Your D800 is a wonderful camera. I don't think the your focus / sharp image problem is connected with the mirror for the photos your talking about. I have not had that kind of problem on my D800. The auto focus system on the D800 is very advanced with the choice of 51 focus points down to just one, and other AF choices and release configurations. The book "Mastering the Nikon D800" by Darrel Young, has 26 pages in the AF chapter alone. It may be how your custom settings (a1 and a2) are configured and your other settings. Without knowing more about how you have set up your D800 that is my best guess as to the problem your having.
You might want to ask that question at Nikonians.org, there is a forum on the D800 and many of the people there have had their D800 since April. http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=430

The D800 'Digitutor' may also be helpful with AF settings.
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d800/index.html

I hope that this helps,

Well Wishes,
Ken

The D800 in DX mode will give you all the quality those lenses have to offer. DX lenses just give you a smaller part of the D800 sensor.

I agree with the Nikon D3100 suggestions. It comes with an 18-55 lens which is optically very very good. It is light, small and easy for some one with small hands to handle. It is also made for introducing a novice to DSLR photography. Its a camera she can grow with, and with a new camera you get a warranty.

My wife got a D3100 last Jan. and I've been very impressed with that camera. Now that the D3200 is out I've seen the D3100 for under $500. new (Amazon).

Nikons "Digitutor" gives a good walk through of the camera.

Hope this has been helpful,

http://www.nikonusa.com/en_US/IMG/Assets/Digital-SLR/2010/25472-Nikon-D3100/Video/digitutor/index.html

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm

Hi Gina,

Thank you for your kind words on my photos. I look forward to seeing your D800 photos. My D800 photos are almost three D on my computer with so much depth and texture - but once uploaded they seem to lose some of that quality.

Your 28-80 and 70-300 will work well with the D800. In DX mode the 70-300 becomes a 105-450 (what you had with the D100). I use DX most of the time even with full frame lenses ( I like the "reach" DX gives me (400mm becomes 600mm), unless I need 24mm wide angle or for some reason a full frame image would be better. Take lots of photos and see how your older lenses work out. Your 24-70 is a very nice lens, I've had my eye on that one as a possible upgrade.

If your camera is still in the box I hope that your battery is out of the box and charged up. Be ready for the occasion.

And by all means do shoot RAW (NEF) - your camera can do RAW conversion and the software that came with your D800 has RAW conversion as well as editing capabilities.

Here are some links to the totally awesome resolution of the D800 - tiny detail pulled out of objects way far away in the photograph.

The Amazing resolution of the D800
http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=430&topic_id=14963&mode=full

http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=430&topic_id=14874&mode=full

Well Wishes,
Ken

Hi Gena,

Your dog is very lovely! Sweet photos. And congratulations on your D800 it is truly an amazing camera I have had one since mid July and the quality of the photos I get from it are awesome and continue to amaze me!

This is a link to the Nikon D800 "Digitutor" it gives a very good walk through of the camera.
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d800/index.html

Nikonians also has a forum just on the D800 and a few of those folks have had their D800 since April and have a lot of experience to share on the camera. http://www.nikonians.org/

The D800 is a professional camera and does not have "sports" or what ever settings or an "Auto" mode. It does have "Program" mode but I didn't like how my photos looked with "Program" on my old D100 and haven't used it .

The D800 shoots very clean low noise photos at much higher ISO settings than you can with your D100. I do not recommend using the camera's "noise reduction" that will soften your image.

Auto ISO on the D800 is very interesting. You can set maximum ISO (I have mine at 3200) and min. shutter speed. The D800 can detect the lens being used, and the focal length and set the best ISO for hand held photos. You can use the ISO button and command dial to change from Auto ISO to a previously set ISO ( I like 640 or 800 ISO for shooting flowers in good light). I find that ISO 2000 is a good all around setting but see what works best for you.

I used to shoot strictly manual, but with "Auto ISO" on the D800 I am shooting Aperture Priority (A) most of the time.

The D800 is capable of very good quality fill light with the on camera flash. The Digitutor talks more about that. You can also set the power of the flash if it is "blowing out" your dog's eyes. Your dog photos are very good. I think you can use the same settings as you did on the D100 for photos with the D800 - except you can choose a higher ISO and smaller aperture for greater DOF if you wish.

Lenses: If you have good lenses you'll get good photos. I get very sharp fine detail photos with lenses that I had gotten for my D100, a NIKKOR 24 - 85 3.5 4.5 G (no VR) and a NIKKOR 80-400 4.5 5.6 VR D as well as some DX lenses. I have the Fn button set so I can change the image area (FX, DX, 1.2X, 5.4) with the command wheel (instead of hunting in the menu).

If you need to keep up with a fast moving subject the 3D 51 point full AF is great. The red-bellied wood pecker shot was focused at a distance but the AF point kept following the birds head which was darting in and out while the bird hopped around the feeder (NIKKOR 80-400 VR AF D).

