DPReview reviews the D810... two years after release

[ahsanford]

I could imagine DPReview were playing some slow jams while they wrote this:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/7058035710/benchmark-performance-nikon-d810-in-depth-review

That album might have been called Exmor: Mi Amor.

Choice bits:

"Dynamic range at ISO 64 competes with medium format"

Spot-metering linked to AF point is listed as a 'Pro' when to my knowledge that feature is available across the entire Nikon SLR line. (That's just DPR thumbing their nose at 5DS/5D3 owners, IMHO.)

"You can underexpose your images to protect your highlights as much as you'd like. Leave your graduated ND filters at home or, better yet, sell them while they're still worth something."

Really?

- A

 

[3kramd5]

"You can underexpose your images to protect your highlights as much as you'd like. Leave your graduated ND filters at home or, better yet, sell them while they're still worth something." [/b]

Really?

If you're happy with poor tonality in shadows, sure why not?

 

[ahsanford]

"You can underexpose your images to protect your highlights as much as you'd like. Leave your graduated ND filters at home or, better yet, sell them while they're still worth something." [/b]

Really?

If you're happy with poor tonality in shadows, sure why not?

My beef is that the notion that 1-2 stops more DR magically eliminates the need to manage harsh skies is comical. It's hyperbole, not reality.

- A

 

[3kramd5]

"You can underexpose your images to protect your highlights as much as you'd like. Leave your graduated ND filters at home or, better yet, sell them while they're still worth something." [/b]

Really?

If you're happy with poor tonality in shadows, sure why not?

My beef is that the notion that 1-2 stops more DR magically eliminates the need to manage harsh skies is comical. It's hyperbole, not reality.

- A

Well the quote said "as much as you'd like," which could be a whole lot more than 2 stops. The cost is tonality. Sure, you can raise shadows significantly without noise becoming atrocious, but there's little signal because they're vastly underexposed (even for shadows), hence the tonality sucks.

[disclaimer]I'm basing my opinions from my use of camera bodies with similar sensors (Sony A7R = different packaging of the same electronics, Nikon D7000 = same family, Sony A7R ii = newer generation of the same family); I've not used the D810.[/disclaimer]

 

[coreyhkh]

Its funny but from my observation the last few years, our poor Canon sensors actually force users to understand exposure and thus Canon users tend to be much better photographers then most Nikon users I have met.

Too many of my Nikon friends do not know how to take a properly exposed pictures and simply just correct it in post.

 

[NorbR]

Spot-metering linked to AF point is listed as a 'Pro' when to my knowledge that feature is available across the entire Nikon SLR line. (That's just DPR thumbing their nose at 5DS/5D3 owners, IMHO.)

And why wouldn't they?

Nikon does well to offer that across their entire line, and that's a pro for every SLR on that line. If it has to be repeated for every Nikon SLR out there, so be it. Maybe eventually Canon will take notice (I doubt it).

Otherwise I agree with the rest of your post. That comment on GNDs is asinine.

 

[ahsanford]

Spot-metering linked to AF point is listed as a 'Pro' when to my knowledge that feature is available across the entire Nikon SLR line. (That's just DPR thumbing their nose at 5DS/5D3 owners, IMHO.)

Nikon does well to offer that across their entire line, and that's a pro for every SLR on that line. If it has to be repeated for every Nikon SLR out there, so be it. Maybe eventually Canon will take notice (I doubt it).

Believe me, I agree. I've been asking for this for years.

<rant>

The D5500 has this feature and the 5D3 does not. Most cell phone cameras have this feature and the 5D3 does not.

I'm very Canon-positive in general, but this one has always eluded me. You could lump this in with 4K perhaps as a feature Canon is determined to keep exclusive to its best rigs (1D, Cinema, etc.) when much of the rest of the world is giving such features away at fractional price points on lesser rigs in comparison.

</rant>

- A

 

[neuroanatomist]

Spot-metering linked to AF point is listed as a 'Pro' when to my knowledge that feature is available across the entire Nikon SLR line. (That's just DPR thumbing their nose at 5DS/5D3 owners, IMHO.)

And why wouldn't they?

Nikon does well to offer that across their entire line, and that's a pro for every SLR on that line. If it has to be repeated for every Nikon SLR out there, so be it. Maybe eventually Canon will take notice (I doubt it).

Of course it makes sense. After all, most people interested in spending thousands of dollars on a dSLR are first-time buyers with no prior brand investment or familiarity. I mean, it's not like most people buying a very expensive FF body are upgrading from an APS-C camera or anything like that. For those very few Nikon APS-C shooters considering a FF upgrade, AF point-linked spot metering is just a given, but for that huge majority of first-timers at this level, it's definitely a 'pro'. Because, you know, it's not like DPR is biased or anything.

 

[ahsanford]

Of course it makes sense. After all, most people interested in spending thousands of dollars on a dSLR are first-time buyers with no prior brand investment or familiarity. I mean, it's not like most people buying a very expensive FF body are upgrading from an APS-C camera or anything like that. For those very few Nikon APS-C shooters considering a FF upgrade, AF point-linked spot metering is just a given, but for that huge majority of first-timers at this level, it's definitely a 'pro'. Because, you know, it's not like DPR is biased or anything.

#DPR #fairandbalanced #dxowithsassywriters

 

[NorbR]

Of course it makes sense. After all, most people interested in spending thousands of dollars on a dSLR are first-time buyers with no prior brand investment or familiarity. I mean, it's not like most people buying a very expensive FF body are upgrading from an APS-C camera or anything like that. For those very few Nikon APS-C shooters considering a FF upgrade, AF point-linked spot metering is just a given, but for that huge majority of first-timers at this level, it's definitely a 'pro'. Because, you know, it's not like DPR is biased or anything.

