The fully functional D800 AF thread - drop a line!

[Reilly Diefenbach]

D800e locks on like a bear left right and center. No tint. no oil. Love it!

 

[Marianne Oelund]

henrikbengtsson wrote:

It seems to me that many users are complaining about the Left AF issue on the D800 series. But then again only people with real issues seem to be active on the internet

My D800E focuses consistently across all AF points - consistently back-focusing, that is. My D7000 was the same when new, and I sent it to Nikon for service. It came back just fine, but I still haven't worked up the courage to send my D800E to them.

 

[John M Roberts]

Marianne Oelund wrote:

henrikbengtsson wrote:

It seems to me that many users are complaining about the Left AF issue on the D800 series. But then again only people with real issues seem to be active on the internet

My D800E focuses consistently across all AF points - consistently back-focusing, that is. My D7000 was the same when new, and I sent it to Nikon for service. It came back just fine, but I still haven't worked up the courage to send my D800E to them.

Please report back when you do. You are a credible contributor.

 

[GO]

henrikbengtsson wrote:

It seems to me that many users are complaining about the Left AF issue on the D800 series. But then again only people with real issues seem to be active on the internet - making it a bit hard to jump to conclusions. I am fully aware of the problem but I thought maybe instead of all the whining it might be fun to hear, "my D800 is allright" (there should be plenty plenty) and whenever someone complains about Nikon (real problem or not), there's always this thread for some perspective.

So drop a line, a "+1" or whatever if your D800 AF is 100%.

repost:

I agree,

I have a D3 also. It took me a year to make up my mind to get a D800 after all the bad press here. I need the MP bad for my work. I do quite afew large pictures.

So after reading all the bad press for about year I found out that some people, were really having some problems. And I found out that about half are more of those people were the problem.

Because they didn't know the difference between front and back focus problems and thought they had left focus problems. And lot of them were not calibrating their lenses to the center point first before looking for other problems. Because they did know how....

Sorry for runing on

So, Yes Yes Yes just bought a D800E from B&H a week ago and really love it no problems other than a very slight green tint on the back display, Not a problem. I do my PP in PS not on the back display. So minds good and love it.............

 

[Pradipta Dutta]

Marianne Oelund wrote:

Pradipta Dutta wrote:

The Sendai plant of Nikon has been producing at the rate of about 30,000 D800/D800E bodies since over a year ago (click here for the CNET story).

Even if you consider just 12 months of production (in reality, it would be longer as Nikon typically starts manufacturing bodies well before its actual launch), that would make it about 3.6 million bodies by now.

No, it's 360,000.

Yep, my bad. It should be 360,000 not 3.6M. But it is still a staggering number and huge ownership.

Since you have heard complaints from a very small number, it is proof enough to show that a large percentage of the cameras are operating fine.

That proves nothing. And what do you mean by "a large percentage?"

What it proves is that a large percentage of the owners are perfectly ok with their usage of the camera.

 

[GroWeb]

Marianne Oelund wrote:

My D800E focuses consistently across all AF points - consistently back-focusing, ... but I still haven't worked up the courage to send my D800E to them.

I can understand your hesitancy, with so many stories -- including my own -- of cameras coming back from the "repair" in worse condition than they were in to begin with, then requiring repeated efforts to achieve a satisfactory result. I'm thankful that I work within driving distance of a Nikon Canada location, allowing me a more rapid and face-to-face interaction. It will also allow me (from now on!) to check the camera's functionality in the presence of Nikon staff before leaving the building with it.

 

[Oscarroos]

I bought an early model and was back focusing so sent it in to be serviced and now right on with no left focus issues. Great camera!

 

[Leo360]

Pradipta Dutta wrote:

henrikbengtsson wrote:

It seems to me that many users are complaining about the Left AF issue on the D800 series. But then again only people with real issues seem to be active on the internet - making it a bit hard to jump to conclusions. I am fully aware of the problem but I thought maybe instead of all the whining it might be fun to hear, "my D800 is allright" (there should be plenty plenty) and whenever someone complains about Nikon (real problem or not), there's always this thread for some perspective.

So drop a line, a "+1" or whatever if your D800 AF is 100%.

The Sendai plant of Nikon has been producing at the rate of about 30,000 D800/D800E bodies since over a year ago (click here for the CNET story).

Even if you consider just 12 months of production (in reality, it would be longer as Nikon typically starts manufacturing bodies well before its actual launch), that would make it about 3.6 million bodies by now.

"Just do the math", as you said. 30,000 x 12 = 360,000 which is 10 times less than 3.6 million bodies you found.

Leo

 

[Pradipta Dutta]

Leo360 wrote:

"Just do the math", as you said. 30,000 x 12 = 360,000 which is 10 times less than 3.6 million bodies you found.

It was a silly calculation mistake that I had already acknowledged here. But as I said in my earlier post, the number is still staggering.

 

[TOF guy]

Pradipta wrote:

.

The Sendai plant of Nikon has been producing at the rate of about 30,000 D800/D800E bodies since over a year ago (click here for the CNET story).

12 x 30,000 = 360,000 not 3,600,000.

 

[TOF guy]

Marianne wrote:

My D800E focuses consistently across all AF points - consistently back-focusing, that is.

Have you seen any difference between incandescent and day light ?

