The D810 offered excellent DR combined with a low base ISO that allowed it to tolerate lots of light. A look at the D850 suggests it’s been able to repeat this trick, while also seeing an improvement at high ISO settings.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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| Photo by Jakob Owens |
Nikon users who are out there wishing for a full-frame mirrorless camera from the storied Japanese brand have two more reasons to feel hopeful today. It seems Nikon has filed two new patents for full-frame mirrorless lenses in Japan: one for a Nikon 52mm F0.9, and another for a 36mm F1.2.
The patents were spotted by Japanese site hi-lows-note, and come complete with a few lens diagrams so you can ogle the lens elements while you cross your fingers even tighter.
Here’s the 52mm F0.9 diagram:
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And the 36mm F1.2:
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It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Nikon has patented a full-frame mirrorless lens—two zoom lenses for FF mirrorless were patented three years apart, one in 2014 and another earlier this year. But while a patent does not a new lens confirm, the more of these lenses Nikon puts on paper, the more hopeful we’ll be that a full-frame Nikon mirrorless camera is on the way.
For more on that possibility, read the official statement Nikon sent us on their future mirrorless camera plans.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Adobe has released updates for its Camera Raw and DNG Converter modules, and the new versions bring support for the new Nikon D850 DSLR’s Raw files as well as a range of new Nikon lenses:
Additionally, the Camera Raw update fixes a few bugs, including a malfunction that resulted in a magenta color cast on some mRaw and sRaw images captured with the Canon EOS 6D Mark II.
Adobe’s Camera Raw 9.12.1 can be downloaded now. Lightroom users have to wait a little longer for D850 support, but Adobe says an equivalent update will be available soon. Until then, Lightroom users can (and should) use Adobe’s free DNG Converter for Mac or Windows to process their images.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Nikon AF-P 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 VR offers a stepping autofocus motor, something that video shooters will appreciate. But this updated full-frame lens also provides benefits for stills photographers, including a versatile focal range and a healthy 4.5 stops of stabilization. Take a look at how we’ve gotten along with it over the past couple of weeks.
See our Nikon AF-P 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 VR sample gallery
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The D850 was just announced, and by all accounts it’s shaping up to be a very impressive camera. Depending on what kind of photography you prefer, the D850 might be a useful upgrade to a current Nikon DSLR, and a compelling alternative for someone looking to switch from a rival system.
In this article, I’m going to imagine that you’re interested in the D850, and considering it to replace or sit alongside your current camera. For the sake of maintaining focus on spec and performance, I’m also going to assume that you’re fine spending $ 3300, plus another $ 900 or so for the optional grip and a D5 battery + charger, if you want to take the D850 up to 9 fps. Where money is mentioned at all, it’s mostly where the D850 costs substantially more than the camera you might be considering upgrading or switching from.
Mostly I’ll be focusing on how the D850 stacks up against other current and previous-generation Nikon DSLRs, but I’ve added three slides at the end of this article, giving a basic picture of how it compares against competitive full-frame cameras from Canon, Ricoh and Sony.
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Let’s start with perhaps the most obvious question – is the D850 enough of an upgrade to justify replacing its predecessor, the D810 (shown on the left, above)? The answer, predictably, is ‘maybe’.
On the one hand, while the changes from the D800/e to the D810 were relatively minor, the D850 has been substantially updated across the board. On the other, the D810 is still a great camera, and for some kinds of photography, the D850’s extra features might reasonably be considered ‘nice to have’, but not essential.
Obviously the D850 offers greater resolution and a major speed increase, but more important (we think) is the completely overhauled AF system, which should provide class-leading autofocus on a par with the D5 and D500 – as well as inheriting those cameras’ automatic AF fine-tuning feature. AF sensitivity down to -3EV is a major improvement over the D810 which (for reasons we could never really figure out) was pretty unreliable in poor light.
And even if you mostly shoot static subjects with your D810, the D850 still has a lot to offer. Ergonomically, the new camera is much improved. A tilting, touch-sensitive rear LCD is really handy for tripod-mounted photography, and illuminated controls are a game-changer for astrophotography and landscape shooting in low light. The D850 is more comfortable to hold, too.
Just about the only use-case where the D850 might not represent a useful upgrade to a D810 is for tethered studio shooting, where you don’t need things like autofocus or continuous shooting. But even here, the D850’s tilting rear screen might end up being very handy.
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If you skipped the D810 and still shoot with a D800 or D800E, the choice is easier. There isn’t a single use case that I can think of where the D850 won’t substantially outperform your camera, or at least make your life easier as a photographer.
