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According to Nikonrumors, some samples of the to be released D800 can be found on Flickr by Japanese photographer and director Shinji Watanabe. But all I could find was only 1 image taken on 9 Jan 2012, with a size of 7360 x 4912, giving a maximum resolution of 36 megapixels.
The other images seem to have been taken with a Hasselblad H3D-39.
Update: The sample was taken down after that together with a poster of a movie believed to have been shot with the D800. This makes it all the more obvious that the sample could have been an actual sample from the D800. I guess we will find out in 5 days time.
Original source: Nikon Rumors
It seems that actual images of the Nikon D800 has been posted by Nikonrumors and has been attracting tonnes of attention on the online community. For a close comparison between the D700 and the D800, refer to Lumenatic which discusses the details of button placements, markings etc.
For all I see, this could well be the real D800. The images could either be provided by some photographer who is doing testing for Nikon, or they could even be purposely leaked by Nikon to generate interest and free publicity for themselves. They are definitely aware that many have been aching to see a D700 replacement (regardless of whether they will purchase one in the end).
There seems to be an addition of a few buttons and levers. Personally, one change that might affect me and needs some getting used to is the switching in placement of the zoom-in and zoom-out buttons. Perhaps Nikon has a good reason why they switched them after keeping them the same for so many generations?
The following is a list of specs published by Nikonrumors.
- Smaller and lighter than D700
- Resolution: 7360×4912 (36MP)
- CF+SD memory card slots
- Slightly larger display
- Excellent video quality, better than D3s
- Video modes: 1080p/30/25/24 and 720p/60/30/25/24
- AF identical to D3/D700
- As previously mentioned, the resolution will be an astounding 36MP. Whether this large increase in pixels is really necessary is a good debate point.
- Although in comparison the D800 appears to be slightly bulkier than the D700 at the top, it is claimed to be lighter. Perhaps Nikon used some carbon fibre material for the chassis, similar to what was published in some online patents? Or will the carbon fibre only appear in the flagship models?
- The point that the AF is identical to D700 surprised me a little, but the decision to go with 2 memory card slots is a welcome as they provide another source of backup. Dual card slots with the same type (ie 2 CF or 2 SD) would have been better.
No date has been officially announced yet, but it’ll be interesting to see if Nikon will release a camera with these exact specs, or some adjustments will be made with reference to Canon’s EOS-1D X.
If you have been following NikonRumours, you should be aware that it is almost confirmed that a D800 (D700 replacement?) will be announced at end-October.
Comments have been flying about regarding the resolution of the sensor. Since it is rumoured that the D800 will come with a 36 megapixel sensor, some were disappointed as they believed that a lower resolution would have benefited its ISO performance.
Advantages
From my own viewpoint, I welcome the 36 MP sensor due to the following reasons:
- The most obvious advantage for me is that the resolution in crop mode will still be respectable in the event that I need more reach from my lenses in wildlife photography. For instance, the 24 MP D3X crop mode produces 10.2 MP images.
- 36 MP could be a little overkill, but this should provide the option to shoot at smaller sizes such as 24 MP or even 12 MP. Shooting at smaller resolutions should see significant improvements in ISO performance.
Disadvantages
The most obvious downside from this huge increase in resolution would be storage. If a 12 MP, 14-bit file is 12 megabytes, a 36 MP 14-bit file can be estimated to be around 30 megabytes in size. This means that a 16 gigabytes SD card can store only 500 photos taken at 36 MP, compared to 1000+ if they were 12 MP each. Do we carry more SD cards with us on a trip? Or do we need to bring along an external media such as a laptop? This forces the photographer to rethink his/her priorities when preparing for any extended trip.
For computer storage, with the ever increasing capacity of modern hard disks, photographers can get huge capacities of 1-terabyte or 3-terabytes at relatively low prices. The only thing to keep in mind is the increased demand during image editing and processing. With this, photographers may be forced to upgrade their systems to the latest technologies, or put up with the slower processing speeds.
The following list of upcoming Nikon lenses was posted over at Nikon Rumors.
- AF-S VRII Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4G IF-ED N
- AF-S VRII Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4 IF-ED
- AF-S VRII Micro-Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 IF-ED N
- AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/2G
- AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/2G
- AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/2G
- AF-S DX VRII Zoom-Nikkor 16-70 f/3.5
Personally, I think the Nikon AF-S VRII Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4G IF-ED N could be a gem for sports/wildlife shooters but one thing to ponder is, wouldn’t this lens clash with the AF-S 200-400mm f/4?
With this in mind, if Nikon really releases this lens, I’m quite sure there will be some significant tradeoff in the quality (or price) to differentiate between these 2 lenses.
