D850 first impressions after handling for a couple of hours...

[David H. Hartman]

D800 looks metal to me, where is the composite?

http://www.bythom.com/_Media/d800_bodyframe_med_hr.jpeg

Has anyone seen a similar front view of a D850? I've seen a rear view and I think there is a reason. I'll bet the D850 does not have an alloy mirror box but one like the D810. An implied lie? Let the suckers believe what they want? I'd still buy the D850 if I could.

I wonder if the D850 mirror box to bayonet has been strengthened in some way? Mercedes-Benz patented crumple zones in car design then did not enforce the patent as crumple zones save lives. Does the D850 have better crumple zones?

Dave

[Ann]

 The lens receptor plate itself on the D800 is metal but it is screwed into composite with self-tapping screws.

The total weight of a camera body is not something which concerns me personally; but the degree of ruggedness and its ability to withstand heavy use under all kinds of conditions matters to me very much indeed.

[Akira]

When Nikon released D750, an engineer in an interview to the D750 development team admitted that the monocoque construction allows the mount and the sensor to be fixed directly to the mirror box so that the full optical system becomes one unit.  This unit is sort of floating in the monocoque frame, and the shock taken at the mount of the body (for example, caused by the lens hitting something hard) can be absorbed to some extent by the kind of "loose" relationship between the frame and the mirrorbox unit.

[armando_m]

Ann,

I think you are confusing the D800 construction with the D810 construction however I've heard about the D800 rear end cracking so I'm sure it's lighter construction than the D3 series, D4 series and the D5. The front bayonet is mounted against alloy.

I'd have bought a D4s instead of the D800 if I could afford to and then I'd be foaming at the mouth when the D5 was announced. Have I heard of the D800 cracking around the tripod socket? I think I have but I'm not sure.

"Life is hard, then you die."

Dave Hartman

yup, the bottom of the d800 chasis is brittle, mine broke and it wobble when mounted on a tripod, took it apart some, epoxy it, and has been fine for 3 years or so

[dibyendumajumdar]

The lens receptor plate itself on the D800 is metal but it is screwed into composite with self-tapping screws.

Hi, as others have pointed out, the D800 had a metal body. This was changed in D810 where the front part is not metal.
Nikon has not released the body skeleton pictures of D810 for this reason I suspect. It appears that the D850 will have the same construction as the D810.

The D800:
http://www.nikon-foto.cz/download/down_main.php?folder=product_foto/D800&nadpis=Nikon%20D800

And here is the D810 body part:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Mirror-Box-Frame-Case-Assembly-For-Nikon-D810-SLR-Camera-Replacement-/262809879773?hash=item3d30b084dd:g:DcIAAOSwt5hYfIwf

Regards
Dibyendu

[rosko]

What I am wondering, it's about the focus stacking feature' technology :

# by sensor back and forth motion, like some Olympus bodies;

# or an electronic device acting on the focus ring which involves the use of an AFS lens ?

[Michael Erlewine]

What I am wondering, it's about the focus stacking feature' technology :

# by sensor back and forth motion, like some Olympus bodies;

# or an electronic device acting on the focus ring which involves the use of an AFS lens ?

Since they limit it to 2 particular lenses, the 60mm Micro-Nikkors, both of which have AF, it is the second choice, the use of AF in the lens, not moving the sensor.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Since they limit it to 2 particular lenses, the 60mm Micro-Nikkors, both of which have AF, it is the second choice, the use of AF in the lens, not moving the sensor.

I don't think this is correct. Without doubt it uses the focus motor but is not limited to particular lenses.

Imaging resource's interview with the designers included this: "Because focus and depth of field depends on the lens you're using and the distance to the subject, it's often confusing how large a step you should specify between shots, when using a feature like the D850's focus shift option to capture images for use in focus stacking. In the case of the D850, you can choose a number from 1 to 10, and we asked the Nikon engineers what those units corresponded to. The answer was that the finest gradation (a setting of 1) equates to a focus step equal to the lens focal length divided by 30. So with a 100mm lens, the smallest step would be a distance of 3.3mm, and the largest one 30mm. "

There would be no point in suggesting a formula to use focal length to calculate step size if only one focal length (60mm) could be used.

[Michael Erlewine]

I don't think this is correct. Without doubt it uses the focus motor but is not limited to particular lenses.

I think you are right. I made a mistake. It is the slide copier that is sized to the 60mm. Sorry.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I think you are right. I made a mistake. It is the slide copier that is sized to the 60mm. Sorry.

I see. No problem.

 In the brochure Nikon say "first, set an optional ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter onto a lens such as the AF-S Micro
NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED attached to the D850". I think it should be able to work with other lenses but one might have to hack something together to accommodate the different working distances of different lenses.

I think the key is how to get the film at the right distance from the lens and how to shield the front element from stray light if you go for a longer working distance.

The 60mm AF-S is very good at 1:1 in my experience but I have a duplicating lens (the 75mm Apo Rodagon 1x) which I suspect may be a little better since it's optimized for this magnification. I am planning on getting this ES-2 to speed up the digitization of my film shots and see whether the 75mm could be used as well.

[Stany Buyle]

Some images taken with a pre-production D850 at high iso

• The images were taken handheld without any special preparation on a cloudy and rainy day while walking in the nature.
• Posted on this forum without any post processing, exactly with  sharpening, WB, exposure, saturation and hue as if they come straight out of the camera.
• In camera picture style was set to A(uto)
• AWB
• My 70-200 AF-S VR FL was not AF-fine-tuned on this D850 body.

And my wife was not so happy to do this because all this was unprepared...   


Iso 12800


Iso 25600


iso 102400


You can download the originals on my website.

Thanks for your attention and kindest regards,

Stany

[Jack Dahlgren]

12800 looks very usable. Even 25600 looks like 400 speed color film. We have come a long way towards seeing in the dark.

[Les Olson]

 In the brochure Nikon say "first, set an optional ES-2 Film Digitizing Adapter onto a lens such as the AF-S Micro
NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED attached to the D850". I think it should be able to work with other lenses but one might have to hack something together to accommodate the different working distances of different lenses.

I think the key is how to get the film at the right distance from the lens and how to shield the front element from stray light if you go for a longer working distance.

The 60mm AF-S is very good at 1:1 in my experience but I have a duplicating lens (the 75mm Apo Rodagon 1x) which I suspect may be a little better since it's optimized for this magnification. I am planning on getting this ES-2 to speed up the digitization of my film shots and see whether the 75mm could be used as well.

The ES-2 just holds the film at the right distance to get 1:1 - closest focus in the case of the three Nikon's it is designed for. On an FX camera that means using a 60mm micro and on a DX camera the DX 40mm micro.  Closest focus for the 60/2.8 G is 18.49cm, for 60/2.8 D it is 22cm and for the 40.2.8 DX it is 16.3cm, so the ES-2 includes adapter rings for the 60/2.8 G and the 60/2.8 D.  The 40/2.8 DX does not need an adapter ring because it has the closest close focus. 

So if the Apo Rodagon achieves 1:1 at closer than 16.3cm, you won't be able to use it with the ES-2.  If it is 1:1 at longer distances, you can, but you may need a special adapter ring to get the distance right, or tolerate some cropping or wasted pixels, as the case may be.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

The ES-2 is mounted on the lens using an adapter, right? So the critical parameter is the working distance (i.e. distance between front of the lens and subject) and not the distance between the sensor and the subject, right?

[Frank Fremerey]

25600 seems very good, given your shots were taken with a pre production sample, there seems to be a chance to make 40.000 usable in post...