Nikon D810 Thoughts After 2 Weeks of Shooting

[Ryan Douthit]

I spent the last two weeks around Los Angeles filming a variety of projects with the Nikon D810. Really impressed with this camera. Sure, it's not as video-friendly as my A7S, but there's something I really like about the image it creates. Also, great to be able to shoot at 1080/60p without having to worry about aliasing or rolling shutter (even the A7S suffers aliasing at 60p and rolling shutter... yeah, that's it's major weakness). The D810s body is also fantastically solid. I feel very secure traveling with it.

I'm now considering getting another D810 so I have dual bodies on the road. (And a single lens set.) Since this is my dual-purpose travel kit (photo and video), I'm picking up mostly small and relatively light F/4s for Zooms (16-35 and 70-200 sofa) and getting faster primes (50mm 1.4g is my first.)

Speaking of lenses that is the one downside. Nikkor glass produces excellent images, but the manual focus rings are too snug, so it's really hard to initiate focus as smoothly as I'd like. The Tamron's on my Sony are much better in this regard.

Of course I still have the A7S, rigged out to a 9 lbs behemoth. When I can financially swing it, I'll be looking to replace that with something more video-specific out of the gate. Not a FS7... but maybe something similar for "big" projects and then go with the Nikons for smaller ones. The Nikon is especially good for rigging to vehicles. (Though a field monitor is a must-have accessory.)

[Dave Morrison]

Ryan, even though those MF Nikkor lenses were never designed to be used for video, a good repair tech might be able to do some basic clean up of the focus mechanism and relube it with something slightly less viscous.....just thinking out loud here. I'm really looking forward to getting a D750 as soon as I can afford one!

[John Nantz]

+1 for Dave's comment about re-lubing it.

A few years ago I spent some time in Antarctica and those who took Lica 35mm cameras down there had to have them re-lubed for the colder conditions. Apparently they were made to a tighter tolerance than the other cameras so the re-lubing idea might work.

[Ryan Douthit]

Great idea, thanks!

[Ryan Douthit]

Fixed my F/4 70-200... replaced it with the F/2.8 70-200 VR II.

I tried several at the store and all the F/4 models have a stiff focus ring. The F/2.8 feels like it should, with a nice touch and good throw. Yes, it's heavy. But I'll deal with that. Wonky focus I can't deal with.

I did call a lens repair place first. His reply was "sounds like you bought the wrong lens." He was right.

[Chris Sgaraglino]

Welcome to the advantages of good glass!
Do you have any samples from the D810?

[Ryan Douthit]

I actually just put my D810 up for sale.

Nikon D810 36 3 MP Professional Digital SLR Camera Body Only | eBay

I also have a D500, which I'll be keeping for sports photography and some 4k video. My primary camera is an FS7 and considering the improvement in Sony's new lenses, I've decided to move more of my stuff to E-Mount since I also have an A7S and will be picking up an A7S II soon.