D800, Discussion, Questions, and Answers

Symphotic

I acquired a Losmandy clock drive over the weekend, and I may try it out wit some other equipment tonight, but I will probably wait until after the full moon try it with the D800.

If you to see some excellent examples of night sky with the D800, I recommend the D800 group on Flickr, Once you find the group, search "night sky" and you can see what people are doing with the D800 in the dark of night.

hawkdl2

I killed my D800 yesterday and i cant believe how easy it was to kill it and how fragile these modern marvel cameras are.

My camera slipped a measly 18" to the floor off a low bench in its padded camera case and died. of course, i don't expect the camera to be bomb proof and i would expect damage from a few feet without a case, but 18" in a camera bag? what do you all think? are these magnesium bodied supposedly rugged weather sealed cameras getting too fragile?

PB_PM

Does sound rather weak. I've dropped my D700 from 5 feet, and it still works fine.

spraynpray

I killed my D800 yesterday and i cant believe how easy it was to kill it and how fragile these modern marvel cameras are.

My camera slipped a measly 18" to the floor off a low bench in its padded camera case and died. of course, i don't expect the camera to be bomb proof and i would expect damage from a few feet without a case, but 18" in a camera bag? what do you all think? are these magnesium bodied supposedly rugged weather sealed cameras getting too fragile?

OK, more info please, like did you drop it onto a deep carpet or onto wood or what? How it fell, onto what, what side did it fall on. flat or onto a corner, all of these things affect the G-force it experienced.

I do think too much is made of the 'ruggedness' of these cameras - IMHO it is daft to drop one and expect it to function exactly like it did when it came off the line or to compare it to a much simpler film SLR in terms of 'ruggedness'. I reckon that cameras that have been dropped are probably all affected in some way, but the owner just hasn't seen or can't see the effect.

People talk about carrying their expensive cameras without a strap and just hooked onto their finger tips - that is just asking for a problem.

I hope the bill isn't too big, keep us posted please hawk.

fishguy

Rats - the replacement D800 arrived- but the sensor has 50+ spots and a cleaning streak on it! Back to square one on this saga.....

SO: I sent that camera back and my third D800 (refurbished) body arrived Friday - It had only 43 shutter acuations, a high serial number, and is really clean - I saw only 4 diffuse spots on the sensor, so things looked good, until three big spots showed up after around 50 shots (and with no lens changes). One of the spots is that large nasty type with a halo around it - that shows up at around f8

I give up - I'm just going to keep this body and learn how to clean the sensor myself (just ordered some Copper Hill supplies).

Nikon was very good about paying next day shipping both ways on the five returns I made, However, I got three bad cameras from them. I am comparing this to my old D300 (also a refurb) which had just six or so sensor spots when I sold it after 12k shots, and a co-worker's D800 that he bought a week or so before I got my first refurb - he only has a couple of diffuse spots on his sensor.


~Fishguy

Msmoto

@ hawkdl2

The lens on the camera if we drop it may determine a lot in the damage as at certain angles the force on the mount is quite severe. Dropping a body is just a game of roulette.

TaoTeJared

@Msmoto - where is hawkdl2 from? Do we have another Canon troll?

Dropping from 18" and dying has to be a joke! I have dropped so many camera's from 3-10 feet onto concrete, wood floors, and everywhere else and never a thing.

@Fishguy - what lens are you shooting with?

SquamishPhoto

One post with a long winded complaint. Troll is right, Tao.

Msmoto

@TaoTeJared

I wondered the same thing but could not determine him to be a Canon worker. Dropping from 18"....maybe he had a 400mm f/2.8 on it and it crushed the body...LOL

I must admit, the first guy who did the Call Center question...right out of the Canon office.....maybe we should buy only cameras made in the USA.....but the total number of these is zero.

Oh well....

hawkdl2

Asking for help or opinions on an unusual or unexpected problem makes one a troll? What a wonderful forum..
To those who tried to help, thank you. The camera had a 24-70 f/2.8 and while it happened quickly, I think the lens was pointed down. I tested two other lenses and the camera won't power up with any lens, or with no lens.

Msmoto

@ hawkdl2

Your original post was very similar to another thread which was posted by an apparent employee of Canon. You were unaware of this. And in the situation you describe above, the weight of the 24-70 makes a lot of difference as it could have put some stress on the mount. Sorry for misunderstanding. We do not call folks names on NRF. It is very unusual for a D800 to die when dropped a short distance, but in a rare instance anything can happen. I hope you can get it fixed and report back as to the nature of the failure.

spraynpray

So hawk - what did you drop it onto?

