Nikon D800 - A hands on test!

Thanks to the guys at PC Magazine ,I got my hands on a Nikon D800. PC Magazine has tied up with Nikon to promote a new campaign titled “Hands on with the Nikon D800″. As a part of this campaign, they contacted me to try out the camera and give them my take on it. I didn't pause for even a second to say "hell yeah!" when they called!

I couldn't wait to see what the 36MP sensor on this camera could do. Unsurprisingly the resolution completely blew me away. I had never seen anything like it. The detail was absolutely stunning.

100% crop of the first image in the post.

One of the first things I noticed, after i popped my eyes back into their sockets, was the Auto Focus. The AF worked really well on my current camera, the D700, Nikon has improved it tremendously in the D800. Focus locked on quickly and accurately and I had no issues running the camera with the Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 AF-S G ED or the older Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 AF-D.

The other thing that I was eager to experiment with was high ISO. Much has been said about the D800's low light and high ISO performance; I wanted to see for myself - and you should too. Below are a bunch of 100% crops straight out of the camera. (I just realised that I only tested the camera upto ISO 1600 and for some strange reason, not beyond)

ISO 640 Full frame

ISO 640 - 100% crop

ISO 800

ISO 800 - 100% crop

ISO 1600

ISO 1600 - 100% crop

My verdict... the high ISO performance is superb! Plenty of detail and decent colour even at 1600.

I was overall, very impressed with the camera. Its ergonomics and control layout is familiar and intuitive. I love that they have made the live view button very accessible and easy to use.

PC Magazine made a few videos of me blabbering on about this camera. Have a look!








Thanks to Gulf Photo Plus for letting me use their studio. Hit up GPP if you are interested in photography workshops at all levels.. they also have a nifty equipment store and a really cool space in Al Quoz, Dubai.



Now Mr. Nikon.. please sell me one of these beauts!! PLEASE!