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D810 shutter shock workaround

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cosmicnode said:
A Owens said:
tesla23 said:
Hey, i first read about this in detail in the review and several other places so i wondered what people do to work around it because having soft or even blurry images does suck.

--
My photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/derpap/
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You need to read that section of the DPR review more carefully. It in fact concludes the D810 has one of the best dampened shutters and mirror assemblies in full frame cameras. They conclude it is as good or better than the 5ds which is a newer camera with a completely new mirror and shutter redesigned to cope with 50+ MP.

If you read the section of the review more carefully you will find two areas of concern expressed; firstly the VR of certain lenses caused blurred images at certain shutter speeds on certain D810's. To fix it send the faulty equipment back to Nikon. I have never seen the problem replicated or heard of it happening to anyone on this forum. And believe me, if it had, we would have heard about it.

The second concern expressed was that vibration could be seen at shutter speeds of between 1/4 and 1/25 (IIRC). NEWSFLASH: That is the classic shutter speed range that is the most susceptible to shutter induced vibration for ALL focal plane shutters. Has been since they were invented 80 years or so ago. The review actually shows the D810 shutter vibration is very well controlled in this range. As good or better than the 5ds. Nonetheless, like all cameras there is some vibration there and you can avoid it like all camera users have for decades. Increase the shutter speed. If that is not an option then tripod, LV, EFC, MuP and remote release can be used to completely remove any mechanical vibration. There was a thread on this a couple of days ago.

I don't know why DPR wrote that section of the review so poorly. I suspect they encountered the VR issue and got terribly excited to think they had found a fault with the D810 and lost the plot.

You mention several other places you have read about this so-called problem. Are you sure? The concensus as far as I know is that the D810 has an exceptionally well dampened shutter and mirror box assembly. That is certainly my experience.

--

Alistair Owens
http://www.alistairowens.net
http://www.500px.com/AlistairOwens
https://plus.google.com/+AlistairOwensgooglePlus/posts
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I think this problem is propagated by mirrorless fanboys as a huge fault on dslr cameras that is non existant on their cameras.

--
Mike.
"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure."
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Yes, although as anyone familiar with the Sony A7r will attest, a poorly implemented shutter on a mirrorless camera can be worse than mirror and shutter vibration combined on a DSLR.

--
Alistair Owens
http://www.alistairowens.net
http://www.500px.com/AlistairOwens
https://plus.google.com/+AlistairOwensgooglePlus/posts
 
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tesla23 said:
BirgerH said:
tesla23 said:
Hey, i first read about this in detail in the review and several other places so i wondered what people do to work around it because having soft or even blurry images does suck.

--
My photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/derpap/
Click to expand...
So - you didn't experience shutter shock - just read about it.

Why do you want a work around for something, you have not experienced?

It's not easy to give you a work around for blur we can't address - shutter shock is not the most general issue of blurring.

BirgerH.
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Its acutally really simple: you either have experienced blurry and unsharp images due to shutter shock or you havent.
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So, he commented. He commented that he didn't experience shutter shock.
tesla23 said:
If not, there is no need for you to comment because it has nothing to do with the actual subject (shutter shock-related). If i wanted to know about other possibilities that cause blur, i would ask, but i dont. Thanks again.
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tesla23 said:
--
My photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/derpap/
Click to expand...
--
Lance B
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b
 
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There actually is no issue with shutter shock with the D810- smooth as butter.
 
tesla23 said:
To those affected by it, how do you work around it? Crank up the shutterspeed? If so, what speed? Any other way to work around it?
Click to expand...
 
Well, like almost any camera, EFC (electronic front curtain) will produce sharper results. That's a given. The Nikon D810 can produce sharper images by using live view, mirror up, tripod, and EFC with delay. That's not an unusual finding. Serious landscape photographers will do exactly that - and get sharpness, color saturation, and dynamic range rivaling a digital MF camera. Well, at least some - if not many. Sure, like ANY camera, the D810 has some small faults. I mean, we are talking some serious pixel peeping! Most users, under most situations, won't need this sort of absolute sharpness. Ever. When I can make tack sharp 50" prints without going to these extremes, the D810 is more than enough camera!

