that cool looking rim lights... yeah, I can replicate that! Except his models are better looking. Is this due to the better sensor or the better imaging processor? 6. Better dynamic range. When the sun's beating down on you at high noon, dial the exposure compensation down -2EV, shoot without flash, and then fix the under exposed parts without blowing out highlights. Tada, natural light at high noon without flash! Very nice, Nikon! I have no green cast. I have no out of focus focus points (that I know of). My beep on focus function is broken. I turn it on, but it doesn't beep. I don't know why. At 100% zoom, my prime doesn't look that sharp at F1.8 as it does at F4. But I don't care. If you want a camera to test out lens sharpness, this camera is it! But don't blame me if you proceed to throw them all in the trash to buy sharper lens. Is this a better camera than the D700? It depends. Is it worth the $1300 premium for the added functionality? Is a $3000 Channel purse worth $1300 more than a $1800 LV purse? A purse doesn't even take pictures and you sure as heck can't downsize it on command! And yet my wife buys a new one each year. For me, yes it's worth it! I'm referring to the camera, not the purse. Then again, if you were reading carefully, I previously own a D90 not a D700. As a final note, I'm going to read more books on photography because this camera tells me what I'm terrible at it. I look at the pictures on Flickr that people took using this camera, then I compare it with my pictures, all I want to do is to punch myself in the face. If I become a better photographer as a result of owning this camera, then I guess the $3000 is worth it. This is the Internet. Feel free to tell me I'm idiot and that I'm wrong in the comments. Update 6/23/12: (1) The beep issue was resolved by deleting bank A and then use bank B. Unfortunately, my camera has the left focus issue. Most of my lens are fine, however I borrowed a friend's 24-70mm and the left most focus definitely has a problem on this one. In liveview, it works fine. I'm going to wait a few months to see what Nikon says about this before sending it in for repair.

Nikon's D800 will go down in history as one of their best dslrs ever made. The D700 used to be go to classic. It was the first affordable FF DSLR from Nikon to incorporate a full frame digital sensor (a year after the D3), but it's title as a classic will fall to the D800. In almost every single aspect the D800 is a better camera than the D700 ever was. The D810 did little to improve the overall experience of the D800. When you use both cameras as I have you see the disparity between marketing claims in real life performance. All of the claims for a more balanced shutter and less vibration of the D810 did little to mitigate or improve the outcome. When you add in the fact that the D810 is a camera that doesn't quite handle as well as the D800 nor sound as good, for example by removing the rotating metering dial around the AEL lock button, and quieting the shutter sound, the D810 is no longer really much better at all. The slightly faster frame rate does not bring it into the category of being a good sports or action camera therefore the specification itself is a bit useless. The D800 will shoot up to 6FPS with an attached grip using the 1.2x and DX crop modes, 5fps without the grip. In order to really jump up in any performance overall you have to purchase the D850. That camera right now is about four times as expensive as the D800 used. The resolution advantage if you want to call it that, is very much minimal at best, at least for most practical circumstances. Nikon's D850 has also turned out to not be that good of a sole performer for action and sports (D series are MUCH better) again making you question what you're really getting for all that extra money. In the real world not much, although admittedly the D850 looks like a much better camera on paper and you're never going to convince a D850 owner to the contrary. Understandable, of course. Working photographers such as myself know that we do not live by marketing claims or by paper specifications. We live by judging a camera's performance in real time in real life circumstances. I've owned or used extensively all three of the 800 series cameras from Nikon, and I can tell you that the D850 is really not much of an upgrade from previous iterations practically speaking. I own several bodies in multiple camera formats because I like to use a camera that works best for a particular type of photography. The 800 series cameras work best for everything except action work. There are other cameras such as the D series pro level cameras and the D500 that are better suited to this type of work. I see many photographers trying to buy one camera body to do everything well, in the end they only end up disappointed because their camera will not live up to all the unrealistic expectations that a marketing department or specifications of the camera would have you believe they could fulfill. Real life is everything, unless you just want to collect cameras that collect dust and compare their mathematical specifications in la la land. From a working photographer's perspective though, the D800 is a fantastic classic legendary camera, and may go down as Nikon's best full frame camera for the dollar of all time. That is why I think it will dethrone the legendary D700 here in the near future. The bang for the buck is amazing. This is not to say that other cameras cannot perform better in certain aspects of performance, that is not my claim at all. The claim I make is that there is a loss on your return of investment when you purchase its successor cameras. The value proposition of the D800 is much higher and the performance is at least 90 to 95% as good as its successors. Marketing departments and shills dominate most of the airwaves online and in writing, this unfortunately is bolstered by forum "heroes" that defend their brands and purchases. That is not the world that a professional photographer lives in. Not at all. Therefore my opinion is going to be soundly different than the majority you may read out there. I'm perfectly happy with this fact because I know in the end most people will end up coming to the same conclusion eventually, if and when they become working photographers. The newer mirrorless cameras still do not focus as well as dslrs in critical circumstances for action sequences, and they probably won't ever surpass, but may catch up, to DSLR performance in this respect. Camera companies want you to buy their latest cameras so they do not go out of business. Of course that is very understandable but that doesn't mean that their promises through their marketing departments will live up to your expectations as a photographer. If you would rather listen to wisdom and save a lot of money, then this review is for you. The D800 is a reliable tank of a camera that is pleasurable to use, consistent, durable enough for generations of ownership, and priced in the used market for an extraordinarily great deal. It's image quality is some of the best that has ever been. Take some advice from a working photographer who has used nearly every DSLR or high-end mirrorless camera offered by almost every manufacturer.

