DXO's rating for the D800 sensor

Harryb · March 23, 2012

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/Nikon-D800-Review/Sensor-performance

Well the D4 had a brief reign as the top rated full frame DSLR.

ziggy53 · March 23, 2012

WTG Nikon.

thumb

Matthew Saville · March 23, 2012

Whooooooaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

If that damn thing had 12-16 megapixel sRAW mode, I'd buy one tomorrow. WTG Nikon!!!

=Matt=

NikonsandVstroms · March 24, 2012

Matthew Saville wrote: »

Whooooooaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

If that damn thing had 12-16 megapixel sRAW mode, I'd buy one tomorrow. WTG Nikon!!!

=Matt=

That camera is going to cause a lot of upgrading.....I'm going to need a USB 3.0 card for my workstation and I'm looking at a mobile one as well now since this cheap little laptop struggles a bit with the 12MP from my D700.

As for the DXO rating.....it beats my S5 Pro by almost a full stop.

chasgroh · March 28, 2012

...ordered mine today. Some people buy cars, I buy cameras. I'll be doing alot of work in crop mode...looking forward to the extra reach with wonderful resolution...

cgee

dixonduke · March 28, 2012

ordered mine 2 weeks ago. wonder how long either us will be waiting for its arrival?

MLangton · March 29, 2012

Two weeks ago here also... Sigh. I am really getting tired of READING about this camera!!!

MLangton · March 30, 2012

Matthew Saville wrote: »

Whooooooaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

If that damn thing had 12-16 megapixel sRAW mode, I'd buy one tomorrow. WTG Nikon!!!

=Matt=

Pardon my naivety, but...

Is this something Nikon could simply change with a firmware update? Meaning, just add another parameter to the file size settings???

Disclaimer: I am still learning, and am much more of a hardware guy than a software guy. For now. I am trying to join the 21st century. I really don't know here.

This file size scares me, and I shoot 95%+ jpeg. The more I advance, the more I see myself shooting raw in the future??

Time for that 10 terabyte storage set up... Sigh.. $$$$

Thanks for all of your postings here. I am learning a lot.

Matthew Saville · March 30, 2012

MLangton wrote: »

Pardon my naivety, but...

Is this something Nikon could simply change with a firmware update? Meaning, just add another parameter to the file size settings???

Disclaimer: I am still learning, and am much more of a hardware guy than a software guy. For now. I am trying to join the 21st century. I really don't know here.

This file size scares me, and I shoot 95%+ jpeg. The more I advance, the more I see myself shooting raw in the future??

Time for that 10 terabyte storage set up... Sigh.. $$$$

Thanks for all of your postings here. I am learning a lot.

Unfortunately, if Nikon hasn't done it by now, especially with the D800, then I don't know if they're ever going to do it unless there is a HUGE uproar.

Nikon either can't figure out the technology involved, (there is always serious shadow banding on the Canon 5-series when pushing exposures in post, maybe caused by the sRAW capability..)

...Or Nikon is just holding onto their silly DX crop mode and doesn't want to confuse users with yet another RAW image size.

Personally, I wish they'd hang the whole thing, (1.2x crop, 4:5 ratio, 1.5x crop....) and just give us a 16 megapixel sRAW mode.

=Matt=

MLangton · March 30, 2012

Makes sense... Thanks.

I'll give it a try. For now, I think the pros outweigh the cons, as I want to move into FX. At least for my perceived needs.

I'll cut my FX teeth with the D800 (already ordered) and see how it goes. I held a D4 the other day and all I can say is WOW. I just cant justify that kind of $$$ at my (lack of) skill set. Yet. I'm s-l-o-w-l-y improving though.

DigiScapes · March 30, 2012

My D800 is on order, I also had to upgrade my "old" 2006 15" MacBook Pro to a shiny new 2.4ghz quad core i7 - 17" MacBook Pro to handle the larger files. And while I'm quite excited and not-so patiently waiting my wallet is screaming bloody murder!

MLangton · March 30, 2012

I can relate. I'm on the fence between the Nikon 16-35, or the tried and true Nikon 14-24. I'm going to pick one of those up when the D800 arrives. I'll have no FX wide lens without one. I shoot a lot of interiors, so this will be my number one go to lens.

My wallet just gave up and stopped screaming a few days ago. It's waving a white flag now.

Matthew Saville · March 30, 2012

MLangton wrote: »

I can relate. I'm on the fence between the Nikon 16-35, or the tried and true Nikon 14-24. I'm going to pick one of those up when the D800 arrives. I'll have no FX wide lens without one. I shoot a lot of interiors, so this will be my number one go to lens.

