D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...(Updated to D800e)

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Stany Buyle
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D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...(Updated to D800e)

Post by Stany Buyle »

I have D800 since March 23th and D800E since April 25th. I published some comparisons on both sharpness and moire as well as my early findings with both D800 and D800E in different topics which you can find here, here, here and here...(Some of the latest comparison shots for sharpness still need to be published because of lack of time.)

Image

As a summary of my early findings on D800 vs D800E I experienced D800E delivers a tad sharper images than D800, but the difference is subtle and needs very close inspection of the images at big magnification to see it. About moire with D800E, it was noticeable in some circumstances but, -again after close inspection- nothing to really worry about.

About AF both my D800 and D800E perform better than any Nikon I've used before -including D3 and D3s-. Both D800 and D800e focus faster and more accurate with both AF and AF-S lenses and with all AF points, also the outer left one. About this I might have been lucky not having encountered any problem while according to several topics on the internet there are some bodies who seem to struggle with the outer left AF point and need service/repair.

And more about the D800 autofocus abilities, focusing with a F8 lens/tele combinations is really revolutionary!

Overall image quality from both D800 and D800E are -again- better than any Nikon I've used before. Resolution plays a very important role in overall crispyness and sharpness even after downsampling image size. Images out of both D800 and D800E look amazingly sharp, even without any post processing.

D800 and D800E colour fidelity and "reds" straight OOC(sample) and skin tones please me very much. I mention "reds" because the D7000 does not produce red colour as I like it. The reds out of my D800 remind me to the reds out of my D1x.

Dynamic range of both D800 and D800E is amazing. Amazing like D7000 at base iso but it holds up much longer while going into higher isos.

D800 and D800E both perform very well with inexpensive glass. Even though I have a couple of professional grade lenses my antique 28-105 F3.5-4.5 serves most of the time on my D800. And if I would have to choose, I would prefer anytime a D800 with 28-105 F3.5-4.5 over a D700 with 28-70 F2.8 for reasons of final image quality. The 36Mp sensor shows his horsepower also with inexpensive glass. Here you can find some samples of occasional close-ups taken handhold with 28-105. Also the 28-105 barely exhibits distortion at 28mm :D ... And yes, I know corners are bad with 28-105 :( , but I don't care for snapshots... Up to that the 28-105 is a lightweight lens, perfect for walk around, and with a handsome macro mode which works better than ever with D800 because of resolution...

Shooting handhold isn't a problem at all with D800 and D800E. Even handhold I get much more detail with D800(E) than I got on tripod with my D3/D700 and the same glass.

Both D800 and D800E are stunning performers at high iso, and when viewed or printed at equal size, significantly better than what my D3 and D700 delivered before and very close to equal of what I got with D3s.
Shooting portraits at iso 3200 in relative lowlight delivers extremely clean and sharp images.

During the initial days with my D800E there was no chance to test for macro shooting while there simply were no bugs out due to an extremely cold, wet and windy spring...
On May 16th finally weather became better and bugs appeared so It was time to test D800E for macro.
After approx 60 shots of fly eyes with D800E I noticed more moire than I'm used to, and more than with my D800. (Update:) In later macro sessions it appeared having been a coincidence which made me doubt and which was the main reason why I initially went for D800...

Conclusion(for myself):
The sharpness difference between D800E and D800 is only visible at F5.6 and wider, but macro mostly plays at F8 and smaller aperture, and so does landscape. ;)
Some D800 "sharpness"-samples here.
While shooting wide open, I got some amazing sharp pictures straight OO my D800E though. I don't get that kind of extreme natural sharpness straight out of my D800. For macro shooters I believe D800 to be the better choice though...
...so I decided to go on with a "normal" D800 for the coming years and I sold my D800E.

Thom Hogan was clear about this in his reaction in another topic about D800 vs D800E on this forum, but I am happy I tried it out for myself.

If my preferred photography would have been landscape, I very probably would have chosen the D800E to keep.
...and if I would be millionaire, I would have kept both... :lol:

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:arrow: This topic might be completed with some more samples and links in the coming days.
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kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
James
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Re: D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...

Post by James »

That's interesting Stany,

I was sure you'd keep the 'E'!
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Re: D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...

Post by pam.meier »

I try to find someone here in my home region with a D800E, but they seem to be very rare.
I´m really curious to see the difference in portraits.
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Re: D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...

Post by Steve Bingham »

Probably a very wize decision! Enjoy.
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Stany Buyle
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Back to the "E" version...

Post by Stany Buyle »

A couple of weeks ago I exchanged my D800 for a D800E while I missed the extreme sharpness D800E provides straight out of the camera at wide apertures.
The moire issue where I was worrying so much about while shooting macro(insect facets) seems to be a smaller issue than I initially thought.
While shooting from F1.4 to F4 with top quality glass and the experience of several thousand pictures with both D800 versions, the difference in sharpness is more than just sharpen D800 files a bit to make them look equal to native D800E files. Upto that sharpening in PP might bring extra noise... D800E samples(which are basically snapshots) as I like pictures to come straight out of the camera can be found here and here.
Last but not least I prefer having to do the least possible post processing (and if possible none) while taking advantage of the in camera settings(while shooting RAW) and Nikon Capture NX2.

