According to DXoMark, D800 boasts the best sensor so far, topping all categories:

DxOMark - Sensor performance (http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/Nikon-D800-Review/Sensor-performance)
As a note of caution, that link seems to solely be looking at the D800 from the point of view of stills performance. It would be totally wrong to draw any conclusions from that either way about video performance.

Chiayi Fun,

Would you care to comment how did you shoot that video, what your D800 settings were, was it a simple CS5.5 edit with no other processing, etc?

Thanks Henry

This is the original format file .

You can download the file.

Nikon D800 original format file download. on Vimeo

The video only adjust a little brightness at 01:45. The other part of thevideo just a simple CS5.5 edit .


Sorry for my poor English.

Nikon D800 customers may face UK delays through April (latest update 27th March):

Nikon D800 customers may face UK delays (update) news (http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Nikon_D800_customers_may_face_UK_delays_news_311975.html)


I'm also concerned about the sudden £200 leap in price...and even larger increase with the D4!

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Nikon_D800_and_D4_price_change_not_marketled_update_news_311965.html

I wonder, the price hike was due to a system error, as they claim, or due to unprecedented demand?

There is no real excuse for this 'blunder' by Nikon. UK buyers are already sending shock-waves...and cancelling orders.

Mistake leads to Nikon price increases [update 2] - British Journal of Photography (http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2163476/mistake-leads-nikon-price-increases)

To say that it was a 'computer error' is ridiculous.

As Thom Hogan remarked: "...The net overall price increase just made measures out to a bit over 10%. Hard to figure how you miss by that much and not notice it somewhere in your organization the first week, let along the second, third, fourth, fifth, right up to the 11th week.

But wait, they did it twice. The D800 was also changed in price this week by Nikon UK. So six weeks after its price was announced, we suddenly have a realization on Nikon's part that their numbers are wrong?"

It is early days yet, but video quality straight out of the D800 is better than I expected, and far better than the video performance from its more expensive brother the D4. The D800 seems to have a slight problem with pixelated reds (although at least it has HDMI out option to overcome this). Despite that price increase, the D800 seems to be a match for the Mark III in both stills & video in most quarters. Some aspects of D800 are far better in both stills & video with the D800 far better in detail and sharpness (although this can be improved with Mk 3 in post), but out of the box the Mark III copes much better with moire patterns, and is much cleaner and relative noise-free at high ISO in extreme low light video.

But what about aliasing?

If the D800 line skips, it will win/tie on some shots and lose badly on others.

A few issues are beginning to show with the first batches of the Nikon D800:

Nikon D800: Not Perfect After All | TechnoBuffalo (http://www.technobuffalo.com/news/nikon-d800-not-perfect-after-all/)

I'm not sure yet if Nikon are going to correct the problems on the cameras they have yet to export, or will deliver Firmware updates to those who already have the early Nikon D800 bodies.

It is early days yet, but video quality straight out of the D800 is better than I expected, and far better than the video performance from its more expensive brother the D4. The D800 seems to have a slight problem with pixelated reds (although at least it has HDMI out option to overcome this). Despite that price increase, the D800 seems to be a match for the Mark III in both stills & video in most quarters. Some aspects of D800 are far better in both stills & video with the D800 far better in detail and sharpness (although this can be improved with Mk 3 in post), but out of the box the Mark III copes much better with moire patterns, and is much cleaner and relative noise-free at high ISO in extreme low light video.

Hey Tony,what do you like better in the video qualities by the 800 as to the D4, and how much better is it.

The video out of the D4 is less detailed than the D800, but then again it has slightly less problems with moire patterns. For some reason the D800 is cropping the video frame more than the D4 when using same lenses. I haven't got both together at same time to test this out at the moment, so maybe someone who has can double check this for us and post their findings.

Hey Tony, I originally ordered the 800, then changed my mind and ordered the D4 only because the D4 for stills is more suited for what I shoot. I thought the 800 and D4 would be equal in the video features and now I'm hearing the D4 is not as good as the 800. I still need it for stills, I'm hoping the video is good enough for what I need for I may have to get the 800 down the road as a second body if I'm not satisfied with the video quality of the D4. All these reports are making me nervous. Thanks for your reply, if you find out any other info on either camera, please fill me in. thanks, jerry JLM

Jerry Manco Photography and Video ? Niagara and Southern Ontario (http://imaging.jlmstudio.com/)

Jerry I actually think that the D800 produces slightly better stills than the D4, but the bigger brother's more robust build qualities, tighter seals with no inbuilt flash, faster drive and better battery life may fit your kind of work. The D4 is still no slouch in the video department either, so I'm sure it will fit your requirements without having to fork out for an extra D800 body.

