Planning to upgrade to a d800 soonish from a d7000! finally man! any tips on how to check if i'm getting a fresh model in terms of serial number wise? and has the left focus issue been relatively solved yet? cheers!
upgrading to a d800
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Fresh model? - Go to the shop , buy the camera, take your first shot, check online the shutter count by uploading the file (google around)
Left focus issue ? - Kindly ask the shop to pop open a Nikkor 24mm F/1.4 , tripod mounted, check centre focus is 100% sharp and focus aligned, find a flat surface , test left focus
basically its not easy to find out the left focus issue from shop testing..
D800 takes some computing muscle, you will need
An i7 processor
SSD Hard Disc helps a lot
16GB of ram helps too
all the best!!
Fresh or not fresh, if there is a problem update the firmware. If update firmware still have problem, send it into Nikon and it will be fixed.
D800 is still a fresh model. Serial number wise you can try checking with Nikon Service Centre on the production batch date. But they won't tell you. Left focus issue depends on your luck.
What i can say is that i have owned a D800 since april of 2012 and the camera went with me to -30 degrees conditions over 12 days, sometimes under wind and snow earlier this year and it never had a problem. So, if it was manufactured earlier and sitting on a shelf till you got it would not make a difference.
The left focus issue is somewhat random and for my friends and I who use D800, it did not become a problem for us. If it does, go to NSC to have it fixed because there was not an official recognition that a certain serial number batch have problems so no one knows for sure.
The left focus issue is somewhat random and for my friends and I who use D800, it did not become a problem for us. If it does, go to NSC to have it fixed because there was not an official recognition that a certain serial number batch have problems so no one knows for sure.
Disagree... even my old AMD athlon with 8gb ram and normal hdd crunches through d800 raw files just fine.
Opening a D800 RAW file in 5s vs opening a raw file in 30s are two different comparisons here when we talk SSD vs HDD.
It is not so simple. Things like focus hunting cannot be fixed. I thought the d800 focusing is less sure than d700. Not just me, other people also report same thing
WOW where were you?! Sounds fun man. Sweet, i'll be going to peru and buenos aires end of the month so it will go to +35 and sometimes under rain and more rain... hahahas.
ah right, so i'll guess i'll mount it up at home and do my checks on a couple of test charts..
again, thanks guys! i'll update you guys on how is coming along.
And hunting for a specific batch of D800 will eliminate the risk of focus hunting on a D800?
Anyway, the few D800 I tried focuses just fine... and seems on par or better than the D700...
agreed..! i might even splurge a little and go for the E, since my photos are mainly landscape-centric anws..
There are too many variables in play. I carry 2 lens 35mm f1.4 and 70-200mm f2.8 and 2 bodies D700 and D800. I use my 35mm far more often so I really wanted to mount the 35mm on the D800 such that most of my shots will be done with the D800.
After 2 trips and many shots later, my conclusion is it is just not worth it. I am losing too many shots due to AF error and the D800 resolution adv is basically gone due to slight misfocus.
For me, it all depends on the lens I am using. The 70-200mm f2.8 focus perfectly on the D800 and I see a big improvement in the IQ.
If I am using the 35mm f1.4, frankly I don't see much of an improvement using the D800 vs D700...
This is just my experience for my 2 lens and 2 bodies... your mileage may differ..
For the ones I used, the different copies of D800 have been able to nail focus faster than any of the two D700 bodies I own without hesitation, and in darker environment where D700 is known to struggle, with lenses ranging from Sigma 24/1.18, Nikon 24-70, Sigma 50, Sigma 85, 16-35VR to the 70-200VR2.
And I am not talking IQ here. I am just saying AF acquisition.
Well, it might be true for your case and your copy of D800. i think you need to send in your D800 to get it looked at, because it is not normal. If after many trips to NSC, you are not able to resolve this issue, all I can say is, I feel sorry for your predicament. You need to persevere and get it fixed. Your problem is definitely not common.
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Check if AF fine tune works
When I first got my D800, I had to tune my 24mm f/1.4G to -7 to nail the focus and my 14-24mm f/2.8 to -12 and after that, no focus problems. I do it at the largest aperture.
When I used both lens on a D4, no AF fine tune is required.
Sent my D800 for servicing for sensor cleaning after my Arctic trip and no longer had to AF fine tune.
When I first got my D800, I had to tune my 24mm f/1.4G to -7 to nail the focus and my 14-24mm f/2.8 to -12 and after that, no focus problems. I do it at the largest aperture.
When I used both lens on a D4, no AF fine tune is required.
Sent my D800 for servicing for sensor cleaning after my Arctic trip and no longer had to AF fine tune.
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I did sent it to NSC. The tech says my D800 is normal. I think the AF issue is quite complicated and it really depends on the lens.
During AF, your lens is wide open so I think how good your lens optically (wide open) affects your AF. The 35mm f1.4 has quite a lot of CA at f1.4 so maybe that is affecting my AF acquisition. The 70-200mm VR2 nails the AF almost EVERY SINGLE time on my D800 and can out-resolves the 36MP sensor...
Also my subject is rarely static and subject tracking comes into play. There is just too many complexities for me to even tell NSC where the problem is....
At the end of the day, what I have ended up is D800 on the 70-200mm and D700 on the 35mm. Not ideal but a workaround.
My old Sigma 24/1.8 has tons to CA as well, and it is not a lens with the best optics. and it worked fine on the D800.
If you feel the problem with is the optics of the Nikon 35/1.4, maybe it is time to look at the Sigma 35.
Good that you have a workaround. But do remember you are compromising without finding out the root cause. And to correlate your own experience on a single copy of the D800 with a lens you admit to be not the best optically, to how all D800 behaves, is very very sweeping and assuming way way too much.
Maybe you need to read up on this article: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/09/autofocus-reality-part-4-nikon-full-frame
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