The dragon fly was shot with my old 24-85 G which is not a macro lens but got great detail in this shot. This image was cropped from a larger photo.

I hope that you all enjoy your D800. It is a wonderful camera.

Well Wishes,

Ken

red-bellied woodpecker 1


red-bellied woodpecker croped


dragonfly on agava thorn

Good for you!

A few people at Nikonians.org have gotten their D800s. Mike Hogan has had some excellent photos and videos of shots from his D800. The intense resolution - sharpness and detail are plenty for me. My D800 is still on back order from Adorama. What I am looking forward to with the D800 is an amazing full frame camera and a powerful DX camera in one body.
http://video.nikonians.org/movies/list/

Some nice photos here and I voted.

A celebration of banality and mediocre.

Greetings francesca3

I think its wonderful that your experimenting with shooting RAW and getting to know your camera. Your #2 bear photo is very good!

I only shoot RAW (NEF) and expose to the right (+2 exposure compensation on my old Nikon D100, +.03 on our D3100) and use Adobe Lightroom for RAW conversion and highlight recovery. Exposing to the Right (ETTR) allows one to shoot at higher ISOs (and faster shutter speeds) without noise compared to a "properly" exposed JPEG at that ISO.

You mention NEF so I'm assuming that your shooting a Nikon. Some of the newer Nikons have 'In Camera' RAW to JPEG conversion, our D1300 has very good RAW conversion.

For wildlife - especially birds I recommend the multiple shot setting. I am including a photo of an osprey that was in the view finder for less that a second before it settled in the nest. Also a shot of a house finch that was flitting from twig to twig very rapidly.

I'm just mentioning how I shoot as an option that you may wish to experiment with.

The best photo workshop I ever attended was by John Shaw. http://www.johnshawphoto.com/

I think the best thing I took away from that workshop was to experiment with with all my camera settings. "Pixels are free" he would say, and ask how many of us knew the highest ISO we could shoot our cameras without noise. And practice often. He said that photography is the only craft he knows where the photographers don't practice their craft all the time - unlike artists and musicians.

I think of JPEG - as like getting a package of brownies - not much you can do with them. RAW is like having recipes for brownies and all the ingredients to get creative with.

Pixels are free - experiment with all your camera settings - have fun!

Some good links:

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/photoshop/pdfs/lin...

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_raw.html

This looks like a great photography resource.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-raw-files.shtml

Nikon D3100 ISO 1600, f/8 1/1250 sec


Nikon D3100 ISO 1600, f/10 1/350 sec

All the More reason to expose for RAW when shooting RAW - as I've stated in previous posts.

Different photos have differences in colors, color saturation, light and shadow etc. All that different information in a RAW file makes each file different in size.

If your happy with your JPEG photos great. I was very disappointed with the JPEG images from my old Nikon D100 and when I learned how to expose for RAW it was like getting a new camera.

There is nothing to be afraid of in experimenting with your camera settings. Pixels are free. The best photo advice I ever got was to experiment with my camera. Shoot and shoot and shoot at different settings and get to know my camera. What was the highest ISO I could shoot without noise? On my old D100 I found I could shoot RAW at ISO 1250, +2 exposure compensation without noise. That was a camera made in 2002. JEPGs on that camera started getting noisy over 400 ISO.

Some cameras can do RAW conversion in camera - the Nikon D3100 does a very good job of RAW to JPEG conversion. Lightroom and Photoshop are different tools. I use both but LR is my favorite for RAW conversion and post processing.

Shooting RAW and exposing for RAW will give you the best possible images that your camera can deliver. If your familiar with Photoshop, Lightroom could become very easy for you. There is a lot of help online. Practice with shots that are not important so when it is important you will have confidence.

Above all enjoy your photography. If your happy with what you are doing thats OK.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/photoshop/pdfs/lin...

http://www.digitalphotopro.com/technique/camera-technique/exposing-for-raw

I respectfully disagree with the others who are saying to use the same exposure for RAW as for JPEG.

Most of the digital information in a photo is in the right half of of the exposure (histogram). To get the best possible image from a RAW file set your exposure compensation + X. On my old D100 I shot RAW at +2 to keep the histogram balanced to the right. On our D3100 +.03 keeps the histogram well enough to the right .

Using the 'recovery' slider in your RAW converter brings the exposure back to "normal" so a "properly exposed" RAW file will look a little brighter until the data to the far right has been "recovered".
This link has more info.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml Search exposing for RAW and you'll get more links.

I only shoot RAW - not RAW + JPEG. Lightroom shows thumbnails so I can see which files I want to convert.

Shooting RAW and "exposing to the right" also lets you shoot at a higher ISO since your avoiding the dark side of the file where noise starts creeping in.

1600 ISO 1/350sec. f/10 Nikon D3100 RAW conversion in Adobe Lightroom