My wallet just gave up and stopped screaming a few days ago. It's waving a white flag now.

If you shoot interiors, even 16mm might not seem wide enough sometimes. If the 14-24 is too pricey however, I'd look into the Samyang 14, if you get a good copy it is PERFECT even to the extreme corners, by f/8 or f/11. Or if you really need to go wide as heck, the Sigma 12-24 is the only full-frame lens to go THAT wide without being a fish.

Of course if sharpness is your only concern and money is less of an object so you don't have to consider third parties, the 14-24 is "it" in the world of ultra-wides... There's a reason you see Canon users getting MacGyver-ish with Nikon ultra-wides, but not the other way around... ;-)

=Matt=

MLangton · March 30, 2012

Matthew Saville wrote: »

If you shoot interiors, even 16mm might not seem wide enough sometimes. If the 14-24 is too pricey however, I'd look into the Samyang 14, if you get a good copy it is PERFECT even to the extreme corners, by f/8 or f/11. Or if you really need to go wide as heck, the Sigma 12-24 is the only full-frame lens to go THAT wide without being a fish.

True. I've given myself a headache the last few days crunching numbers. With my D300, I've been using the Nikon 16-85mm. You are correct. About 25% of the time, 16mm is not quite wide enough.

I would just pull the trigger and get the Nikon 14-24mm, BUT I am afraid that in some cases, even it might not be wide enough. Since this is going on a D800, I am really looking for sharpness. My gut is telling me to get that. I can always just throw a Sigma 10-20mm (cheap) on the D800 for the 5% of the shots that the 14-24mm wont get wide enough.

The jury for me is still out on the Sigma 12-24mm.

The only bright side about having to wait for the D800 to ship, is that it is giving me a lot of time to research the pros and cons of all these lenses. I keep coming full circle back to the 14-24mm though. Time will tell. Price is ALWAYS an object, but I have learned a long time ago that it is best to "buy once, buy right" if you can. There appears to be no silver bullet. Lots of pros and cons for ALL of these lenses. I'll just have to get what I think will work best. Decisions, decisions.

Thanks again for all the help!

insanefred · March 30, 2012

You could just get some good stitching software.

Matthew Saville · March 31, 2012

MLangton wrote: »

True. I've given myself a headache the last few days crunching numbers. With my D300, I've been using the Nikon 16-85mm. You are correct. About 25% of the time, 16mm is not quite wide enough.

I would just pull the trigger and get the Nikon 14-24mm, BUT I am afraid that in some cases, even it might not be wide enough. Since this is going on a D800, I am really looking for sharpness. My gut is telling me to get that. I can always just throw a Sigma 10-20mm (cheap) on the D800 for the 5% of the shots that the 14-24mm wont get wide enough.

The jury for me is still out on the Sigma 12-24mm.

The only bright side about having to wait for the D800 to ship, is that it is giving me a lot of time to research the pros and cons of all these lenses. I keep coming full circle back to the 14-24mm though. Time will tell. Price is ALWAYS an object, but I have learned a long time ago that it is best to "buy once, buy right" if you can. There appears to be no silver bullet. Lots of pros and cons for ALL of these lenses. I'll just have to get what I think will work best. Decisions, decisions.

Thanks again for all the help!

The 14-24 is incredible, however it is indeed not the end-all lens for everything. 24mm ins quite limiting on the long end, in many outdor landscape situations I BY FAR prefer to have 35mm on the long end. (Hence, I'd go with the 16-35 2.8 or the 16-35 f/4 VR...)

And again, like I said the Samyang and Sigma are great lenses, they're extremely sharp if you're shooting stopped down, I bet they'd even resolve the D800 sensor quite well between f/8 and f/22...

BTW the Sigma 10-20 won't fit on the D800 without cropping; if you'd like to use a crop-sensor lens on a full-frame camera, the best one for that job is currently the Tokina 11-16 2.8, which can be used on full-frame as wide as 14-15mm especially if you're cropping to 16:9

Also, as Insanefred mentioned, there's always stitching. Just get yourself the 16-35 f/4 and shoot 2-3 vertical frames with 50% overlap; THEN you're getting wider than anything else! Or there's always de-fishing... ;-)

=Matt=

dixonduke · April 1, 2012

MLangton wrote: »

Two weeks ago here also... Sigh. I am really getting tired of READING about this camera!!!

Well.... I got this in the mail this morning. When I saw the email from B&H, I first was elated and was like...

, then I read the email and was like...

scratch:cry.

Oh well, it will get here when it gets here.