I love some of the work on your website by the way, and that colourful opening image is certainly eye-catching.

Mr. M. Pappas, long time Watchdog hero, has passed along some URLs on the CML of the D800 including a lot of bricks and tiles footage, which deliberately tries to show some of the worst case scenarios of moire and jello cam.
From what I can tell from these, I know I can work with the D800 and turn out some killer images.


D800 RAW Interview "test" on Vimeo

D800 RAW Old lens sharpness test on Vimeo

D800 RAW BRICKS on Vimeo

Disclaimer: Is the D800 perfect? Well, for $3K and clean HDMI out? Just about - yes.

5D2 Plus D800

Nikon D800 & Canon 5D Mark II Moire test on Vimeo


Another of the D800 moire...

Nikon D800 - Of Bricks and Crazy Colored Moire - YouTube

Yeah, the 2nd video is pretty bad, but I wonder if HDMI were used and we could view it on a real monitor what it would look like. That said, I know not to use that place or anything similar as my set.

HDMI isn't likely to improve moire.

It looks to me like the Nikon's smaller grid allows better co-siting of the luma and chroma pixels than the 5D2. The 5D2 doesn't just alias, it does so with the green, red, and blue pixels at different phases. When one color disappears between the pixels of the 5D2, another color nears its peak.

I shot video of a number of people in various shirts, jackets and sweaters yesterday with the 5D2 and VAF. It was a joy to nail the focus and not have a hint of aliasing. :)

Jon, what is the widest lens you've used with the VAF?

The 35L and ZE 35/2 work great. The 16-35L II is pretty good to about 30mm. It's hard to identify a specific cut off point. The ZE 21/2.8 is a fail. I haven't tried the 24L, but would love to see how it holds up.

I've now used the VAF with the 16-35L II and the 70-200/2.8L IS II. Both are near parfocal without the filter and are wildly non-parfocal with the filter. With (this one copy of) the 70-200 you can go end to end and you just have to nudge the focus a bit. Add the filter, and I was turning the Redrock FF by nearly 90 degrees to compensate for the zoom. Needless to say, I did no live zooming - especially since you often need to pan/tilt to hold the composition. I can't pan/tilt, zoom and focus at the same time! Without the filter, I would zoom, then nudge and hope that nobody noticed. :)

I think the VAF adds field curvature. That's partly why wides don't work well. It's not just soft out there, the focus plane simply isn't flat so the corners are out of focus.

That said, if you are super close to a small object with an ultra-wide at a wide aperture, it might work as the corners would be blurred due to shallow DOF anyway. But this would be a rare shot.

Thank you for that info, Jon.

D800 video test clip:

Nikon D800 Test on Vimeo

This image is looking very pleasing to me. I would have to say Nikon really made a huge leap with this camera and really took the fight to Canon.

I must say I am underwhelmed with the MKIII for still image improvements in RAW mode and very impressed with the Nikon's video image. The external recording option on the Nikons is a pretty strong lean towards the D800/D4. I am planning on looking at the D800/D4 this summer after the dust has settled.

Two very very nice video from Nikon event in New york. The camera dynamic range seems to be very very good and the image is some of the most filmic I have seen. My only hope is a filter for the moire/aliasing because this is the only problem left. It is less than previous generation dslr but still a bit visible, but in this case it is a worst case scenario with a town like New York. Settings also could mitigate it as in the first vido when the shooter said he dialed sharpness down and the moire/aliasing is nearly non existent.


Nikon D800 footage on Vimeo

Balade Ã* New York avec le Nikon D800 on Vimeo

Some moire in the first clip showing few seconds of central skyscraper, but the shaky handheld video didn't help matters.

The sound quality and hiss in the second 'Balade' clip is terrible...and made me switch it off immediately.

I don't see the point in buying an expensive camera if they completely ignore the fact that sound quality is the most important aspect of shooting video...especially when recording a human voice.

As with all the DSLRs (and many camcorders with only 1/8" audio inputs), the native audio quality is poor. The solution is either an external recorder, or a high quality preamp with gain.

With the 5D2, Magic Lantern, and a juicedLink preamp, I can get the S/N ratio to approach the 16-bit limit. I haven't tested the 5D3 yet, but it adds a headphone jack and I believe that the lo-cut filter can now be disabled. The native Canon firmware on the 5D2 was so-so compared to Magic Lantern. Hopefully it's better optimized on the 5D3.

