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Nikon D800E or D7100?


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I have been using a Nikon D800 for the past 3 years or so, but now I'm finding the technique requirement to achieve a satisfactory photo increasingly painful, I hanker after my good old 12Mp Nikon D300 which always took a good picture.

To this end and with a view to keeping Capture NX2 operational I am now looking at a D800E replacement (sharper) or maybe even a step sideways to a D7100 (24MP crop sensor), however I'm not sure if the D7100 and a "mere" 24Mp would now disappoint me - does the d7100 take nice photos?

Thanks a lot for your time, Tim

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Yes, the D7100 is excellent but I wish I felt I had the money right now to turn it in for the new D7200. It is supposed to have improved autofocus but, for me, the increased buffer would be most appreciated for my wildlife shooting. I still use my D300 and really wish they had done a D400 because the D7100 isn't quite right somehow. I do like the lighter weight in my female hands though.

 

Paulette

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I loved the way my pictures looked with my d7000. There was something about the color rendition that really grabbed me. That said, I had more QC failures with that camera than any other. Soft and lacking definition. Maybe I had a bad copy. No, it wasn't technique, because I easily made the MP transition from the 70, 200, and 300. I'm not technical enough to know how to figure out whether I had a bad copy. I used good lenses. Nikon 24-70 and the newest 80-400 among a few others. If the D7200 takes sharper images while keeping the color, I'd love it.

I sold the camera and moved to the D800.

That camera has underwhelmed me. Oh, yes, those 36mp are great, lots of cropping room. If it had that special color rendition of the D7000, ID be much happier. Picky, picky. I mainly use it for studio and other short-term uses. While shooting jewelry with it, it struggled getting some (not all) of the purples right, turning them into blue under daylight balanced lights. Drove me nuts.

 

I'm shooting 95% with my Fuji X-T1 now, and getting much sharper images. I love the Fuji lenses. And I love Fuji colors. I no longer get that purplish color in my red flowers that I always got with the Nikons. Plus my hands thank me every time I shoot for any length of time with it. No more pain.

Betty

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I loved the way my pictures looked with my d7000. There was something about the color rendition that really grabbed me. That said, I had more QC failures with that camera than any other. Soft and lacking definition. Maybe I had a bad copy. No, it wasn't technique, because I easily made the MP transition from the 70, 200, and 300. I'm not technical enough to know how to figure out whether I had a bad copy. I used good lenses. Nikon 24-70 and the newest 80-400 among a few others. If the D7200 takes sharper images while keeping the color, I'd love it.

I sold the camera and moved to the D800.

That camera has underwhelmed me. Oh, yes, those 36mp are great, lots of cropping room. If it had that special color rendition of the D7000, ID be much happier. Picky, picky. I mainly use it for studio and other short-term uses. While shooting jewelry with it, it struggled getting some (not all) of the purples right, turning them into blue under daylight balanced lights. Drove me nuts.

 

I'm shooting 95% with my Fuji X-T1 now, and getting much sharper images. I love the Fuji lenses. And I love Fuji colors. I no longer get that purplish color in my red flowers that I always got with the Nikons. Plus my hands thank me every time I shoot for any length of time with it. No more pain.

Betty

Betty, I know it doesn't solve the colours but I got spectacular sharpness from my D800 using the AFS 35mm 1.8g and the 50mm 1.8d - go on give it a go.

Tim

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For what it's worth…..I shoot most of my stuff on Fuji's now….but still occasionally use my Nikon D700….and when I do after carrying the weight around for the day, I look at the results and still think….nice, very nice !

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I loved the way my pictures looked with my d7000. There was something about the color rendition that really grabbed me. That said, I had more QC failures with that camera than any other. Soft and lacking definition. Maybe I had a bad copy. No, it wasn't technique, because I easily made the MP transition from the 70, 200, and 300. I'm not technical enough to know how to figure out whether I had a bad copy. I used good lenses. Nikon 24-70 and the newest 80-400 among a few others. If the D7200 takes sharper images while keeping the color, I'd love it.

I sold the camera and moved to the D800.

That camera has underwhelmed me. Oh, yes, those 36mp are great, lots of cropping room. If it had that special color rendition of the D7000, ID be much happier. Picky, picky. I mainly use it for studio and other short-term uses. While shooting jewelry with it, it struggled getting some (not all) of the purples right, turning them into blue under daylight balanced lights. Drove me nuts.

I'm shooting 95% with my Fuji X-T1 now, and getting much sharper images. I love the Fuji lenses. And I love Fuji colors. I no longer get that purplish color in my red flowers that I always got with the Nikons. Plus my hands thank me every time I shoot for any length of time with it. No more pain.

