FX versus DX: New reader, first posting. I am now convinced digital is here to stay and am prepared to semi-retire my Nikon F4S. I have a number of lenses, mostly shoot outdoors with...

oldschool

New reader, first posting. I am now convinced digital is here to stay and am prepared to semi-retire my Nikon F4S. I have a number of lenses, mostly shoot outdoors with my 2.8 70-210. Landscape, wildlife, and sports are all in the mix. I was prepared to go with a D7100 but am becoming concerned about dropping from FX to DX. A D610 or even D800 is not out of range price wise. Any thoughts/recommendations are appreciated.

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

You will love the detail and IQ from a Nikon D800E. The list of superlatives is too long to list. I have been teaching digital photography and post processing for the past 15 years at the college level. Enjoy

Moles Loc: South Carolina

True, the D800 is a beautiful thing. For landscapes, perfect! However, for sports and wildlife, where continuous shooting is the norm, the 4fps that the D800 offers isn't ideal, IMHO. I would recommend the D610 for two out of three of your shooting interests. That is, if a D4/s is out of the question.

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

Moles wrote:

True, the D800 is a beautiful thing. For landscapes, perfect! However, for sports and wildlife, where continuous shooting is the norm, the 4fps that the D800 offers isn't ideal, IMHO. I would recommend the D610 for two out of three of your shooting interests. That is, if a D4/s is out of the question.

Your max fps is 6 with a D610. You can get 6 fps in DX mode on the D800E. Since the files sizes are bigger on the D800E, the output is likely the same or better on the D800E in CM. You are also getting 1/8000 of sec on the D800E and 1/4000 of sec on 610 among other major and significant differences. Your getting better detail out of the D800E. Any differences between the 610 and D800E is negated by the way the D800E handles landscape.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

oldschool wrote:

New reader, first posting. I am now convinced digital is here to stay and am prepared to semi-retire my Nikon F4S. I have a number of lenses, mostly shoot outdoors with my 2.8 70-210. Landscape, wildlife, and sports are all in the mix. I was prepared to go with a D7100 but am becoming concerned about dropping from FX to DX. A D610 or even D800 is not out of range price wise. Any thoughts/recommendations are appreciated.

Any one of these cameras is an excellent choice. A decent argument could be made for each of them.

I currently shoot with the D800E and the D7100. Each has its good and bad points but I am very happy with both.

You can compare the three here.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d7100/24

Moles Loc: South Carolina

Isn't shooting a D800 in DX mode a lot like drinking non-alcoholic beer? When was the last time 1/4000 of a second wasn't fast enough?

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Moles wrote:

Isn't shooting a D800 in DX mode a lot like drinking non-alcoholic beer? When was the last time 1/4000 of a second wasn't fast enough?

Its more like light beer, which isn't bad.

DigitalDon Loc: Calgary, Alberta

I agree with Mark7892. The detail with the D800E is incredible. The 36MP versus 24MP is HUGE. The no anti aliasing filter is also HUGE! Yes, you do need bigger cards, better glass and plenty of storage on your computer.

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

Moles wrote:

Isn't shooting a D800 in DX mode a lot like drinking non-alcoholic beer? When was the last time 1/4000 of a second wasn't fast enough?

You can attain the same 6 fps, not really much difference from 4 fps with the D800E in the same manner you describe the non-existent differences between 1/4000 and 1/8000. However beyond that, you will retain all of the superlative features and functions of the highly acclaimed D800E that the 610 does not. Shooting in DX mode with a 36.8 MP sensor is nearly the same as the 24 MP 610. I doubt it would actually affect output differences, except for those pixel counters. If you want to bash MP, the new D4s is only 16 PM that less than the D800E in DX mode.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

My preference of the three cameras is the D800E.

It is full frame and has 2 crop modes.

File sizes: (approximates)

FF = 48MP
1.2x = 34MP
1.5x = 21MP

Actual results using a 70-300 VR Nikon lens at f/5.6.

Bunsen Honeydew Loc: Middle of Nowhere, Ontario

Mark7829 wrote:

Your max fps is 6 with a D610. You can get 6 fps in DX mode on the D800E. Since the files sizes are bigger on the D800E, the output is likely the same or better on the D800E in CM. You are also getting 1/8000 of sec on the D800E and 1/4000 of sec on 610 among other major and significant differences. Your getting better detail out of the D800E. Any differences between the 610 and D800E is negated by the way the D800E handles landscape.

Also don't overlook the fact that with the D800 or D800e, you have a pro calibre body of all metal, which you don't get with the D610.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

This may or may not be important to you, oldschool. I've been shooting DX for a few years. I'm happy with things like sharpness, contrast, chromatic definition, blah, blah, blah. The smaller viewfinder image, however, is annoying to me. A full-frame camera will offer a superior viewfinder, if nothing else, and I find myself being more and more appreciative of that concept.

I like to really study my images in the viewfinder as I'm shooting...it reduces surprises later, in post-processing. It's the same difference I found years ago between the Nikon viewfinder and the Hasselblad viewfinder. Bigger, I think, is better!

MtnMan Loc: ID

DigitalDon wrote:

I agree with Mark7892. The detail with the D800E is incredible. The 36MP versus 24MP is HUGE. The no anti aliasing filter is also HUGE! Yes, you do need bigger cards, better glass and plenty of storage on your computer.

Most reviews disagree that the 800E is a "huge" difference from the D800. Most say it makes very little difference in most situations.

I haven't looked at a direct performance comparison to the D600 but doubt also that it is "huge". The main reason I went for the D800 over the D600 is that I shoot a lot of wildlife and crop to DX size or smaller. DX on a D600 is only about 10MP whereas it is nearly 16MP on a D800. I considered getting a D7100 for that purpose because you get 24MP on the DX area with it...but decided, based on my experience with the D5100 and D7000, that 16MP on the DX area was good enough for what I do.

You might want to check out dpreview or DXOMark for some test-supported views on this.

Most of us with D800s are more than satisfied with it's performance.

Bunsen Honeydew Loc: Middle of Nowhere, Ontario

MtnMan wrote:

Most reviews disagree that the 800E is a "hug... (show quote)

I agree, I shoot a D800, & rather than spend another $300 on the "e", I put it into glass. No regrets, besides glass holds its value better than bodies.

amehta Loc: Boston

oldschool wrote:

New reader, first posting. I am now convinced digital is here to stay and am prepared to semi-retire my Nikon F4S. I have a number of lenses, mostly shoot outdoors with my 2.8 70-210. Landscape, wildlife, and sports are all in the mix. I was prepared to go with a D7100 but am becoming concerned about dropping from FX to DX. A D610 or even D800 is not out of range price wise. Any thoughts/recommendations are appreciated.

It seems that the biggest factor is what you are used to, the F4S. The closest current model would be the D4/D4S, but if you do not want to go at that level, the D800 is a great camera. Getting the D800 over the D610 and D7100 means you will not have to wonder if you should have gotten the better camera.