I am not going to give a full review of this camera since it is likely you are already well aware of much of what is out there. That being said, there are a few things I have noticed which there don't seem to be much feedback on which I would like to highlight. For point of reference I am coming from a D700 and have many of the high end FX lenses. One of the absolute best improvements (aside from obvious things like resolution, improved DR etc.) is the Auto ISO feature. Am I the only one who loved this on my D700 and love it even more on the D800? Nikon has tweaked the min shutter speed setting on this so it is a little more intelligent. Instead of just saying 1/50 or whatever you want as the min (this would be a decent setting for a wide lens) the D800 takes it 1 step further and allows it to float relative to the focal length. In other words 1/50 with a 200mm lens might be a little low in my opinion but the D800 will set it to 1/200 (following the 1/ FL rule). Furthermore, you can tell the camera to set it faster or slower (there are 5 levels with the mid setting as 1/FL) so the same 200mm lens will have some multiple (or fraction) applied to this as well. I like the one step up setting so my 200mm lens never shoots with a shutter less than 1/400. This makes it so much easier on longer length lenses and especially zooms like the 70 - 200 where you might jump around and going back into the menu is a pain to set the min shutter each time... Call me lazy but I love this feature - great addition. EDIT: After shooting 2,000 shots or so with the D800 (and especially with any longer non-VR lenses) I see why this feature has been added... With the D700 the 1/FL rule seemed to work just fine, especially with VR equipped lenses (most non caffeine junkies can get away with far less). With the D800 this rule just doesn't work as well and will produce mixed results. With a D700 and my 24-70 I would shoot at ISO 100, 50mm and 1/50s all day long. On the D800 I have found it is better to go to 1/100 or even a little higher with ISO 200 or higher - the ISO change is a lot less noticeable than the increase in sharpness due to the shutter. With the 14-24 this "new" rule (haven't decided yet if the new rule should 1/2*FL or 1/3*FL) isn't too hard to follow but with the 70-200 I find myself pushing the ISO frequently of changing the setting down a bit due to the presence of VR (I use the VRII model). I honestly would not have guessed that the increase in MP would require this much of a change in technique but it does. Of course you can always downsample and still be better off than where you were with the D700 so don't take this as a negative to the camera - just a required change in technique in my opinion. When I first wrote this review I loved the new feature and I still do now but there is one change they now need to make: Recognize VR equipped lenses and allow conditional rules such as 1/2*FL with VR and 1/3*FL without. None the less I just change the setting in "my menu" when I use a 16-35VR or 70-200VR (although the longer one can sometimes benefit from just leaving it) and the end result is the same but Nikon made it 90% of the way on the new feature, why not round it out. I did also pick up a grip and use rechargeable AAs simply to add weight & this also helps but D800 + grip + 8 rechargeable AAs + 70-200 is not something I walk around with for hours on end. Other more minor comments: - This is less about Nikon as it is about Adobe but it caught me off guard: LR3 will not read D800 RAW files nor will it ever! You either have to use a converter (add more workflow steps which is unacceptable in my opinion) or upgrade to LR4. I suppose I can see both sides but it is annoying to say the least. Adobe should really support this in LR3. It made me want to use Aperature