If you shoot landscapes, you’ll get better base ISO dynamic range, less risk of mirror and shutter-induced vibration ruining your shot, and greater resolution. You’ll also appreciate the backlit controls and a tilting screen. If you shoot portraits and events, the D850 will probably prove more comfortable to use, as well as offering a much improved AF system with greater coverage and an automatic fine-tuning capability. The 4K-capable D850 is also a much more attractive option for occasional video work, if required.
For sports or wildlife photography the D850’s wider, better autofocus system should take your photography to another level, and the deeper buffer and maximum continuous shooting rate of up to 9 fps (with optional grip and battery) is a nice upgrade over the five year-old D800/E, too.
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The Nikon D750 is a fine camera, and despite its age (knocking on for three years now) it remains the DSLR that we probably recommend most, to anyone looking to upgrade to full-frame. Partly this is because it offers excellent performance and a solid feature set in an impressively small form-factor, but also because over the past couple of years it’s price has dropped to a level where it’s simply one of the best value DSLRs on the market.
The D850 is a lot more camera than the D750, but it also costs a lot more money. If you have the cash though, the D850 is a solid upgrade. One obvious benefit is resolution. Where the D750 features a 24MP sensor, the D850 basically doubles the pixel-count, which should equate to a substantial increase in effective resolution (provided your lenses are up to the challenge). At ISO 64, the D850’s Raw dynamic range will probably be considerably better, too, which can be very useful for several different use-cases.
Despite its larger file sizes, the D850 is a faster, more powerful camera than the D750. Its autofocus system should be roughly on a par with the flagship D5 (which really means that it should be better than anything else on the market, when it comes to tracking) and while straight out of the box, the D850’s continuous shooting rate of 7 fps is similar to the D750, adding the optional grip and higher-capacity battery takes it up to 9 fps. The D750 (shown above, with and without its own optional grip) maxes out at 6.5fps regardless of configuration.
That extra speed doesn’t come cheap, though. If you don’t have a bunch of cash to throw around, the D750 is likely to remain pretty competitive for a while yet and except for some niche use-cases (like astrophotography) it should serve you well.
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So you’re still rocking a D700? Good for you. There’s nothing wrong with that – the D700 was and remains a very capable camera. But after almost ten years, it has been bettered by several subsequent Nikon DSLRs, in several respects. Comparing the D700 to the D850 is like comparing an Apple II to a MacBook Pro. As nostalgic as I am for the older technology, if I had a job to do, I know which tool I’d rather use.
So – assuming you have the funds, you should stop reading and order a D850 now. Just do it. Why are you still reading? Go!
I’d recommend keeping your D700 as a backup, though. And that’s not just me being sentimental – these days, it might not be worth enough when traded in to make much of a difference to the upgrade cost.
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If you’re currently shooting with a D500, the question of whether you should upgrade to the D850 is a bit more complicated. Because they’re such different cameras, on balance I wouldn’t recommend replacing a D500 with a D850. But if you have the cash, the D850 would make an excellent companion to a D500, fulfilling a slightly different set of requirements.
The 20MP D500 is a high-speed, relatively low-resolution DSLR, with a very wide AF area. This makes it ideal for shooting sports and wildlife, where its 1.5X crop factor can be extremely useful. It’s weather-sealed, and offers many of the same ergonomic refinements that make the D850 a more pleasant camera to use than previous-generation D800-series DSLRs.
The D850 on the other hand offers substantially greater resolution, what’s likely to be a nice bump in Raw dynamic range at ISO 64, and a feature set better suited to landscape and studio work, as well as portraiture and astrophotography. The D850 can also shoot 4K video without a crop, making it more useful for occasional video work than the D500, too.
The only caveat here is that if you’ve built up a collection of DX format lenses for your D500, you’ll need to drop even more cash on some full-frame zooms or primes for the D850. Hopefully though, Nikon’s conspicuously-crummy DX-format lens lineup has already prompted you to invest in full-frame glass.
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If you’re shooting with a D4, or D4S, there are very few reasons why the D850 would do the same, or a better job for you than your existing camera. Arguably, the only significant point in the D4/S’s favor at this point is durability. The D800-series are tough, solid cameras but they’re not built to withstand the same kind of abuse as Nikon’s flagship pro sports models.
And… that’s about it.
The value of the D4/Ss 11 fps continuous shooting is somewhat moot when you consider that the D850 can manage 9 fps with a couple of (admittedly expensive) accessories, and the additional stamina of the D4/S’s larger battery is unlikely to prove a to be a deal-breaker for most photographers. The D4/S offers a Gigabit Ethernet port, but outside of shooting in a major sports stadium, that’s not a feature that most of us are ever likely to need.