When I was shooting a Pentax 67 (medium format) I had to go through all sorts of gyrations to get rid of mirror slap at certain shutter speeds (1/4 through 1/30). It's what you do. The OP asked a serious question which got many D810 users in a tissy - including myself. Why? Because the question assumed there was a serious problem with the camera when, in fact, DPReview went to extraordinary lengths to test for this very minor problem. They are to be applauded.

As for the lesson learned? Use live view, tripod, mirror up, and EFC with delay when the very maximum resolution is needed.
 
I agree that the D810 needs to be treated as a medium-format film camera in order to extract the best images from it. This does not make it "issue-prone" ; it just means I have to know what I am doing to make the files sing. Having used medium-format film for years, I am fine with this, and if I want to use a more forgiving camera, I'll pull out the D4 or the Ricoh GR.
 
Yep. Film taught us some serious lessons! I have a good friend that lives in Sequim (Richard Mayfield), pretty close to Port Townsend. Small towns, beautiful area.

--
Steve Bingham
www.dustylens.com
www.ghost-town-photography.com
Latest postings are always at the bottom of each page.
 
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nikonjohn said:
tesla23 said:
Reimar Gaertner said:
To answer your question about vibration due to shutter action in the D810, my workaround is to use live view, or more usually, Mirror Up mode with a 2-3 second shutter delay. I use this for anything less than about 1/100 of a second on a tripod (especially with longer lenses).

This does not apply to handheld shots since there other factors more significant for blur than shutter slap.
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I have to ask but wouldnt it help if you simply raised the shutter speed?
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Steve Bingham said:
Well, like almost any camera, EFC (electronic front curtain) will produce sharper results. That's a given. The Nikon D810 can produce sharper images by using live view, mirror up, tripod, and EFC with delay. That's not an unusual finding. Serious landscape photographers will do exactly that - and get sharpness, color saturation, and dynamic range rivaling a digital MF camera. Well, at least some - if not many. Sure, like ANY camera, the D810 has some small faults. I mean, we are talking some serious pixel peeping! Most users, under most situations, won't need this sort of absolute sharpness. Ever. When I can make tack sharp 50" prints without going to these extremes, the D810 is more than enough camera!

When I was shooting a Pentax 67 (medium format) I had to go through all sorts of gyrations to get rid of mirror slap at certain shutter speeds (1/4 through 1/30). It's what you do. The OP asked a serious question which got many D810 users in a tissy - including myself. Why? Because the question assumed there was a serious problem with the camera when, in fact, DPReview went to extraordinary lengths to test for this very minor problem. They are to be applauded.

As for the lesson learned? Use live view, tripod, mirror up, and EFC with delay when the very maximum resolution is needed.

--
Steve Bingham
www.dustylens.com
www.ghost-town-photography.com
Latest postings are always at the bottom of each page.
Click to expand...
Indeed Steve. A better answer than your first.

What many are missing here is the relatively high shutter speed at which softness is seen. From the review: "The D810's mirror and shutter mechanisms are pretty well damped, but do slightly soften images at 1/125s and below"

This finding of soft images at 1/125 has been described in great detail before for SLR cameras. This surprised me, since at the time I was switching to (tripod) M-up/delay at 1/30 and below.

And yes, for those with a nuclear flash to light up a cityscape at night, raising the shutter speed would work. The thing is, a lot of fine photography happens below 1/125 and if you have sharp lenses and want the sharpest pictures, you want to take the mirror and shutter out of the equation.
 
Last edited:
Reimar Gaertner said:
Steve Bingham said:
Well, like almost any camera, EFC (electronic front curtain) will produce sharper results. That's a given. The Nikon D810 can produce sharper images by using live view, mirror up, tripod, and EFC with delay. That's not an unusual finding. Serious landscape photographers will do exactly that - and get sharpness, color saturation, and dynamic range rivaling a digital MF camera. Well, at least some - if not many. Sure, like ANY camera, the D810 has some small faults. I mean, we are talking some serious pixel peeping! Most users, under most situations, won't need this sort of absolute sharpness. Ever. When I can make tack sharp 50" prints without going to these extremes, the D810 is more than enough camera!

