neuroanatomist said:
I see you also believe that the only important part of the camera is the sensor.
Ooooh, look at that amazing bird-in-flight shot from the D810...incredible resolution, really wide dynamic range. Sure, it's a bit blurry because the AF couldn't track the subject well enough...and just a little off optimal wing position where maybe a 20% faster frame rate would have helped...but just look at the DR and all those MP. :

Camera ≠ sensor.
As stated earlier, the 5DIII has a faster frame rate and a better AF system, to name two camera technologies where it is superior to the D810. The D810 has better low ISO DR, great if you need it. It has more MP, although with many lenses that doesn't translate to better resolution (and when it does, the difference is much less than the MP differential would suggest). You may view lenses as a 'distraction', but unless you drill a pinhole in your body cap, lenses are necessary.
I see John, you're doing that thing again, where you state the complete lack of experience you have as facts.
Let's deal in some actual facts then shall we, or at least observed experience with said kit.
You know who I am despite the name change. I've owned the Mk1, Mk2, Mk3, the D800, and for the last month, the D810.
The Mk3 had a minor AF advantage over the D800. If I was shooting sports or birds, I'd have given the Mk3 the edge for sure.
I don't, so I went with the D800 for the last 2 years and sold the Mk3. The annoyances with the D800 were not a problem for what I mostly shoot, but IQ was my main concern and the D800 had it.
I can work around almost anything except problematic IQ.
So, to the D810, which has the D4s focus system.
Are you seriously telling me you've tried it John? You seem so confident in what you say, and that famous sarcasm is carping back in.
Did I not beat that out of you and try to bring you're more intelligent side to the fore more often? Do I need to try again?
The D810 has everything the D800 had, and everything the Mk3 has and a bit more.
You will not be missing shots on a D810 that you would get on a Mk3, Rather the other way round.
Maybe the Mk4 will trounce the D810. Great if it does, because i need Nikon to be pushed to make the D820 better, and they haven't really been pushed very hard since the D4 and D800 were released it has to be said.
And this 'Canon lenses are better than Nikons' fairytale that is spoken like it's fact round here?
What the hell is that about?
85mm? Nikon 1.4 and 1.8 are more modern and better than the Canon equivalents which were released sometime during the 2nd word war it seems.
The 851.2 L is great, but heavy and unless you really really need 1.2, it only exists for wank value, something anyone with more money than brains will laud over everyone else.
Yes, I've used one extensively. Shame phase focus can't really nail the accuracy that F1.2 desperately needs very much, making it a slow job to actually use it and get it in focus, and if you're not at 1.2 the F1.4 is sharper anyway through 1.8-4.
F1.2 is great if you use manual focus or live view though, but does make it kinda specialist. Who needs just one eyelash in focus really?
I'm sure knife edge DOF is someone's passion but it's not most peoples. Is it really better than the 1.4? A third of a stop?
I doubt it on here when 2-3 stops of DR is not desired by anyone it seems.
Same with the 50mm range, except who'd get either a Nikon or a Canon when the Sigma 50m Art is so amazing?
The 50mm game is over now. Sigma has it by a country mile. The first lens ever I just don't want to take off.
Only someone with a logo fetish would not go that way. Yes, I know Sigmas are a problem with autofocus on Canons, but on Nikons, they are as accurate as any of my many Nikons are.
The 35mm Art wasn't perfect with autofocus, but then those nice Sigma people upgraded it's firmware, and now it's perfect. Awesome.
Nikon 14-24 F2.8? Stunning lens that Canon has no answer for. Maybe Sigma will soon and level the playing field?
24-70 F2.8? Nikon's isn't great it has to be said, in fact, I won't use it, and it sits in my bag wasting space.
it's about as good as the Canon V1, maybe a tad softer at the edges, but Canon's V2 is far better and I'd like that on my D810.
The Tamron is better than all except the Canon V2 anyway, so for a grand, that's the one I'd go for if I wasn't a fan of primes.
70-200 F2.8? About the same, although I do think imho, that Canon's IS is superior. I guess by a stop or maybe even 2.
Wide Primes? I'm not a big user so won't offer an opinion. My 14-24 fulfils all my wide needs, so I look no further.
That lens is so good it makes me wish I shot more wide shots but I don't so it gets used less than it deserves.
My point is that this assumption that Canon lenses are superior is uninformed at best and delusional logo fandom at worst.
It's actually complicated, and depends on where your usage is.
For me, my 14-24, 35mm Sigma Art, 50mm Sigma Art, 85 F1.8G, 70-200 F2.8VR2, 60mm 2.8G Macro covers MY needs, Canon don't make better lenses in those ranges.
They may in some cases equal them, but not better them.
How hard is it to get balance on this forum? It's like a kindergarten most of the time, with total rubbish thrown around as absolute fact.
And that's for both sides of the fence, but being a Canon site, the fawning over that Canon logo is quite sad at times., but then so is the Nikon fanboys.
Facts people. Or at least informed opinion.
Canon have so many old lenses, and no one talks about that. All their 50mm are ancient, their 85mm's are getting long in the tooth, and many of their L lenses are not nearly worthy of the L, when cheaper Tamrons and Sigmas match or exceed their performance.
The 17-40 F4? I hated that lens and all it's issues for the 5 years I had it, and that was on 21 meg, let alone what it would look like on 36 meg with no OLPF.
How old is that L lens exactly? 8 years? 10? I got mine in 2007, and it wasn't a new lens even then.
Ditto the 24-105. Distortion, CA, soft at the edges, it has the lot, although it's IS is pretty great.
Well, I'm sure it's time for you all to tear me a new arse as you are duty bound to do, but before you do, how many have used all these lenses and cameras for paying work?
I imagine it's not many, but I am one of them.