B&H Status Email wrote:

Thank you for your pre-order of the exciting new Nikon
D800
digital SLR camera.
We know you're excited about this camera and we're as enthusiastic to get it to
you as you are to receive it.

At this moment we do not know how many cameras we'll receive from Nikon USA nor do
we know the exact date we'll receive each shipment from them. As this situation
evolves we will update you with whatever information we're able to share.

Your patience and patronage are both greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Sincerely,

B&H Photo-Video, and Pro-Audio
http://www.bandh.com/

Harryb · April 1, 2012

dixonduke wrote: »

Oh well, it will get here when it gets here.

That's the best appraisal of the situation I've seen so far. I have pre-ordered the D4 and the D800E and I'm in wait mode. I will just have to make do with the D3s :cry for awhile longer.

MLangton · April 2, 2012

Matthew Saville wrote: »

The 14-24 is incredible, however it is indeed not the end-all lens for everything. 24mm ins quite limiting on the long end, in many outdor landscape situations I BY FAR prefer to have 35mm on the long end. (Hence, I'd go with the 16-35 2.8 or the 16-35 f/4 VR...)

And again, like I said the Samyang and Sigma are great lenses, they're extremely sharp if you're shooting stopped down, I bet they'd even resolve the D800 sensor quite well between f/8 and f/22...

As you said earlier, in many cases the 16mm will not be wide enough, I am leaning on the 14-24mm based on the following:

1. I have researched just about every review that I could find online the last few weeks. Numerous websites, not just one. Considering that this lens is going on a D800, I am NOT impressed with the reviews of the Sigma FX lens. If it were going on the D300, OK, but not the 800. Besides wanting to go FX, one of the main reasons that I am getting the D800 is sharpness. I am scared to death that I will be really disappointed in that Siggy on the D800.

2. The Nikon 16-24mm is nice, but I am afraid it won't be wide enough, and it has terrible distortion at 16mm. Considering that most of my shots will be close to 16mm, thats a lot of extra PP work to clean up.

3. The Samyang seems like a nice prime, but I am needing a telephoto, as no two jobs are alike.

BTW the Sigma 10-20 won't fit on the D800 without cropping; if you'd like to use a crop-sensor lens on a full-frame camera

=Matt=

HELP: OK, from the Nikon D800 brochure, it says this... http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d800/pdf/d800_28p.pdf

Shoot with multiple formats in one camera: Image area
options:

The D800 offers four image area options: FX format (35.9 x
24.0 mm), 5:4 (30.0 x 24.0 mm), 1.2x (30.0 x 19.9 mm), and
DX format (23.4 x 15.6 mm) with all cropped image areas
visually masked in the viewfinder. DX format offers approx.
1.5x, and 1.2x crop offers approx.1.2x telephoto effect.
When a DX NIKKOR lens is used, DX format is automatically
selected.

IF, big IF, I am reading this correctly, should this camera automatically convert to DX mode if I threw a 10-20mm DX lens on it??? Meaning, would it not now be a true 10mm lens at wide open???

Please go easy on me here. I have shot 35mm for years, then moved into DX only. I have no real experience with FX yet, so all of this is a tad confusing. Drinking out of a fire hose. I waited too long to make the digital switch.

Worse case, it looks like the 14-24mm will work for 90%+ of my wide end needs. I have everything covered from 24mm+. I have been investing in great glass. If I can't use the 10-20mm/12-24mm on the D800, I can always just toss it on the D300 for those pesky 10% +/- of the other times...

As for stitching... Maybe some day. Thats still a bit beyond my PP capabilities. I'm still struggling through LR3 and GIMP. I want to maximize my IN CAMERA skills first. Once I have that down, I'll start pushing the computer skills.

Again, THANK YOU so much for your input. I am taking this, and doing a TON of research. I have learned much from your many postings.

Still might get the 16-35mm... Probably going with the 14-24mm. Until I can afford Zeiss, I am sticking with Nikon.

Matthew Saville · April 2, 2012

MLangton wrote: »

As you said earlier, in many cases the 16mm will not be wide enough, I am leaning on the 14-24mm based on the following:

1. I have researched just about every review that I could find online the last few weeks. Numerous websites, not just one. Considering that this lens is going on a D800, I am NOT impressed with the reviews of the Sigma FX lens. If it were going on the D300, OK, but not the 800. Besides wanting to go FX, one of the main reasons that I am getting the D800 is sharpness. I am scared to death that I will be really disappointed in that Siggy on the D800.

2. The Nikon 16-24mm is nice, but I am afraid it won't be wide enough, and it has terrible distortion at 16mm. Considering that most of my shots will be close to 16mm, thats a lot of extra PP work to clean up.