I assume that a juicedLink or equivalent, a good mic, and good technique will lower the hiss of the D800 dramatically. But it really needs to be tested. I have an Alesis Microtrack II that is terribly noisy and can similarly be improved with a preamp; however, it unmasks some clicks and other low-level crosstalk issues. (This is really terrible, given that the product's only function is to record audio!) The 5D2 is free of those issues, but we really need to test the 5D3 and D800 to see how clean things are with a hotter signal.

IMO, the lack of a balanced input on any camera/recorder mandates additional hardware for pro results.

I have yet to listen to any DSLR internal sound recording option that provides clean sound without some background hiss (even with Audio Mixer and Preamplifier like Juicedlink). The ONLY option for quality clean stereo sound in my opinion is a seperate recording device, such as the H4/H4n.

I wish it were otherwise, because recording sound in-sync using quality mics connected directly to a camcorder via XLR cables, is such a simpler task. :)

My testing with the 5D2, Magic Lantern, and juicedLink showed significantly less hiss (6dB or so from memory) than the DR-100 or H4n. I got the best results with the JL turned up to full gain (which seems weird on first use, since most devices hiss like mad at "11") and Magic Lantern set to 0dB digital gain (L_GAIN, R_GAIN), and 10 or 17 dB analog gain (M_GAIN or mic gain).

Unfortunately, the Canon firmware in the 5D2 isn't as clean. In the Canon implementation, the analog gain is always at full tilt and only the digital gain is manipulated. With the Canon firmware, the hiss is about 6dB worse than with the H4n or DR-100.

I wish I had a 5D3 to test, but I can't fund that right now...

Testing by Lindos also found that they could get roughly 90dB S/N with a hot preamp (their own) and Magic Lantern (+10 analog, 0 digital). They also offer a bass boost module that compensates for the lo-cut filter of the 5D2.

The quote of "~90dB dynamic range" was from a different forum, so I won't post that link here.

The Lindos testing looks valid to me...
Lindos Electronics Test Results - Canon - 5D mark II - Video (http://www.lindos.co.uk/index.php?page=test_and_measurement&subpage=SOURCE=Results&subsubpage=/FlexiData/Results/files/filename/409/res.html)

The shooter said in french on his blog that he was far from the girl and that there was lot of people around. I read that there was 40 or 80 journalist and bloggers that Nikon invited to New York to test the Camera. As for me I had no illusion that any dslr will have pristine sound recording, to believe that an on camera recording would be good is a bit absurd. I think anyone knows that you would need either a wireless lavalier connected to at least something like a juicelink to the camera or better a sound man with his mixer and external recorder and a microphone on a boon. For me what was important was the images and apart from the moire it is very very good. Mosaic is finalizing a prototype, lets hope that it get rids of the only problem of this camera.

I don't use Magic Lantern with the 5D bodies, but this no doubt helps lower background hiss compared to the Canon firmware, as shown in your tests:

Audio comparison - Magic Lantern Firmware Wiki (http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Audio_comparison)


Magic Lantern, as far as I know, do not have any firmware for the Nikon D800.

Regarding audio, I don't know if the D800 would need ML to kill the hiss. As I understand it, you can set the gain manually in the D800 before recording. With a high-gain preamp, you would typically set the gain of the camera near the minimum and let the preamp do the rest.

The problem with the Canon firmware is that they set the analog gain to maximum and the gain control provided to users was digital only. Magic Lantern let us optimize the settings. Hopefully, Nikon controls their audio chip more gracefully right out of the box so ML wouldn't be needed. :)

To me, the most obvious course of action with the D800 is to link it up with a PIX220 and record both your audio and video in-sync and in high quality.

Simply use the camera as a sensor box.

I was at the Nikon booth today at NAB. They had three biker dudes and a Harley out in front of a D800 with a Nikon 24mm prime. The problem? They only had the camera LCD and a tiny Marshall (like maybe 4"?!) monitor, so you could hardly see WTF the camera could so. Accordingly, there was hardly any traffic around it. All that said, what I could kind of almost see (yes, the tiny marshall was really TINY) looked really filmic.

My take away was, really nice camera with a company that doesn't know what they have and/or doesn't seem to really care about the D800's cinematic possibilities. I still want to get my hands on one and test it out for real under stage and studio lighting.

This was Nikon's first NAB. The guy I spoke with admitted that they were noobs in this business.

Everybody has to start from somewhere. They will only get better over time...

Please check out my clip from the same event.. I was there too :)
part of it shot on D4 Nikon.. I had tested mostly D4, really impressed by the video quality.
not noticed moire, a bit rolling is present however, the sound everywhere including last rap, with on camera mic.
NYC48 Nikon D800, D4 video, New York on Vimeo