Biggest (good or bad) D850 surprise once you're using it?

[FuhTeng]

I rented a D850 over Christmas. I had it for 12 days of extensive shooting, and I loved it even if I wasn't able to shoot outdoors as much as I was hoping to. I knew a lot of what to expect using it, but my biggest surprise was how useful the live view CDAF+shoot with a single touch is in practice. I dearly liked how easy it was to do an even easier version of what I do all the time with my Sonys - get the camera low, flip the screen out and then AF and shoot my 3 year old and/or his cousins from a low perspective (but my Sonys don't have a touch screen!).

Yes, CDAF is worthless if your subject is moving and the flutter in video is nauseating, but for those kinds of simple grab-shots, it was far better than I was expecting. My D750 is a terrific camera but having to move the AF point and then focus and then shoot using a number of different buttons (I use back button focus) means I have no way to do what I did effortlessly with the D850.

Another good surprise - I didn't find any reason to AF fine tune any of my lenses (from my humble little Nikon 50 f/1.8G to my Tamron 150-600 G2). I was delighted that my quick checks gave me acceptable sharpness. Yes, maybe a shot or two would be slightly better with AFFT, but I was usually shooting in lower light for so many shots, maximum sharpness was wrecked by wide aperture shooting or high ISO noise.

In conclusion - I want a D850! I just need to save up to afford it. And the L-bracket. And the UHS-II card. And the cable release. And the grip. And the big battery. And the battery cover (I'm so amused that's a thing). My D750 is great, but the usability of the touchscreen and the illuminated buttons was wonderful.

 

[michaeljberman]

I got my 850 about 4 weeks go, so here is my quick take

Like Most:

1) cropping!! I got a new 300 f4 lens (it is great and small) , I veiw this as a 300mm lens at 46 Mp, a 450 mm lens at 22 Mp and a 550 mm f4 lens at 12 Mp. Great.

2) It works, my hit rate for both focus and exposer is up a lot (OK, I am coming for a D700)

3) The deeper grip is great

4) hi ISO

5) Viewing the screen at different angles

6) Of my 6 lens none needed to have an AF fine tuning!!

7) FAST, I still can not do only one photo when the camera is set to hi speed

Do not like:

1) so far only the new 300 f4 lens is GREAT, all the other lens are not as good;

2) My 70 to 200 f 2.8 AF-s was my "go to lens" on the D700 maybe 80% of my shooting, I loved it shooting at 2.8. On the 850, the shoots at 2.8 look very bad (vs the 300 f4) If I stop down to 5.6 the photos go from very bad to "only" bad (looking at 200%

3) Lens round up:

300 f4 GREAT!!! (the new small light weight lens)

70--200 f2.8 bad, very bad stopping down to 5.6 helps some (AF-S maybe 12 years old)

105 micro f2.8 D OK, not as sharp as the 300 but I can still will use (maybe 15 years old)

50 1.8 not not real good, just got it refurb from Nikon

17-35 f2.8 Held up much better than I thought it would my oldest glass from 1999 (came out with the D1) will use still OK

28 to 300 looks a lot better than the 70-200 still OK as a walk around lens but if I can I will use the 300 f4

Mike

 

[tomnorth]

Here is my list in no particular order.

• The new auto white balance modes...they are outstanding
• Touch screen...I love it
• AF performance...it is outstanding
• Low light performance...when I downsize to the same size, the noise level is on par with the D4s
• Speed

 

[nuclearjock69]

I got my 850 about 4 weeks go, so here is my quick take

Like Most:

1) cropping!! I got a new 300 f4 lens (it is great and small) , I veiw this as a 300mm lens at 46 Mp, a 450 mm lens at 22 Mp and a 550 mm f4 lens at 12 Mp. Great.

2) It works, my hit rate for both focus and exposer is up a lot (OK, I am coming for a D700)

3) The deeper grip is great

4) hi ISO

5) Viewing the screen at different angles

6) Of my 6 lens none needed to have an AF fine tuning!!

