If you get a good solid ball head you can get a gimbal attachment later that can attach to the ball head. That way you don't have to ever replace the head. Just add the gimbal attachment when you want and take it off when you are using shorter lenses.

You are reading that wrong. Try looking it up. I easily find a bunch of places it says only in DX mode including Nikons own site. So you are claiming Nikon is wrong about their own product?

"Faster continuous shooting captures action at approx. 5 fps in FX format at full resolution, and up to approx. 7 fps in DX format* at approx. 15.4 megapixels (recording pixels), with more secure subject capturing thanks to the new group-area AF mode
* When used together with batteries or a power supply other than EN-EL15."

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d810/

"But wait — the D810 runs at 7 FPS in DX mode with the right grip and batteries, "

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d810.htm

The reviews for the grip have a bunch of negatives for the 810 and the ONLY place I can find anything at all about it raising the fps is the Q&A where it has this.

" will this allow me to shoot 7fps in dx mode withe the 810?BEST ANSWER: The maximum frame rate with a battery grip in dx mode on the Nikon D810 is 6 frames per second, which is achieved with the Vello BG-N7."

Again DX mode only and this says only 6fps.

I'm thinking you are the one that needs to ask for help from hospice care. If you have a D810 it's sad you know so little about your camera.

With the $300 MB-D12 and ONLY in DX mode. That link says nothing about the $99 generic battery grip you mentioned.

Are you certain that generic battery grip will increase the speed? Not all do. I didn't see anything in the description or specs that said it increases the fps. Also the battery grip only increases the speed to 7 fps in DX mode. The D750 does 6.5 fps in full frame mode.

If you include the battery pack then you are paying close to double for the D810 to get .5 fps more, 1 stop faster speed and 1 stop lower ISO. The AF on the D750 is better and it does better at higher ISO. If the price were closer then I would definitely agree that the D810 is the better option but I find it hard to justify an additional $1300 for .5 fps, 1 stop faster speed and 1 stop lower ISO.

I just went through this whole decision process. Everyone and their dog seems to recommend the D810. But when you look at them there are a few minor differences so it ends up being which of those minor differences you prefer. The D810 has higher resolution images and a nice button layout. But that higher resolution also comes at a price of much larger files. For me I chose the D750 because I wanted the ability to do higher ISO and it has a better auto focus system. Otherwise there just isn't much different between the two.

It must be really fun doing this when shooting a long exposure :roll:

Thank you for the explanation. I was just wondering why the D810 over the D750 and your explanation does make a lot of sense. I do think there is a good possibility that next years bonus will go to replacing the D7200 with the D500 unless there is a lens or something I really need worse.

I guess if I look at it that way and consider that if I need WIFI that my D7200 can do that then maybe the D810 might work for me. Ugh so many tough decisions.

I hadn't considered that. It's a good idea that I might look into doing. I'm not sure I would really see much difference until I do things like shoot higher ISO where the full frame is almost certainly going to excel.

Why do you recommend the D810 over the D750? When comparing them this is what I've found:
- D750 has almost identical controls to my D7200 so no issues when switching between them.
- D750 is almost the same as the D810 in every aspect except MP (24 vs 36), shutter speed (1/4000 vs 1/8000) and the anti-alias filter. My D7200 can do 1/8000 shutter speed if I need that fast and do I really need 36 MP? Probably not.
- D750 has built-in WIFI, D810 doesn't. D750 has better auto focus. D750 is better on higher ISO's.
- D810 is sharper due to the lack of anti-alias filter but not significantly.
- D750 is $1000 cheaper.

So I'm having difficulty seeing why I would get the D810. I'm curious as to why you recommend it over the D750.

I'll definitely keep the D7200 as my second body.

I think that is part of my problem as well. I'm afraid if I never get a full frame body that I'll always wonder if I could do better with a full frame body. I don't want to make that decision after I've invested a ton of money in DX lenses. I would rather decide it now and invest in the lenses just once. I already have a FF telephoto and macro lens. So if I can get a FF wide angle and general shooting lens I would be covered and could use both the FX and DX bodies. It seems it would give me more options without buying a double set of lenses.

After looking more at that the D750 does look like it might be the better option for me to move to full frame. The places it lacks to the D810 like shutter speed and flash sync speed my D7200 can handle. I doubt I really need 36 MP.

I don't quite understand this. The D800 is a full frame sensor but the Sigma 12-24mm lens is an APS-C lens. Why put that lens on a full frame body?

I actually took them at way too high of a shutter speed. I think I set my shutter speed high thinking they were going to fly or I wasn't paying attention to what my shutter speed was or something. I look at them now and think "why did I set the shutter speed that high?" so I don't know what I was thinking at the time. But the fact that a 1600 ISO picture came out so grainy and terrible looking concerned me that I'm pretty much limited to 800 and below on ISO speed.

I think the discussion on changing from the 18-200 wasn't so much to fix the grainy problem but to just get a better lens for general shooting. I use the 18-200 right now for general purpose shooting and for wide angle as that is all I have for wide shots. Someone suggested the 24-120 for a much better quality lens for general shooting.

I do have a good tripod and ball head. It isn't a top of the line Gitzo but it is a good tripod. The panorama idea is a really good one if I decide to stick solely with the APS-C body.