Betty

 

Betty, I know it doesn't solve the colours but I got spectacular sharpness from my D800 using the AFS 35mm 1.8g and the 50mm 1.8d - go on give it a go.

Tim

I have the 50, but not the 35. Funny, I haven't shot the 50 over a handful of times, then only group portraits. It was almost too sharp, lol.

I think I've always gone for the zooms for convenience and my style of shooting. But I keep hearing the raves about primes.

So what do you shoot with the 35? I can't imagine what I would shoot with it. On my zooms, I either shoot at 18 (buildings) ot 70 and longer for closer up views. I seldom ever shoot in the 24-60 gap. I have the 105 macro. All I have ever found it convenient for is macro, or outdoor portraits. It's a lovely portrait lens but I don't have a long enough room to shoot it indoors.

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but now I'm finding the technique requirement to achieve a satisfactory photo increasingly painful, I hanker after my good old 12Mp Nikon D300 which always took a good picture.

 

I am now looking at a D800E replacement (sharper) or maybe even a step sideways to a D7100 (24MP crop sensor), however I'm not sure if the D7100 and a "mere" 24Mp would now disappoint me - does the d7100 take nice photos?

 

 

I don't quite understand as you say below that you are getting really sharp images with the 50 and 35. What is the source of the pain? You can simulate a 12 MP camera simply by downsizing your images. A properly focused D800 image downsized to 4250 pixels is better than a D700 image.

 

The same technical considerations (good lenses, accurate focusing etc) are required with the D800E. Used with say a 50, the results in terms of detail and sharpness are wow wow wow in comparison to the D800 which is a mere wow wow. The lack of the AA filter won't make any difference in terms of technique. From a brief look at your images, I think you should stick with full frame - better wideangle lenses for architecture for one thing.

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Thanks MDM

All you said made sense and I still not totally sure, but I think I've decided on getting a D800E as a result of the improved sharpness although I accept I'll have to keep a close eye on maintaining excellent technique.

It is just that I was in two minds as the constant pressure of needing to be ultra careful of how I took the photo was I believe detracting from my spontaneity and was therefore taking some of the joy out of the creative process, that is why I miss the ease and simplicity of the picture taking process with a lower resolution camera.

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Betty

I can see where your coming from with regard to not really using the 24-60 range.

Because I live and take a lot of pictures in big cities (London mainly) probably 90% of my photos are from that range, for a lightweight walk around lens I find that 35mm takes loads of scene/building photos, although I agree I frequently need a wider lens, and the 50 is also alright for a lot but it's a bit restrictive (narrow) sometimes.

Anyhow thanks very much for your thoughts.

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Thanks MDM

All you said made sense and I still not totally sure, but I think I've decided on getting a D800E as a result of the improved sharpness although I accept I'll have to keep a close eye on maintaining excellent technique.

It is just that I was in two minds as the constant pressure of needing to be ultra careful of how I took the photo was I believe detracting from my spontaneity and was therefore taking some of the joy out of the creative process, that is why I miss the ease and simplicity of the picture taking process with a lower resolution camera.

 

I would highly recommend the D800E, although the difference in sharpness in comparison to the D800 is only really evident at 100% screen view or thereabours, or if you are making large prints. There is a very definite difference though. Removing the AA filter is no cosmetic trick, it really does work. When I got mine, I took shots with a 50mm Nikkor from my back garden with neighbouring roofs and they were astoundingly sharp even in comparison to the excellent D800. I've never experienced moire in nearly 3 years of using it although it is said that architectural images may be more prone to that than the landscapes I shoot which may be something to take into consideration for you.

 

Nikon have of course replaced the D800E with the D810 which certainly improves some features. There were some great trade-in deals until quite recently where you could pick one up for about £1000 with a D800 (in good nick) trade-in. Wex don't seem to be offering that at the moment but perhaps the offers will return.

 

Finally, although I normally use a tripod and don't do much walkabout urban photography, I have had no problem with image quality when I do. High ISO if necessary, with a bit of noise reduction and a downsize in LR or PS if required, and it's a D700 in disguise. Similarly with portraiture.

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Just my opinion,

 

The D800, not the 800E, is one of the finest Nikon bodies ever produced and I go back to the

Nikon SP.  I love my 800's and still use my 700 often, when it is appropriate.  The 800 is really

great at specific subjects.  The 800E is also, but for day to day (I'm not talking about stock shooting)

working photography there is no tool better than the 800 with the proper glass.