I dropped my D7000/18-105 onto a carpet from 18" and it didn't make any noises and works fine. This is not going to be provable on a forum, but I think you got just the right conditions for that to happen. I have stood next to a guy who dropped his D700 with a big 14-24 onto a lawn from above waist height and it just went 'thud' and he just picked it up and carried on (he was another shooter who doesn't use a strap).

TaoTeJared

@hawkdl2 - sorry about that - but as Msmoto said it did sound similar.

Never heard of that per-say but they are filled with electronics. I could have had a boar or connecting just a bit loose and that caused it to jar apart.

I watched a video once of a guy trying to show that the plastic on his well used 85mm 1.4 was just as tough knocking it on a table and it crack then and there. Kind of funny if you think of it. You could tell that lens had tons of ware on it too. Sometimes it just happens.

Symphotic

We used to sell a small video camera that was encased in clear resin. The sales guy used to swing it by its tether and give it a good whack it on the table at trade shows. It made a lot of noise and brought people to see the camera. He never broke one. But he wouldn't get away with that unless the camera were specially made for very rugged use.

I have dropped and broken lots of stuff in my life, including lenses, but haven't broken a Nikon camera yet. That day will certainly come sometime.

Yetibuddha

T3, if this link works, take a look at a photo of orion with a d800 at ISO 800: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yetibuddha/8420978737/in/photostream.

BabaGanoush

@Yetibuddha: Took a quick tour of your Flickr page. You have a lot of terrific pictures there. Lochinvar and the photo of the hawk were exceptional.

ageha

T3, if this link works, take a look at a photo of orion with a d800 at ISO 800: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yetibuddha/8420978737/in/photostream.

If you look closely it's doesn't look very good, a bit disappointing for ISO800.

T3LF

T3, if this link works, take a look at a photo of orion with a d800 at ISO 800: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yetibuddha/8420978737/in/photostream.

If you look closely it's doesn't look very good, a bit disappointing for ISO800.

Yer not the best i have seen some very good ones, im now deciding on the lens to get with the camera its down to sigma 24-70 ex dg hsm if, nikon 24-85mm g ed if vr, nikon 28mm-300mm ed vr, or 24-120mm g ed vr. These are going to be mainly used as a walk around im off to rome and dubai this year but can not make my mine up anyone heard anything bad about these lenses or anything really good? What about quailty of the two longer zoom lenses not sure whats suited best to the d800 other then the nikon 24-70mm out of my price range atm.

Im also getting the 50mm 1.8g.

sevencrossing

">,,,or 24-120mm g ed vr. These are going to be mainly used as a walk around i'm off to rome and dubai this year but can not make my mine up anyone heard anything bad about these lenses or anything really good?

I have a D800 and the 24 - 120 f4 vr
It is my "walk around, do nearly everything " lens and I have only good things to say about it

I know every one says, if you buy a mid range zoom , you should also get a standard prime
I have the 50mm f 1.4 but since getting the 24 -120 I never use it

Msmoto

@ageha @ Yeti
The link above shows camera shake in the 30 sec exposure...IMO. Possibly a wind effect of possibly some small movement from another source. This only becomes evident because Yeti has the guts to show us a full size image. Thanks yeti.

Yetibuddha

Either guts or foolishiness! Actually, the shake at least what looks like shake in the stars is movement from the longer exposure at 30 seconds. Should have used higher ISO I guess with a shorter exposure. I did no noise removal on the image as I recall.

Msmoto

OK, Yeti, my question is whether there was any wind at all. A one or two mile per hour breeze can set up strange vibrations. Again, this is only seen because you shared with us the full image which I admire. It looks to me like a hook shape to the trails of the stars.

I love the shot and if it were no larger than 2000px no one would have ever seen this.

Yetibuddha

Thanks Msmoto. There was occasionally a slight breeze. The shot was difficult as I was getting flare from the moon as well. Only one out of about 5 that did not have flare!

ageha

Thanks Msmoto. There was occasionally a slight breeze. The shot was difficult as I was getting flare from the moon as well. Only one out of about 5 that did not have flare!

Flare from the moon? I didn't know it's that bright.

Yetibuddha

Ageha, several of us experienced this. If you know the night sky for that night, Orion was close to the moon. We were surprised as well. If you want to see one of the RAW photos, I can email it to you, or a jpg of it. And actually, the moon is very bright, particularly in clear sky.