Should you upgrade to a Nikon D850?

Should I upgrade? This is a rather difficult question, because having the D810, D750, D600 and 6D made me realize that there is a catch to everything. I find myself always shooting with a 20ish MP body, and I rarely take out my D810 because more MP slows down my work flow. On top of that, unless I use VR lenses/tripod, I ended up with less keepers, especially shooting longer focal length lenses at wide aperture. Indoors shooting is out of the question for me; I wouldn't push the ISO on the D810 beyond ISO 1600. That's just from the technical aspect of my own debate, and the reliability issues on Nikon bodies certainly is a minus for me; I had the D600 and still own the D750..

With 45 MP on the D850, the mentioned issues will only get more challenging for sure. If I'm a videographer, this is a no-brainer...you get the best of both worlds.

I would need to see the high ISO performance results from either DXO Mark or equivalent, and that's is going to be a major deciding factor.

I'm not convinced those landscape photographers will take any better photos, or sell any more with a D850. Those extra MPs aren't really needed, nice to have I guess. Kind of funny when landscape photographers say they'll be able to crop more, as opposed to taking a good photograph in the first place, it's not as if the landscape moved is it?. I can see why you'd upgrade if you want the one camera for landscape, portrait and sports.

"If you're shooting with a D4, or D4S, there are very few reasons why the D850 would* do the same, or a better job for you than your existing camera."

*Wouldn't?

Hopefully, DPR will not take 2 years to review the 850. Remember the 810!

Nikon holding back features, so typical! Where is the ISO 1.6 million offered in the lowly D7500?! ;)

Should I downgrade to a 850 from my M43 cameras, it is twice the weight and doesn't offer half the features ?

Has any of the reviewers actually TESTED this camera in real world? I mean, I had the 5ds, I know what is like to handle almost 50mpx. Where are all the problems of this resolution gone? Wasn't like impossible too get sharp pictures south of shutters of 250 ? Where is the reduced mirror vibration, the reinforced bottom of the camera? Where is the diffraction limit, that kicks in around 5.6 and creeps in at 7.1, making this camera pointless for studio product and macro work, where you need very large depth of field? How can this camera , at almost 50mpx, can have a double iso performance compared to D5, a camera designed for sports an d low light , with less than half of the mpx ? Unless Nikon discovered some miracle water formula from some Harry Potter movie I really don't get how they could have defied the laws of physics. I am waiting for the camera and real world reviews. What I had seen until now, very little, is not convincing for me.

Hi Barney. You "forgot" one important camera. The Sony a99II. Unbelievable since it's a better and more close competition to the D850 than the a7RII.

To read everyone's replies on the 850 is kinda crazy. There is no one silver bullet to cure all. Everybody seems to have something to say about one camera being better than another in some mode, but no camera is better than all others in every area.
We can look at examples of images here, but unless your computer monitor is high-def AND the video card is high-def, you'll never see it.
In short, a person will be more confused reading all the replies here than just reading the article itself.

I am an eclectic photographer and semi-professional. I ordered the 850 basically because I have nearly always been a Nikon person (could have probably have been a just as pleased a Canon fan but I had to choose one primary brand and I have stood by Nikon for many years). I still have the Nikon F Photomic and still shoot B&W film occasionally for fun. Is the 850 an upgrade for me? - yes - in some respects, but the primary reasons are the new ergonomics, tilting screen, and the higher MP as I do more than my share of cropping (landscapes to insects). I've had the D200, 700, 750, and the dF and now have the 500 & 810 which I use weekly. Each of these have been excellent instruments of my photography needs and, suffice it to say, each had/their own personalities and the 850 will be a welcome family member.

You keep saying that the D850 will have wider dynamic range than the D810, A7r2, etc. .... how do you know this? Have you tested the camera? The only estimate of DR I've seen says it does not. Might you not be a little early for this article? Will you revisit your conclusions once you actually have a production camera tested?

I shoot a lot of wildlife/nature with a 200-500 lens which is a little short on FX. To get the extra reach, I was "forced" to use a DX camera, but no more =) Now I can stay with FX and get the same pixel density as DX. All the other new features are just icing on the cake.

I think, in the last 2-3 years, we reached a level with any camera/lens that can satisfy almost any photographer for many many years to come.
For the vast majority of us upgrade is GAS or consumism.

You should not upgrade to this camera due to it being out of stock. Out of stock cameras have trouble taking current photos. Hopefully this answer will expire by christmas.

1/3) Read this. 24MP seems to be sweet spot for FF sensor.

https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.kr/2017/08/i-read-with-great-interest-12th-thought.html

(Quote)
Up until we hit 16 megapixels there were always some (few) situations for advertising photographers where more sheer resolution was needed. Once we hit the 24 megapixel mark we could have stopped cold and only 1% of the jobs we handled would have been perceptively impacted. Not made un-doable; just somewhat impacted. When we exceeded that threshold we came face-to-face with mostly diminishing returns. Yes, the BSI sensor in the A7Rii has great image quality but what if Sony had concentrated on bigger but fewer photo sites? Would the files have been even better?
(Unquote)

Nothing is premature when all you care about is releasing as many click-bait Buzzfeed-style articles as possible.

Even on this article you have to click through no fewer than 11 different pages just to read a few blurbs instead of just scrolling down like a normal website.

Why compare to the A7RII, and not the far more comparable A99II?? The Sony A mount is still going, with a more comparable lens range, and the A99ii body and features more similar to the 850 than the 7RII... its such an odd choice..

I would love to buy the D850 looks a wonderful beast,
BUT I'm saving my monies for the new
X-T2 s when it comes out in the next 18mths
I have the D7200 and the X-T2 so that will keep me going
until Fuji AGAIN brings out the best APS-C camera in the next 18mths

There's a lot of variation in viewfinders between the cameras you're discussing too. For a lot of people, that's a big differentiator.

Better to avoid the gear acquisition syndrome. Always the same thing, why this need to upgrade, even if it's far better, if you are satisfied with your present gear ?

Nice camera...will fit nicely into to Fujifilm product set, when they purchase Nikon.

A real world side by side test against the Sony A7Rii would tell us a lot. Personally I am excited about this camera but I am going to remain a bit skeptical until we see some real world testing. They will have one tough time beating the dynamic range of the D810. Building a new camera is a major balancing act and ISO performance can come at the expense of dynamic range and vice versa. How much DR - ISO balance will this camera have, and how well the raw files handle will determine if I will pick it up. Also I'm not sure if I will require 45MP for all my work, it seems a bit overkill unless you are a landscape or commercial photographer. Those massive file sizes will probably clog up my workflow as a wedding photographer. I know they have options to shoot at lower resolution but how will those raw files handle? Photographer at https://www.mickealphoto.com/

"Sony A7rII dynamic range still higher than that of the new Nikon D850"
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-a7rii-dynamic-range-still-higher-new-nikon-d850/

As soon as I get mine, I'm taking the mirror out.

2 please.

I'm surprised there wasn't a comparison to the Sony A9. ;)

Having a tilting screen is so nice, I really missed it when it was gone after having my D810.

Hahaha, last slide when you compare with Pentax. It is gold comment !
Well it is fine to say D850 is way better than K-1.
It is just right to give a pressure for Ricoh to respond with better fullframe, with the sensor of Sony A7R II, better video, better AF, etc.