Nikon D810 for Wildlife in 2023
I recently acquired a D810 from a good friend. What a beautiful camera. I also was perusing the used section of my local pro camera store and found a mint Nikon battery grip for it for the princely sum of $32. That grip retails for $429. Both the camera and the grip are in beautiful condition. Camera has 55K clicks. The D810 came out in 2014 and the sensor still ranks #13 of FF cameras with DXO Mark. Score of 97- top is 100 for full frame.
I didn't get this camera necessarily for bird photography, but I am putting it thru it's paces.
From the Nikon site.
The D810 performs with astounding speed and precision. Capture 5 fps at full resolution and in 5:4 crop mode, 6 fps in 1:2 crop mode and 7 fps in DX-crop mode*. *When using optional MB-D12 battery pack (for up to 100 jpeg shots)
In FX (Nikon speak for full frame) mode the camera is 36 mp. In DX mode it's about 15 mp. Still respectable. My D7000 was 16 and I thought the resolution was good.
I set the camera up so that if I hold down the fn button, I can toggle image area modes with the control dials where my thumb is. what is totally sweet is that I also set it up so that the camera grays out the viewfinder where the crop is occurring.
I went out today- crummy and gray out. Shot strictly in DX mode. My initial findings is that images look pretty respectable, better than I thought SOOC. No noise reduction applied no sharpening.
These are wide open (5.6) on the 200-500 @ 500 (ish)
they look good to me with pretty much no post.
Uploaded files:
AI Noise reduction (DXO). original ISO 2800. Looks great to me.
Uploaded files:
Example in FX mode ISO 3200 500mm wide open. Gray overcast. Blah. I am very close. Shot in front of my house. New local pest control. That's not a toothpick.
Almost SOOC original has LR global sharpening. Them DXO with a few more edits.
Uploaded files:
Impressive camera! I'm reading about it now. I see it has face detection in the OVF...in 2016. And here I thought that was some revolutionary feature by Pentax in the K-3iii! lol, Shows how much I know!
Quote from JBP on November 26, 2023, 2:56 amImpressive camera! I'm reading about it now. I see it has face detection in the OVF...in 2016. And here I thought that was some revolutionary feature by Pentax in the K-3iii! lol, Shows how much I know!
To be honest I didn't know that. I never had much luck with anything but using a single AF point in AF-C and back button AF.
In August I got a chance to play around with the new Z9. I was sitting on my friends sunroom. There was a sphere shaped flower planter- the flowers were in the shape of a really big basketball. A hummingbird started hovering really fast around the planter. I picked up my friends Z9 with 100-400 and it instantly grabbed the hummingbird and followed it. It was crazy. considering I was shooting thru a glass window. I squeezed the shutter and 3 seconds is like 60 shots. Yeah most would not be good photos but the in focus rate was impressive.
It will be interesting to test the 810 side by side in crop mode vs the D7200. I would think at lower ISO the D7200 will walk all over it. I maybe wrong. I know there are people that poo-poo on pixel peeping, but I am sorry if you are trying to get tack sharp images of wildlife where generally you have to crop a lot- pixels count.
I didn't really get this camera with the intent of shooting wildlife with it, but looks as if it may work. I really want a D500, for my wildlife. apparently so does everyone else. A decent copy is still going over a grand and most out there have huge shutter counts.
That looks like a great purchase.
Myself I was looking for a D500,and to be honest I have come to think that is better to go for a D4 or D5 than for a D500 as they are expensive.
Another model I don't mind and over here is quite cheap is the D750, but that one doesn't have that AF speed supposedly.
Yet I keep using my K3-III and it looks like I will continue doing so xD
Quote from red5isalive on November 26, 2023, 7:50 pmThat looks like a great purchase.
Myself I was looking for a D500,and to be honest I have come to think that is better to go for a D4 or D5 than for a D500 as they are expensive.