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Just my opinion,

 

The D800, not the 800E, is one of the finest Nikon bodies ever produced and I go back to the

Nikon SP.  I love my 800's and still use my 700 often, when it is appropriate.  The 800 is really

great at specific subjects.  The 800E is also, but for day to day (I'm not talking about stock shooting)

working photography there is no tool better than the 800 with the proper glass.

Chuck, what are your grounds for preferring the D800 to the D800E?

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The only difference between the D800 and the D800E is the disabling of the AA filter which makes the E even sharper. The D810 has no AA filter and has a few improvements which make it the absolute king of the lot (in my opinion).

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Interesting question.  I own the D800 and the D7200 (which has superseded the D7100 in a very similar way that the D810 has superseded the D800 and D800E).

 

I have had focussing issues with the D800 - and it has just come back from Nikon (Repairs cost £220 - focus re-calibrated in addition to some sensor adjustments).  Since it came back I've played around with it with various different lenses - and I have had to use the focus fine tuning to each lens as it is either front or back focusing somewhat still.  I'll let you know with further use - but from what I've seen the focus fine tune available on both the D800 and the D7200 (and most likely D7100) is going to fix it. You can move the focus point nearer or farther away from your camera depending whether it is front focussing or back focussing.  It remembers each lens you have calibrated for automatically.  You can adjust between plus or minus 20.  For my 150-500 zoom lens I needed to calibrate minus 12. 

 

While my D800 was away I needed another camera to shoot with (I was missing appointments) so I got hold of a D7200.  They are very different beasts.  The D800 should always give better image quality - but I still opted for a D7200 instead of a second hand D800E.  The reason?  I shoot wildlife and you are almost always going to need to crop anyway.  If you crop the D800 to the same size as the D7200 sensor you actually have more megapixels in your image (I did see the mathematic equation but do not pretend to understand it).  For wildlife if you are cropping anyway a cropped sensor like the D7200 can actually be an advantage.  Other situations I would always stick to my full frame D800.  Incidentally I've only really used the D7200 with my 600mm prime as yet - and it DID need some focus fine tuning.  I used in on one shoot with my 150 - 500 but was using larger f stops so issues of fine tuning wouldn't really have come out - the depth of field was wide enough to mask it).  It was an excellent shoot - but I was hankering after my full frame D800 while shooting because I couldn't get far away enough to get all the shots I wanted in frame.

 

Very different beasts - both excellent.

 

Before you make any radical decisions I'd certainly recommend looking at the focus fine tuning and see if that makes a difference.  With the 36mp your focus really gets shown up if you miss it slightly.  I know from painful experience.

 

Given the improvements the D810 has made I'd certainly recommend it over the D800E if you can afford it - I wish I could!  It has an improved processor, and is sharper.  If has a better frame per second high speed shoot, and various.  That said I didn't think it was worth upgrading for me as I don't shoot that much video - which is where the improvements really kick in, I'm told.  I can't see that the D800E is going to make a massive difference over the D800 for you - not even sure the D810 would hugely although it is a better camera?

 

Hope this helps.  Feel free to pm me as I'm not on here that much.

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I have been using a Nikon D800 for the past 3 years or so, but now I'm finding the technique requirement to achieve a satisfactory photo increasingly painful, I hanker after my good old 12Mp Nikon D300 which always took a good picture.

To this end and with a view to keeping Capture NX2 operational I am now looking at a D800E replacement (sharper) or maybe even a step sideways to a D7100 (24MP crop sensor), however I'm not sure if the D7100 and a "mere" 24Mp would now disappoint me - does the d7100 take nice photos?

Thanks a lot for your time, Tim

 

What lenses do you you use on the D800?

 

I have a D800 and a D300. And my wife a Fuji X100.

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I have been using a Nikon D800 for the past 3 years or so, but now I'm finding the technique requirement to achieve a satisfactory photo increasingly painful, I hanker after my good old 12Mp Nikon D300 which always took a good picture.

To this end and with a view to keeping Capture NX2 operational I am now looking at a D800E replacement (sharper) or maybe even a step sideways to a D7100 (24MP crop sensor), however I'm not sure if the D7100 and a "mere" 24Mp would now disappoint me - does the d7100 take nice photos?

Thanks a lot for your time, Tim

 

What lenses do you you use on the D800?

 

I have a D800 and a D300. And my wife a Fuji X100.

 

 

All my lenses are I use on my D800 are Nikon.