7) FAST, I still can not do only one photo when the camera is set to hi speed

Do not like:

1) so far only the new 300 f4 lens is GREAT, all the other lens are not as good;

2) My 70 to 200 f 2.8 AF-s was my "go to lens" on the D700 maybe 80% of my shooting, I loved it shooting at 2.8. On the 850, the shoots at 2.8 look very bad (vs the 300 f4) If I stop down to 5.6 the photos go from very bad to "only" bad (looking at 200%

3) Lens round up:

300 f4 GREAT!!! (the new small light weight lens)

70--200 f2.8 bad, very bad stopping down to 5.6 helps some (AF-S maybe 12 years old)

105 micro f2.8 D OK, not as sharp as the 300 but I can still will use (maybe 15 years old)

50 1.8 not not real good, just got it refurb from Nikon

17-35 f2.8 Held up much better than I thought it would my oldest glass from 1999 (came out with the D1) will use still OK

28 to 300 looks a lot better than the 70-200 still OK as a walk around lens but if I can I will use the 300 f4

Mike

 

[PHXAZCRAIG]

Coming from D200, D300, D700, D800e and D810, there were not too many surprises. It's a lot like a D810 with better (but not that different) autofocus. And I've only had the camera a month now, so there is much to learn.

So far the *surprises* are:

1. Touch screen focusing - put camera in Live View, touch a point on the screen and have it focus and shoot. That's nice, and handier than you think to use.

2. Dynamic Mode AF - it's different in several ways from the 300-700-800e-810 behavior when trying to track a moving subject.

3. View NX-i - it shows the initial focus point, not the actually-used focus point, so is relatively useless when trying to decipher autofocus performance.

4.Low light performance - tests may show it not better than the D810, but it sure seems more usable. I think white balance improvements and smaller, more-random (?) grain-like noise makes images look better on the D850 even if there is not less noise. Couple with the AF improvements, I can shoot in lower-light environments now than I could before.

 

[FuhTeng]

That's a shame your 70-200 AF-S is so poor. Is the lens damaged? I'm shocked it's worse than the super-zoom.

I'm glad you're liking everything else. It's quite a camera and I enjoy the grip too.

 

[Lasse p]

I am most surprised by how great my Nikon 50MM 1.8G has turned out to be on the D850.

On the D810 the 50 1.8G looked alright, made some pretty good images and the glass seemed reasonably sharp.

On the D850 it looks like an entirely new lens, it is super sharp.

 

[L Copps]

The 70-200 you have (I assume prior to the VR II) was designed for an age of digital photography preceding FX. Nikon had no FX sensor cameras at that time, so the lens was designed to be sharp in the middle where it is usable by an APS-C sensor. The edges were inconsequential to the designers. Nikon introduced the 70-200 f/2.8G VR II in 2009 to render a more uniformly sharp image across a 35x24mm sensor for its new Nikon FX cameras.

The D850 with its high resolution and exceptional detail would expose these shortcomings in a major way, where they might produce acceptable images with your D750. Your other lenses of that age might have similar issues with the D850. Even older lenses designed for film should fare much better with the D850.

--
“In my mind's eye, I visualize how a particular sight and feeling will appear on a print. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice.” – Ansel Adams

 

[DualSystemGuy]

1) The AF is simply stunning. Damn near telepathic. I knew it was going to be good but I did not expect this level of precision. It does not hunt, it just locks on dead accurate, even at F1.4. It will focus on things in the dark or on items with next to no contrast. Unquestionably better than other bodies including my 1DX. None of my lenses need AF tune either (I have checked). I keep thinking I should tune the AF using the new menu features, but it just nails everything out of the box so I haven't bothered.

2) The white balance is very hard to fool. Just seems to get it right almost every time, especially with the new "keep white" function. Auto exposure is also the most reliable I have experienced on any body.

3) The true full-sensor RAWs at reduced sizes (11 and 25MP) have been game changing for my work, cutting processing time by over 50% for the instances the end usage does not call for file size or resolution.

4) It feels like I am cheating getting this kind of performance from 46MP. It has everything you want in a sensor - resolution, speed, DR, and great ISO. You'd expect the low ISO performance to be good, but it excels everywhere.

