Thinking about D800 instead of 1d mark 4 or 1dx. Thoughts?

Faymus Media

Faymus Media

Well-known member
I currently shoot on a 7d and a 5d mark ii. Great photos and video and I love them. However the D800 has extremely high resolution! 36mp!

I also do a lot of photography and I was going to purchase a 1Dx or 1d mark 4 however for the price the d800 is cheaper and is twice the resolution of both of those cameras and its full frame!

How does the d800 handle videos and photos? Would it be wise for me on make this jump? I have noticed that the dynamic range is noticeably higher on on the d800 compared to any canon.

any thoughts, example photos in full resolution? Also Video?

thanks guys.
 
I've got one and love it. But I suspect others may be able to better explain its pros and cons. Everything has those of course : )
 
For video, it's definitely better than the 1D4, but probably not as nice as the 1DX in some respects. But it has better DR, for example, so it's not as it would be a loser by any means.

My biggest issue with the D800 is white balance: the auto configuration (the kind where you take a still of a white card and use it to define white) doesn't work as well as it should, and the LCD has a slight color tint so it's not easy to dial in a K value either. Apart from that, and from the aliasing/moire (which is sill there but much more controlled than on the 5D2), pretty nice camera. Photogs who shoot some video from time to time tend to like it a lot.

video comparison with T2i, GH2 and NEX-5N:
http://www.vimeo.com/similaar/shootout2012
 
i've been shooting video with a d800 for about a month now, and i think the results are terrific. the lowlight performance is great, and the image is nice and sharp. i think at 3200 and higher, the 5d mk3 wins out, but the d800 image is visibly sharper than the 5d mk 3 image.

there are definitely some moire hiccups, though, and i've encountered a number of problems with it already and had to send it in for repair. but when it works, it's a great camera.
 
i've been shooting video with a d800 for about a month now, and i think the results are terrific. the lowlight performance is great, and the image is nice and sharp. i think at 3200 and higher, the 5d mk3 wins out, but the d800 image is visibly sharper than the 5d mk 3 image.

there are definitely some moire hiccups, though, and i've encountered a number of problems with it already and had to send it in for repair. but when it works, it's a great camera.
 
Samuel H said:
For video, it's definitely better than the 1D4, but probably not as nice as the 1DX in some respects. But it has better DR, for example, so it's not as it would be a loser by any means.

My biggest issue with the D800 is white balance: the auto configuration (the kind where you take a still of a white card and use it to define white) doesn't work as well as it should, and the LCD has a slight color tint so it's not easy to dial in a K value either. Apart from that, and from the aliasing/moire (which is sill there but much more controlled than on the 5D2), pretty nice camera. Photogs who shoot some video from time to time tend to like it a lot.

video comparison with T2i, GH2 and NEX-5N:
http://www.vimeo.com/similaar/shootout2012
Click to expand...


Good to hear. How would I set white balance from a white card?
 
Phillip Bloom has some good tests of all 3 on his site.

Both direct comparisons and individual reviews. Every review I have seen online is "off" (in methodology, opinion, etc.) or biased in some way, but his were the most useful to me.

I have used the Canon T3i, T4i, 5DIII, 1DX, Sony NEX 7, NEX 5n, and Nikon D3200 this year. I had the Nikon D800E on pre-order, but bailed because it was taking so long to ship.

Many, many folks have said that the 1DX is the best all around camera they have ever used. I wouldn't disagree. It's video also seems to be judged the best all-around by some, like Phillip Bloom.

The 5DIII is a great camera. I am sure that the D800 is too.

I have seen a lot of Canon users go from the 5D2 to the D800. Most are happy. About 2 in 10 move the other way, back to the 5D3 or 1DX from the D800. So you should try to get a feel for what is best for your work.

The extra DR (that the Sony 7 and 5n have) are somewhat useful, but mostly "in the margins." If you are outputting the image to a printer or to a screen, you are already going to a lower DR device, so you are "compressing" the DR of the image. If you shoot a high "pop" style - saturated, contrasty, or if you like a Velvia or even Portra or Astia look, there is not much there that you will gain. But if you need to recover highlights or shadows in some cases, that is where the value is on occassion.

The same is basically true for the extra MP. For 95% of the time the 128-22 MP cameras are fine. But if you need to crtop heavily, or do really large prints (40x60 or bigger), or are a hardcore landscape photof (tripod, mirror lock up, etc.) the extra pixels might be more important to you. But then some complain about the file sizes ...

Gotta run - sorry! Good luck.

Michael
 
For stills the 1Dx just has 'a feel' - like a brick and super fast and responsive - maybe the best still photo camera on the planet unless you are a res head

It is a super camera for a sports stills photographer or serious photo journalist

Image wise.. my colleague has just swapped to the 800 rather than upgrading his 5d2 to another canon..

video? read up - its well covered

S
 
unadog said:
....