Until fairly recently i used an 18-35 (new one), a 24-70 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4. However now I have come to the conclusion that despite immaculate technique the 24-70 isn't great, so I'm using the 18-35, a 35 1.8g, a 50 1.8d and the 70-200 f4. You see because I take photos within a large city so therefore use the 24mm to 70mm range a lot and this cramped environment means zooming is regularly a necessity, but at the moment I'm trying to struggle with primes as what they lack in flexibility they more than make up for by being super sharp.

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The D800 is one of the best cameras Nikon has Made, the D810 will be my next body.An unforgiving camera because it's resolution is high. With a good technique your images will pass QC all the time.

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I have been using a Nikon D800 for the past 3 years or so, but now I'm finding the technique requirement to achieve a satisfactory photo increasingly painful, I hanker after my good old 12Mp Nikon D300 which always took a good picture.

To this end and with a view to keeping Capture NX2 operational I am now looking at a D800E replacement (sharper) or maybe even a step sideways to a D7100 (24MP crop sensor), however I'm not sure if the D7100 and a "mere" 24Mp would now disappoint me - does the d7100 take nice photos?

Thanks a lot for your time, Tim

 

What lenses do you you use on the D800?

 

I have a D800 and a D300. And my wife a Fuji X100.

 

 

All my lenses are I use on my D800 are Nikon.

Until fairly recently i used an 18-35 (new one), a 24-70 f2.8 and a 70-200 f4. However now I have come to the conclusion that despite immaculate technique the 24-70 isn't great, so I'm using the 18-35, a 35 1.8g, a 50 1.8d and the 70-200 f4. You see because I take photos within a large city so therefore use the 24mm to 70mm range a lot and this cramped environment means zooming is regularly a necessity, but at the moment I'm trying to struggle with primes as what they lack in flexibility they more than make up for by being super sharp.

 

 

That's weird because the best lens there is the 24-70mm 2.8. Quite comfortably I would say. it's a fantastic workhorse of a lens.

 

I would get either the lens or the D800 checked possibly just to be on the safe side.

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Alex,

 

The main reason is speed in post and not needed to worry about Moire effect.

 

95% of my money making photography are portraits and the D800 is almost too

sharp using a 105 f4 Micro or my old 80-200 2.8

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Alex,

 

The main reason is speed in post and not needed to worry about Moire effect.

 

95% of my money making photography are portraits and the D800 is almost too

sharp using a 105 f4 Micro or my old 80-200 2.8

 

They didn't invent stocking-nylon for nothing Chuck . . .

 

dd

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Alex,

 

The main reason is speed in post and not needed to worry about Moire effect.

 

95% of my money making photography are portraits and the D800 is almost too

sharp using a 105 f4 Micro or my old 80-200 2.8

 

They didn't invent stocking-nylon for nothing Chuck . . .

 

dd

 

 

Only if it's a Photoshop/Lightroom plugin.

;-)

 

wim

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  • 2 weeks later...

Most of my shots on Alamy (not many) are taken with the D800 and a 24-70, I had one of the early one's and was having a few issues with QC which I was putting down to poor technique but then one day I dropped the camera and smashed the back off and chipped some of the filter thread off the 24-70. I sent it in to Nikon UK and it was turned around really quickly with a new back. I didn't do anything with the lens. Now it might be coincidence but I swear my IQ imprved after that repair although Nikon dodn't mention anything about the Left Hand focus issue that was prevalent on early D800's. 

I did a photo assignment this week in London and was using a D800 with the 24-70 and took the Fuji X-E1 with the 55-200 purely because I couldnt be bothered with the weight of the Nikon 70-200 2.8. 

I have had the Fuji for a long time but have  hardly used, however I was impressed by how good a job it did and I will certainly be using it more in future, the resultng images were straight out of Lightroom to the client whereas the D800 images needed more PP in CS6 to get them how I liked and were probably slightly better to my eye when finished.

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I have been using a Nikon D800 for the past 3 years or so, but now I'm finding the technique requirement to achieve a satisfactory photo increasingly painful, I hanker after my good old 12Mp Nikon D300 which always took a good picture.

To this end and with a view to keeping Capture NX2 operational I am now looking at a D800E replacement (sharper) or maybe even a step sideways to a D7100 (24MP crop sensor), however I'm not sure if the D7100 and a "mere" 24Mp would now disappoint me - does the d7100 take nice photos?

Thanks a lot for your time, Tim

 

If you're prepared to take a step sideways, why not going for a Nikon D750 (full-frame)?

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

I agree. If I was buying today it would be the D750 with tilting screen. Files give plenty room for cropping but not extremely large like the 800's. There's not a really big difference between the 750 and the 610 which is what I'm using at the moment and very happy with. I'm sure you could get a good price on one of these now.

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