I am strongly considering a full system switch after this body. I replaces 4 different Canon bodies (based on my needs) at the same time, and obviously replaced my D810 as well.

 

[FuhTeng]

1) The AF is simply stunning. Damn near telepathic. I knew it was going to be good but I did not expect this level of precision. It does not hunt, it just locks on dead accurate, even at F1.4. It will focus on things in the dark or on items with next to no contrast. Unquestionably better than other bodies including my 1DX. None of my lenses need AF tune either (I have checked). I keep thinking I should tune the AF using the new menu features, but it just nails everything out of the box so I haven't bothered.

2) The white balance is very hard to fool. Just seems to get it right almost every time, especially with the new "keep white" function. Auto exposure is also the most reliable I have experienced on any body.

3) The true full-sensor RAWs at reduced sizes (11 and 25MP) have been game changing for my work, cutting processing time by over 50% for the instances the end usage does not call for file size or resolution.

4) It feels like I am cheating getting this kind of performance from 46MP. It has everything you want in a sensor - resolution, speed, DR, and great ISO. You'd expect the low ISO performance to be good, but it excels everywhere.

I am strongly considering a full system switch after this body. I replaces 4 different Canon bodies (based on my needs) at the same time, and obviously replaced my D810 as well.

Neat, thanks. I'm glad you used the smaller RAWs. I didn't bother but I'm delighted they exist. Have you had any problems with them?

There's one problem with your last paragraph - you'll have to change your screen name!

 

[DualSystemGuy]

1) The AF is simply stunning. Damn near telepathic. I knew it was going to be good but I did not expect this level of precision. It does not hunt, it just locks on dead accurate, even at F1.4. It will focus on things in the dark or on items with next to no contrast. Unquestionably better than other bodies including my 1DX. None of my lenses need AF tune either (I have checked). I keep thinking I should tune the AF using the new menu features, but it just nails everything out of the box so I haven't bothered.

2) The white balance is very hard to fool. Just seems to get it right almost every time, especially with the new "keep white" function. Auto exposure is also the most reliable I have experienced on any body.

3) The true full-sensor RAWs at reduced sizes (11 and 25MP) have been game changing for my work, cutting processing time by over 50% for the instances the end usage does not call for file size or resolution.

4) It feels like I am cheating getting this kind of performance from 46MP. It has everything you want in a sensor - resolution, speed, DR, and great ISO. You'd expect the low ISO performance to be good, but it excels everywhere.

I am strongly considering a full system switch after this body. I replaces 4 different Canon bodies (based on my needs) at the same time, and obviously replaced my D810 as well.

Neat, thanks. I'm glad you used the smaller RAWs. I didn't bother but I'm delighted they exist. Have you had any problems with them?

There's one problem with your last paragraph - you'll have to change your screen name!

--
"Our young men should spend more time considering the composition and merit of their images, and less time with magnifying glasses counting how many bricks and shingles they can resolve." - from a Paris newspaper article on Daguerrotype photography, from 1841. (and https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/05/1839-and-the-frenzy-that-followed)

No issues whatsoever with the smaller RAW files. They are true full-frame RAWs (unlike previous "small RAW" implementations from both Canon and Nikon that are garbage glorified JPEGs), but the bit depth does drop from 14 to 12. I cannot tell any difference in shadow or highlight leeway from the 14bit files even with extreme pushes or recoveries, but I have noticed there is better highlight detail retention from the D850 sensor than my D810 had.

One last thing to note, the small and medium RAWs actually reduce buffer depth slightly due to the extra processing involved, but it would be a non issue for most types of photography. It would only be of concern if you needed to shoot 50+ images consecutively.

Haha yes I might have to change the name in the future. I will probably always have a hand in multiple systems though, one way or another. I enjoy technology, and multiple systems helps keep me objective. The D850 is quite amazing when you consider you would need to spend ~$14,000 USD on Canon bodies to roughly match it's capabilities.

