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For years I have been using the Nikon DX series cameras and have acquired many lens for them, my last purchase was a D7100, 24 Mega pixel. Everyone said my photos were outstanding from Air Shows, Car Races, Scenery, and living History reenactments. I, my self thought so too, but something just was not at that 100% level for me. I saw this lightly used excellent condition 36 mega pixel D800 full frame (FX), and checked the reviews as it is 5 years old in the technology world. The only real difference from the newer D800E and D810 I could find was they were enhanced for better HD video, which was claimed to lower the still picture quality. I have a Canon Vixia HFG30 HD with view finder I dedicate for video, so I was not concerned about the video capability of the D800. I had a few older Nikon Nikor film lenses (full frame-"FX") from the 80's with auto focus and auto aperture capable. That is what me made go for the D800 as my first FX camera. From the start with a 35 year old 35 to 120 zoom lens I could see a 3 fold difference in quality just in the automatic setting for snap shoot taking. I then tested it in its DX mode, which shots at 24 mega pixel like my D7100 against my D7100 using the same lens on both without moving my tripod, of 100 out of 100 shots, the D800 out preformed the D7100 by at least 50%. The biggest difference in the 2 Cameras is the D800 requires more thought into what setting to use (that is why I said it is not easy to use), like in a film camera, it is a learning curve I am willing to put up with.... Is a full frame FX camera worth the cost when buying at new prices and just starting off? If your main interest is very good family photos and all around vacation photos, I would say stay with the cheaper DX series, as your prints will be out standing and save your dollars for a few lens and maybe a better printer (do not use black market inks, the will fail you and your printer) I do sell some of my photos (for pennies it seems) so the upgrade was right for me. I was lucky to find a great trustworthy seller, and saved more than 50% off the going price of "New left over D800's"Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I love this camera. It takes fantastic pics with high resolution. This camera will do anything you need it to do and more. In my opinion, you do need some knowledge of photography to unlock all the capabilities. It is a professional level camera that is built to last. It is fairly heavy because of that. It is much heavier than the d5500 or d7200. But it is worth it. The only thing I wish it had was wifi capabilities, but a sd card reader with all the card sizes works perfectly and doesn't reduce the image size. It does also come with a USB cord for easy downloads that way too. It is definitely one of the best cameras out there for the price...especially now that the 810 is out.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Absolutely great camera, solid, heavy, loaded with features, 36 very high quality megapixels. But a steep learning curve for a guy that used to shoot film, but, boy oh! boy is it ever so nice to discover all those treasures. If you want a status symbol buy a Leica, if you want to get serious about shooting great pictures, these Nikons are hard to beat.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
D800 is still a great value even as a pre-owned model. Intended for profetional photograpers, this is not a point and shoot camera. First off image quality both on stil photos and video. Over 20 buttons to control and adjuts image quality, ISO, and white blance. Camrea menus are organized very well, with a boat load of options to customize the camera to any shooting style. A vast option of lences available, this is an F mount type camera. Works amazing with an AF-S DX 18 to 200mm lens Video recording takes a little getting use to, but I'ved discovered that the trick to a happy medium between switching to photo mode vs video mode is proper white balance setting using an Expodisc, and controling ISO sensitivity, control these two and all other fucntions completment fine tuning the camera for amazing images. The bad, none. But I will say: It's a big heavy camera, when paired with a battery pack and zoom lens. Steep learning curve for the average photograper, as mentioned before this is intended for the pro user.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
As a film photographer for 30 years, I had been waiting for a Nikon digital studio camera that could replace my 6x6 square format film gear that I typically use with my studio strobes. In the past, I had been using the 12MP Nikon D300 for studio work and reached its limits of resolution where it reaches an acceptable level of detail only at ISO 100. Also, the 36MP EXPEED3 FX sensor would allow me much improved low light performance lacking in my D300 above ISO 1600. I also wanted to occasionally use my Nikkor lenses for natural light video capture without having to purchase a dedicated video camera and lenses. Lastly, I have been looking for a FX camera so that my AF-D and manual AIS prime lenses can be used at their natural focal lengths, rather than cropped to 1.5x. Most other features of the camera are nice-to-haves, duplicating or improving upon the features of the D300, but not critical for what I plan to use the D800 for. Since I shoot manual and incident meter my strobes, I have not tested the AE features nor the metering modes. I also have not tested the video functions except to see that they work easily enough in Live View mode. Generally, the D800 feels very similar to the D300 menu systems and grip. I have always thought that the complexity of the menu system is unnecessary, except to confuse neophytes and the D800 is no better than the D700 or D300 in that sense. The video features seem to be nicely integrated and Live View modes simplified, compared with the D300, which I have long given up trying to use. Like a medium format film body, the extremely high resolution combined with shallow depth of field makes for amazing clarity in the large RAW files but also requires careful focus control, and requires some taming of the automated features to help slow it down. For example in single-shot mode necessary for strobe work, I find that the shutter trips a second or third image very easily. I also find that the spot focus mode only allows me to use the sweet spot of the viewfinder and lenses for focus determination and requires that I check focus and reposition frequently. In this case, the D300's 51 AF points are better laid out across the entire viewfinder than the D800, where they are all clustered in the center of the frame. When reviewing some test images in Adobe Lightroom, I was able to zoom into 3:1 before I started to see digitization of the image details without sharpening and noise, making it more than adequate for studio work. However, it is clear that at this magnification that chromatic aberration and flare are more obvious, for example, when trees are backlit by sky.Read full review
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