Then there’s resolution. The D4/S are built for working photojournalists that need speed, durability and versatility. And part of ‘versatility’ in this context is a relatively low pixel count of 16MP, which while big enough for print and online media, isn’t so big that file sizes become an issue when shooting at high frame rates for extended periods of time, or wiring images back to a picture desk. At 7-9 fps the D850’s huge files will rip through memory cards, so it’s probably not a camera you want to take to the Olympic Games. But at 45MP, those files are much more versatile for general use.
When you consider that the D850 also features a next-generation autofocus system, more versatile rear LCD and 4K video capture, it really does look like a solid upgrade over a D4/S. And of course without the optional grip it’s considerably smaller and lighter, too.
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I’m not going to attempt to comprehensively answer this question because a) it’s unanswerable, and b) I get enough hate-mail already. But whenever one of the major manufacturers brings out a new flagship model, it is reasonable (and if nothing else – interesting) to consider how well it stacks up against competitive models. So here goes…
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Compared to Sony’s a7R II, the D850 is likely to be superior as a strictly stills camera. It’s tougher, offers vastly better battery life, slightly higher resolution, probably better dynamic range at base ISO, and ergonomically it’s more refined. While it lacks in-camera stabilization, features like illuminated controls and touch-sensitivity are the kind of little extras that will, I suspect, end up being hugely appreciated by some photographers.
The a7R II is a superior video camera, and as such a better hybrid camera, but for a stills-oriented user the D850 is probably the smarter option. I don’t want to get too deep into the thorny question of lenses, but it’s also worth considering that while Sony’s E-mount is relatively new, the D850 is fully compatible with a huge number of high-quality AF and manual focus lenses, going back decades.
The newer Sony a9 is more competitive when it comes to core stills photography performance, but of course at a much lower resolution.
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Compared to the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, the D850 is likely to be superior in almost every measurable respect, as both a stills and video capture device. It is faster, offers greater resolution, wider Raw dynamic range, probably better high ISO image quality, a much better autofocus system, more versatile ergonomics, and a more practical 4K video capture option (as well as focus peaking for HD video capture).
But I did say almost every respect. Importantly, the EOS 5D IV offers Canon’s peerless Dual Pixel autofocus in live view and movie modes, which is a major advantage over the Nikon and makes it a much more usable camera in some situations. The D850’s live view AF is clumsy by comparison.
I’d also note the fact that Canon is on a roll with its current high-end zoom lenses. Newer L-series zooms, like the EF 11-24mm F4, EF 16-35mm F2.8 III and 24-70mm F2.8 II are truly excellent. Nikon’s equivalent wide zoom options aren’t quite as good (and in the case of the 14-24mm F2.8 just plain old) by comparison. Less quantifiable but still worth noting is that many photographers simply prefer Canon’s control interface.
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I said earlier that I didn’t want to get any hate-mail, and with that in mind, I would be a fool not to mention the perennial ‘don’t forget the…’ camera of our age: the Ricoh Pentax K-1.
In terms of image quality, the K-1’s 36MP sensor is basically on a level with the original D800/E, and while perfectly usable for static subjects, when the going gets tough, its autofocus system can’t compete with any recent generation of Nikon’s wide-area AF arrays in its high-end APS-C or full-frame cameras. Oh, and it can’t shoot 4K video either. As such, for most applications it lags behind the D850 as both as a stills and video platform.
Where the K-1 shines is weather-sealing (always a Pentax strength), built-in image stabilization, and an interface and feature set that have been very nicely tweaked to suit the specific needs of landscape and outdoor photographers. Its multi-angle articulating screen and illuminated controls are really handy, likewise built-in GPS, and various sensor-shifting modes that are available to increase color resolution, simulate the effect of an AA filter, keep your horizons level, and to track stars. Oh, and it’s much cheaper, too.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Chinese lens and flash maker Yongnuo, known for their cheap lighting gear and lens knockoffs, has released a pair of new flash units based on existing models. The high-end YN968N is a new Nikon version of the company’s YN968EX-RT for Canon, and the mid-range TN568EX lll is an upgrade of the mark ll version.
The new Nikon-mount gun offers a guide number of 60m/197ft at ISO 100 and with the zoom set to 105mm. It features optical communication with Nikon’s and Canon’s own flash system as a slave, as well as radio connections with Yongnuo’s own 2.4GHz flash units. In radio mode it can support up to 16 channels and five groups depending on the flash units it is working with, and a built-in LED lamp in the lower side of the head serves as a modeling lamp or video light that accepts color correction filters to balance with ambient light sources.
The YN568EX lll features optical-only communication, and can also work in groups with both Canon and Nikon units. It can operate as a master in a Canon or Yongnuo set-up, and in this version recycling time from a full power burst is reduced from three to two seconds.
Both the new guns have USB ports so they can accept firmware updates as they become available.
