D800 (and D4)' astonishing AF module.

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Stany Buyle
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D800 (and D4)' astonishing AF module.

Post by Stany Buyle »

When I was trying out the D4 and D800 during the D4/D800 demo day early february at Art & craft in Ghent, the camera characteristic that took my attention the most was the extreme good AF module.
About AF precision, AF speed and AF with a lens TC/combo or lens/extention tube combo D800(and D4) even work significantly better than their repectiverly predecessors D700 and D3s.
During the D4 and D800 demo days at Art & Craft back in February I tested D4 AF precision with an extreme application:

I mounted my 3 kenko extension rings between the D4 and my 105AF-S and of course with a very limited DOF but handhold the D4 was autofocusing without problems.
The setup of that I describe here above:
Image
And a result in a picture:
Take care: F14 handhold and iso 12800!!!
Image
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D800 with 105AF-S VR + 2xTCIIIe for insects in flight.

Post by Stany Buyle »

The day befor yesterday I was testing my D800 with 105AF-S VR + 2xTCIIIe on insects in flight.
Of course these shots were taken handhold.

People who tried this kind of things already know that auto focusing with a macro lens combined with a 2xTC on insects in flight is difficult for any AF system and I did not succeed this very well with my D3 and D3s(very low keepers rate). With D800 it is going flawless though...

Auto iso was on with max shutter speed of 1/800.
With a flash, a very fast shutter speed ànd the same lens/TC combo I believe I even can capture the facets of a hooverfly while in flight which would be quite a challenge for an AF system. Will try... ;)

Image

About the keepers rate: I did two sessions, once 8 pictures and once 5 pictures, only 1 shot was OOF :o .

While some might not believe this keepers rate claim, underneath the sceenshot of the shots in nikonview.
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Focus accuracy and optical quality of the 2xTCIIIe:

Focusing speed and focusing accuracy with such a Lnes/TC combo is one thing, optical quality of a 2x teleconverter is another thing... :roll:
In the early days of this forum I wrote a topic claiming the the 2xTCIIIe is an optical miracle.
Here you can see a proof of that claim:
From the same session as the hooverfly in flight picture:

The scene:
(picture taken handhold with D800, 105AF-S VR with 2xTCIIIe, auto iso-iso 1250, F11, 1/800 sec. To my own surprise, VR was off!!!)
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And a 100% crop:
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Related topics on this forum:
:arrow: Handhold-autofocus macro with D800 and 105VR+ TCIIIe
:arrow: D800 is a game changer for macro photography
:arrow: D800 (and D4)' astonishing AF module.
:arrow: nikon 2x TCIII is simply an optical miracle.
:arrow: D800 : handhold macro picture
:arrow: Too many "keepers" with D800...


Thanks for your attention and kindest regards,
Stany
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Re: D800 (and D4)' astonishing AF module.

Post by Stany Buyle »

Underneath you find two pictures taken handhold at F1.8 while using AF-C mode.
As you see the D800 AF accuracy is simply amazing and a very different experience than what some people report on other fora. I must add that one of the 3 D800s we purchased needed AF calibration(Yaw and pitch alignment) as well. After repair it was perfect.

A picture taken handhold(which should be clear in the 100% crop) at F1.8, 1/500 sec, AF-C and iso200 and no sharpening at all. Converted from NEF to jpeg. WB has been changed from "daylight-sun" to "cloudy"

The focus area as seen in Nikon View NX 2.5.1:
Image

Image

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And one more(without sharpening), taken handhold, 1/640sec, iso200, AF-C and F1.8 :

The focus area as seen in Nikon View NX 2.5.1:
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The scene, slightly cropped to show the nice bokeh this lens produces:
Image


And another 100% crop:
Image
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