Nikon D800

A pre-warning, this one is for the photographers.  Reading this post may lead to that syndrome we know as, “being a professional photographer”.  You know that one where you come home for Christmas after your first semester of college and your parents want to know where you want to go with you life, so you tell them a degree in business is in you future, but in reality math is really boring to you, but that girl that sat two rows in front of you kinda looked at you that one time, so you stuck through a class full of algorithms with the hope that she would need help studying but really she just had kind of a lazy eye.  I mean I am completely cool with that but you thought she wanted you, heck you had planned out where you were going on you honeymoon, but her interest in you is equivalent to your interest in the class, and your interest in the class cringed when I just used the word ‘equivalent”.

In all honesty, I didn’t expect to be writing this post anytime soon. I had bantered back and forth with NikonRumors only a couple weeks ago, convinced that there was no way Nikon would release the rumored D800.  To me timing wasn’t right, and the specs seemed too over the top, like a wish list that included a unicorn.  So with the known details here is my take on the D800 and D800E.

Firstly, damn, I mean just damn.  The impact that this will have on the photo community will rival that of the D3’s release when the concept of ISO was re-defined.  The idea that Nikon released a camera without an AA filter floored me.  I see a drive towards yet more image quality with true risk of out resolving most lenses available today. With the step to ISO 100 on the non-expanded low end I also see studio shooters grabbing these up for large campaigns. Therein lies a dilemma that some shooters have mentioned to me in emails already…. “how can you use a small body camera like the D800 to shoot an ad campaign for a high dollar client?”. Some friends said that they couldn’t use a $3000 camera for a $50,000 job, and I respect their opinions, but here is mine.

I am paid to create images, not to create an image.  This is not to say that I believe having a professional set isn’t important, but that the work you deliver to the client should always take priority.  We as the photographic community have hurt ourselves by marketing our gear and not our work.  Too many times I have heard someone tell an art director that their images were better because they were shot with Medium Format and this is a farce. I have shot all my work over the last two year with the D3X not because it “looks professional”, but because I know how to use it to the most of its capabilities.  In the past I have shot many different MF bodies and backs, but I wasn’t able to feel truly creative because the camera operations got in the way.

At the end of the it comes down to confidence. If you are confident in your work, you will shoot with the camera body that YOU like the most, for it is a tool that is as personal to you as paint brushes to a painter.

And finally to answer the question everyone asked, did I buy one?

No….. I bought 2