The YN968N is on sale for $ 120, but the release date and price of the YN568EX lll have yet to be announced. For more information visit the Yongnuo website.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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NASA’s relationship with Nikon is as strong as ever, judging by the fact that the space agency just placed a massive order for 53 Nikon D5 DSLRs.
According to Nikon, NASA ordered the cameras as-is (no hardware modifications) and plans to use them for photography on the International Space Station, as well as astronaut training on Earth. The agency might make some changes down the line, but for now there’s no difference between the D5 cameras available to consumers and the ones being shipped to NASA.
This is the latest development in a long-running relationship between NASA and Nikon, which has provided the space agency with camera gear as far back as 1971 for the Apollo 15 space mission.
Most recently, Nikon provided NASA with 38 units of the Nikon D4 DSLR in 2013 and another 10 units of the D4 in 2016. The camera maker didn’t reveal whether NASA received any special discounts on its bulk order, but assuming NASA paid retail price, the cost could have exceeded $ 344,000 USD.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Nikon has formally announced its latest enthusiast DSLR – the D850. Since the D850’s development was announced earlier this year, speculation (fueled by the usual leaks) has been rife about the exact specifications of the new camera, but now it’s official!
Offering 45.7MP capture at a maximum frame rate of 9 fps, with an autofocus system inherited from the D5, the D850 looks like a hugely impressive camera. When it was first announced, we put together a wish list of features based on what we’d seen introduced in the D5 and D500, with a few guesses thrown in for good measure. Now that the D850 is official, we’ve updated that original article with a breakdown of what we guessed right, and what we got wrong. Click through to see how we did – we added additional D850 features at the end of this slideshow.
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A well-processed Raw file from the D810’s 36MP sensor contains a lot of detail, but the D850 offers a bump in pixel count.
Nikon has been making 36MP DSLRs for a long time now, and we expected the D850 to offer a higher output resolution, while hoping that it wouldn’t pack in too many pixels at the expense of operational speed. And so it transpired.
The D850 features a 45.7MP BSI CMOS sensor, which promises both excellent dynamic range at base ISO and very good noise performance at high ISO sensitivities. And no, Canon die-hards, those two things do not have to be mutually exclusive.
In terms of output resolution, the D850 is second only to Canon’s EOS 5DS/R models among current full-frame cameras. It remains to be seen how the difference between 36-45MP actually shakes out in practical use, but in general, more pixels = better images – especially when that high-resolution sensor is paired with one of Nikon’s excellent new-generation fast aperture prime and zoom lenses.
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This shot from the D810 was exposed for the highlights at ISO 64 and selectively pushed by 4EV – while retaining highlights – post-capture.
One of our favorite things about the D810 was its incredible dynamic range at its true ‘base’ ISO of 64. If you’re a regular lurker in DPR comments threads you’ll know that whether or not you need more DR is still (for some reason) a topic of hot debate. We’ll save you a lot of research and just say once and for all that more dynamic range is always a good thing. More DR means greater potential for capturing a wider range of tones in a single, clean, exposure. In fact, ISO 64 on the D810 allowed it to compete with medium-format image quality (If you’re still unconvinced, read this).
We haven’t been able to test the D850’s dynamic range yet, but it certainly looks like the new camera’s base ISO sensitivity setting of ISO 64 is real ISO 64, which is very encouraging. It would be odd (but not unheard of) for Nikon to go backwards in terms of dynamic range in one of its flagship product lines, so pending further testing, we’re chalking this one up as a win.
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The D5’s 153-point AF system is superbly versatile, and much more effective in poor light than the D810’s older system.
When we first heard about the D850, we said it was a pretty safe bet that the D5’s 153-point autofocus system will find its way into the new camera, and we’re delighted to report that it has. The D850’s AF coverage is 30% broader than its predecessor, and a dedicated AF processor works alongside the camera’s Expeed 5 processor to deliver 3D AF tracking at 7-9fps, with all of the D5 and D500’s AF customization options. Impressive stuff.
That’s the spec, and we’re hoping that in use, the D850 will be able to match the D5’s state-of-the-art autofocus performance, including excellent accuracy in poor light (not a strength of the D810) and an extraordinarily capable 3D AF tracking system. Of course, the D5 and D500 are 20MP cameras, so the D850’s AF system will have to deliver pixel-level accuracy at a much higher resolution, and that’s something we hope to start testing very soon.
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The D500 and D5 offer 4K video capture, with some restrictions – the D850 is Nikon’s most convincing 4K-capable DSLR yet.