High framerate full frame of at least 9 FPS --> 1DX II

"All rounder" --> 5DM4

Ultra High MP, no AA filter --> 5DSR

High speed crop --> 7D II

I know it's not exact, but all that is included in the D850, along with crop modes (1.5, 1.2, 1:1) as well as smaller true RAW file options (25MP, 11MP) which give it tremendous flexibility. Also note those are proper crop modes, unlike the way Canon does it (still takes the full frame, and you need their proprietary software to view the crop, and no frame rate increase). If you need 9FPS, the grip doesn't cost nearly as much as people think when you can buy a $30 charger and $50 batteries, even if you go with the OEM grip. There are also third party options already available that allow 9FPS if you can live with less build quality on the grip.

 

[michaeljberman]

I did a fine tune check on all my lens, none needed any offset. On the 70 to 200, it got a lot better when I when from 2.8 to 5.6.

Thanks

Mike

 

[michaeljberman]

My 50mm f1.8 just bought from Nikon on a refub deal on Nov. 11 was only OK on sharpness but had a strong color fringe on the black lettering of the focus tune test. So for me (and my lens) it gets an OK only.

Mike

 

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

I did a fine tune check on all my lens, none needed any offset.

Something is wrong here. I did a AFFT on all of my many lenses. Each lens got 12 test each, averaging them out after tossing the high/low. Very few of them got a 0 offset for any of the individual dozen tests

One got a final result of 0 offset after an equal number of plus and minus individual values throughout the dozen tests, but that was one of several lenses.

On the 70 to 200, it got a lot better when I when from 2.8 to 5.6.

This was always the case — no f2.8 lens has a sweet spot at f2.8.

Chris

 

[Dmderb]

I rented a D850 over Christmas. I had it for 12 days of extensive shooting, and I loved it even if I wasn't able to shoot outdoors as much as I was hoping to. I knew a lot of what to expect using it, but my biggest surprise was how useful the live view CDAF+shoot with a single touch is in practice. I dearly liked how easy it was to do an even easier version of what I do all the time with my Sonys - get the camera low, flip the screen out and then AF and shoot my 3 year old and/or his cousins from a low perspective (but my Sonys don't have a touch screen!).

Yes, CDAF is worthless if your subject is moving and the flutter in video is nauseating, but for those kinds of simple grab-shots, it was far better than I was expecting. My D750 is a terrific camera but having to move the AF point and then focus and then shoot using a number of different buttons (I use back button focus) means I have no way to do what I did effortlessly with the D850.

Another good surprise - I didn't find any reason to AF fine tune any of my lenses (from my humble little Nikon 50 f/1.8G to my Tamron 150-600 G2). I was delighted that my quick checks gave me acceptable sharpness. Yes, maybe a shot or two would be slightly better with AFFT, but I was usually shooting in lower light for so many shots, maximum sharpness was wrecked by wide aperture shooting or high ISO noise.

In conclusion - I want a D850! I just need to save up to afford it. And the L-bracket. And the UHS-II card. And the cable release. And the grip. And the big battery. And the battery cover (I'm so amused that's a thing). My D750 is great, but the usability of the touchscreen and the illuminated buttons was wonderful.

--
"Our young men should spend more time considering the composition and merit of their images, and less time with magnifying glasses counting how many bricks and shingles they can resolve." - from a Paris newspaper article on Daguerrotype photography, from 1841. (and https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/05/1839-and-the-frenzy-that-followed)

I have nothing against the D850 but the touch + shoot option has been available for years on bodies like the Olympus EM10 ($500); it is better executed than the Nikon’s Live View and better suited to shooting 3 year olds from low vantage points because the camera is small, light, fast and unobtrusive. Choosing the D850 for this reason is like buying a Ferrari to transport construction materials. But if you like the D850 and can afford it, it is a great camera.

 

[FuhTeng]

Yes I know that touch + shoot is passe in many other brands (I dearly enjoyed it with the EM-5 I rented), but those brands don't have Nikon full frame sensors nor the glass I already have nor the OVF PDAF I've come to enjoy for all other shooting. My big surprise was that the AF was in fact usable like that - on my D750 (tilty but non-touch screen), it's essentially impossible to do what I did with the push of a finger tip because the D750 equivalent is so miserably slow. Which is probably more an indictment of the D750 than an endorsement of the D850 now that I think of it.