Should I buy the D800

[banyantree]

I have a D300 and love it however would love to move to a full frame camera. The D800 seems ideal however the large pixel count is a little worrying for me. All my shots are taken hand held as I dont even own a tripod! I dont really need the 36MP but I really want to go full frame. The lenses I own are pretty good and I'm sure they would give me as much pleasure on a D800 body. (AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8G , AF-S 12-24mm f/4G, AF 50mm f/1.8D and a AF-S 85mm f/1,4G) I would probably look at buying the AF 24mm/f1.4G or the AF 50mm f/1.4D if I opt for the D800. I use the 50mm & 85mm the most.
Can I ask anyone else who has upgraded from D90 or D300 or D700 was it worth it?
Im happy with the D300 and could wait for another year if Nikon was to release a D400 with full frame?
Will I notice a huge difference between the D300 and D800?

Thanks!

 

[daredevil123]

I have a D300 and love it however would love to move to a full frame camera. The D800 seems ideal however the large pixel count is a little worrying for me. All my shots are taken hand held as I dont even own a tripod! I dont really need the 36MP but I really want to go full frame. The lenses I own are pretty good and I'm sure they would give me as much pleasure on a D800 body. (AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8G , AF-S 12-24mm f/4G, AF 50mm f/1.8D and a AF-S 85mm f/1,4G) I would probably look at buying the AF 24mm/f1.4G or the AF 50mm f/1.4D if I opt for the D800. I use the 50mm & 85mm the most.
Can I ask anyone else who has upgraded from D90 or D300 or D700 was it worth it?
Im happy with the D300 and could wait for another year if Nikon was to release a D400 with full frame?
Will I notice a huge difference between the D300 and D800?

Thanks!

Two of your lenses will not work on Full frame camera on full frame mode.. (17-55 and 12-24). You are only left with the 50/1.8D and 85/1.4G.

If you have to ask, then you have no need for 36MP. And if FF is all you want, a D700 will do just fine.

And there is no word on the D400... but rumors on a cheaper FX cam called D600 is just around the corner.

If you do go D800, you need to know that the insane MP count will demand the best in terms of lenses. Your 50/1.8D may not cut it anymore... the 50/1.8G is actually much better.

 

[rain5533]

You can keep the DX lenses, even used on crop mode on the Image output still have 16MP an getting better results equivalent on D7000.

When using on DX lens has no big issue

 

[Zenten]

Have you handled a D7000 with similar pixel density as a D800 before? For 3x the price of a D7000, are you expecting the results and image quality to be 3 times better? Is money a concern for this upgrade?

Answer these questions correctly .... and truthfully ........ and you are ready for a D800 ..............

 

[banyantree]

Not great news. Will probably stick with my D300 for a while longer. No complaints there.
If I was to upgrade then I would invest in the 50mm f/1.4 AF-S which i assume is better than the f/1.8. Either that or the 24mm f/1.4G.
Has anyone else upgraded from D300 to the D800?
If I use my DX lenses on the FX camera i wont be taking full advantage of the full frame which is why i want to upgrade anyway. Surely it would be better selling the lenses and buying replacement?

 

[lenslust]

Not great news. Will probably stick with my D300 for a while longer. No complaints there.
If I was to upgrade then I would invest in the 50mm f/1.4 AF-S which i assume is better than the f/1.8. Either that or the 24mm f/1.4G.
Has anyone else upgraded from D300 to the D800?
If I use my DX lenses on the FX camera i wont be taking full advantage of the full frame which is why i want to upgrade anyway. Surely it would be better selling the lenses and buying replacement?

As most have mentioned, I ran through your list and saw the two DX lenses. It's usable, but you won't use the entire frame on the FX.

To replace them, you're tentatively, looking at 6K - about 3 for each corresponding lengths, 24-70 & 14-24.


Also, why would 50 f/1.4 AF-S be considered an upgrade from 50 f/1.8? I'm puzzled. Is it because it's a f/1.4 and yet costs <$1K? You're pretty much better sticking off with the 50 f/1.8 AF-D since D800 supports D lenses with AF.

I upgraded from DX to FX but I made sure my lenses were all FX along the DX way. Except for my 10.5FE.

 

[rain5533]

Just refer here :

http://www.photomalaysia.com/forums...00-vs-D7000-ISO-Reviews-and-your-right-choice

Thanks

 

[Cowseye]

Not great news. Will probably stick with my D300 for a while longer. No complaints there.
If I was to upgrade then I would invest in the 50mm f/1.4 AF-S which i assume is better than the f/1.8. Either that or the 24mm f/1.4G.
Has anyone else upgraded from D300 to the D800?
If I use my DX lenses on the FX camera i wont be taking full advantage of the full frame which is why i want to upgrade anyway. Surely it would be better selling the lenses and buying replacement?

