Nikon D810 FX-format Digital SLR Camera Body

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I finally stepped up from the D700 to the D810. Why? Three basic reasons in order of importance...higher resolution (12 to 36 mp) for more wiggle room when cropping digitally, better AF capabilities and lower native ISO capability (100 to 64 ISO) with the associated increase in dynamic range. Ive only had the camera for about a week and Ive managed to put a couple of hundred shots through it (mostly test stuff but also some real world shooting). I cant say Ive "wrung" it out completely, but at this point I am very, very happy with my purchase. I got all the things I wanted and am finding a host of other "new" features that I really love including the upgrade to the LCD, lower weight, better ergonomics, quiet shutter feature, electronic front curtain shutter, etc. Though I didnt buy it for video, I am glad it has that capability and will undoubtedly use it now and again. It was nearly a seamless transition for me from the D700 controls to the D810 (well, except the plus and minus buttons are reversed but Ill get used to it!). The only issue for me is that the .NEF files out of the D810 cannot be read by Capture NX2. Not the cameras fault but Im not too happy about having to change processing software (looks like Lightroom will be it for me). But, Ill suck it up and move forward. Bottom line for me is that I love this camera and am confident that I will get many years good use out of it!

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Received my Nikon D810 FX format Digital Camera as expected, properly packaged and sealed with tamper proof tape. Original packaging complete, all accessories and manuals, warranty included. The camera is noticeably larger and heavier than my Nikon D90. I did spend some time reading the manual, familiarizing myself with the controls and taking photos. There is marked improvement in the image quality. The provided CD for viewing, editing and sharing didnt quite work for my older El Capitan Mac OS desktop. The provided option link did allow me to get a working application that I use to view, edit and share. I purchased the camera with the 24-120mm f/4 kit lens. Beautiful lens for the range, best suited for outdoors. Indoors low lighting a tripod or very steady hands and subjects required. Im still aquainting myself with this impressive piece of photographic machinery. Im very satisfied for my money with what Ive learned and have been able to do so far. I recommend acquiring a 35mm prime lens for low light conditions.

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By far the best DSLR camera for low light, portraits, astro photography, macros ..everything. and landscape. This is pro level camera. Please keep in mind that the FX lenses that produce the high quality photos are also expensive

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There is not much one can say what has not already been said. This cameras resolution, DR, color spectrum, sharpness is amazing. DR is better than any camera out there (includes mid format). It is a bit heavy but worth it. As far as sharpness it thumps my D750 (camera I also own and love). D750 is better for low light focusing and I think it handles noise better, but D810 beats it up in every other aspect. If I had to chose between D750 and D810 (Im glad I do not have to) I would go with D810.

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Edit (06/28/2017): Still a beast Original: OH MY GOSH... LUV! So Ive had a D7000 for a good 5 years or so and I shoot for my universitys newspaper and some portraiture here and there, paired up with the 70-200mm f2.8 VR II and I figured I got a real good setup. How would a D810 improve my photos in any way, right? WRONG! I ordered this bad boy from Adorama without tax. Like damn... That deserves 5 stars right there. Anyways, I whip open my X-acto knife opening the box to bust out this bad boy. Oh boy this thing is meaty. As a person with rather large hands this thing fit perfect. No more finger cramps for me. So ergonomic. Much fantastic. Also 100% magnesium alloy so you can drop it on concrete and get right back to shooting! After all that excitement, I proceeded to slap on my 24-70mm 2.8 lens and MY GOD. THAT FULL FRAME GLORY! On the D7000 it was cropped so I didnt know what I was missing! Its like I had my eyes closed! It led to my epiphany... Theres so much in this world that you miss... because of cropped sensors. Wow. Full frame. What a mind blowing experience. I have now ascended from a crop peasant to a FULL FRAME GOD. And heres be best thing... Maybe you havent heard about it yet... but I have discovered that this body shoots at 36MEGAPIXELS! DAYUMMMM! Theres so much detail in each photo you dont have to worry about cropping losing detail. One of my friends was saying how this camera doesnt have as good noise/low-light performance as the D600/610/750 and how those are superior, but do not be fooled. His words may be true... BUT YOU HAVE 36 MEGAPIXELS! NO ONE CAN EVEN NOTICE THE NOISE! Sorry, I dont want to list any cons since itll make me doubt my purchase and also since there probably are none. Except for the fact that a 32GB card can only get you 250 RAW photos. But why complain about that when you got them 36MP? I can get all technical about the specs and stuff but Im pretty sure you already know about em since youre reading this. If you come across and difficult or sad moments in life, just remember this, "You have 36 megapixels" fantabulousone. out.

