Nikon D810 Replaces D800/D800E Announced
I’ll be honest, I have oddly been waiting for this one for a couple months. As always, it’s been rumours upon rumours hinting at what *might* be. Now this isn’t because I’ve found my Nikon D800E to be disappointing. Not one tiny bit! The D800E has gone around the world with me several times in the last couple years & has shot everything from editorials to large print campaigns in the Dubai deserts, mountains of Spain, skyscrapers of New York & faux-glam Hollywood. I’ve even filmed a fair amount with it too. I’ve put my D800E through it’s paces & it has delivered every single time. I would easily say it’s one of the best cameras I’ve ever owned.
So why am I excited about a replacement to a perfectly good (near perfect 35mm system) camera? Well, we always want more don’t we? Yeah, we’re unsatisfiable that way. Damn us. Pretty excited to see this morning that Nikon has launched the D810. I’ll mention a few highlights for me & if you want a super technical rundown, the boys at DPReview are always riding that pony.
- 36.3MP Full-frame CMOS sensor (no AA filter)
- ISO 64-12,800 (expands to ISO 32-51,200)
- Electronic first-curtain shutter and redesigned mirror mechanism
- Expeed 4 engine
- Max 5fps shooting in FX mode, 7fps in DX (with battery grip + EN-EL18 / AA batteries)
- 3.2in 1,229k-dot RGBW LCD screen with customizable color
- ‘Split screen zoom’ display in live view allows horizons/lines to be leveled precisely
- 51-point AF system with new ‘Group Area AF’ mode (inherited from D4S)
- 1080p @50/60fps
- Zebra strips for focus checking in video mode
- Uncompressed HDMI output with simultaneous recording to memory card
- Built-in stereo microphone
Now suddenly it becomes very evident that they’ve taken what the D800E is & made it what the videographers have wanted all along. I know I felt the limitations of the D800E when it came to filming specifically. No uncompressed footage, no full HD @ 50fps, no zebra strips. Albeit these are all things that were possible by hacking your body & making use of things like Magic Lantern. But for those of us who didn’t want to go that route it was a little frustrating to do without.
Nikon says launch is the latter half of July 2014. I’ve already put my order in for one & look forward to giving you a more hands on review when I get my paws on it.
External links: DPReview