Nikon 610 or Nikon D800

Ricardwcg

Hi all, well I've been in the picture for quite a while and I made the desicion to move from Dx to Fx, but I am between the Nikon D610 and the Nikon D800. I know very well their characteristics but reading different forums on the same subject so far range in a draw since the D610 is very versatile in the sense of your body but the D800 is much more rigid and therefore resistant

I appreciate all your opinions -

Photobug

Easy decision if you have the $$$$$, buy the D800. Just make sure you are prepared for the large files - storage, longer load times, etc.

The D610 is expected to be an excellent camera. I still prefer the larger size of the D800 but am still adjusting from selling my D300 and buying the D7100. D7100 and D610 are effectively the same size.

Which ever you buy they are both great camera bodies.

Golf007sd

@Ricardwcg: Welcome. 1) Tell us the reason you are moving to FX,; 2) what body you currently have; 3)your lenses. 4) do you enough storage for the larger images size for both bodies? 5) Have you had either in your hands to see which feels more comfortable to you. 6) do you need faster shutter speeds above 1/4000 second?

Ricardwcg

Hello Golf007sd thanks.
1) the main reason why I'm changing to a Fx is essentially go from being in the basic range of Nikon's move on to the professional.
2) At this moment I have a D5000 but at my university I use a lot of D 7000
3) 18-55 55-200 18-200 70-300
4) do not understand the question 4
5) Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to have them in my hands all I've seen so far are many forums and reviews
6) nesesariamente not most photos I take are landscapes, animals and aircraft photography

I appreciate all your opinions

Ricardwcg

if the 4th question was if I have room for the size of the photos that generate the D610 or D800 yes I have

PB_PM

For that kind of work, either camera will do well. The D800 will give you slightly more dynamic range, and an AF system with a wider spread of AF points, more resolution and a tougher body. If money is no object, the easy answer is the D800. If you are on a more limited budget, the D610 with a higher quality lens would be better.

The D610 is about the same size as the D7000, so if you like the grip on that camera, they are similar.

Golf007sd

@Ricardwcg: Thank you for responding to my questions. Please note that a great majority of your lenses are for DX bodies, thus for you to take advantage of a new FX body, you will have to invest in some new glass.

I think the shutter speed of 1/4000 sec is going to be plenty fast enough for you, specially given that you do not have, at the moment, lens with very wide apertures (i.e. 1.4's). Thus, I would recommend you getting the D610 and using the extra fund that would have gone towards the D800 towards some nice FX glass. By all mean have a look at this article by our good friends on Photographylife.com to get a good perspective on which lenses to consider with your move to FX.

First Nikon Lens by PhotographyLife.com

Happy shopping....

P.S. If you can, find a local shop that has one or both bodies to hold in your hand. The feel of the body is an important factor...do not shot change yourself.

Ricardwcg

THIS ARE THE KITS I SAW

D800

Nikon Nikon D800 Digital SLR Camera Body Deluxe Kit
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Lens
Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED Telephoto Zoom Lens
3-SanDisk 32GB SDHC Memory Card Extreme Class 10 UHS-I - 2-Pack
Nikon MB-D12 Multi Power Battery Pack for D800 Camera
Nikon EN-EL15 Lithium-Ion Battery (1900mAh)
DigiGear Extreme SD-HC-XC to CF Adapter


D610

Nikon D610 DSLR Camera with 24-85mm and 70-300mm Lenses
Nikon EN-EL15 Lithium-Ion Battery (1900mAh)
Nikon MB-D14 Multi Battery Power Pack
Nikon MB-D14 Multi Battery Power Pack
3-SanDisk 32GB SDHC Memory Card Extreme Class 10 UHS-I - 2-Pack
DigiGear Extreme SD-HC-XC to CF Adapter

Ricardwcg

PD: THEY ARENT KITS ALL ITEMS ARE SEPARATELY

PB_PM

Honestly, if you are going to go FX, don't cheap out on kit lenses. Get body only kits and buy some good glass, otherwise you might as well just upgrade to the D7100 and keep what you have now.

shawnino

What @PB_PM said. Depending on the focal lengths you use most, when you upgrade get a prime or two that mean business or one of the serious zooms. If the 24-85 interests you, take a long look at a 24-70 f/2.8 or the Nikon 24-120 f/4. Bodies come and go. Good glass can last generations.

TaoTeJared

+1 on glass - If you are in school than I would say get the 610 (or even a D600 - people are so fickle about the shutter that it is really cheap, and few of the newest ones do not have the spot issues like the first releases.) Put your money towards glass.

To be perfectly honest, if you only shoot landscapes etc. you are young, assuming you don't have $5,000USD laying around, a D7100 with 24mp will get you 90% of the way there and you could invest in better glass that will do more to help your images than a body. The gain for that type of shooting vs. the cost - it really doesn't make much since. Unless you have the money and you just want to spend it. The real difference is Low light (High ISO) ability.