I did. But to both D700 and D800 at the same time. To be honest, I tend to use both FX and DX mode in my D800 and I switched them often for different shots. But the only DX lens I'm using is the Tokina 11-16mm at 16mm. I would suggest you to trade away ur 17-55mm to either the upcoming 24-70 mm from tamron or top up a few more hundred for Nikon's 24-70mm. And the 24mm F/1.4 is a lens that u would "see more wonder" on a FX body than on a DX ^^"

 

[daredevil123]

Not great news. Will probably stick with my D300 for a while longer. No complaints there.
If I was to upgrade then I would invest in the 50mm f/1.4 AF-S which i assume is better than the f/1.8. Either that or the 24mm f/1.4G.
Has anyone else upgraded from D300 to the D800?
If I use my DX lenses on the FX camera i wont be taking full advantage of the full frame which is why i want to upgrade anyway. Surely it would be better selling the lenses and buying replacement?

Actually the 50/1.8G is comparable to the 50/1.4G in almost every aspect, except the max aperture of course... and the 85/1.8G actually performs better than the 85/1.4G in many aspects... except for the smaller max aperture of course.

 

[banyantree]

Thanks for all the advice. Never handled a D7000. The D300 is my first and only camera. Still happy with it so will stick with it.
Money is not an issue to upgrade and would like (at some point) to upgrade to full frame camera.

 

[Cowseye]

Actually the 50/1.8G is comparable to the 50/1.4G in almost every aspect, except the max aperture of course... and the 85/1.8G actually performs better than the 85/1.4G in many aspects... except for the smaller max aperture of course.

Especially the pocket impact. Hahah..
I also agree the 85mm F/1.8 is sharper at widest aperture.

 

[banyantree]

Especially the pocket impact. Hahah..
I also agree the 85mm F/1.8 is sharper at widest aperture.

Yes I agree, however the f1.4G gives much better bokeh.

 

[rain5533]

Yes I agree, however the f1.4G gives much better bokeh.

Money not a problem, you can try on 200mm f/2G VR2.

And switch to DX mode. The feeling like took on sports soccer!

 

[NikF601]

If not in hurry, just wait for D600 and consider later. Keep shooting with your D300.

 

[lenslust]

Actually the 50/1.8G is comparable to the 50/1.4G in almost every aspect, except the max aperture of course... and the 85/1.8G actually performs better than the 85/1.4G in many aspects... except for the smaller max aperture of course.

The only lens I don't own that's a Nikkor, the 85 CZ1,4. Lovely.

 

[zcw123]

why not wait till sep then decide, see whether d600 is out or not.

 

[GReddyZC76]

Yes same sentimentals. Wait for d600. And hopefuly it will materialise. And if price good, can get it.

 

[Kay Burn Lim]

I had the D300... I could not believe the difference the D7000 made... THe jump to the D800E has been actually less impressive as I expected the better performance from FX.

My suggestion is you try the D7000 and add a vertical grip to give the more compact camera a better feel (closer to the heftier D300). You don't need a D800 yet from what you are saying now. THe cost to upgrade to D7k is barely that of a lens and I can't understand why you wouldn't try this route first. You may then use your entire lens arsenal and upgrade/prepare for FX at your own pace.... I loved the D7000 so much I bought a 2nd body and converted it for IR.

 

[K S Kong]

I have a D300 and love it however would love to move to a full frame camera. The D800 seems ideal however the large pixel count is a little worrying for me. All my shots are taken hand held as I dont even own a tripod! I dont really need the 36MP but I really want to go full frame. The lenses I own are pretty good and I'm sure they would give me as much pleasure on a D800 body. (AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8G , AF-S 12-24mm f/4G, AF 50mm f/1.8D and a AF-S 85mm f/1,4G) I would probably look at buying the AF 24mm/f1.4G or the AF 50mm f/1.4D if I opt for the D800. I use the 50mm & 85mm the most.
Can I ask anyone else who has upgraded from D90 or D300 or D700 was it worth it?
Im happy with the D300 and could wait for another year if Nikon was to release a D400 with full frame?
Will I notice a huge difference between the D300 and D800?

Thanks!

If you feel happy about the D300. Simply save the money For future use.

 

[nulbonklr]

But I think also depends what are you shooting, do you really need to shoot low light or require high megapixel pic file size. If you need, just go ahead and get it.