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Wow... I moved up from the D800 not expecting much of a change but wow... the image quality... its so much sharper! It actually feels like a higher resolution camera. I feel like I can zoom in a lot more. There just isnt any more blur at all! All very crisp, clean images. I really like the new layout for the buttons, advancements in menus, LCD and viewfinder additions/options and timelapse options (more images + automatic exposure smoothing!). I do architectural and astrophotography and I gotta say... definitely worth the upgrade.

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I recently sold my D800 body and replaced it with the D810. I do not typically upgrade cameras this quickly but I hoped that the D810 would be a little more refined in certain respects than the D800. So far this has proven to be the case. UPDATE 8-11-2014 Spent two weeks shooting landscapes and wildlife in Maine. The new group auto focus setting was amazing for shots of birds. The focus tracking was amazing and I was able to secure the best eagle pictures I have ever taken and all the credit goes to the D810. My D200, D800 and even D4 would have had trouble tracking these subjects. The auto focus improvements are extremely substantial and have immediate real world benefits. The big headline to me regarding the D810 is the shutter and mirror assembly. The sound of the camera is completely different than the D800 or the D4 for that matter. The D810 sounds like there has been a lot of work done on damping the mechanical vibrations that occur when the shutter is tripped. In my initial testing I found that with the Nikkor 105VR Micro that there was a noticeable reduction in the slight blur that I had always attributed to mirror slap on the D800. Holding the camera when it triggers, one feels less bounce going on inside the body. UPDATE 7-23-2013 Shooting macro with the 105VR I definitely saw an improvement in focus acuity and it seemed that the combination of improved focus and VR yielded noticeably better results than the D800. Having had a D800 and going through the experience of having to return several due to the "left focus issue" before I found a good one, it was one of the first things I tested. I am happy to report that I found no evidence of variability in focus across the range of focus points. The new group auto-focus feature descended from the D4s is very nice. There is no focus hunting and the focus system seems quite snappy and sharp. One of my only quibbles thus far is with live view focusing. There is still more hunting than I would like. I would score live view focusing on par with the D800. UPDATE 7-23-2014 I have worked a bit more with the live view focusing and it is definitely the most glaring minus so far for the camera. It is no worse than the D800 but compared to the improvements in the rest of the focusing system it is still lagging behind. Image quality is spectacular. Color, and detail are outstanding. I shoot RAW and have been using the Camera Raw 8.6 Release Candidate from Adobe to process my files. They look near perfect without any adjustment. I do hope that Lightroom is updated for the D810 soon as it would not recognize the files I tried to import. I guess Adobe Bridge isnt dead after all. The D810 does seem to shoot faster than the D800 as advertised. No one will mistake its speed for a D4s but that isnt really the expectation. It seems fast enough that I would definitely keep it in the bag for wildlife photography even though it might not be the "A" body for that kind of work. The viewfinder is really clear and I may be mistaken but I think the data in the viewfinder is presented with a slightly different technology than the D800. Whatever is being used is crisp and very readable. The menu system for Nikon cameras has always seemed very intuitive to me. I own a couple of Sony and Canon cameras as well and the Nikon menus seem just a tad easier to deal with. Sony has come a long way but there is still a noticeable difference. I find the placement of the controls very intuitive and easy to manipulate. I know some users will prefer Nikons older system for selecting autofocus modes but I find the current set up quite intuitive. One miscellaneous item is that the batteries and charger from the D800 work with the D810. I was happy for once that I didnt have to buy all new batteries. SD and CF cards are of course the same but some newer cards like the Lexar 1066X work that would not in the D800 (officially)/ Video quality is excellent as well. This is not a feature that is terribly important to me but I think that many users who value DSLR video will really like it. The spec sheets spell out the specific improvements. I have done a fair amount of production using high-end ENG cameras with external camera control units. Out of the box the D810 compares well but I do wish that there were easier ways to access traditional CCU functions on a DSLR. I dont know that everyone who owns a D800 or D800E will want to upgrade to the D810. For me it is a decision that I am happy with and feel I have received adequate additional value from the new body. I will be taking the camera out soon for some extended nature photography sessions and will update this review after that. Thus far to me the D810 is a worthwhile upgrade that addresses some of qualities of the D800 that were important to me. If you are looking for an upgrade from a D700 or a DX camera I believe the D810 is very suitable. UPDATE 7-24-2014 Today I put the D810 on a tripod with the 105VR Micro-Nikkor and the R1-C1 macro flash kit. I shot pictures of some flowers around the house at near 1:1 and the results were amazing. I used the timer to release the shutter snd minimize shake. These are by far the sharpest photos I have ever taken. I am normally not one to pixel peep but the results were truly a quantum step beyond what I had been able to accomplish with any other set up. Update 8/1/2014 - Shooting landscapes today when light rain started. Even though the D810 and the lens I was using are "weather-sealed" I am never quite sure what that means. I wish all brands of cameras used the widely accepted IPXX system of rating this across product lines. Bottom line is that the D810 shrugged off the shower and continued to function perfectly. My confidence in its ruggedness just took a step up.