It's better to stay DX and build your lens collection out before going FX. Consider a FX camera will be worth 50% in 3 years used, Good lenses will hold their value to 80-90% for 8-10 years. You should easily get 10-15 years of use from a pro lens, and in the same time, 3-5 generations of bodies would have come out. Glass is the better investment and will make the most improvement in your images.

There is a huge jump in quality between the D5000 to D5300. The jump from D5300 to D610, is big for certain types of photography but not for landscapes. Really depends what you mean by animal and aircraft photography - Still or Moving?

To get to the moon, you have to build the launchpad first.

adamz

@ricardwcg - d800 is not a camera for you, judging on this what you wrote. sorry, I'll not elaborate more on that - you just have to trust. d610 might be a camera for you, but once again... is it a good camera for your type of photography... especially with the budget you showed us (judging on your kits) I doubt. as perviously stated - glass is the most important factor. get d7100 and you will not regret your decision. get a 3rd party battery pack for it. and the lenses your wrote. add a good tripod and you have a BASIC wildlife and air spotting setup... for landscapes you need to go wide... neither one of the lenses will be wide enough - get tokina or sigma. as for DigiGear Extreme SD-HC-XC to CF Adapter - why earth you added this... it only shows that you have no idea what you writing about - on d800 you will not be able to stick it inside the card slot as it's to wide, on d610 you don't need this as it has 2 sd slots.

as for question 4 - this once again shows us, that you don't know what you talking about... I'll elaborate a little bit on this. do you have at least multicore i5/i7 setup with at least 8gb ram and at least ssd drive as a main hdd and fast external storage - preferably good raid connected either through thunderbolt or usb 3.0? unless you gonna shoot in jpg's, trust me playing with 60 mb files is not trivial. it eats a lot of resources. currently I have i7 3.4ghz with 24GB of ddr3 ram, 256 gb on sata 6 ssd, 2gb GPU and two external raids - 4TB raid 0 and 6TB raid 5 connected through thunderbolt and I feel a lag when I work with multiple images.

sevencrossing

1) the main reason why I'm changing to a Fx is essentially go from being in the basic range of Nikon's move on to the professional.

Others will disagree, but IHMO if you hoping to become a profession, then yes you should move from DX to FX
the D800 is superior to the D610 so I would go with that. As other have said, forget the kit lens and start with something like the 24-120 f4 plus the a 70 -200 or the new amazing 80 -400

If this is out of your budget, stick to Dx

there is no point in moving up to FX if you cannot afford the glass to go with it
In the UK the price difference between the D610 and the D800 is very small

Msmoto

One more "opinion"…..

A lot of us, me included, have a full frame body so we could have all the pro features, do 10FPS, crop dramatically, shoot about anything we want, shoot with no light, etc., and of course when another photographer asks what you are shooting, answer with "an old Nikon."

The real question is what end product does one want? Billboard size images? 30" x 40" prints? Or primarily projected images at the local photo club…. And, what are the subjects? Landscapes, people, products, etc.?

My suggestion would be to go to a museum or photo exhibition, see what you really want to shoot, then decide what you need. Not want, need.

There are very accomplished folks who say the best sensor is on the D7100. We also know that billboards have been shot with 4MP bodies in the past and looked fantastic.

The lens is what I see as of primary importance. Nothing can substitute for this.

Landscapes, animals, aircraft…..I would go D7100, grip, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D IF-ED, maybe AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E II. Or, AF-S NIKKOR
80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR instead of the 300mm. Then, when you want to go to full frame…you are ready.

The obvious issue for all of us is how much money we want to spend. You will be better off IMO to grab the glass first, then later get a full pro body.

sevencrossing

. Then, when you want to go to full frame…you are ready.

.

but why not buy a full frame camera in the first place ??

if you are on a tight budget a new D600s seems to be a bargain

kenadams

Is funny, how whenever someone starts complaining about how the D800 is not the D700 replacement and how they don't need the extra MP, someone else pops up and says BS, and how cheap storage is and stop complaining. It's not until someone wants to buy a D800 that everyone starts screaming you don't have a 20TB raid and a gazillion RAM, don't do it!

My father used to get pro tools whenever possible - as long as they were right for the job. I suggest to at least consider the same. Lenses are the smarter investment, on the other hand you could have 10k down in lenses that the D800 now apparently out-resolves according to every other review, so what about your 10K? Worthless? However my 10MP D80 apparently started outresolving a lot of lenses back in 2006 according to a review by Thom Hogan I recently dug up, or at least suggested it could. Point in case: investment, yes, but not for all times either. There's a thread about old manual lenses on the fred miranda forum that keeps blowing my mind. Yes, some lenses seem soft today, but if the photos are great in composition or motive, it's totally irrelevant other than for pixel peepers. But they get you going!

