D800 rumors

The thought of being able to switch from FX to DX and back on the fly is heavenly. Now the question is just WHEN will the official announcement take place!

What exactly does "switching from FX to DX on the fly" mean? What difference between the putative D800 and the D700 facilitates this?

What exactly does "switching from FX to DX on the fly" mean? What difference between the putative D800 and the D700 facilitates this?

All Nikon FX cameras can do this, effectively you are cropping the sensor. Problem is you lose MP due to the 1.5 crop, so with existing 12MP sensor it means significant loss of resolution, . With a 36MP sensor, cropping will still leave a pretty high resolution image

A feature of the D3S and I assume the D3 and D700 is "Auto DX Crop". This feature automatically crops the image in camera to DX size. There were presumable advantages to the smaller file size and subsequent faster buffer clearing for continuous shooting but I never use it.

The viewfinder does gray out the cropped portion of the frame but I prefer to use the entire viewfinder and decide in post what area to crop.

If the D800 feature is the same, with the likely faster in-camera processing and the larger size and lower price of memory cards, the rumored file size of the D800 is not the issue it once was and I would again not find the feature useful. You could just as easily use DX lenses if that is your desire and crop edges as needed, not as the camera requires. YMMV.

Good points; frame rate may be one advantage though

Some DX Nikons do this too. Such as D2X. In more than 100,000 photos I used it once. Crop afterwards, why both in camera. I have never bothered on FX Nikons either. The only justifiable need is for the 10-17mm. I really like that lens - but I have had the luxury to travel with both FX and DX systems this year - and find I would often not use, even when it was there. For every other lens - why not crop afterwards - if that is what you want to do.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that just about every Nikon photographer I know (apart from D7000 owners) is desperate to upgrade. Mainly because everyone feels it is time! Most people have been used to upgrading more regularly than then current Nikon cycle (with additional delays from natural disasters) has allowed. Every D300/D3/D700 shooter is itching for a new toy! Whatever Nikon releases next will sell and sell.

Lets hope it is a good one - they will sell a lot before we find out! Personally I would like to see a D4 with 18MP and D3s noise levels (a bit like what the 1DX is!).

Alex

Personally I would like to see a D4 with 18MP and D3s noise levels (a bit like what the 1DX is!).

I would like this as well but in a D700 body

I would like this as well but in a D700 body

I'm still hoping for some sort of breakthrough in sensor binning which would (possibly) be better than just having a DX mode. I will be totally surprised if the D800 is not at least as good as the D700 in terms of high ISO noise.

Not convinced that the pictures and specs of the new D800 is the real deal. The camera looks some one had some fun in photoshop melding a D7000 with a D700 and calling it a D800. Furthermore, a 36 mgp sensor as an the answer for resolution, unless Nikon has something really really new in sensor technology. Even Canon is coming to their senses that 18 to 24 is the right range for FX format cameras.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that just about every Nikon photographer I know (apart from D7000 owners) is desperate to upgrade.

Alex

Not me

Not me

I heard you actually want to downgrade back to your D70

I still think the D70 is a better camera with that 1/500 sync than anything available!

I still think the D70 is a better camera with that 1/500 sync than anything available!

Yeah, what the heck is up with that? When I switched off my D70 I couldn't believe all the 'newer' cameras couldn't match it for flash sync!

I will hang on to my D-300 for at least another round because I really shoot only macro and super macro. If I was younger (than 70 1/2) I would upgrade. So Alex is correct. I have the itch but not yet bad enough.

Tom

Just used the D7000 for a month, and it's really a marvelous camera. For underwater work it's near perfect. You can probably buy 3 of them for the price of 1 D800 Or a D7000 + housing for the price of a D800. For land use, the D7000 is limiting. I was reminded of that again during an 'interesting' komodo dragon shoot, where the limited buffer was a problem.

Just used the D7000 for a month, and it's really a marvelous camera. For underwater work it's near perfect. For land use, the D7000 is limiting. I was reminded of that again during an 'interesting' komodo dragon shoot, where the limited buffer was a problem.

That's why I don't understand the premise of this thread:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42901&hl=

It is not the flash re-cycle that limits the D7000 in action shooting, it is the buffer. Although I think that those electrical to optical converters are cool!

Alex

It does seem useful for non-flash cameras like the 1 and 5 series who don't want wired sync cords.

Just used the D7000 for a month, and it's really a marvelous camera. For underwater work it's near perfect. You can probably buy 3 of them for the price of 1 D800 Or a D7000 + housing for the price of a D800. For land use, the D7000 is limiting. I was reminded of that again during an 'interesting' komodo dragon shoot, where the limited buffer was a problem.

That's why, at least in theory, having one camera that can do it all is attractive to me (or at least having the same body for everything). I like FX and DX for different applications, sometimes I want high frame rate, sometimes high res may be more important, other times low light ability is the main thing. Sometimes I wish the reach of my telephoto would be longer, and sometimes I want my 10-17. And I don't want a camera as big as the D3 if possible. It remains to be seen if the D800 will be such a camera. I am most skeptical about it's low light performance. Yes, and I wish it had the D70's flash synch rate, would be ideal for pool work to get black backgrounds.

I know, I want, I want, I want.......

That's why I don't understand the premise of this thread:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42901&hl=

It is not the flash re-cycle that limits the D7000 in action shooting, it is the buffer. Although I think that those electrical to optical converters are cool!

I just ran a test with my D7000. Seems I can only get one flash and exposure when I have the camera shutter set at "continuous high" and using the pop up flash, until I lift my finger off the shutter button and press it down again when it will fire again, and so on.

If I connect my SB800 flash to the hotshoe on the D7000, then it operates as you would expect, giving a continuous stream of flash exposures until you lift your finger off the shutter button.

I think the members posting in that thread are trying to get around this limitation by mimicking the SB8oo flash (in my case) inside the housing to trigger their fibre optic controlled flash in a sequential fashion.

I could very well be wrong about the popup flash with the shutter set on continuous high, and if so, please provide the appropriate camera setting to get the D7000 to do this.

Hope that helps.

Alex, the premise of that thread is that once the D7000 drains the internal flash, it take _forever_ to recharge. At 1/128th power it's the internal flash thats the limiter for me. And besides that, like Poliwag says, the D7000 shoots very slow when the popup flash is open. Suppose you have some nice sea&sea 250s, you'd want to be able to machinegun that thing, and not be limited to like 1 shot a second using the popup.