Hands on: Nikon D850
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Before today, Nikon DSLR shooters seeking a new pro-level body had to choose between the resolution-oriented D810 or speed-oriented Nikon D5. But no longer – the D850 is built for speed and resolution.
It uses a 45.7MP BSI full-frame sensor – a sizable resolution jump over the D810’s 36.3MP chip. Its maximum burst rate with autofocus is 7 fps – also a nice jump over the D810’s 5 fps. And, if you need more speed, combining the new MB-D18 grip with an EN-EL18b battery allows the D850 to shoot at 9 fps for up to 51 Raw files (using an XQD card).
That’s not as fast as the 12 fps burst offered on the Nikon D5, but it’s enough speed for most sports or action photography, with more than twice the pixel count offered by the D5 (and at almost half the price).
BSI Sensor + ISO 64
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The D850 (shown here with the optional MB-D18 grip attached) is Nikon’s first full-frame camera to utilize a backside-illuminated sensor. This design tends to result in greater efficiency because there’s no circuitry taking up space in front of the pixels. This should boost performance in low light situations where you might employ high ISOs.
On top of that, BSI has the effect of bringing the light-sensitive elements of the chip closer to the surface, which should improve the ability of pixels near the edge of the sensor to accept light rays approaching at oblique angles, when shooting with wide-angle lenses.
Plus the D850, like its predecessor, still offers a base ISO of 64, which should give a high level of dynamic range (bordering on medium format) when working in bright or high contrast situations. On the other end of the spectrum, its new top native ISO is 25,600, expandable to 102,400.
AF System
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Every aspect of the D850’s autofocus system is inherited from the D5, including the 153-point autofocus array, Multi-CAM 20K AF sensor and a dedicated AF processor. This is great news because we love how the AF performs on the D5. In short, it just works.
Plus, the D850 uses input from a 180,000-pixel metering sensor (the same found in the D5/D500) which should result in outstanding subject recognition (including face detection) when using Nikon’s 3D Tracking or Auto area modes. It even kept up during burst shooting in our limited time with the camera. By comparison, the D810 uses a 91k-pixel metering sensor for tracking/recognition, and ‘3D’ subject tracking slows down during bursts.
The D850’s 153-point system also covers 30% more of the frame than the D810’s 51-point system. And of those 153-points on the D850, 99 are cross-type, compared to 15 on the D810. All points focus down to -3 EV, with the center one working down to -4 EV. This should be a huge improvement from the -1 EV limit we found with the D810’s AF system.
The D850 also gains Nikon’s Auto AF Fine Tune feature. This feature is a simple and painless way to calibrate your lenses. Unfortunately, users can only still save a single adjustment based on the central AF point for one focal length, so it’s less useful for zoom shooters. And you’re out of luck if off-center points require a different value from more central ones.
Viewfinder
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The viewfinder on the D850 is big and beautiful; in fact, it’s the largest viewfinder of any full-frame Nikon DSLR. Thanks to new optics, including an aspherical element and a condenser lens, the magnification is a whopping 0.75x with an eyepoint of 17mm. Elements of the finder also use new coatings to cut down on reflections and flare. As you’d expect in a camera of this caliber, viewfinder coverage is 100%.
This larger finder comes at the cost of the pop-up flash. But the D850 still supports wireless flash via the SB-5000 and WR-A10/WR-R10 transceiver.
Full-width 4K video
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The D850 becomes Nikon’s first full-frame DSLR to offer 4K video using the full width of its sensor (Sony makes several mirrorless models that can do this). This is a big selling point over the 1.5x crop you face shooting 4K on the D5. UHD video can be captured at 30, 25 and 24p. We believe the camera captures video by binning pixels (combining information from clusters of pixels to generate the output), which is better than line skipping, but not as good as oversampling (as the Sony a9 does).
Sadly, AF during video capture is still contrast-detect only, which is prone to hunting, unlike Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel AF system. Nikon lenses tend to also be noisy when focusing. And there is no peaking or stabilization offered when capturing 4K. Videographers do have access to Auto ISO, Power Aperture and a new Attenuator option for better audio control.
When shooting HD video (at up to 1080/60p), the D850 offers both focus peaking as well as digital stabilization. There is also a 1080/120p mode, but it only saves video files in 4 or 5x slow motion (you can’t get the full speed footage).
Flip up/down touchscreen
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The D850 becomes the first Nikon of its class to receive a flip up/down rear LCD and uses the latest high-resolution panel with 2.36 million dots (1024 x 768 pixels). This lovely screen makes image review look especially good. Just don’t get caught ‘chimping’ too much.
Did we mention it’s also a touchscreen? And unlike some of Nikon’s past DSLR touch-implementations, the touch function is active in menus, live view, playback and while shooting. However, it can’t be used for touchpad AF when one’s eye is to the finder, like on the Nikon D5600. Though unlike the D5600 (and D810), the D850 has a dedicated AF joystick.
Range of interval/multi-shot options
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The D850 offers an in-camera 4K time-lapse mode which downscales full-res images and outputs it as a video. You can also shoot full-res 8K time-lapses using the interval timer. And users can use auto exposure modes while using the interval timer (‘A’ or ‘P’ exposure modes) with an option for in-camera exposure smoothing. Plus, a new silent interval timer option uses an electronic shutter instead of the mechanical one, to reduce shutter noise, vibration and wear.
The D850 also gains a new focus shift mode, which captures multiple images (up to 300) shot at varying focus distances (in increments chosen by the user) and saves them in a folder for assembly in post. Both the interval timer and focus shift mode offer a new option that not only places each ‘set’ of images into a unique folder, but also resets numbering for each set.
Redesigned body
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The body of the D850 has received some much-appreciated refining. The grip is deeper, longer and all-around less chunky than that of the D810. This makes it much more comfortable to hold. The camera also gets the D5’s AF joystick, and better weather-sealing as a result of the loss of a pop-up flash.
Perhaps most importantly though: the mirror and shutter mechanisms have been redesigned. We experienced severe mirror and/or shutter-induced vibrations at certain shutter speeds with long lenses on the D810; however, in our brief time with the D850 and the same problematic lenses, we experienced no issues at all.
Other improvements come in the form of illuminated buttons on the back and the inclusion of an XQD and UHS-II compliant SD slot. The D850 uses the EN-EL15a battery and can shoot 1840 shots per charge, per CIPA rating.
But…
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We’re pretty impressed by the D850’s specs, but we do have some complaints. Chief among them is Snapbridge. Sure, the D850 has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, but SnapBridge – the app used to connect, control and view/transfer – has not been improved upon since we last tested it. And overall we’ve found it to be both simplistic in terms of capability and inconsistent in terms of connectivity.
We’re also disappointed at the lack of an improved electronic first curtain implementation (it remains the same, only available in Mup mode with two shutter button presses), perhaps there isn’t much to worry about…
Final thoughts
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But by and large the D850 (on the right) knocks our socks off – its spec list matches up nicely with our wish list, and the camera itself seems to handle exceptionally well. In short, it seems like the perfect marriage of speed and resolution. Finally, it seems that DSLR shooters can have it all.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)