D850

framer

Lets be clear, I have two bodies currently and one is 8yo and one is 3yo. I agree that a 10 year cycle is too long if I only had one body; however, I'm buying a new body every 5 years. As good as the D850 is I'm looking at a D6 in a couple more years to replace the D3s.

framer

donaldejose

framer: a 10 year cycle makes sense if you are buying a new primary body every 5 years and using the old one as backup. Nikon's mirrorless FX body which should be out next year may be better than a D6 in many ways and should cost less. Truth be told, I have many 16 x 24 prints from a 12mp D90 which are perfectly fine and people cannot tell apart from the same size prints I have made from a 36mp D800. For certain types of work, such a studio portraits which will not be printed greater than 16 x 24 inches, a 12 mp D90 (about $200 on ebay) is sufficient because you can control the light, don't need fast AF for moving subjects, etc. What a person NEEDS, as opposed to what they want, depends upon the type of work they are going to do with the body. We all get seduced with new features and new capabilities and say "I want that!" I can remember when the D800 came out and there was much discussion of "the last camera" to the effect that it can be the last camera you buy based on real need. I had a D800 but bought a D750 because I wanted its face detection and U1, U2 features. Then I bought a D500 because I wanted its crop factor reach with high fps feature. I just bought a D850 because I wanted it's silent shutter feature. I know I am going to want one of Nikon's mirrorless bodies when they come out because the EVF will give me "what you see is what you get" in the viewfinder which should be great for LED portraits as you can see the effect you are trying to create before you press the shutter button. For me, a new feature, not megapixels, has been driving sales.

Vipmediastar_JZ

I found this site that has good info about autofocus on d850 http://www.capetowntours.photography/best-nikon-d850-autofocus-system-settings/

Photobug

Killerbob said:

I now have a D800, a D810, and the fabulous D850 (I am trying to sell the D800). One thing that is starting to irk me is that the button layout is different between the D810 and the D850. I am really thinking that it would be nice with two cameras with somewhat identical layouts.

Unfortunately that means the D500, D5, or another D850 - and I don't want a DX camera, the D5 is too expensive, and then it's another D850. I guess I will just stick with my D810, but it still irritates me:)

Easy solution...use two D850, sell the D800 and D810. Pretty easy solution...from my perspective.

Photobug

donaldejose said:

Most would argue that a 10 year body cycle in the current digital age is too long because there is just too much progress being made every few years. Probably skipping one iteration is a better plan. If you have a D3, skip D4 and get a D5 or if you have a D800, skip D810 and get D850 etc. But many people feel each iteration is worth the change for some new feature it offers which they want to use. For example, the silent shutter option alone in the D850 for wedding photographers may be worth changing from a D810. Progress seems to be happening faster and faster these days and significant new technologies appear frequently. Next year we will all lust after the "what you see is what you get" EVF in the new Nikon mirrorless bodies. As higher ISO image quality and EVFs and LED monolights all improve many portrait photographers will want to "see" their lighting set up directly before they press the shutter instead of previsualizing what the strobe will produce and checking it after they press the shutter. We will probably be at that stage in 2 to 3 years and may be there next year with a Nikon FX mirrorless body using the sensor in the D850 which I think is going to produce adequate image quality at ISO 2,000 with LED monolights. It was not like that back in the film days when a camera body was fine for 10 years and improvements in film stock were slow to appear.

Agree with the every 10 years to upgrde. IMHO its every 3 to 5 years for bodies...skip the next update and buy the next one (Own a D810, skip the D810 and buy the D850). The past 10 years have been major improvements in DSLR technology. Expect it to slow down and the models will be minor but important updates. 10 years is just too long.

Rx4Photo

Not quite sure you can “pre” see what a strobe will do with an EVF. Yes, with a constant lightning setup, but strobe ????
With constant lighting, we can do that already.

donaldejose

Yes, you cannot presee strobe effects with either OVF or EVF. But you can presee constant light with OVF if you are not using manual or exposure compensation. You can presee constant light with an OVF DSLR if you are using live view but then you have a shutter delay. An EVF will eliminate that shutter delay. I am trying to say it will be a great advantage to those who want to use constant lighting and see what plus and minus exposure compensation does or to those who use manual and want to adjust exposure with f-stop or shutter speed. I like using live view for constant light portraiture but I don't like the shutter delay. I have not yet worked with the electonic shutter in the D850 to see if I can use that in liveview to eliminate shutter delay. Maybe it will be a fix.

spraynpray

I hope so Donald. Could you let us know if the D850 has cured the Nikon clunky live view shutter please?

donaldejose

I will try it out soon and let you know.