When I was shooting a Pentax 67 (medium format) I had to go through all sorts of gyrations to get rid of mirror slap at certain shutter speeds (1/4 through 1/30). It's what you do. The OP asked a serious question which got many D810 users in a tissy - including myself. Why? Because the question assumed there was a serious problem with the camera when, in fact, DPReview went to extraordinary lengths to test for this very minor problem. They are to be applauded.

As for the lesson learned? Use live view, tripod, mirror up, and EFC with delay when the very maximum resolution is needed.

--
Steve Bingham
www.dustylens.com
www.ghost-town-photography.com
Latest postings are always at the bottom of each page.
Click to expand...
Indeed Steve. A better answer than your first.

What many are missing here is the relatively high shutter speed at which softness is seen. From the review: "The D810's mirror and shutter mechanisms are pretty well damped, but do slightly soften images at 1/125s and below"

This finding of soft images at 1/125 has been described in great detail before for SLR cameras. This surprised me, since at the time I was switching to (tripod) M-up/delay at 1/30 and below.

And yes, for those with a nuclear flash to light up a cityscape at night, raising the shutter speed would work. The thing is, a lot of fine photography happens below 1/125 and if you have sharp lenses and want the sharpest pictures, you want to take the mirror and shutter out of the equation.
Click to expand...
Mirror/shutter induced blur at certain shutter speed is no news. Actually, D810 works pretty fine in this regard. The main issue, at least to me, is the adverse interaction with some VR lenses (Compare the results to those from Canon camera+IS lenses). Some might argue this is not the D810 fault, it's the VR system to blame for it. That's might be totally true. I am not here to say the D810 is a bad camera (far from it), I am saying that, personally, if I pay such a premium, I cannot live with such a problem. This is why I am waiting for the replacement which would be announced soon I hope. Again, according to DPR this adverse interaction with VR does not exist with all VR lenses but, unfortunately, those which are affected are top of the line.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
helltormentor said:
Reimar Gaertner said:
Steve Bingham said:
Well, like almost any camera, EFC (electronic front curtain) will produce sharper results. That's a given. The Nikon D810 can produce sharper images by using live view, mirror up, tripod, and EFC with delay. That's not an unusual finding. Serious landscape photographers will do exactly that - and get sharpness, color saturation, and dynamic range rivaling a digital MF camera. Well, at least some - if not many. Sure, like ANY camera, the D810 has some small faults. I mean, we are talking some serious pixel peeping! Most users, under most situations, won't need this sort of absolute sharpness. Ever. When I can make tack sharp 50" prints without going to these extremes, the D810 is more than enough camera!

When I was shooting a Pentax 67 (medium format) I had to go through all sorts of gyrations to get rid of mirror slap at certain shutter speeds (1/4 through 1/30). It's what you do. The OP asked a serious question which got many D810 users in a tissy - including myself. Why? Because the question assumed there was a serious problem with the camera when, in fact, DPReview went to extraordinary lengths to test for this very minor problem. They are to be applauded.

As for the lesson learned? Use live view, tripod, mirror up, and EFC with delay when the very maximum resolution is needed.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Reimar Gaertner said:
helltormentor said:
Reimar Gaertner said:
Steve Bingham said:
Well, like almost any camera, EFC (electronic front curtain) will produce sharper results. That's a given. The Nikon D810 can produce sharper images by using live view, mirror up, tripod, and EFC with delay. That's not an unusual finding. Serious landscape photographers will do exactly that - and get sharpness, color saturation, and dynamic range rivaling a digital MF camera. Well, at least some - if not many. Sure, like ANY camera, the D810 has some small faults. I mean, we are talking some serious pixel peeping! Most users, under most situations, won't need this sort of absolute sharpness. Ever. When I can make tack sharp 50" prints without going to these extremes, the D810 is more than enough camera!

When I was shooting a Pentax 67 (medium format) I had to go through all sorts of gyrations to get rid of mirror slap at certain shutter speeds (1/4 through 1/30). It's what you do. The OP asked a serious question which got many D810 users in a tissy - including myself. Why? Because the question assumed there was a serious problem with the camera when, in fact, DPReview went to extraordinary lengths to test for this very minor problem. They are to be applauded.

As for the lesson learned? Use live view, tripod, mirror up, and EFC with delay when the very maximum resolution is needed.
Click to expand...
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