instead but I also use PCs so that is just a pain. - Built in HDR is a joke. Any respectable HDR shooter will bracket with at least 5 frames and likely use Photomatrix or something similar. It also does not work if you shoot RAW - only JPG and only 2 images hence the joke. Your probably not buying the camera for this anyway. - The quiet mode is also useless. Fractionally less noisy than the std and a waste of a spot on the dial. - The + / - on the image zoom is backwards from the D700. Just takes some getting used to... - Folks, it is a 36mp sensor; you will need a bigger drive and 16GB cards barely scrape by now. I am finding 14 bit lossless compression files in the 50mb range - directly after a format the camera reads 200 available images on the 16GB card. A 2GB card is like an old roll of film now for 25 "exposures" LOL. I get that wedding shooters are going to need a lot more bigger drives but you can't have more detail without more space... Yes, people say you can downscale but this poses a serious workflow bottleneck for me. I have also found that in addition to more drive space working with these large files, particularly in PS & HDR SW with a dated dual-core 2.4GHz CPU and 4 gigs of ram in 32 bit mode requires patience. I hate waiting. EDIT: I have underestimated the PC side of the equation on this camera upgrade. I had to buy a new computer with a lot more muscle to handle a 7 or 9 image RAW stack to be sent to Photomatrix. These get really big and processor hungry. I got a PC with dual quad core (8 total) 3.2GHz XEONs and 16GB of RAM. The processors are far more important than the RAM I have found so get a faster processor and 8GB if you must to save $. It costs as much as a nice lens or even a bit more but keep in mind it is used for every image I take... Worth the upgrade in my mind and something to consider if you have an aging PC / Mac. - 100% viewfinder vs 95% on the D700 doesn't sound like much but it is really a welcome improvement. - I have now started buying SD cards to compliment the CFs I already used with my D700. For whatever reason tests I have done on my computer show I am getting faster write speeds out of a 60mb/s Sandisk EX Pro CF card than I get out of a 95mb/s Sandisk Extreme Pro SD card. Same manufacturer but the CF cards just seem to be faster. They are also more expensive - go figure. - I have never owned a D7000 but I hear the auto focus settings (selecting) are the same on the D800. It is way different than the D700 and took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to adjust from AF-S to AF-C. Hint: it is on the front (the side button) to the left of the lens when looking thru the viewfinder. - It has been said before but the fact that this thing has similar high ISO performance compared to the D700 with 3x the resolution deserves a slow clap from Nikon. Really, impressive. I have no issue with using ISO 1600 in auto ISO mode and for certain types of shots see little downside to 3200 unless you are seriously pixel peeping. - Their product launch and way they rolled this out and so dramatically underestimated demand is the exact opposite. Once you have one (a good one without some of the early mfg issues) though you seem to forget all the frustration of the wait. These are just the initial impressions since I have only had the camera for a week or so and shot < 1,000 images. So far very impressed thou and would do it again in a heartbeat. Lastly, in case you are also wondering, I have since cold my D700. Given it still has amazing value I just could not justify it as a backup body and there were few if any advantages that I could really see. I can see wedding photographers scooping these up though as they are a great balance of performance and file size if you are getting into the 4 digit file counts per shoot.

