Photography News Issue 48

Photography News | Issue 48 | photographynews.co.uk

News

TheNikon D850has landed

Specs

Price £3499.99 body only Sensor

35.9x23.9mm FX format 45.7-megapixel BIS CMOS, EXPEED 5 image processor ISO range 64-25,600 native – expansion up to ISO 32 and 102,400 Shutter range 30secs to 1/8000sec, flash sync at 1/250sec Drivemodes Continuous high at 7fps Metering system RGB sensor with 180k pixels Monitor 3.2in 2359k dots, tilting touch sensitive screen with 100% coverage Focusing Multi-CAM 20k AF sensor, 153 focus point, 99 cross type. Single point, 9, 25, 72 or 153 Video 3840x2160 (4K, UHD) Storagemedia 1x XQD, 1x SD Dimensions (wxhxd) 146x124x78.5mm Weight 1005g body, battery and card Contact nikon.co.uk

Nikon was lagging behind rivals CanonandSony in the highmegapixel full-frame camera race so the D850 is an important launch for the brand and certainly one many Nikon devotees have been waiting for. With its impressive specification, the D850 is very likely to appeal to photographers of all genres andmoviemakers. TheFX-format 35.9x23.9mmsensor is the first backside illuminated sensor (BSI) found in a Nikon DSLR. This is a key factor in the D850’s excellent high ISO performance for such a high megapixel sensor with even the top native speed of ISO 25,600 capable of impressive quality. Resolution is maximised because the sensor is optical low-pass filter-free. The D850 can shoot at 7fps (9fps with the optional MB-D18 battery grip) and the large buffer enables a burst of 51 full-size Raws. The camera has two card slots, one SD and the other XQD. Onoccasionswhenyoumightwant the editing flexibility of Raws but without going for full-size Raws, the

D850 gives the option of shooting Medium Raws (25.6 megapixels) and Small Raws (11.4 megapixels) – in these instances you get 12-bit lossless compressed files.

The D850 has the option of an electronic shutter for silent shooting. This you get with live view and 6fps shooting and the files are still full-size Raws. In DX format for 8.6-megapixel files you get 30fps for three seconds. The 3.2in, 2359kdotmonitor shows 100% of the image area and is tiltable for low-down or overhead shooting (in horizontal format). The D850’s AF system is the same as that found in the Nikon D5 flagship and features 153 selectable points of which 99 are cross-type and it has a sensitivity down to -4EV. The AF system also supports good performance with slower aperture lenses. You get 15 AF points with lenses of f/8 maximum aperture and 37with lenses of f/5.6-8.

Add features such as weather sealing, an 180k pixel RGB metering sensor andexcellent shooting capacity with around 1840 shots from the EN-EL15a battery and you have a formidable full-frame camera. The D850’s body price is £3499.99 and theMB-D18 grip is £369.99. A test will appear in the next PN .

nikon.co.uk

“We are very happy with the D850 and the feedback we are getting from photographers who have already used it,” says Tim Carter, Nikon UK’s senior product manager (above). “It is a fantastic marriage of high resolution and high speed – you no longer have to choose between the two, and having all of that in a small form factor body makes the D850 a versatile camera for all types of photography.”

Hands onwith Will Cheung

At the London launch of theNikonD850, which took place at Loft Studios, we got the chance to use the camera in four different scenarios that reflected the product’s potential markets. So therewere set-ups foraction, nature,weddings and low-light editorial shooting, each scenario overseen by Nikon ambassadors. For action it was TomMiles, Richard Peters for nature, Ross Harvey for weddings and Amy Shore for low-light. We got to shoot with available light and with Profoto studio flash. The pictures shown here were taken on production camerasat theeventandarestraightout-of-the-camerafine quality JPEGs. Full size Raws were shot simultaneously, but no processing software was available at the time of writing and there was no time to test the camera’s Raw processing skills. I like shooting at high ISOs and I was keen to try the D850’s backside illuminated sensor (BSI) at its higher speeds so I shot plenty at ISO 6400, 12,800 and 25,600. Looking at the JPEG images on screen at 100% I am very impressed with the ISO 3200 and 6400 shots which exhibited minimal noise and any noise present had virtually no impact on fine details. With the Raws and some noise reduction in post-processing I am seeing great potential here. The same thing applies to the ISO 12,800 and 25,600 shots where detail still looks good, although here on my shots there is artefacting. However, that is no surprise – this is a high resolution sensor so you expect some payback.

Back among the more typical ISO settings (the lowest I managed was 200), image quality was excellent with lots of fine detail, good tonal range and lively contrast. For the wedding shot here the camera was fitted with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. By window light, the exposure was 1/60sec at f/2.8, ISO 400. As you can see from the enlargement (bottom) of the top image, there’s plenty of detail and the skin tones were beautifully smooth. I did a continuous shooting sequence of the couple too. That is a lot of information to deal with and even though I was using a fairly fast 90MB/s SamsungMicro SDcard the camera’s record LED stayed on for a while. Buy a D850 for continuous shooting and you will need very fast SD cards or better still XQD cards for the fastest performance. Press a DSLR’s shutter release button and you get the usual noise accompanying the reflex mirror and shutter opening/closing action. Well, not so on the D850 if you select the electronic quiet shutter. With this you get live view shooting and the shutter can be firedwith the release as normal or by using touchscreen AF. Using a quiet shutter is disconcerting at first, but there is a clear benefit and the D850’s worked well, and that included the touch AF too. We will be fully testing the D850 in the next issue, but there is no doubt that based on this initial acquaintance the signs are very promising. How the AF and exposure fare in more real situations we will soon see, and already I am impressed with what the D850 is potentially capable of.