It was pretty much a sure bet that the Nikon D850 would offer some flavor of 4K video capability, and here we are. Full-width (i.e., no crop) 2160p 4K capture at 30 and 24 fps. Our very brief tests suggest that the footage is assembled using pixel-binning, which isn’t perfect (we’d prefer Sony-style oversampling) but if that’s how Nikon achieved full-width capture, we’d call it a decent compromise. It’s worth noting that going by the specs, the D850 is likely to deliver superior 4K footage to Canon’s EOS 5D Mark IV, albeit without Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel autofocus system.
We wanted focus peaking for 4K capture, but alas, while peaking is available it’s only an option for 1080p footage.
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CompactFlash has been around a long time, but XQD cards are the future. The D500 offers one XQD slot and one SD slot, and we expected the D850 to provide the same configuration.
The XQD media used in the D500 and D5 is smaller than traditional CompactFlash, mechanically simpler, and much, much faster. And now it’s available in the D850, too.
Since Nikon’s early press release pitched the D850 as having ‘high-speed capabilities,’ we expected that it would at least offer a single XQD slot, probably with an SD slot as backup/overflow (like the D500). And that’s exactly what we got. With an XQD card installed, the D850 can shoot 45.7MP Raw files at 9 fps for up to 51 images before slowing to allow the buffer to clear. That’s not (quite) D5-level performance, but it’s not far off.
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Just like the D500, the D850’s rear LCD is touch-sensitive and semi-articulating. This is great news, and makes it considerably more versatile for lots of different kinds of photography.
This one’s not a surprise. We had expected the D850’s rear screen to at least offer the 2.36M-dot resolution and limited touch-sensitivity features of the D5, and we’re pleased to see that like the D500, it’s articulated, too. While potentially less robust than fixed displays, tilting screens are much more useful, especially for landscapes, and indeed any tripod-mounted shooting from low or high angles.
Sadly, it doesn’t look like the D850 will offer any meaningful improvements to autofocus performance in live view and movie modes compared to previous-generation Nikon DSLRs.
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This is what mirror/shutter shock looks like at its worst. We were hoping the D850 might offer a more effective electronic first curtain shutter feature than its predecessor.
The D810 improved on the D800-series by offering electronic first-curtain shutter (EFCS) to reduce the risk of shutter shock, but in our opinion, it didn’t go far enough.
With the D850, we had hoped to see Nikon implement this feature properly, which would mean decoupling it from the mirror lock-up drive mode. Essentially we wanted it to operate much like the existing exposure delay mode, but with a much shorter delay. When the shutter button is pressed, the shutter and mirror would lock up, and the exposure would be started electronically a fraction of a second later.
The D850’s EFCS implementation looks like it’s the same as the D810, but there are indications (we’re working on confirming) that EFCS is available in the camera’s ‘Q’ advance mode, which might essentially solve the vibration issue.
Encouragingly, even in normal advance modes, while we tried to replicate the odd results we saw with some Nikon VR lenses on the D810, we didn’t observe any problems in images from the D850. Stay tuned for a proper test once we receive a reviewable camera.
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Snapbridge has improved a bit since we first encountered it in the D500, but it’s still not great. We were hoping the D850 would include a refined connectivity suite.
The D810 arrived before built-in Wi-Fi was widespread in Nikon’s lineup and we fully expected the D850 to offer built-in connectivity of some kind, as opposed to being limited to using external Wi-Fi modules. We’re disappointed to see that the D850 offers essentially identical connectivity options to the D500, via the company’s beginner-focused ‘SnapBridge’ system.
Snapbridge provides full-time Bluetooth connection but it offers limited access to, or control over, Wi-Fi. As such, it still seems like an odd fit for a camera that promises both high speed and high resolution capture, but we live in hope that – at least – the app will get an update at some point in the near future.
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Auto AF Fine Tune is a great feature, but there’s room for improvement. We had hoped that Nikon would refine it in the D850, but no such luck.
The D5 and D500 introduced automated AF point calibration, but it’s not as useful – or as easy to use – as we’d like. Eventually, we’d like to see the Auto AF Fine Tune extended to all AF points, not just the center point, and we’d like to be able to calibrate for different subject distances, and for ends of a zoom lens’s range. We’d also like calibration to be made more consistent – often the obtained value varies every time you try it.
Maybe we’ll just have to wait for the D5S.
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If you’ve ever shot at night, or early in the morning, you’ll appreciate the value of backlit controls. The D850 now brings this feature into Nikon’s enthusiast full-frame lineup.
The D810 was a pretty beefy camera, and not the most comfortable DSLR to hold and use for extended periods of time. We were pleased to see that the Nikon D850 has been slimmed-down a little, in the same way as we’ve seen previously with the D750 and D7500. It’s much more comfortable to hold than the older model.
Another feature that we’re glad to see included in the D850 is backlit controls, inherited from Nikon’s professional-grade DSLRs. The ability to illuminate key control points is extremely useful for low light and night shooting.