I have used the Canon T3i, T4i, 5DIII, 1DX, Sony NEX 7, NEX 5n, and Nikon D3200 this year. I had the Nikon D800E on pre-order, but bailed because it was taking so long to ship.

...
Click to expand...

Michael, can you comment on the D3200? I've been trying to find out how this camera performs for video, but thorough tests or decent video examples have been hard to come by.

Thanks much :).
 
Faymus Media said:
Good to hear. How would I set white balance from a white card?
Click to expand...

Most cameras have a method to select a custom white balance using a sample. The details vary from one camera to another, but in general terms it's always the same: point the camera to a white card, take a still, use that image (or just its center, on some cameras) to define white. It's the method I use, and I feel like there's no alternative for it, since it not only sets the correct ºK value, but also the green-magenta bias, which is something I certainly need because my ND filters are not the best in the world and they produce a green tint which is more marked the more ND filtering I add. This process works perfectly on a NEX-5N, well enough on the Canon DSLRs, and certainly not well enough on the D800 (see the results of the indoor color test in my shootout).
 
Samuel H said:
Most cameras have a method to select a custom white balance using a sample. The details vary from one camera to another, but in general terms it's always the same: point the camera to a white card, take a still, use that image (or just its center, on some cameras) to define white. It's the method I use, and I feel like there's no alternative for it, since it not only sets the correct ºK value, but also the green-magenta bias, which is something I certainly need because my ND filters are not the best in the world and they produce a green tint which is more marked the more ND filtering I add. This process works perfectly on a NEX-5N, well enough on the Canon DSLRs, and certainly not well enough on the D800 (see the results of the indoor color test in my shootout).
Click to expand...

you seem very helpful with dslr cameras. I just love the d800 because its full frame and 36 mp as well as 7300x5xxx resolution.

which is 30% more roughly than the fu fram 5d mark 3. I know that in video mode LESS megapixels is actually better. Hence the reason the 5d mk3 is better in low light. If this is true that means that the full frame 1dx should be epic for video because its full frame and 18 mega pixels.

problem is the 1dx is 6k, tr 5d mk3 is 3200 and the d800 is 2700.


what do you think? Will Nikon release a firmware update to fix the white balance issue?
 
No way to predict that, I'm afraid. Talk to D800 users and find out how they deal with it: I just had a couple of days playing with one, and I can say this bugged me, but can't even remember the details about how this worked. (I've heard other people complain about this too, so it's not just me being dumb and not able to use the camera properly)
 
I've found no white balance issue with the d800. Heck, apart from the conventional method of using a white card, I've even popped an opaque plastic lid on the lens and white balanced from there. Just did it for a camera test for a scene on a city transit train at night: very clean whites and colors. Used a number of profiles and iso's. Not sure what the fuss is about. And I know what hues, tints, and white look like.
 
Stuart U said:
I've found no white balance issue with the d800. Heck, apart from the conventional method of using a white card, I've even popped an opaque plastic lid on the lens and white balanced from there. Just did it for a camera test for a scene on a city transit train at night: very clean whites and colors. Used a number of profiles and iso's. Not sure what the fuss is about. And I know what hues, tints, and white look like.
Click to expand...


thats good to hear. Because the 1dX is a faster and more solid camera than the d800 or the 5d mark 3 however its been prooven that the the 5d mark 3 is more detailed in portraits. the tests that i have watched show that the 1dx when cropped doesnt hold up like the 5d mark 3 and d800.

so i am leaning towards the 5d mark 3 and d800, more so to the d800 just because of better crops, more pixels and better dynamic range. If i wanted another dslr for video than the 1dx would be the ultimate choice, however the d800 does video well, but photos are amazing.

Too bad the 1dx doesnt have 22+ MP then it would be on fire!
 
Don't know when, but canon is long overdue on a new higher MegaPixel camera.
Till then, For your use, I think the D800 or e would be the clear winner.
 
Having used the Canon 1d and Nikon D800 professionally I would say that Canon has better low light and low contrast subject autofocus which is to be expected with 3x the number of cross type AF sensors. Where the Nikon's shine is in overall AF accuracy, WB with mixed light sources, and especially in terms of fill flash exposure accuracy. The 1d will nail the exposure 90% of the time but with the Nikon it is 99.9% and this is something that is the devil to deal with in post processing after the fact. Nikon lens also have not had the AF problems of many Canon lenses which need to be periodically sent back to Canon for recalibration. Canon is more like film with its greater in camera image processing. Nikon is more "real" but demands some amount of post processing to take advantage of its greater color fidelity and greater dynamic range.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top