Get what you can afford and think is right for your particular environment. Consider follow-up costs and consider them hard! Good glass can be bought over time and will stay with you, but you need a camera to start out with.

Msmoto

@sevencrossing

Animals and airplanes may do better on a crop sensor to get the extra length. And with the D7100 sensor having no AA filter, this may be one of the best. Admittedly, the cost difference is not that much if one followed my advice and purchased all the lenses, but the idea IMO is to purchase the glass first, then go to a "pro" body. I am waiting for a D400 as a lot of us are, but the next D7xxx may be the one to fill that niche if no D400 shows up.

I think one can do images on a crop sensor that cannot be differentiated from a full frame in the vast majority of cases.

sevencrossing

@Msmoto
the massive advantage of an Fx, is it can be cropped to Dx
but you cannot go the other way round
For wild life and often to crop to Dx but very rarely do I use the exact center of the image. shooting Fx gives me a lot of flexibility to crop as I wish
I shoot a lot of stuff for web sites, which in theory could be done on Dx but frequently the client or webmaster will severely crop the image, this is not an issue as they are starting with 36 mp
once or twice year a client will decide he would like a massive print for his office wall
they will not pay a reshoot, they expect to use an image originally shot for a web site

When it comes to landscapes and seascapes, partially those shot into the light, dynamic, range is critical . at the moment no Dx camera comes close to the dynamic range of a D800

Vipmediastar_JZ

Having a d7k and upgrading to the d600 was a smart move for me for money and having good glass too. Fx for less. I was happy with untill I got my dust and oil problems (maybe its resolved with d610). I took a hit with my budget and upgraded to a D800. I'm glad I have the D800. Better body control and feels fantastic on my hands.
Start with one lens. One of my favorite is sigmas 35mm 1.4 A and also nikon 85mm 1.8g.

If you are not in a rush look for the nikon rebates sale. After selling all of my gear I was able to afford most of my equipment that way by taking advantage of the sales.

spraynpray

This thread has taken an interesting turn. I want the low light performance and DoF of FX, but IMHO there is a gap in the FX range. I want the D800 with the D600/610 sensor etc. If the DR of the D610 is really the equal of the D800, then for sure I would go that way but I want the full pro sealing, chassis and controls of the D800.

Erm - would that then be the D700 replacement? :P

Golf007sd

@spraynpray: LoL. Looking forward to the day you join the FX side. All you have to do is hit the buy button on the one that is looking at you in the face :P

adamz

@sevencrossing - what's the sense of cropping FX if you can already have the picture on DX... I guess we have different approach towards photography. for me it's to shoot as much as I can and spend as little as possible in post production, for you it looks the other way if you have time to crop FX to DX so often. please don't get me wrong, I don't judge that. I simply can't afford that additional time in PP.

as for wildlife and airplanes, the best setup you can get right now is: d800e + N800/5.6 + TC14, but that's around 20k. for 12-13k you can get still good d800e + N600/4 + TC20 - that's still a lot. for fraction of this you can get d7100 + N80-400 + TC1.4 and you will have a 24Mpx w/o AA, pretty good AF, and 840mm / f8 and trust me that's the best bunk for $$$ one can get to shoot both animals and airplanes. spend additional 1-2k on trips, safaris and you will be blown away with the results. moreover, you will still have enough Mpx to print wall size images.

@kenadams - have you ever played with files from D800? I guess not. sure, you don't need 20TB of space and don't know what kind of hardware, but the question is, do you buy the best DSLR on the market to spend hours on processing? I don't. for me taking pictures is a pleasure, processing them is necessity and I want to cut the necessity to maximum minimum necessary.

@msmoto - as much as I like your setup recommendation, I would suggest to get the 24-120mm as it's more versatile than 24-70 for both wildlife and airplanes, especially when you have just one body.

sevencrossing

@ adamz

we clearly work in different ways

In the days of the darkroom pp could take as long or longer than the shoot; using Lightroom it will take me under an hour to process a typical days shoot

I use a 80-400 for wild life but as I am sometimes a the 80mm end: adding a TC and putting it on a D7100 would not make sense

We all work in different ways, with different budgets , shooting different subjects, in different conditions for different clients

Which is why Nikon list about 6 DSLRs and 64 lenses

@Ricardwcg Do come back and lets know what you buy

Msmoto

Oh, my, the words "we clearly work in different ways" so describes us all.

@Adam…. I have the 24-120, but I think I would rather have the 24-70. Maybe just for the one stop. However, the versatility of the extra 50mm is very clear. Here is a set with the 24-120 demonstrating the lens from wide to long.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fantinesfotos/sets/72157630428070462/with/7496444028/

adamz

@msmoto - I have a love hate relationship with the 24-70, it's my walk around lens, travel lens, event lens, but the build quality is not up to the limit of a $$$$ lens. my just got broken second time since last year... and I'm closer to selling it than ever before.