3. The Samyang seems like a nice prime, but I am needing a telephoto, as no two jobs are alike.

HELP: OK, from the Nikon D800 brochure, it says this... http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d800/pdf/d800_28p.pdf

Shoot with multiple formats in one camera: Image area
options:

The D800 offers four image area options: FX format (35.9 x
24.0 mm), 5:4 (30.0 x 24.0 mm), 1.2x (30.0 x 19.9 mm), and
DX format (23.4 x 15.6 mm) with all cropped image areas
visually masked in the viewfinder. DX format offers approx.
1.5x, and 1.2x crop offers approx.1.2x telephoto effect.
When a DX NIKKOR lens is used, DX format is automatically
selected.

IF, big IF, I am reading this correctly, should this camera automatically convert to DX mode if I threw a 10-20mm DX lens on it??? Meaning, would it not now be a true 10mm lens at wide open???

Please go easy on me here. I have shot 35mm for years, then moved into DX only. I have no real experience with FX yet, so all of this is a tad confusing. Drinking out of a fire hose. I waited too long to make the digital switch.

Worse case, it looks like the 14-24mm will work for 90%+ of my wide end needs. I have everything covered from 24mm+. I have been investing in great glass. If I can't use the 10-20mm/12-24mm on the D800, I can always just toss it on the D300 for those pesky 10% +/- of the other times...

As for stitching... Maybe some day. Thats still a bit beyond my PP capabilities. I'm still struggling through LR3 and GIMP. I want to maximize my IN CAMERA skills first. Once I have that down, I'll start pushing the computer skills.

Again, THANK YOU so much for your input. I am taking this, and doing a TON of research. I have learned much from your many postings.

Still might get the 16-24mm... Probably going with the 14-24mm. Until I can afford Zeiss, I am sticking with Nikon.

1.) Not sure which lens you're referring to by the Nikon 16-24, do you mean the 16-35 f/4? Or the Tokina 16-28, or 17-35? Like I said, those Tokina's are good to go on 36 megapixels FX. They may not be as flawlessly sharp as the 14-24, but they'll still resolve 36 megapixels no problem in general, and are an affordable option if that were to be a concern although it sounds as though it is not. And mostly in general, the only reason I was suggesting third-party lenses was for the added versatility, not so much the affordability. The 14-24 isn't going to be very versatile on the long end, you'll want a 24-70 to accompany it for general shooting. But of course if that's not an issue, then yeah you're good to go on the 14-24 as the sharpest zoom ever made in that range. ;-)

2.) Yes, any DX lens will mount on a Nikon FX camera body, HOWEVER when it says it will automatically convert to DX, that means the sensor will physically crop from FX to DX, throwing away most of your FX advantage and putting you back at the equivalent of 15mm, and dropping you down to 16 megapixels.

Only CERTAIN lenses actually work full-frame even though they're DX lenses, and you have to physically disable the auto-DX mode so that it shoots the full FX frame even with a DX lens mounted.. Such as the Tokina 11-16 2.8... And even then, all of those lenses will only work at certain ranges of their zoom, for example the Tokina 11-16 only works on FX at 16mm, if you zoom much wider than that you start to get black cornes and will have to crop to DX to continue shooting acceptable images. Unless you plan on doing a lot of 1:3 panoramic cropping, I suppose.

The

ziggy53 · April 2, 2012

While the Nikon D800 (and most Nikon FX bodies) supports DX lenses, like the Sigma 10-20mm series, it does so primarily at the crop factor of 1.5x. That means that you will only be using the center crop of the imager, and that, in turn, means that you will be limited to around 15MPix. Actually, 15 MPix is not that bad and there is still plenty you can do with that resolution of image. (Remember that a Nikon D300 is 12MPix, and still a very viable camera.)

Because of the crop factor, at 10mm the DX lens will "seem like" the FOV of a 15mm FX lens on the FX setting of the body.

It does sound like the Nikkor 14-24mm, f2.8G ED AF-S might be the best solution for your needs.

MLangton · April 2, 2012

Thanks Matt and Ziggy. All of the pieces are starting to come together now. Really had to put some thought into this one.

I did mean the 16-35mm on that last post. I have just been reading a lot and have tons of numbers running through my little brain.

Since I have the 24-200mm ranges covered with great glass, I am just going to error on the conservative side and get the 14-24mm. I will actually have Nikons terrific trio once UPS drops it off!!! This should keep me busy for a while. If there is anything wrong with the images, I will know that it's ME, and not the camera or glass.

Now... If the darn camera would just materialize.

Again... Thanks for all of your help. You guys and this website have been great!

DXO's rating for the D800 sensor

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