 

[wombat779]

My D800E (bought November 2012) is fully functional, and AF works great.

My one caveat is that I have only tested with the lenses I own (50mm 1.8g, 85 1.8g, 24-120f4, 70-200f4, 16-35f4), and I know that some say you can only notice the left AF issue with wide fast lenses. One day I'll get such a lens and test, but, honestly, even if it turns out to be a bit off I don't really care. Shooting with the left AF point on a wide angle lens at open apertures is likely to be such a small number of my shots, I don't plan on stressing about it one way or the other. The way I think about it is this...with my 5D2, a quite high percentage of my shots at low ISO (about 50% of what I shoot) had visible pattern noise in the shadows. From what I have seen, the 5D3 is not much better in that regard. Every camera has its strong and weak points, and you need to choose what is best for you. For me, I would gladly take the possibility of a few OOF shots under very specific circumstances (that I can work around if I face them at all) for the image quality I get from my D800E.

 

[michaeladawson]

Leo360 wrote:

Pradipta Dutta wrote:

henrikbengtsson wrote:

It seems to me that many users are complaining about the Left AF issue on the D800 series. But then again only people with real issues seem to be active on the internet - making it a bit hard to jump to conclusions. I am fully aware of the problem but I thought maybe instead of all the whining it might be fun to hear, "my D800 is allright" (there should be plenty plenty) and whenever someone complains about Nikon (real problem or not), there's always this thread for some perspective.

So drop a line, a "+1" or whatever if your D800 AF is 100%.

The Sendai plant of Nikon has been producing at the rate of about 30,000 D800/D800E bodies since over a year ago (click here for the CNET story).

Even if you consider just 12 months of production (in reality, it would be longer as Nikon typically starts manufacturing bodies well before its actual launch), that would make it about 3.6 million bodies by now.

"Just do the math", as you said. 30,000 x 12 = 360,000 which is 10 times less than 3.6 million bodies you found.

Leo

I shouldn't even say anything. But I must

This is one of those incorrect usages of language that bug me. You cannot have 10 times less. You can have one tenth of something. But not 10 times less. Unfortunately, the misuse is understood by most people so the misuse is accepted.

Yeah, I know, get a life

 

[TOF guy]

wombat779 wrote:

My D800E (bought November 2012)

You're probably okay from the purchase date

tested with the lenses I own (50mm 1.8g, 85 1.8g, 24-120f4, 70-200f4, 16-35f4), and I know that some say you can only notice the left AF issue with wide fast lenses.

50mm is wide enough.

Looks like you're okay.

 

[tko]

Even if you consider just 12 months of production (in reality, it would be longer as Nikon typically starts manufacturing bodies well before its actual launch), that would make it about 3.6 million bodies by now. Since you have heard SUCCESS from a very small number, it is proof enough to show that a large percentage of the cameras have problems


Even in this thread, a large number don't have success till the camera is sent in.

 

[Chris J Newman]

I bought my D800 at the end of 2013. So far I am delighted with it. I checked the left field focus (and centre and right), and they all seem fine.

By far my biggest gripe with the camera is that so-called "Customize command dials" does nothing worthwhile. I use "Easy exposure compensation", so I want to be able to customize the command dials so that when I switch from programmed exposure to aperture priority, exposure compensation stays on the same command dial, and I turn the other dial in the same direction to change the aperture as I would using flexible programme. But I think this flaw applies to all Nikons with two command dials - it is certainly the same on my D90. I suspect it might need no more than a firmware update to fix this!

The major improvement I would like to see is sensor shift image stabilization for non-VR lenses. I notice that Canon offer 24mm and 28mm prime lenses with IS, at prices well above what you might expect for unstabilized f/1.8 lenses but with apertures of only f2.8! I assume this means that it is very difficult to apply lens-based stabilization to larger apertures, particularly with shorter focal lengths where space is limited. I also notice that the tiny Olympus Pen E-PM2 Micro Four Thirds camera, with built-in sensor shift image stabilization, can give priority to lens-based stabilization on Panasonic lenses. This seems to me to offer the advantages of both image stabilization systems, in a camera currently selling in the UK for about a quarter of the price of the D800.

If the D800 included sensor shift stabilization, I would have bought the Nikon 24-70 rather than the image-stabilized Tamron 24-70!



Chris

 

[spbStan]

Best AF I have used, tracks better in low light than anything else except a D4. The new 91k metering sensor really improves the AF tracking, in addition to its positive impact on metering in difficult lighting situations. AF to -2ev has to be tried to be believed.

Shooting less and keeping a lot more.

 

[Anker BergSonne]

I have tried and tried and tried to find problems with my D800. None so far. Really frustrating!

Anker

 

[phoman]

henrikbengtsson wrote:

It seems to me that many users are complaining about the Left AF issue on the D800 series. But then again only people with real issues seem to be active on the internet - making it a bit hard to jump to conclusions. I am fully aware of the problem but I thought maybe instead of all the whining it might be fun to hear, "my D800 is allright" (there should be plenty plenty) and whenever someone complains about Nikon (real problem or not), there's always this thread for some perspective.

So drop a line, a "+1" or whatever if your D800 AF is 100%.

I guess it is OK for cat photography

 

[Tommot1965]

yep mines all good..although I keep testing it due to the bad press..LOL...