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I have a D800 and have just purchased the D810. I was a bit nervous from reading "previews" that the difference in performance between the two bodies were not enough to justify the purchase of this new body. I am glad to say that at least for me, I am very happy and have not touched my D800 except once since purchase. The differences are subtle, but they make the package. Its sort of like driving a Toyota Camry, and then jumping into a Lexus. You still get there, and the Camrys not bad, but the Lexus just makes the drive so much better. First of all, and I think most important of all is the autofocus is so much quicker. I was demonstrating it to my friend by just turning the camera to anything and press the shutter and it instantly focus and takes the picture. I set the menu mode for shutter release on focus only. On the D800, you will get the focus just a bit slower. Although this may not sound like a big difference, it allows me to get "that" picture with more confidence. I was never able to to use autofocus "c" mode to follow a flying bird because it is just not fast enough, or maybe I am not good enough of a photographer. However, on the D810, I was able to follow a dragonfly buzzing around my backyard and out of 6-7 pictures, I got 3 excellent in focus one. One of the picture looked like 3D because it was so clear! The second difference, which I think is just as important to me is the improvement of ISO performance. I compared the noise level between ISO 800 - 12800 on both cameras. On the D800, I could definitely see annoying noise, even with noise reduction turned on by 1600, and by 3200, it was definitely unacceptable. On the D810, I could definitely see noise by 2500, and by 8000, it was definitely unacceptable. So, I can see that the improvement is about 2/3 -1 stop better. On the D800, I limit ISO to 1600. On the D810, I now limit it to 2500, although I think that ISO 3200 is comparable to ISO 1600 on the D800. If you think this is not important, it is 1 stop difference. On my 24-70mm f2.8, with a 1 stop increase, its like an f2.0! On my 24mm 1.4, thats like f1.0! I was at a restaurant the other day with the family and was able to click away many pictures without flash! The pictures were at ISO 2500, and looked amazing! Another difference is the much quieter shutter click. Its not a big deal to me, but it sounds much better than the D800. I have noticed though, that some of my pictures are not as sharp as I am used to on the D800. I would retake the picture, but I would slow down; breath out, and kept everything super steady, and then the picture would be supersharp! I think the D810 is so sharp without the low pass filters, that any subtle shakes will show. I guess this can be a "minus" if you want to consider that a minus. :)) Another thing I like on the D810 is the "group focus". This is 4 squares instead of one square to focus. So instead of aiming to focus with one square in the viewfinder, the D810 can be programmed to have 4 square next to each other. It is my opinion that this may result in better focus than the one square focus. The one square focus option is still there. Overall, I really like the D810. I would definitely recommend this body, even if you have the D800 if you want that extra advantage. This is what the D800 should have been. :)

