ChristianHJensen

The absolutely ONLY reason to choose the 810 over the 850 would be price. Period!

Indrajeet Singh Loc: Goa, India

I use both. Depends on what you are shooting. If your photography requires fast AF acquisition, then the D850 should be the choice. The D810 is excellent for landscapes and portraits, so is the D850, but the D810 will do it at a lower cost. The D850 permits focus stacking, which you can't do with the D810. For video, the D810 has the convenience of using the Back Button Focus when shooting video in Live View. I use my D810 primarily for video with a loupe fitted and love using this feature. I am waiting for the Z6s or Z7s for my video in the future.

So, it really depends on what you shoot, they are both excellent cameras.

HT

I have and currently use a D500 and a D850. I owned a D810. All three are excellent cameras. The only reason to buy a D810 over a D850 IMHO is a lower purchase price and if you make a decision that the D850's superior AF and video are of no purpose for your needs, for example if you don't usually photograph wildlife/birds, sports or low light subjects. The remaining feature set of the D850 are largely incremental, nice, but not game changing. The megapixel count is not as big a deal as I originally thought either, I can't tell by looking on my 27" 5K Retina iMac if a photo I took is off the D810 or D850 no matter how hard I pixel peep.

My most used camera though is the D500, probably because I enjoy trying my hand at bird photography, and even if birds aren't in the frame I tend to shoot long. The D850 gets used mainly for portraiture or "set" shots like astro.

But the D850 is a superior camera to the D810, no question. It's much more flexible than the D810, there is nothing the D810 can do that the D850 cannot also do, but the D810 doesn't hold a candle to the D850 AF or video feature set. That's why I sold the D810.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Honest-to-Hell, where do people come up with this? If a Nikkor lens gave "crisp and snappy" images on Pan-X or Kodachrome 25 or Velvia 50, it will (trust me) give fantastic results on digital at high MPs using the same sound photographic technique.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Any lens you put on either a D810 or D850 will produce better results than it will on any other camera. I even tried my 18-200mm DX zoom (a really flaky lens) just for fun. Set up for 1:1 (24mm x 24mm) format and got striking results. Certainly not what I'd do everyday, but just wanted to see what would happen and if the Kool Aid was true. It is not. But I guess it does provide some inner justification for going out and buying all new lenses after buying a new camera.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

The D810 follows the older long-time control standard on the pro-level cameras. It is laid out just like the D300s, D300, and D200. The D500 and D850 swap the mode and ISO buttons. I didn't like the change at first, but doing this makes ISO changes a one-hand operation that can easily be done without taking the camera away from your eye. It is a fairly significant improvement that I have come to like. It's part of what distinguishes the user interface of these two cameras from lower price models.

therwol Loc: USA

Sure, there were some great Nikon lenses in every era, but there were some clunkers too. The point really is that it's a waste of money to buy a high resolution camera and not use the best lenses you can afford. All lenses don't give the same results. I can tell you that I can see differences in sharpness between all of my lenses that I mount on my D810. For example, I find the 24-120 f/4 kit lens that is often bundled with new cameras to be mediocre at best. All of my primes are sharper. Even my old 35-105 D is sharper. Do the research and spend what you can afford. Even if you make a case that a particular legacy lens is fantastic, it may limit you to manual focus, and that doesn't work in many situations.

DennisC. Loc: Antelope, CA

That is so true, I went from the 800 to 810 to 850 and there were nice upgrades with every body. Now I am onto mirrorless and enjoying the features it has to offer.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Not sure what point you were trying to make. I know that the Nikon 43-86mm zoom of 1963 turned serious shooters off for zoom lenses for years, it was that bad. But what I said here was, if a Nikon lens produced high quality images on K25 or Velvia 50, it can absolutely produce the same top quality images on a D810 or a D850. You can buy newer expensive lenses if you want. But dumping a top quality older lens (especially a top quality AF Nikkor) because you got a D850, well ... that's just crazy. In my humble-but-accurate opinion.

therwol Loc: USA

The point is simple. Use high quality lenses. What you say is true. I won't dump my 55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor from the late 60s because it's the sharpest lens I own, absolutely flawless in the macro range. I also won't dump my 35-105 AF-D because it is very sharp, has no distortion and is very light weight. Not everyone owns older lenses. I would guess that most people who haven't been around as long as we have face a decision on buying a lens (or two or three) when they buy a new camera. The best of the modern lenses are quite expensive. That's just reality. But if you decide to buy a consumer grade lens (28-300 comes to mind, and I would even throw in the 24-120), how do you justify spending 3 grand on a high resolution camera? It makes no sense.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I think we have to be a little bit careful with generalizations. I have a 24-120mm f/4 (with gold labelling, not red) that I use all day on my D500. That camera puts exactly the same demands on a lens as does the D850, and it does just fine. Maybe not quite the match to the 24-70mm f/2.8, but the purchase price (used) was only $425. It's a lot better than the $1100 16-80mm DX lens that I looked at as the other alternative at the same time. And when I've used it on either the D810 or the D850, it does fine there also. Usually the only coimplaint about that lens is distortion, but I don't use it for architectural photography or copying, so that is never a problem for me. My only complaint is that it doesn't seem to be quite as "colorful" as some of the much more expensive lenses, but tat is easily compensated for.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

With you all the way. Got a new camera --- do the research before you buy the lens(es). It's an expensive "hobby", for sure. But a shooter who is discriminating enough to buy an 800-series Nikon should certainly get the best glass available.

therwol Loc: USA

My 24-120 f/4 also has the gold labeling. I bought it used for something like $600. It is versatile and does spend some time on my camera. If I need VR, the older 35-105 doesn't cut it. I can't argue with anyone who says a lens fits their needs. I'm just saying I have sharper lenses. When you can see that on a camera, it makes you think about stepping things up a bit, the down side usually being expense.

Paradise Pirate Loc: Cape Coral, FL

Have D7500 and bought used 810. Happy with 810 until I try to touch LCD to change settings or need to tilt LCD because of position. I wished I had the 850 not the 810.

Pixel-pusher

I have voiced my preferences for the D850 and why in the past.
Just today however, I discovered a tiny feature on my D850 (probably not important to many photographers) but will be very important to me for the equinox four days from now. I am shooting 360º spherical panoramas with my fisheye lens. These shots require ultra precise tripod work. The D850 is the only model I have out of five others starting with the D200 through the D810 that has this feature.
It is a tiny little hole on the bottom of the camera near the 1/4 20 mounting hole. A spring loaded pin on the tripod mounting plate fits into that hole to prevent the the camera from rotating relative to the tripod! It's the tiniest feature I can possibly imagine; but it will be crucial to my once a year work next week and helpful any other time I use a tripod.