Nikon d850 enthusiastic review

A nice thorough write-up, but I think the camera is going to need a bit more on the video side for its $3300 tag unless maybe you're a big Nikon stills gal or guy that also shoots video.

The 2-3 clips on YouTube I've seen looked really nice, but so do the ones from $1000 cameras.

Just a few changes/additions like 10-bit recording, a proper LOG profile, 4K/60p (even via external recorder)...and it's really a different camera that would turn more heads.

Another issue is its competition in a similar price range offers some very desired features...auto-focus (5D Mark IV), low-light (a7SII), etc.

Nikon has no cinema camera(s) to protect so if they are going to continue making DSLRs with video capabilities, I think they should do something to separate themselves a bit.
 
Tony Romo really liked it too. I mean, Tony Northrup. I think they are the same person. (though Chelsea does not look like Jim Nance).

And D850 is still crippled due to reasons listed above. Nikon may not have a higher end camera to protect but Sony does. And Nikon is indeed protecting it.
 
NorBro said:
A nice thorough write-up, but I think the camera is going to need a bit more on the video side for its $3300 tag unless maybe you're a big Nikon stills gal or guy that also shoots video.

The 2-3 clips on YouTube I've seen looked really nice, but so do the ones from $1000 cameras.

Just a few changes/additions like 10-bit recording, a proper LOG profile, 4K/60p (even via external recorder)...and it's really a different camera that would turn more heads.

Another issue is its competition in a similar price range offers some very desired features...auto-focus (5D Mark IV), low-light (a7SII), etc.

Nikon has no cinema camera(s) to protect so if they are going to continue making DSLRs with video capabilities, I think they should do something to separate themselves a bit.
Click to expand...

Of all the features you mentioned I think the 10 bit is the one I would really like to have

This video comparison is also interesting to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2irrdAFvJ8
 
Agreed on the 10-bit recording as well.

If you have a lot of Nikon glass I can see the appeal.

I sold all of mine when I ditched my D810 and went with the XT-2.
 
I have quite a few Nikon zooms and primes that I love but I also very much like the Nikon colour science, so for my personal projects I am thinking of coupling the D850 with a PIX E5 to get 4k 422 8 bit prores files which I can then transcode to 2k or HD, possibly getting 444 files.
 
doubledark said:
Long time Nikon user here; can I ask why Fuji ?
(I'm frustrated by Nikon's stupid attitude to video)
Click to expand...

Several reasons, for me:

1.) Fuji's skintones are stellar.
2.) Fuji's film emulations are very organic
3.) Fuji's lenses are made of all metal and are some of the sharpest lenses out there.
4.) Being a mirrorless camera, use can use adapted lenses, I also use my set of zeiss contax primes to great effect.
5.) The video quality is excellent.
 
That's a weird way of counting stops. First, you don't have to count the clipped white patch. Second, that patch should be just about clipping, which doesn't seem to be the case here (either that, or the flat curve actually has a shoulder in the highlights).
If I compare the image with these ones, I reckon it has around 3 stops less than the a6300. It's on par with the GH4, which I've used and consider low-DR by today's standards. Even before 10-bit, 4k 60fps, etc., Nikon needs a better gamma curve, able to preserve in video model all the DR the sensor can provide.
 
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That the brightest patch of light in the chart should appear as clipped white on your image, but if you close your f-stop just a tiny bit it should not be clipping anymore. If this flat picture profile is log-like in the sense that it doesn't have a shoulder in the highlights, the chart is slightly overexposed, f-stop should have been closed down by half a stop or so, which means the DR is half-a-stop lower than they measured. Or maybe flat has a knee and the chart is properly exposed, I don't really know.

In any case, my main point was: compare this result with similar charts shot with other cameras, and the difference is obvious. You can claim as many stops as you want, it's still approximately three stops short of the a6300. And that's a lot.

Edit: this is how a log profile usually looks like (this is slog on the F3)
sony-f3-s-log-dynamic-range.jpg
 
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