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Great camera for my use. I mostly do aviation photography and have two of these D810s. One for use and the other as backup if needed. It is not a point-and-shoot camera with auto setting and a person does have to choose your settings. I combine it with the Nikkor 28 - 300m zoom and it does everything I need to do without changing lenses. It is wise to have the camera cleaned fairly often because any dust on the large sensor will show up in your prints so I am very careful about protecting it as much as I can and use the self-cleaning feature all the time.

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Having previously owned the Nikon D90, D7000 and D700, and currently shooting the D7100, I would like to compare the D810 to these bodies, particularly the D700. Obviously, with a five star review, I am really liking my experience so far. First of all, the D810 is a very solid, well built camera, with a feel very close to the D700. I prefer the size with larger lenses, such as the 24-70 and 70-200 zooms. The smaller bodies are great with smaller lenses, and are lighter for better portability, but the larger lenses dont balance as well for me. Coming from a D700, I can say that the handling is so close that it only took a day or two to become completely familiar with the button layout and menu system. Having the D7100 also helped, since some of its controls are nearly identical to the D810...the focus mode lever and center hub button on the lower left come to mind as one of those similarities. Auto focus was a concern for me, and kept me from really considering the D800/D800E cameras. The D700 was 98% accurate with AF, and I am happy to say that the D810 seems to have an equal hit rate. I prefer to use the AF-ON button and AF-C mode for focusing, which allows you to be in continuous AF as long as the button is pressed, or having the camera act like AF-S mode by releasing the button. You get both types of operation simply by pressing continuously or pressing to acquire focus and then releasing to keep it set. The D810 snaps into focus quickly and is deadly accurate. I look forward to trying the "group area" AF, as it is reported to work well for locking on and tracking fast moving subjects that may leave your selected point if only using one point. Group area uses 5 points in a circular cluster simultaneously, that may be moved anywhere in the focus array with the multi-selector. My lenses are all highly accurate and sharp, with only minimal fine-tuning needed on some of them. Video is equally impressive, with the 1080/60p setting producing absolutely beautiful quality. Live view focusing seems a bit quicker to lock, with less hunting than even the D7100. Image quality overall is phenomenal. Super clean with great colors, accurate white balance, and with that beautiful FX look that cannot be matched by smaller sensor cameras. Better in every way over the D700, and I was always very happy with the silky look that D700 images had. The D810 just pushes all those great qualities to another level entirely. Dynamic range is one area that really blows the D700 away. And metering so far is the most accurate of any DSLR I have ever used. Another impressive feature is the super quiet shutter mechanism. Easily less than half the noise that the clanky D700 shutter makes. I have also used the electronic first-curtain shutter on a few occasions, and found the shots to be very, very sharp. This is intended to eliminate any potential vibration from the shutter mechanism causing slight blur, and it certainly looks as if it works. The few tripod shots that I have taken have been crystal clear, no matter the shutter speed. Seems as though Nikon has effectively addressed some of the complaints that D800/E users had with shutter vibrations affecting image sharpness. Kudos!! I love the 1.2x crop mode, which both speeds up the frame rate from 5 to 6FPS, and also reduces the files from 36 to 25MP. RAW file pixel count is also reduced, so if you need more manageable file sizes or need to fit more images on your memory card, you can switch to 1.2x crop. There is also DX crop, which cuts the image down to 15MP and gives you 7FPS (with a battery grip), but I will probably not use that very often. The 1.2x mode, however, is going to be a great option for my dance competition shooting, where I am usually pretty far away, sometimes on a balcony, and could use a little more reach from my 70-200 lens. I crop many of these anyway, since the majority are taken at 200mm and still dont zoom in close enough. 