DEBJENROB Loc: DELRAY BEACH FL

don't you need the 85mm f1.4 for portrait .............

lukan Loc: Chicago, IL

The Df feels plasticky and cheap compared to the D4/S and the D800. Stick with quality. Forget about saving the money, and iF you're going to buy another camera body, get the D4S...that's a big IF.
Leave that Df at the camera store, where it belongs. ;)

jepisa

i've recently read new d800 with upgraded low light capability and 6fps w/ batt grip.some other changes

lukan Loc: Chicago, IL

If you're a Nikon shooter, why bother with anything else, UNLESS you're an action junkie, then you get the D4S. I think the D800 at 6fps makes it a real player for outside of the studio. :-)

lukan Loc: Chicago, IL

NEED? WANT, yes; but NEED is relative. :-D
One man's needs are another man's wants... hence, G.A.S.! ;)

DaveHam Loc: Reading UK

A wedding shooter may not need the 36 mega pixel ultra sensitive D800; a lot of the product for weddings is maximum 12 inch by 8 inch images plus a DVD copy of a lot of jpegs. So why take the risk inherent in using a D800 with low light issues and motion blur, slow buffer clearance and big files to process?

The D3S, D4 or D4S are pro bodies which can do the job just as well.

Another thought would be that no wedding or event photographer worth paying would have only one body and one flash; these are one off events for the customer, you have to be prepared for failure of equipment no matter how reliable you think it is.

There is a fixation among some D800 users that it is the ultimate camera in all circumstances; if that was the case then you would not see pro event photographers carrying D4/D3 models. There is a reason for that. A lot of them have D800's as well; they just know when a D800 is the more appropriate body to use.

DEBJENROB Loc: DELRAY BEACH FL

If you are shooting weddings ... yes you need the 85mm

Jaime Loc: Los Angeles

Rent the D4/S for an event and see if you like it. The other issue is file size. If the D4 images are comparable, go with it.

Moles Loc: South Carolina

I'm surprised to hear that focus hunting is a problem with those two Nikon lenses.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

I was on a model shoot with a pro and his D4s. At sunset I saw him take a shot in aperture mode and he showed me the view. I asked his what his ISO was and he showed me 26,500. It was amazing.

Flipper2012 Loc: Alberta, Canada

If I could afford it I would buy on in a second I have the D800

prayingmantis

I shoot Sony and almost exclusively primes. I have done all kinds of photography, wedding, landscape, underwater, sports, street, live performances, photomicroscopy, macro, studio portraits etc. There is something else to consider regarding the capability to shoot at ISO 12,800 in low light. There are definitely situations that you want a good bit of depth of field in wedding photography under low light conditions. For example you might want the bride and groom taking their vows as well as the expressions of family and friends who are giving up the bride and other situations as well. The very fastest lenses will focus faster and can be used to get a better bokeh if you want that however there are definitely situations where you want to be shooting that 85mm f/1.4 lens at f/5.6 in dim light. When you take an image shot on a D4s at ISO 25,600 lit by candles only and then use Photoshop to fix the noise the amount of loss of sharpness in real world observation is trivial compared to the depth of field one might gain by shooting at f/5.6 rather than f/1.4. When I shoot my Carl Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 at wide open its really difficult outside of my studio to get the focus precisely where I want it if that object is moving. Stopping down to f/4 helps a lot. I shot the big rodeo last July in Cheyenne, Wyoming with my Sony 300mm f/2.8. In rodeo you never know where the subject will be and at wide open using the center zone for autofocus I was sometimes having a focus plane which wasn't where I wanted it. So I ended up using mostly f/5.6 and f/8.0 at about 1/1500th (daylight). If I am shooting a stationary subject like a bird in a tree then by all means I shoot wide open for the bokeh. Lastly I think it worth noting that in all of the above situations: wildlife, sports, wedding, street photography, live performances, portraits etc one rarely if ever enlarges images to 24x36 inches as can be done with a Nikon D800. For large images such as landscapes I would definitely favor the D800.

arlissd

I have the D800 also, did not have the coins to buy the D4S, but did buy a used D3S. The D3S will fit until I can gather the coins for the D4S. I at not missing any images because of the focus issues, frame rate, and buffer size with the D3S.

lukan Loc: Chicago, IL

Then continue using a very good and capable camera, the D3S, and enjoy it!

amehta Loc: Boston

The D3S is so good that a used one at KEH is still about 80% of the price of a new one. That is amazing for a four+ year old camera with two successors!