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A continuous shooting rate of 9 fps for 45MP Raw files means that you’ll probably need to budget for a couple of extra XQD cards…
The D850 doesn’t just offer high resolution, it also boasts an impressively fast maximum shooting rate. Straight out of the box, the D850 can shoot at a maximum frame rate of 7 fps, but add the optional MB-D18 grip, and add the D5’s EN-EL18b battery (shown above) and this jumps to 9 fps. If you’re shooting to an XQD card, you can expect bursts of more than 50 Raw files at that rate before the camera needs to pause for breath.
As such, assuming that the D850’s autofocus system can compete with the D5’s we’d expect the D850 to be a highly competitive DSLR for sports and action shooting.
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We don’t have a picture of the D850 with its mirror locked-up so we’re using this generic shot of the sensor instead.
As well as fully mechanical and electronic first-curtain shutter options, the D850 can also capture images in fully electronic shutter mode in live view. In this mode, images can be captured at full resolution at up to 6fps, and up to 30fps at 8.6MP. While potentially very useful for some kinds of photography, there is a major penalty in terms of rolling shutter.
Our observations suggest that the read-out rate is somewhere between 1/5-1/10sec, which risks delivering quite wobbly images unless your scene is entirely static. It can be fun though.
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It’s impossible to tell from this image but the D850’s viewfinder is very large, and very lovely.
While not the kind of feature that we’d expect to generate many headlines outside of specialist press, the D850’s viewfinder is pretty special. At a magnification of 0.75X, the D850 offers the biggest viewfinder image of any Nikon DSLR.
To keep the size of the viewfinder assembly manageable, (albeit still large enough to preclude a built-in flash) Nikon has used a complex optical arrangement, including an aspherical element. The end result is a beautifully large, sharp viewfinder image.
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The D850 can create 8K timelapse movies in-camera, with metering sensitivity down to -3EV.
We were half expecting this feature after Nikon released its D850 teaser video and here we are. The D850 can utilize its built-in interval timer to create 8K time-lapse movies, at an output resolution of 8256 x 5504 pixels.
And for all of the die-hard stills folks out there that scoff at such things, there are plenty of videographers that will be intrigued by the possibilities of post-capture cropping and panning that such high-resolution output makes possible. Your mileage may vary.
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The D850’s Focus Shift mode allows you to capture up to 300 images, with minute focus shifts between each exposure.
Also new in the D850 is a feature that Nikon is calling ‘Focus Shift’. Similar to focus stacking features we’ve seen before in Olympus mirrorless cameras, in this mode the D850 can capture a series of images (up to 300, in fact) with minute adjustments in focus between exposures. The resulting sequence is not stacked automatically in-camera, but is saved to a specific folder on your memory card that Nikon claims can be recognized by specialized third-party software.
This feature could potentially be very useful for some kinds of macro photography (the image above is a conventional single-exposure capture) where deep depth of field is difficult or impossible due to diffraction.
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The D850 now features a dedicated AF point positioning joystick, just like its big brother the D5.
It didn’t occur to us when we put together the original version of this article, but if the D850 inherited the D5’s autofocus system, it would make sense for it to also include the D5’s dedicated AF positioning joystick. And there it is! Just below the AF-On button. From our experience with the D5 and D500, having a dedicated control point for AF positioning is a real time-saver in some situations.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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For the past two weeks, sports photographer Andrew Hancock has been shooting with a pre-production model of the Nikon D850, putting it through its paces to see if there was anything Nikon’s new DSLR couldn’t do. Lucky for us, he and Nikon agreed to share some of his sample images with DPReview exclusively, as well answer a few shooting experience questions about the D850.
Our short phone interview with Andrew has been edited for clarity.
How many generations of Nikon DSLRs have you used?
I actually switched over in 2010. The first Nikon I owned was the D3, which at the time for me was absolutely remarkable camera.
I had one D3, two D3s’s and a D3x to start me off. Since then I’ve owned most of the DSLRs Nikon has released. I have one D800 left (I used to have multiple, but this the one my only cover for Time was shot with it, so I’ve kept it on the shelf), three D810s which, surprisingly, see more action than anything else in my kit, two D5, one D500, one D750, one D4s, two D4’s, and a D300s converted to infrared.
What features of a DSLR do you use/value the most?
I love shooting athletes in motion, so it’s really portrait work at its core. It’s why I love the D810: the files that camera produces are so fantastic. So resolution is really important for me more-so than framerate, even when shooting sports.
When I do basketball, for example, I usually have strobes up in the catwalk and so you’re limited to one frame at a time. As important as 12fps is with the D5 (and I do use it regularly), even then I find my best pictures are the first or second frame in any sequence because that’s my initial reaction.