donaldejose

I think it does when you set it in silent live view mode 1 and single shutter release. There is no mirror moving and no shutter sound. The problem is that without a shutter sound how do I know the delay time between pressing the shutter release button and taking the actual image? I would say there is not any more delay between pressing the shutter button and the actual exposure than when shooting through the OVF. I don't see why it wouldn't be just as fast, if not faster. You are limited to no more than 1/2,000th of a second shutter speed and no more than ISO 25,600 but I don't see how you would even reach those limitations when shooting portraits or products. Shooting this way may give me the "what you see is what you get" constant light shooting a mirrorless body with EVF would offer. I am certain that mirror blackout in silent live view mode 1 lasts much longer than mirror blackout in normal OVF mode. There is no problem shooting once a second in OVF mode on S (single shutter release) but seems like you can only shoot once every 4 or 5 seconds in silent live view mode 1 on S (single shutter release). I am not sure why we have such a longer mirror blackout. I think with OVF blackout is only as long as it takes to flip the mirror up and back down while in liveview blackout is the time between the exposure and the processing of the image to display it on the back LCD and then you have to press the shutter button to clear the last shot image and get back to the live view image. If you turn off image review you have a faster 2 to 3 second blackout time but still not as fast as OVF shooting. Seems like D850 liveview shooting would work much better than it did in prior Nikon bodies but still not as fast as OVF shooting. I have not used a Sony OVF body so I don't know how long blackout is in those bodies, with and without image review. But I have not used silent live view mode 1 in the D650 in an actual portrait shoot yet. Don't think I have quite answered your question spraynpray except to say it is better than before. Maybe not a cure, if cure means as fast at OVF blackout, but certainly better and maybe sufficient. The key time should be between the press of the shutter button and the actual exposure captured by the camera, not the total mirror blackout time which really is just how long it is going to take you to get back in action and which you might be able to cure through burst shooting.

Pistnbroke

Quote.... If you turn off image review you have a faster 2 to 3 second blackout time but still not as fast as OVF shooting.

So totally useless then ..who designed this camera ??
The standard shutter is louder than an 810 and silent is unworkable
The more I hear the less I like

donaldejose

Does anyone know how much blackout time you have with a Sony?

donaldejose

Does anyone know how to shorten the blackout time in liveview?

framer

The one new feature that keeps me considering this body is the focus stacking. I could really use it enough to justify the new body.

framer

Sports

donaldejose said:

Does anyone know how much blackout time you have with a Sony?

My brother has a Sony A7 mk. II, and says the blackout is up to half a second. But it does not have a complete silent mode ... if that's what we're talking about.
The new Sony A9 has no blackout at all !!!

donaldejose

Seems like the Sony A9 is the body you want for minimal blackout time.

Pistnbroke

does it black out when it overheats ?
In truth its no good having a silent mode for weddings if it blacks out because you can guarantee it will do it at the wrong time

donaldejose

Q shutter setting seems quite a bit quieter than S shutter setting, especially the further you are away from the camera. I don't think anyone 10 feet away from the photographer would object to a photographer shooting in Q mode during a wedding. Pistnbroke you would be an expert on this. In what situations do you find you have to be less than 10 feet away from the minister or the audience? Do you find Q sufficiently quiet in your D810? I though the D800 shutter was annoyingly loud and Q didn't make much difference, just two annoying sounds. In Q blackout time is longer than S because the mirror movement is broken into two parts but it is still minimal blackout time which should not cause any lost shots. I am thinking Q would be the way to go with a D850 when you don't want to generate annoying sound. Just keep a reasonable distance between yourself and the other people who might find shutter sound disturbing. If one needs to be absolutely silent the silent/live view mode can be used with its two to three second blackout time. If the minister proclaims "no photographs during the vows" you can still get off many shots in silent mode during that part of the ceremony even though you have some blackout time and it you are not behind or "in the minister's face" he/she should be ok with it. If you are standing in the back of the church using a 70-200 f2.8 zoom, the minister will not even be able to tell you are shooting as opposed to only viewing through your camera. He/she probably couldn't even hear Q from that distance. If you are taking deliberate studio portraits a two to thee second blackout time is not a problem any more than shooting with sheet film in a view camera or even cranking the film through a 35mm SLR was and you can get "what you see is what you get" photography.

Pistnbroke

Q is a waste of time because it makes two clicks not much quieter than CL. .Check this out with a db meter on your iphone.Some celebrants are click fobic and turn and glare at you . you need to be able to take multiple shots in quick succession even during the service .I leave it on CL at 2fps as this avoids blinkers ..usually take 2 or 3 of everything to avoid blinkers.Have not photographed a service from th back for 20 years. No pics during the vows ...I just ignore them.
Lets hope they make a better job of the mirrorless cameras

Pistnbroke

I wuld be interested if one of you could try silent mode for me and use large basic to both cards //how does that affect the blackout time .

donaldejose

Blackout time is 2 to 3 seconds either way. Sorry, no difference. Maybe next year's mirrorless bodies will be better. Apparently the Sony A9 has essentially no black out time as reported above.

Pistnbroke

Thanks for that ..when you think about it it is a bit silly to have a blackout as while the images are being saved the sensor and LCD are not involved in that process

donaldejose

I do not know the reason for the blackout. Perhaps the same "computer" which processes the image for the LCD is busy doing something else? But what? Processing the image to send it to the buffer? If it doesn't occur with video why does it occur with stills?

PB_PM

Video is outputting a much smaller file. Even at 8k, it's less than 10MP, or 40-50 megabits per second. That's less than 10 megabytes per second. A D850 or A7R II full sized RAW is over 50MBs all at once, proceesed, AD conversion and converted into the RAW file in what 1.5-2 seconds. Not even a contest over which is harder on the CPU.

If the still camera had a dedicated CPU for the display it might not be a problem, but then you'd see the price per camera increase significantly, think $1k more.

donaldejose

PB_PM: Then how does the Sony A9 do it with no blackout?