I just happened to be reading a Nikon rumor website the night the D800 was introduced in Japan so was able to order it from Amazon within minutes of when they put it online. Sure enough, it shipped the first day they had it in stock and now I have it! I would class myself as an advanced amateur. I've switched back and forth several times between Canon and Nikon but since the D7000 came out I've been pure Nikon. With this camera I am feeling really good about my decision. For me, this is the ultimate camera. Useful for landscapes, weddings and macro but also good enough for my kids' soccer matches using a DX lens. I've only just unboxed the camera so don't have a whole bunch of observations but I will share what I see so far. My first picture was numbered 53, which I found odd. I reset the counter. I tried "quiet" mode, but I don't find it so quiet. With a mirror that large, it will be hard to make it truly quiet. Really all it seems to do is delay the return (flip down) of the mirror until you let off the shutter. No big deal. Focus is very quick. The feel of the camera is very solid and the shutter sound is nice, with authority, although not as sharp a sound as I remember from the D700 (which I tried briefly). Compared to the D7000 that I've been shooting for well over a year now, it looks classier. Specifically I like the fact that it does not have any shiny stuff on it. The rubber (or whatever it is) has a great feel to it. I tried the AF-S Micro 105mm, the AF-S Micro 60mm and the AF-S 50mm 1.4. All performed beautifully. As an aside, I did not like the fact that the 105, despite being a pro lens, is now made in China. Yeah, I know the quality is probably identical to the Japanese made version but it just rubbed me the wrong way. I found a nice used one on eBay that was made in Japan. Saved money too! It was bought in anticipation of the D800, so today is the first I've shot it. Nice lens, looks very sharp and focuses very quickly. Back to tested lenses, I then tested a 20mm 2.8 AI-s (non auto focus) lens that I also bought specifically for the D800 because it is supposed to be very sharp. And I figure I don't need auto focus for landscapes. By the way, the lens was bought brand new (it is still made). Great feel. Anyway, to make it work correctly I had to set the non-CPU lens data so that the camera would know the focal length of the lens and understand the f-stops. I assumed that I would have to set the lens at f22 and then use the command dial to set aperture but actually you set it on the lens itself and the camera recognizes the setting (but only after you set the non-CPU lens data). Prior to setting the data, the camera calls f2.8 f0, f4 it calls f1, f5.6 it calls f2, etc. After setting the lens data, the f-stops are registered and recorded correctly. Finally, I tried a DX lens, the AF-S 18-200 II that I used mostly on the D7000. I plan to continue to use this lens for sports and the like because of the 1.5x magnification and the faster shutter compared to using real FX lenses. When you look through the viewfinder, around the outside of the view you see a black circle since a DX lens cannot completely cover the FX sensor. You also see a black rectangle corresponding to the area that will actually be captured. It's nice. Also, this happens automatically since the camera recognizes that you have a DX lens mounted. I believe you can purposefully set an FX lens to DX mode too, discarding the outside part of the frame, but I did not try this. One advantage to using a DX lens (or an FX in DX mode) is that you can get a faster maximum frames per second. I did not test how many frames per second I got (I presume it was 5 as the specs state) but I did test how many frames I could take before the buffer filled up and the frame rate dropped. I was shooting NEF only. The camera took about 20 frames at full speed before slowing. The card in use was a Lexar Pro SDXC Class 10 (133x) 64GB card. One other thing that my D7000 didn't do but the D800 does is allow easy access to change the Auto ISO settings. Now, you hold the ISO button and spin the rear command dial to change the target ISO (basically the minimum ISO in Auto mode) and what's new (to me at least) is that you can spin the front command dial to turn Auto ISO on and off. On the D7000, as far as I know you had to delve into a menu to do that.

You all know what the specs of this camera are. I won't lose your time with that. I have the camera for about 20 days and here are my impressions so far. In the beginning I was very upset by the Mpx number. After just the first shoot, I have to tell you - I don't want to have a camera with small resolution any more. Period! The level of details is astonishing! The images are excellent even straight from the camera - with no edit at all. The dynamic range is excellent. Also the AF is very good. It literally sees in the dark. I tried to take pictures in dark room at night (no light - all lights turned off) and the AF assistant light was enough to focus, without even hunting. I wasn't able to see ANYTHING, because it was complete dark, but the camera did. Daytime I never experienced any problems with the AF. I believe the fast AF and details level are also determined by what lens you use (and I have really good optics), but I do compare with D700 and D7000 and there is significant improvement. I like the ergonomics. It's comfortable to hold, even for quite long time. I like the screen resolution, but it does have that slight greenish tint (if that's bothering you it can be changed in the settings). The only things I don't like are: There is a slight noise even in low ISO values - 400 and above, but it is only when you look at 100% and the noise is very fine grade, extremely easy to remove in LR. I would also like to see some more customization options for some of the buttons - like I never use the WB (well almost never) and since I shoot RAW, for me this is quite useless button. I currently own the Sony NEX-7 and I'm impressed with the level of