The very last camera purchase I made before retirement was the new Nikon D800. With a 36.3 Mpixel full frame sensor it is now the state of the art, top of the heap camera of choice for camera users who want the highest resolution images and low light capabilities. It’s set new standards by all the testing labs that evaluate such things.
As a full frame camera the quality of the lenses designed to use on this camera are the best in Nikon’s line-up. I have managed to purchase three full frame lenses, a 50mm F/1.4, a 24-70mm F/2.8 & a 70-300mm f/4-5.6G. This range of lenses, when combined with the D800 body gives me a high quality arsenal of equipment to capture my world.
The D800 was released by Nikon about the same time as its flagship D4 professional body. The D4 has a higher frame rate than the D800 but nowhere near the resolution at 16.2 Mpixels. It’s designed for sports photographers who routinely “Spray & Pray”. My D800 is a studio camera designed to photograph stationary subjects. It’s ideal as a macro camera and for use in photographing landscapes. Because of it’s extremely high resolution it effectively doubles the focal length of my 3 lenses, giving me an extended reach. The color depth & saturation of such photos is very HDR like. It also has the built-in ability to automatically shoot up to 9 frame HDR shots. It shoots Hi-Def Stereo video with full Auto-focus.
I own three digital camera outfits:
A Sony Alpha Mirrorless NEX-5N with an 16.2 Mpixel APS-C sensor and 18-55mm & 55-210mm lenses,
A Nikon D7000 DX format with an 16.2 Mpixel APS-C cropped sensor and Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8, Nikkor 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 VRII & Nikkor 85mm F/3.5 lenses,
A Nikon D800 FX 36.3 Mpixel sensor with Nikkor 50mm F/1.4, Nikkor 24-70 F/2.8 & Nikkor 70-300mm F/4-5.6G lenses.
You must have powerful wrists. That bad boy would kill me.
Especially with the 24-70 aboard. It’s well balanced though so using my Black Rapid R7 cross-body strap I don’t have to hold onto it long. What an amazing difference between the D800 and the Sony NEX-5N! LOL
And I should also say “oh wow.” That’s some lineup of glass and cameras. Probably worth more than almost everything I own combined.
So many of the lenses are specialty glass, such as the Tokina 11-16mm. When you need a really wide angle nothing on the market, including Nikon, makes a better lens. There are bargain lenses as well, like the Nikkor 70-300mm for under $125 right now. The Nikkor 85mm F/3.5 doubles as a great portrait lens and is much cheaper than the faster F/1.4 version. That Nikkor 24-70mm is a monster and very, very sharp but very, very expensive.
I just changed the top D800 photo with one carrying that Nikkor 24-70mm F/2.8 lens. :)
Nice equipment :)