Jumping the gun on the Nikon D800
Since my post last night here on Google+ (http://www.scottgplus.com), and here on my blog earlier today, I’ve seen a lot of comments flowing in pro and con about this camera, and I just want to say a quick few things about the comments I’ve been reading thus far:
(1) The D800 was apparently created for a very specific type of photographer
There is no law that every camera introduced by a camera company has to be designed to fit your personal needs. If you read that it has 36.3 megapixels and you’re like “36.3 megapixels is overkill!!!” then obviously this camera isn’t for you, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t photographers out there who read that spec and cheered! (Me being on of them). It looks like this was designed for commercial photographers, and wedding and landscape shooters that want to be using a camera with Medium-Format type resolution without the medium-format price. If that’s not you, that’s OK. Nikon makes other camera models for you.
(2) The D800 doesn’t appear to be designed for sports or action photographers (like the D700 was)
In fact, it looks like the D800 is an entirely different camera intended for an entirely different market, which is why it only shoots 4/fps (which for a camera with that high a resolution is actually very fast. If you’ve ever shot a medium-format camera, this is blazing!!!).
(3) The D700 was kind of a stripped down version of the D3…
but the D800 doesn’t seem to be a stripped down D4 on any level (even though the name D800 alone would make us think otherwise). I wish Nikon had given it a different name just to make a more obvious break with the D700 line, and I really hope Nikon does introduce a stripped down version of the D4, because I always thought the D700 had an important place in their product line that a lot of people really benefitted from (I have a D700 myself).
(4) This is the most important one: the camera isn’t shipping yet
…and there are only literally a handful of people in the entire world that have even taken one single frame with this camera. Instead of rushing to judge this camera and exclaim why it’s not for you, instead why don’t we wait until we actually see one with our own eyes, hold one in our hands, and in person see a print from it and what it can do? I know, that sounds crazy but why don’t we actually use one before we decide anything?
I know that from the specs alone, and from what I’ve read, and a personal account from one of the few people that did shoot one —- I want one, and I’m pre-ordering mine from B&H Photo this morning (they’re taking pre-orders here: http://bhpho.to/zJsYDU — just saw that Adorama is taking pre-orders as well: ). But just this once, why don’t we actually see, hold, and experience the product for at least 60-seconds before we tell the world why it’s not for us. You never know, this type of “try it before you trash it” thing might actually catch on. ;-)