customization of that camera. You can do all your settings just with your thumb - A, S, ISO, etc. I really would enjoy to see at least some of this on D800. Overall, D800 is a dream camera - I highly recommend it to everyone! ~~~~~~~~~~ Update 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~ (after 4 months of use): Lowering my score to 2 stars. I do not change my mind on what I've written before about this camera. Everything is correct, except with one - the AF. I said I didn't have problems with my AF, but surely now I do. And it's the commonly spread left AF points problem. I did not discover it in the beginning, because I rarely use the very left AF points. Few months after the camera was on the market, I started to read reviews, describing this problem, but since I haven't experienced those, I neglected to test myself. Until one day, when shooting outdoor I saw my images come extremely soft and blurry (with 24mm 1.4G lens). I tested with the 16-35mm - same thing. 50mm 1.4G - same. I had inconsistent problems with my 85mm 1.4G lens while ago, thinking first that it is caused by backfocusing. After I talked with the technical department from Nikon I realized that this could be caused by the fact I was shooting kids, and you never can be sure how fast they move, etc. However - this was something different now. I now remembered what I read about the left AF points and when I got back home, I decided to test myself. I downloaded some charts, put those on the wall and started testing my D800. It clearly had problem with AF when the left points are used. The problem is bigger with wide angle lenses at big apertures(small numbers) - especially with 24mm at f/1.4. It fades away after f/5.6-f/8. And as you switch from wide-angle to tele lenses it also fades, even at big apertures. That's why it is not very easy to discover the problem, until you don't fell in a situation like mine, or just decide to test your camera in the beginning. I contacted Nikon, sent them multiple pictures and they requested the camera for check. I'm waiting now (already about 10 days) and meanwhile reading the latest review from Mansurov's website (how the guy received his camera with fixed left AF, but they screwed up his center AF, which is worse). I hope it will be different with my camera and everything will be ok, but I know Nikon from before - it's not easy to deal with them when have troubles with your equipment. So wait for my second update, once I receive the camera back. Until then my score is 2 stars. ...and it could go either way.. ~~~~~~~~~~ Update 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~ (after 3 weeks in Nikon's service center): I can say the camera is repaired in general. I did the tests again and it's fine, but you can still see small difference in sharpness when use left AF points (more top left now, than middle and bottom), but it is acceptable, keeping in mind that this is visible ONLY with my 24mm at f/1.4. At f/1.8, f/2, etc. it is sharp. With the 50mm at f/1.4 is sharp now too. There is another issue though - the pictures taken with LiveView are sharper, than the ones taken using the viewfinder. I'm sending the camera back to be fine tuned. I'm also changing my review to 4 stars - this is otherwise awesome camera, but there are still few issues! Hope Nikon will do a better QC next time. ~~~~~~~~~~ Update 3 - The last one ~~~~~~~~~~~ (after many months of use): I'm raising back my score to 5 stars. The camera is so amazing, that one easily forget all bad experience with left AF points (or whatever else) in the past.

In mid to late 2011 I decided that I would move to FX primarily (and m4/3 for lightweight/portable). I had been using a pair of D7000 bodies semi professionally, but good as they were there were problems that just got in the way. The primary one is the depth of field control the larger sensor allows. A close second is lens availability. There is no 16-50mm f/2.8. The 70-200mm f/2.8 is too long at the short end on DX for event work. There are no PC-E lenses. The options for 16mm are very limited and awkward, even with 3rd party lenses. All of which is unfortunate because the D7000 handles pretty nicely especially with the grip. I had used a D3 and D700 as stop gaps while I tried to settle on a D4 or D800 (or D700 or D3s or D3). I wanted good video as a possible option; I wanted the new generation AF system and controls etc. etc. Just all the little things that would be better about the new generation compared to the old, so I pre-ordered both a pair of D4s and D800s, the D800s from Amazon on Feb 7. While waiting for them, I canceled the D4 ... basically, the frame rate wasn't something I needed and the flexibility of using the D800 without grip + the extra pixels won out. Especially at a $6k discount! It's been a decidedly mixed bag since. On one hand, the handling, image quality, and low ISO performance, cropping flexibility are everything that I hoped for and more, there has been a lot of friction as well. I had a trip to Yosemite scheduled with me departing May 13. Though Amazon estimated delivery by April 30, and mid April I contacted Amazon to confirm the estimate, the bodies didn't show up until May 14. Splitting CF/SD slots is annoying. One or the other, eh? $450 for the battery grip is grating, even if you have become accustomed to Nikon's gouging on accessories. And now, the cherry on top, the dreaded left focus issue. On both bodies. I had been driving myself nuts trying to figure out why some of my pictures were OOF. I have pretty good technique and usually get good hits. My subjects move sometimes so I thought that might be it. Something was bothering me and I couldn't figure out what. Then I ran the test and >.