Oh, come on, now. I already thought that the whole DPR bias "debate" was ridiculous, but now you're calling bias because they list as a 'Pro' something that everyone agrees is indeed a 'Pro'?

And for the record, I for one am glad that they don't omit that kind of stuff just because it should be a given for some made-up target audience for their reviews. I have zero intention of buying a D810, yet I read the review. I even enjoyed reading it, silly me. And that does not mean that I agree with everything in it, as I've stated above already.

 

[Keith_Reeder]

but now you're calling bias because they list as a 'Pro' something that everyone agrees is indeed a 'Pro'?

But "everyone" doesn't agree.

I was a Nikon user for some years before I made the move to Canon: I had and used AF point-linked metering all the time, because it was there.

It (like an awful lot of "features" Nikon has that Canon doesn't) didn't make the slightest bit of Real World difference to end results. Absolutely none.

Go ahead - you've got the internet in front of you: find some proof that it's a "must-have" feature. I've got plenty of time, show me the pictures...

Because DPR rates it as a "pro" simply because Nikon has it and Canon (for the most part) doesn't, it is further evidence of DPR's glaring anti-Canon bias.

It's barely any distance from this, to them calling the Nikon logo on the body a "pro"...

Interestingly, the 7D had a close analogue - it had metering "biased" (Canon's phrase) to the AF point in use - and nobody even noticed...

 

[3kramd5]

Because DPR rates it as a "pro" simply because Nikon has it and Canon (for the most part) doesn't, it is further evidence of DPR's glaring anti-Canon bias.

Oh come on. Sure, that would be all the evidence needed to demonstrate such a bias, but you're just making stuff up.

I could as easily say "That all Russians secretly bow to queen Elizabeth is evidence of a persistent vast British empire."

It's a silly meaningless term. The only feature which would be "pro" is the one which converts a photographers time to payments. But regardless, if you can point to something substantiating the claim that DPR rates it as a pro feature "simply because Nikon has it," screenshot the proof and I'll champion posting it far and wide.

 

[Keith_Reeder]

Oh come on. Sure, that would be all the evidence needed to demonstrate such a bias, but you're just making stuff up.

You clearly don't understand the point I'm making.

Nikon does a lot of this: including features across the board that sound like something you'd want, but which in fact provide no material advantage whatsoever.

Given this fact (and no, I'm not "making things up" - but I know that speaking from actual first-hand experience tends to confuse people on this forum) how is the addition of this feature a "pro"?

There is no justification for calling something that makes no practical difference a "pro". That DPR does it anyway tells whose of us who have hands-on experience that they're doing it for a reason other than that it makes for a better camera...

It's not rocket science: DPR's motivation for calling something that does not improve the performance of the camera in any real sense must, logically, come from another place. And the only place left to look for that motivation is that "it's something the Nikon camera has that Canon doesn't".

There's nowhere else to look!

Do you understand now?

(Anyone who tells you that metering linked to AF point is an essential is making things up...)

 

[NorbR]

But "everyone" doesn't agree.

Fair enough, I should know better than to write statements like this ... Point taken.

Otherwise, you're twisting my words quite a bit. I never used words like "must-have" or "essential".
If it's there, if you can enable it if you want to use it and disable it if you don't, then for me it's a Pro. Simple as that.

It doesn't make any difference for you? Good to know. It probably does for someone else out there. First-hand as it is, your experience is your experience, not that of everyone else (see, I already learned my lesson since the first line).

 

[TeT]

Its a great option to have on a camera when you need it, especially if it is simple to manipulate the controls. I think it a little ridiculous that DPReview states that it will replace all your tools (ND filters) and make you a better human and a world leader for having it... and make all your cat pictures into art. Ok, I am being ridiculous now...

 

[3kramd5]

It's not rocket science: DPR's motivation for calling something that does not improve the performance of the camera in any real sense must, logically, come from another place.

agreed.

And the only place left to look for that motivation is that "it's something the Nikon camera has that Canon doesn't".

Nonsense.

Maybe DPReview calls things "pro features" which are typically only found on high-end (read: expensive) cameras; price point is probably the most common differentiator people use to characterize photo gear as "pro," after all.

 

[raptor3x]

Interestingly, the 7D had a close analogue - it had metering "biased" (Canon's phrase) to the AF point in use - and nobody even noticed...

Pretty much all Canon bodies bias the metering toward the AF point. The only difference between spot metering linked to AF point and Canon's current matrix metering system is the degree to which it is biased towards the current AF point.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Maybe DPReview calls things "pro features" which are typically only found on high-end (read: expensive) cameras; price point is probably the most common differentiator people use to characterize photo gear as "pro," after all.

To be clear, the context of the statement on DPR is "pro" in a list of "pro vs. con" not some sort of "professional vs. convict" cage match...

 

[3kramd5]

Maybe DPReview calls things "pro features" which are typically only found on high-end (read: expensive) cameras; price point is probably the most common differentiator people use to characterize photo gear as "pro," after all.

To be clear, the context of the statement on DPR is "pro" in a list of "pro vs. con" not some sort of "professional vs. convict" cage match...

D'oh

 

[neuroanatomist]

The morale of the story is, good camera, yes, but why publish a review on something 2 years old? Weird.

It had to be done before the 5DIV comes out, so they have a full review of the D810 and can pepper the 5DIV preview/review with statements about the D810's superiority.