12-14fps is great, but I rarely ever pick any of the later frames. The D5 for me is killer for remote camera use (horseracing, basketball using available light, etc.) but the D850 was the perfect marriage of everything I needed. It’s hands down the most versatile camera I’ve ever handled. When I had the conference call with Nikon and they introduced it to me, telling me the specs, it was everything I had been hoping for and then some. When I had it in my hand for the first time, all those expectations were met… and when I saw the first RAW files, they were blown away.
What was your wishlist for a D810 replacement?
I was hoping to be in the range close to 50MP, which they did, and as far as frames per second I would have been happy with 6, so having 7 and the option of 9 with the grip was phenomenal.
More important than fps for me was going to be ISO performance though. I do so much work behind the scenes with teams and athletes, where you’re working with only available light. Having that high ISO performance I’m used to with the D5, I really wanted to see a camera that performed closer to that, definitely better than the D810. D850 definitely hit the mark.
Doing some testing in an alley with a bodybuilder, we shot portraits at ISO 5000 and they held up! It was really eye opening to see what we could do with that camera, and how well it was reading light and processing it. Every time I would try to push the camera to its limits, it kind of pushed me back. It’s a really fun situation to be in because up to this point in my career, I’ve made a habit of pushing my gear (cameras, lenses, lights) to their limits; this camera changed the equation for me because instead of me pushing it, the camera was pushing me.
We spent 2 weeks running around like crazy shooting whatever we wanted and having a blast.
What are the most significant upgrades in the D850 compared to previous Nikon DSLRs that you’ve used?
The things I was really impressed with (and wasn’t expecting) was the AF improvements for this compared to the D810. It’s dramatic. The fact that it could hold AF at 7-9fps… this camera is going to perform for you in any situation.
One of the most challenging situation I shoot is swimmers coming at me in butterfly. Since they’re constantly coming up and out of the water, it can be a real challenge for an AF system like you see on the D810. By comparison, the D850 performs incredibly well. In the past, the best focus was coming out of the flagship pro body; the D850 gets me that same system but at a pretty crazy price point.
Honestly, it’s tough to put into words. I was surprised by the frame rate they were able to get. And incredibly impressed by the high ISO performance. I was very happy to see the MP range they put it at. Every time I would look at a file I thought might be challenging, I came back with “wow.” It passed with flying colors. It was never, “it kind of let us down” here or there.
Is the D850’s AF performance on par with the D5? What’s your experience comparing the D850 to the Nikon flagship?
I’d put it on par. The D5 still has an edge, especially with how fast it can shoot, but I say that with the caveat that I haven’t used the D850 with the battery grip. So even shooting without the grip, it’s on par. I would have no reservations having it in my hand shooting a football or basketball game.
The real trade off between the two cameras is ISO. With the D5 you are going to be better at high ISOs because that’s what that camera was built for—you’ll sacrifice a little bit of that performance for the extra resolution. But that’s a sacrifice that I’m personally wiling to make. The D810 has been my workhorse for years, and now the D850 will be.
I think people are going to be really impressed by the dynamic range, the tonal range, the clarity… everything.
What kind of photographers do you think will most appreciate the D850/find it most useful?
I’m not really sure. I don’t think you can put this thing in just one segment because it’s kind of like a decathlete: itcan do anything. This is a camera that can perform well in any situation you put it in. From a sports perspective, I’ll use it like crazy without any reservations.
I’m most known for my sports work, but I shoot a lot of photojournalism and in that genre you have to be able to shoot and cover anything—from food photography, to landscape and portraiture. This camera can handle it all. I don’t see, like you do with some other bodies, that this is “geared” more towards this or that. This is geared towards photography.
You look for the weaknesses when you’re testing it, but with the experience I’ve had so far I have yet to find what application or genre it’s going to struggle with. It just keeps performing.
And that holds for the colleagues I’ve talked to who have used it. They all have great things to say about it. Photographers by nature complain about “X Y and Z “ on occasion and occasionally a lot, complaining about what we don’t have. But it’s hard to find something this camera doesn’t have, at least for me.
I put the D850 in as many situation as I could put it in and it performed… the real question is what can’t it do.
Is there anything you still want to see improved / added?
Not as far as performance, no, and I haven’t even shot with a grip yet. One of my favorite older bodies is the D3x, and I think having a camera with this kind of resolution in that package would be intriguing, but at the same time I like having a little more weight off my shoulders.
They’ve improved the ergonomics, it’s got a deeper grip which I really like, the new viewfinder is fantastic—there’s not a lot to complain about. Again, it would be interesting to see it in a full size body like the D5, but it’s not really necessary… I mean, there’s a reason why I’ve preordered three of these.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
To be clear, I’ve not done much more than handle the D850 so far. Until we’ve spent a lot more time testing the camera, we won’t know whether it’s as good as its specs suggest it should be. But if it can deliver on a significant proportion of this promise, it’ll be one hell of a camera. That would make Nikon look like a company fresh for the next round, rather than unsteady on its feet and heading for the canvas.
