Jack47 Loc: Ontario

Is the D800 ok with DX lenses. I know there is a crop but is there anyone with first hand knowledge of the results?
I am looking at one for $800 (Canadian) About $550 (American.) Is it a good deal? There are not enough for sale in my area to judge. Please……only people with experience with this.
I would be looking at FX lenses down the road.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

They work!!! according too the owners manual
Although I have never done it.
I have a D800 and a D810

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My main experience using DX on FX is with the 10-24 DX. Ive never used the automatic DX crop cuz this lens has plenty of extra coverage outside the DX format frame. There are no snags. Just use DX lenses as you normally use any lens. You wont compose outside of the lenss coverage cuz theres nothing to be seen out there anywho. DX lenses with minimal excess coverage will simply present a DX sized image surounded by

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If your DX lens does need the 1.5 crop, that's a 4800×3200 image --> 15MP

That's a lot of 2023 money to spend on a 2012-released full-frame camera and operate it like a 15MP DX camera circa 2010. Wouldn't a native DX camera be the better choice, a better deal, especially if you have to fund new FX lenses too?

therwol Loc: USA

If you use DX lenses on the D800, the camera will go into the DX mode and use only a portion of the sensor. You will get 15 megapixel images. (You can override this, but most DX lenses will not cover the full frame of the D800.) 15 megapixels is more than adequate if you don't plan huge enlargements or significant cropping, but as a full frame, 36 megapixel camera, the D800 is capable of spectacular landscape images and portraits. The downside is that the camera is as slow as molasses compared with current cameras. If you're into sports and pictures of birds in flight, look at newer models, D850 and possibly D500 (DX) if you want to stick with a DSLR, or various mirrorless options. Of course, these will cost you more money. If you don't have a need for "action" pictures and plan to buy FX lenses, then the price seems reasonable to me, but for a little more, you could look at the D810 with capabilities somewhere in-between the D800 and D850. One other advantage of the D810 is that it was discontinued by Nikon in 2019, meaning that service will be available for longer than the D800. The D800 was discontinued in 2014.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Page 80 of the D800 manual describes several image sizes that can be selected on the D800. Some DX lenses will cover an image area larger than the normal 16x24mm DX image area. The D800 offers choices called 5:4(30x24mm) and 1.2X (20x30mm) in addition to the normal DX and 24x36mm FX image sizes. You can experiment with your DX lenses (after turning off Auto DX Crop) to see what options might work best. Zoom lenses need to be tested at several focal lengths...they often produce larger image circles at the "short end."

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

I have a D800 and here’s my experience.

18-55 3.5-5.6 (DX) (kit lens) some vignetting 18-24mm, (approximately) none after

17-55 2.8 (DX) very noticeable at 17mm, gone by around 28mm none after

35 1.8 (DX) none

55-200 4-5.6 (DX) none at any focal length

18-70 3.5-4.6 (DX) very noticeable at all lengths, particularly at 18 with a filter mounted.

I would never intentionally use the 18-70 on the FX. The 18-55 is a better lens anyway and only minor cropping is needed <24mm. The 17-55 has good optics and works great as long as you aren’t needing full coverage <28mm. The 55-200 is a cheap plastic lens but has pretty good optics.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Oh, you can turn off the auto DX mode so there is no cropping and what you see is what you get.

Jack47 Loc: Ontario

I appreciate all the answers. What I am asking is “ do you have experience using the DX lenses” on this camera? And what are the results.
If you do please let me know. If not just go to to the next subject.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Yes, I’ve used DX lenses on my 800. The 17-55 is a very sharp lens and takes advantage of the high resolution sensor. It is a heavy lens but balances out the weight of the heavy 800.

The 35mm is a good lens as well and makes full use of the camera’s capabilities. It’s plastic and very light, which is great on light DX models like the D40. On the heavy 800, it’s like it isn’t hardly there, which can be good or bad depending upon the situation.

The 55-200 is a light plastic lens, but actually has very good optics as well as VR (image stabilization). With no vignetting, it works well with the 800. The VR and weight of the 800 makes for good stability. However, if a person has weak fingers, hands or arms the weight of the 800, especially when combined with the metal 17-55 or the really heavy 80-200 2.8 could be a detriment.

Specific enough?

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Also, I bought my 800 last summer from a guy who had moved up to an 850. I gave $500 for the camera with a bit over 10,000 clicks, a Nikon battery grip with an extra battery, charger, a Tamron 24-70 2.8 lens and the original manual. No box or patch cords.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I have used DX lenses on my D810. My results were a little different, but are directly applicable to your potential future D800. My 17-55mm f/2.8 has the smallest image circle with the sharpest edge at all of its focal lengths. It is the least useful of my DX lenses in this application. My 18-200 (first version) zoom produced only a small amount of vignetting at short focal lengths on a FX sensor area.

The takeaway here is that you are going to have one or more lenses that are likely to be quite useful on a D800 using formats larger than DX. But we cannot guarantee which ones or how well they will work. You are going to have to do your own trials and determine which lenses will work and how well they will work and which formats might be useful with them. This is fortunately quite easy to do, using Live View on the rear screen to quickly observe preliminary results.

Jack47 Loc: Ontario

Yes…..thank you.

Jack47 Loc: Ontario

Thanks. If I decide to go for it the DX lenses will be temporary until I get some FX.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I am a strong advocate of the approach you are taking. Good luck getting the D800. Have fun with it.