< two defective bodies. I had hoped to exchange via cross shipping the defective D800s Amazon delivered to me. No luck with that, the window apparently closed June 14 so July 17 is right out. They did inform me that I could contact Nikon. So I did. I'll just say that the tech rep I spoke with there wasn't too impressed with my plight. Suggested that I upload some test shots to "my nikon" and in 2 or 3 days someone would get back to me, and we would go from there. If it needed repairs maybe in 2-3 weeks I'd get my bodies back. Renting 2 D800 replacements for 3 weeks while Nikon fixes the defective units they produced would be north of $1000. Not impressed with the help I'm getting here, especially from Nikon who messed up big time. So I have a product with lots of spectacular qualities. And lots of downsides. And not a lot of help from the manufacturer when I run into trouble. If felt better about other aspects of Nikon beyond the engineering the D800 is a 5 star product, hands down. As it is, if you buy one you have to buy the Nikon organization too, at least after 30 days. *** Edit *** There have been some posts questioning the left sensor focus problem. I have posted to flickr the test I conducted on a tripod with a cable release and lit by flash; you will notice that all of the live view and the right phase detect sensor produce acceptable focus; the center phase detect is marginal and the left phase detect sensor is awful. This was try for both D800s I purchased from Amazon. As of 7/23/2012 I am still waiting to hear back from Nikon. A downgrade from 3 stars to 2 seems more likely. *** Update 8/1/2012 **** Changing review from 3 stars to 2 stars. Nikon didn't even look at the photos I sent them before yesterday. Then all they did was email me back stating the photos had been "edited in some way". They hadn't, but apparently Nikon considers NEF->Lightroom->JPEG editing. So I tried to upload the NEFs. But their web application won't accept the NEFs their own camera generates!!!! I uploaded the nefs to my own website and sent them a link. I asked them to acknolwedge. They didn't. I called and the support said they were "after hours" and couldn't help me because HQ had the case. HQ still hasn't responded. It's ridiculous; The images show what Nikon has seen many many times before now. Left phase detect sensors that are badly calibrated. They are making me jump through hoops for what purpose rather than telling me when they will fix their defective product. Beware buying Nikon the company along with the body. It's really too bad that they managed to royally mess up such an otherwise excellent product with their "support" culture. *** Update 8/17/2012 *** I received the first one back from NikonUSA and with some quick testing the focus seems to be spot on. MUCH better across the sensors than previously. Also, NikonUSA is being responsive to my concerns. Back to 3 stars.

I been a Nikon user now for over 20 years, I have a D700 for over 4 years and a few other Nikon Digital cameras I use at times. I finally sold my faithful F100 film camera after buying the D700. Needless to say up until recently I use the D700 almost on every outing; and love it - it is a wonderful camera that does a fantastic job at digital photography. Now I have a D800! So the first thing I notice is the layout and build difference; the D800 is not as ergonomic and slightly smaller bodied The build materials of the D800 are of similar composition as compared to the D700 but the D700 feels solid and less plastic than the D800. Overall, it does not take too much time to get use to the new layout as most buttons and dials are similarly placed ad do the same functions. Image quality of the D800 is for most all circumstances remarkable and this comes at the cost of larger file sizes. -- Media management becomes critical when your talking about 38mb + per shot - your storage solution and backup plans need to keep up with the file size increase. The benefit of larger resolution is you have better cropping options. Meaning, photos can be zoomed in to show more details. The main feature I was looking for with this camera was to use it for my Macro (MICRO) photography - bugs and plants, so having more resolution is better. I decided to go with the D800 vice D800E after many months of research, the simply fact is not that much difference between the two and I simply don't want to deal with the moire issues. Not that the D800E has Moire issues, I simply don't wish to increase my probability of running across subjects that would create moire. I will stick with the D800 for now. Things I worry about as an outdoor photographer - DUST. With a sensor now having this many pixels packed on. It would be obvious to deduct dust would be more of a problem. Good thing - if you are using Nikon pro lens they have a weather seal where it attaches to the camera, and the camera itself is moisture and dust resistant. Time will tell. Movie Mode: This has been around for awhile, and the D800 has some nice features with many shooting modes to choose from, such as 24 frames for that indie look. The movie features are comparable to any of the other PRO DSLRs out there just youtube it. The D800 has continuous focus and supports external mic in and does a great job with movie production. Overall I am pleased with the D800 Camera and the initial performance. Unlike others I don't put a camera under a microscope and go looking for defects unless a problem impacts my shooting, then I look for the root cause and have it addressed. So far I don't see any issues, focus or otherwise. Finally, I appreciate the ability to set up a "My Menu" in the camera; with the press on on button I can go direct to my menu to make changes to some of my favorite settings without having to go to the main menu and drill into sub menus. Overall the menu system works pretty well and things are laid out reasonably well + you can re-program buttons to perform other functions. Now for the whining; The D800 is a great camera for those that can afford it, and had the D4 offered more resolution (24mp) I would have invested in that over the D800. I do feel the D800 is about $800.00 over priced as are all the pro level Nikon cameras, but people don't want their older Nikon cameras devalued so Nikon keeps trucking along with overpricing.