84-240mm equivalent is very exciting for what I frequently shoot. Great for speeding up processing times when working with lots of files, too. I can see myself using this quite a bit. And its easy to switch modes since you can program the top "record" button to be a crop mode button when you are in picture taking mode. You just press the record button and rotate the thumb wheel to change modes, which are visible in the viewfinder. Very cool! And you can set the menu to darken the unused area for a clear view of your image area. Now for the high ISO comparison (and I can handle some noise, but dont like it to be too rough): none of the DX cameras can come close here. The D90 was ok up to about ISO800, D7000 to ISO1600, and the D7100 can be pretty comfortably used to about ISO2500. And I am comparing RAW output that has been processed with appropriate noise reduction. The D700, with its 12MP FX sensor could do about ISO5000 if shot RAW, but only 3200 if shot JPEG. The older processor did not handle the noise that well compared to ACR. It left too much noise and still smeared the image far too much above 3200. For comparison, I have already used the D810 for actual low-light action (stage show with dancers), and can report that ISO10,000 is about comparable to D700 ISO5000, and both RAW and JPEG are perfectly usable at that high setting. I was so blown away by the great colors and reasonable amount of noise, I nearly fell over when viewing them on my 24" monitor. At 100%, there is noise, but when viewed normally, or moderately zoomed in, the images are just astonishingly good. I would be perfectly comfortable printing a 24x36 poster of even a ISO12,800 JPEG photo right out of the camera. Yes, they are really that good. I believe that the smaller pixels actually create a finer grain that is much less objectionable (and less visible) than the coarseness found in the D700 high ISO images. Quite a feat to go against the common belief that high pixel counts would equal high noise. Im sure that advances in sensor design, as well as processor performance has a great deal to do with that. This is one amazing camera! Needless to say, I am very happy that I went for the D810 as a FX replacement for my D700. I was going to wait for the D750 to be introduced before purchasing, but the more information that was "leaked" about it being a D610 sized body, and no AF-ON button, I went ahead and got this one. Yes, its a pricey camera, but well worth it, as far as Im concerned. I should be set for a very long time with the D7100 as a lighter everyday, wildlife, and backup camera, and the D810 as my main body for portraiture and low-light work. Really looking forward to putting this combination to work. Both cameras are working perfectly and ideally suited for my intended uses. Well done, Nikon! Edit, April 13, 2015: Still finding the D810 to be a nearly perfect camera. Great looking files and comfortable to shoot (mostly). Only one complaint after using it for several months. The AF-On button on the back is too stiff and has a shallow travel that makes it a bit uncomfortable to shoot with when doing extended shooting. The amount of force required is too great and the feel of the button is just not as good as it could be. It requires increasing force to keep it pushed in rather than "popping" into place to the point where you can let off the pressure a bit without it coming out. It doesnt seem that bad until youve been using it off and on for an hour or so. Your thumb starts to get cramped and tired. For comparison, I would prefer it to feel like the AF-L/AE-L button on the back of the D7100 (which can be programmed for back-button focus). It is shaped a bit better, requires less force, and sticks out more, giving it a better feel. Issue is not enough to lower the score, but is something that bothers me a little for my type of shooting. Edit, April 21, 2016: Just picked up a D750 as a companion to the D810. Loving both cameras! Each has shared strengths, with some differences that compliment one another. High ISO is a little better on the D750, but that crisp 36MP is really impressive, even at relatively high ISO, and dynamic range is unbeatable. The D810 has a much quieter shutter for shooting in quiet environments, and the D750 is more portable for when you need to go smaller/lighter. Its great to be able to keep a 24-70 on the D810 and a 70-200 on the D750 for almost limitless coverage of a very wide range of focal lengths without swapping lenses. The D810 continues to impress with its beautiful images and reliable operation. I will be relegating its use to video at this years dance recital, while the D750 takes its place for stills. Happy camper here. Great work, Nikon!!

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