As a backup and complementary camera I find D600 along with D800E a better choice than D800E with D800. In the rare cases where I fear moire might show up and ruin the party (wedding dress) I will use D600.
:!: Update: I finally cancelled my D600 oder after first posts about oil and dust issues.

Kindest regards,
Stany

Update 2012, December 20th
Copy from related topic:
From both D800e and D800 to D800 and after some months back to D800e.

Image

  • D800e is simply a tad sharper while shooting wide open>F5.6... That extra bit of "straight out of the camera-sharpness" D800e provides over D800 makes that I seldom have to do sharpening in post processing. No sharpening needed means for me as well that there is no noise increase because of sharpening
  • Moire is not an issue even though I was afraid for that..
    The warning about possible moire with D800e by Nikon was TMHO more a way to play safe against possible complaints from future D800e users.
  • I see "False detail and artefacts reports" as myths -even if those reports are written by a respected expert- and are reporting rather as what they expected it to be(come) and not what they experienced after using D800e vs D800 extensively as I did.
Some samples:
  • Two occasional "snapshot" portraits
    First one taken at iso 100 while using the pop up flash, finally it was meant as a snap shot...
    D800E and 70-200VRII F2.8 at F2.8, 195mm and 1/250sec and handheld.

    Image

    And a 100% crop
    Image


    Second picture taken at iso 1600, natural light, 1/320 sec, F4.5

    Image

    And a 100% crop of the focus area:

    Image
  • Family and fun snapshots...
    A picture taken handhold at F1.8, 1/500 sec, AF-C and iso200 and no sharpening at all. Converted from NEF to jpeg. The only PP was WB adjustment sunny -> cloudy.

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

    Image

    Image

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

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

    The scene, slightly cropped to show the nice bokeh this lens produces:
    Image

    And another 100% crop:
    Image

    Both pictures were taken in AF-C mode. The incredible fast and accurate AF module of the D800 helps of course...
  • For macro - (Underneath picture was taken handheld.)
    Image

    and 100% crop....

    Image
  • Wildlife with 70-200VRII and TCIIIe on my D800e

    Underneath image was taken with 70-200VRII + 2xTCeIII.

    The original scene, resized:
    Image
    a 50% crop from the underneath scene, resized to 1000px longest side:
    Image
    Click here for the original crop.
Conclusion:
So after having shot several thousand pictures with both D800 and D800e my final choise is D800e based on a relative small difference in sharpness straight out of the camera which was important enough for me to make me exchange twice...
Does that mean I would have regret if I would have stayed with the classic D800? No, both D800 and D800e are exceptional photographic tools.

Underneath a macro shot of a dragonfly made with my "normal" D800.

A screenshot of the AF area as seen in NikonViewNX:
Image

And a 100% crop of the AF area:

Image

Enough detail I guess... ;)

Thanks for your attention and kindest regards,
Stany
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Re: D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...

Post by pam.meier »

I think the D600 would make a nice camera for weddings. With the volume of images one usually takes, 36 MPix could be a little over the top.
I love using it for group images, though.

As for the D800 I still struggle for sharpness in studio shots. I usually take 3/4 size images of people and then I would expect more cropabilty. I don´t think that the D800 E would help either. When I used the A900 + the Zeiss 135 1.8 I had more cropping leeway.
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Re: D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...(Updated to D800

Post by RudyDusslier »

Thank you. Bought a D800e at Art & Craft today.

Greetings,
Rudy.
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Astounded by D800e IQ...

Post by RudyDusslier »

2013.09.10. Ik heb deze namiddag foto's genomen op een pompoenkwekerij hier in Ijzendijke. Ik heb enkele beelden bewerkt en sta versteld van de scherpte en de dynamiek. Nog nooit eerder gezien. Werkelijk formidabel.
Ik ben deze namiddag naar de kerk in Watervliet geweest (to take pictures...). Ik herinner me nog dat ik daar mijn D3s getest heb bij slechte lichtomstandigheden, want het is daar tamelijk duister. Ik heb gefotografeerd bij ISO 6400 met 16-35mm, soms tegen het licht in en op zeer donkere plaatsen, zoals in hoeken waar er bijna geen lichtinval is.
Ik kan geen kleurruis vinden en de dynamiek is enorm. Het is ongelooflijk hoe ver je kunt gaan in de nabewerking. Vlak voor een raam en de omgeving is donker, je kunt dit enorm optrekken en toch geen ruis. Die VR op dit objectief is ook zeer welkom
All images at iso 6400 with D800e and 16-35 AF-S F4 VR

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Re: D800 vs D800E, D800 is the one I keep...(Updated to D800

Post by GAshby »

TNX.
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Stany Buyle
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Interesting read about D800 vs D800E (link)

Post by Stany Buyle »

kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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D800e 30% sharper than regular D800?

Post by Stany Buyle »

Nikonrumors links to test results done by DxoMark showing a sharpness difference upto 30% between D800e and D800, depending on the quality of the used lens.
That D800e is significantly sharper than D800 is nothing new to me, it was the reason I finally decided for D800e, after twice D800->D800e...
"With certain lenses" means that the 36 Mp sensor without AA filter out resolves many lenses.
In my tests the difference was most obvious with my 70-200VRII and the 85mm F1.8. With my old but beloved 28-105 f.i. no difference could be seen.
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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