I've had my D800 for less than 2 weeks and so far I am happy. here is my background I've owned D700 (several samples), D7000 (several samples), D300 (several samples), D90, D80, D40, D40s, D60 in Nikon I've owned 20D, 30D, 40D, 7D, XSI, T1i, T2i in Canon. D700 is a brilliant camera, incredible AF, incredible low light shots, fast fps with grip (8), scene recognition in auto mode, built like a tank D800 takes spectacular photographs in either JPEG or RAW. the AF is at least as good as D700. Scene recognition in auto mode is even better, it essentially focuses on the face. The worst camera from the top tier consumer and prosumers in terms of AF is D7000.. I have gone through several of them. The AF Module on D7000 is inferior to D300/D700/D800. D7000 was the only latest Nikon where I experienced AF problems in low light. Never with D300 or D700. D7000 - yes. Problems with continuous AF when shooting White Birds on Contrasty Background - D7000 - YES, D300/D700/D800 - no. The only things I am kind of not loving on D800 - the AF switching was changed from D3/D300/D700 way to D7000 way , where you have to now press the button and scroll one of the two wheels and you have to think which wheel does what. I liked the levers of D700, simple two levers controlled everything. But I guess I will have to get used to it. The second thing I am not happy about is 4FPS. And the third is of course - the battery life went down significantly from D300/D700. Everything else, including the new Auto-ISO feature is brilliant. it basically now accounts for VR in lenses, where you can control how aggresive auto ISO is depending on the lens you use. If you don't have VR you may want it to select faster shutter speeds, if you do have VR, you can set it to select slower shutter speeds. You can turn off Auto-ISO via the wheel without having to go into menu. 5DM3 is a great camera too. I think the AF is pretty similar. AF has to do with not only the Camera but lenses. The truth is that Canon's USM on their top lenses is just brilliant and they focus incredibly fast. Just try the old 24-70 on any of their bodies. Nikons' AF-S SWF is pretty fast but not as fast as Canon's USM. On balance though, both 5DM3 and D800 will do brilliant job for you. This review is obviously only based on less than 2 weeks of use. I will update it later as I get more experience with D800. EDIT Another couple of weeks went by and I used D800 more. Loving the results. I am starting to get used to new way of changing AF and it is working pretty good. I took the camera to a very dark restaurant with 50mm 1.4G lens which everyone seems to be hating these days on D800, and got many great pictures in very dark conditions. The only problem I see is that poor battery life. I took about 500 pictures with very little live view and one or two short videos and my D800 shows only 33% of battery left. That projects to me under 700 photos per battery life. I was able to routinely shoot way over 1000 shots with D300, D700, and even D7000. So I don't know what is going there, but I am going to have to purchase another battery.

Wonderful

It's great camera - the image quality is superb. However, and you'll find this in other reviews also - the LCD screen has a weird yellowish-green tint to it and the shutter is super loud. That said, the images come out fine (no tint). It's a good pro-level camera.

I purchased this camera and loved the quality however it has a common problem amongst D800s. It makes a ratchet sound continuously when initiating the zoom on the lens. This is a camera issue known to Nikon. Amazon was fantastic in dealing with my issue as they always are.....however the seller probably knew about this, which makes me very angry as I purchased an expensive lens to accompany the camera.