Another model I don't mind and over here is quite cheap is the D750, but that one doesn't have that AF speed supposedly.Yet I keep using my K3-III and it looks like I will continue doing so xD
If you could score a D5 for the same price as a D500 and you don't need the reach of a crop sensor than yeah that would be a good move. I believe that D5 goes for significantly more. I have a D4. I am not using it for wildlife because at 16mp FX there is little room to crop. Where I see it shine is for portraits. Skin tones are really nice.
The D4 also looks like a $6000 camera compared to every other I've seen. It's in another league.
Quote from KankRat on November 27, 2023, 6:54 pmQuote from red5isalive on November 26, 2023, 7:50 pmThat looks like a great purchase.
Myself I was looking for a D500,and to be honest I have come to think that is better to go for a D4 or D5 than for a D500 as they are expensive.
Another model I don't mind and over here is quite cheap is the D750, but that one doesn't have that AF speed supposedly.Yet I keep using my K3-III and it looks like I will continue doing so xD
If you could score a D5 for the same price as a D500 and you don't need the reach of a crop sensor than yeah that would be a good move. I believe that D5 goes for significantly more. I have a D4. I am not using it for wildlife because at 16mp FX there is little room to crop. Where I see it shine is for portraits. Skin tones are really nice.
The D4 also looks like a $6000 camera compared to every other I've seen. It's in another league.
I have been considering so many options lately....
And from the D500 I just saw better prices on D4's or even some D5 a bit pricier but not that much compared to what it does offer.
Yet I have bought a second K3-III so I believe the Nikon idea is out of reach for now.
Quote from red5isalive on November 28, 2023, 5:51 pmQuote from KankRat on November 27, 2023, 6:54 pmQuote from red5isalive on November 26, 2023, 7:50 pmThat looks like a great purchase.
Myself I was looking for a D500,and to be honest I have come to think that is better to go for a D4 or D5 than for a D500 as they are expensive.
Another model I don't mind and over here is quite cheap is the D750, but that one doesn't have that AF speed supposedly.Yet I keep using my K3-III and it looks like I will continue doing so xD
If you could score a D5 for the same price as a D500 and you don't need the reach of a crop sensor than yeah that would be a good move. I believe that D5 goes for significantly more. I have a D4. I am not using it for wildlife because at 16mp FX there is little room to crop. Where I see it shine is for portraits. Skin tones are really nice.
The D4 also looks like a $6000 camera compared to every other I've seen. It's in another league.
I have been considering so many options lately....
And from the D500 I just saw better prices on D4's or even some D5 a bit pricier but not that much compared to what it does offer.
Yet I have bought a second K3-III so I believe the Nikon idea is out of reach for now.
I can't see any good reason for you to switch especially if you have Pentax glass.
Quote from KankRat on November 28, 2023, 6:35 pmQuote from red5isalive on November 28, 2023, 5:51 pmQuote from KankRat on November 27, 2023, 6:54 pmQuote from red5isalive on November 26, 2023, 7:50 pmThat looks like a great purchase.
Myself I was looking for a D500,and to be honest I have come to think that is better to go for a D4 or D5 than for a D500 as they are expensive.
Another model I don't mind and over here is quite cheap is the D750, but that one doesn't have that AF speed supposedly.Yet I keep using my K3-III and it looks like I will continue doing so xD
If you could score a D5 for the same price as a D500 and you don't need the reach of a crop sensor than yeah that would be a good move. I believe that D5 goes for significantly more. I have a D4. I am not using it for wildlife because at 16mp FX there is little room to crop. Where I see it shine is for portraits. Skin tones are really nice.
The D4 also looks like a $6000 camera compared to every other I've seen. It's in another league.
I have been considering so many options lately....
And from the D500 I just saw better prices on D4's or even some D5 a bit pricier but not that much compared to what it does offer.
Yet I have bought a second K3-III so I believe the Nikon idea is out of reach for now.
I can't see any good reason for you to switch especially if you have Pentax glass.
To be honest the AF improvement and Buffer life is critical and I'd switch only for those two reasons.
Yet there are more options now than before, or at least in my head.
But the K3-III was such a good deal, I could not pass on it.