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| The Nikon DL 18-50: so much promise, unfulfilled. |
True enough, it’s been a difficult couple of years for Nikon. The company’s mirrorless 1 System seem to have found its audience, at least not based on the limited US and European sales figures I’ve seen. The company has had an awkward run of very public recalls and apparent lapses in quality assurance and control: from oil spots in the D600, to battery recalls and faulty shutters on some D750s. To compound these woes, the company generated a lot of excitement with the announcement of the DL series: a trio of 1″ sensor compacts that got as far as the company’s paid pros before Nikon was forced to cancel the project due to problems with the processors.
These setbacks and Sony’s announcement that it’s captured (and apparently retained) the #2 sales spot for full frame in the US might give the impression of a slow-moving or even complacent company. A company on the verge of ruin, according to some.
It’s a perspective I’d politely characterize as myopic balderdash.
For those people wanting something futuristic, the D850 might be a let-down. It doesn’t include the kind of hybrid viewfinder that was on some of the more fanciful wishlists. And it’s true that the D850 isn’t as radically, perhaps even sexily, innovative as Sony’s barnstorming mirrorless a9, but from what I’ve seen, it could be the most versatile DSLR ever released.
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| Yes, it’s a fairly conventional DSLR. But what a DSLR. |
To be clear, I’m not expecting it to be a great video camera. Sure, 4K UHD from the full width of the sensor is a pretty impressive spec, but I have my concerns about the seemingly pixel-binned footage and quite significant-looking rolling shutter. (And that’s before you even consider the wobbly and often noisy video AF). Not that these things would completely negate the feature: it may still look good if shot carefully, especially when downscaled to 1080 resolution. But my lack of concern is because video has nothing to do with what makes me think the D850 looks so impressive.
Throughout the history of high-end digital, you’ve generally had to make a choice: do I need high resolution or high speed? If the D850 delivers on its promise, you can now have both, in a way that only the a99 II has tried to offer before.
This has a radical effect on who the camera works for. Seven frame per second shooting is more than enough for a really wide range of shooting, especially if the camera is able to autofocus like a D5 (probably the best autofocus performance we’ve ever tested). For anybody that needs more than this, they can add the battery grip and D5 battery, and boost the output to 9 fps. This combination will still cost less than the D5 and retain the option to remove the grip when you don’t want to lug a twin-grip camera around.
That’s likely to be enough capability to satisfy all but the most demanding sports shooters and photojournalists. But, significantly, it promises to do this with the kind of resolution that’ll satisfy the more committed landscape or studio shooter. Consequently, it’ll bring improved resolution and improved speed to everybody in between, such as wedding shooters who’ll benefit from both by getting a camera that can cope with whatever’s thrown at them.
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| Whatever its provenance, the D850’s BSI sensor promises high DR at low ISO and high performance at high ISO. |
But speed and resolution isn’t the only apparent contradiction the D850 could end up resolving. If it’s up to contemporary standards, the D850’s BSI sensor design should be more efficient than the chips used in the D810 and D750, so perform better (or at least as well) in low light and high ISO, when compared at the same size. And, if its ISO 64 mode can match the dynamic range of the D810, that’ll put it on a par with the likes of the Fujifilm GFX 50S in terms of absolute dynamic range. Though, it should be pointed out, there’s never really been a good reason to think the two factors were in conflict.
So, while the D850 may look like just another DSLR, its specs suggest something a bit more than that. And the recent turbulence shouldn’t make us forget that Nikon really does know how to build a DSLR.
But Nikon’s progressive innovation extends beyond DSLRs. It may have seemed unsure who the 1 System and its lenses were actually for, but there was some undeniably interesting technology underpinning them. They were some of the first cameras to feature extensive on-sensor PDAF, and they were capable of no-blackout live view burst shooting many years in advance of Sony’s a9.
Having already created what could be the pinnacle of DSLR design thus far, bear in mind Nikon has also applied to patent some of the technology required to create vertical and horizontal-sensitive split pixel AF (what could be essentially a cross-type variant of Canon’s Dual Pixel AF). It has also, despite the embarrassment of the DL U-turn, publicly announced its intention to build a mirrorless camera consistent with the company’s reputation.
So if you’re looking at the online doom and gloom, worrying ‘what about video’ and interpreting the D850 as a sign that Nikon is on the ropes, I’d argue you’re not really paying attention. It’s not yet the final round and Nikon is up and swinging.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)