Nikon D850 FX-Format Digital SLR Camera Body

This camera is possibly my favorite thing I've ever purchased. It's an absolute beast. My wife and I are both photographers of different types. She does portrait photography (newborn, family, etc) and I do landscape/astrophotography. For years we've been on the very-mid-range D5200. We bought it while we were still both working part time in school, so we had to go for the best one we could on the extremely limited budget we had. While it has served us well, it's obviously a cropped sensor body and it was time to upgrade to full frame, and many years later we're in a far better place financially. (READ: No more school tuition and full time job yay) We figured if we're going to spend the money on full frame, we might as well get the "dream camera", so to speak, and not feel like we need to upgrade again soon.And so we come to the D850. Lots of research went into the decision to go with the D850, there is no shortage of videos and reading material about it, it's a landmark camera body for many reasons. Sure it's pricey, but this sucker is going to last us for years and years. I'll try to touch on all my personal favorite points, but there are literally so many that I'll probably forget some, but here we go.Body:Super well designed, comfortable, if not a tad on the heavy side. It's a beast of a camera though, so I can absolutely forgive the weight, and it's by no means uncomfortably heavy. Just a tad heavier than I would have thought. The weatherproofing is excellent. You can watch tons of review videos where you'll see them leaving the camera on a tripod in rainy weather to do a timelapse, and then they simply dry it off with a towel later. As a result of the weather proofing there is no built-in popup flash to make it far more sealed off. This doesn't bother me at all because I never use that flash, if I need flash I'll use an external one.Autofocus:If you know anything about the D850, you'll know that the autofocus in the body is industry leading. (the same autofocus as the D5) A huge number of autofocus points, incredible focus speed, it's absolutely incredible. I will simply leave this at what I've said so far since that's really all that needs to be said. It's awesome.Controls:Having come from the D5200 I feel like the controls are much more intuitive and better placed so as to be more ergonomic. They feel much higher quality than the D5200 which just helps with the overall premium nature of this camera. As a person who loves to do astrophotography, one of my favorite tiny improvements is the illuminated buttons! I don't know how I survived without that before this. It's one of those quality of life improvements that just makes so much sense when you finally have it.Memory Card Slots:So as I'm sure you're aware by now, this camera has two slots. One SD slot and one XQD slot. I originally thought I wouldn't get an XQD card, they're so much more expensive than their SD card equivalents, and I hadn't done much research into them, so I thought they were basically a chunkier SD card. I have since done the research and bought a 240 GB capacity card. The read/write speed is seriously blazing fast. Basically it can keep up with the D850, whereas an SD card by itself will start slowing you down during continuous shooting because it can't clear the buffer fast enough. Transfer speeds to my computer are so much faster than my SD card. (note that you do need to buy a card reader for it) It's also incredibly durable which is a great thing to not worry about when you're in more rugged environments. My only complaint about the D850 now that I've bought into the XQD vision is that they only have one XQD slot and one SD card slot. I understand that XQD isn't widely adopted right now, and that increases the barrier to entry for this camera, but I do wish that there were two XQD card slots in this camera rather than one of each. I have a large enough card, however, that I haven't had a big enough session that I started writing to the SD card yet, so that's not that big of a deal. (I usually remove everything off the card when I import right after my session, so I always start at empty)Touchscreen/Live View:I was skeptical that I would ever use the touchscreen aspect of the screen but I must say I was wrong. I use it very often. The screen itself is large, bright, and great resolution. You can pinch to zoom on your pictures and zoom in to see some incredible detail this camera takes. (something I couldn't really do before until I was on my computer) It tilts up and down, a really handy feature that I forget about too often. (as I stand on my tiptoes to see when the camera is up high, I suddenly realize I don't need to do that, the screen tilts) Live View is also incredible on this camera, again I use it far more than I thought I would. You can even autofocus on specific areas/objects by simply tapping the screen. It's incredibly useful, and the screen is high enough quality that it really does your pictures justice. Very impressed with it.Timelapse:You can create a 4k timelapse video right in-camera. You can even create an 8k timelapse using the interval mode and the full resolution photos able to be taken by the D850, although this is not stitched together in-camera, so you'll need to do that yourself. There are some incredible timelapses out there produced by the D850 that you can watch, the image quality is exceptional. You can also use Silent Live View mode, and that'll not use any mechanical shutter. As stated in the camera's product description, this is great for saving on shutter cycles and improving battery performance.Video:In addition to the photography I enjoy, I love shooting video. As everyone knows, Nikon doesn't do as well as Canon in this regard. Of all Nikon's cameras, the D850 appears to be the best when it comes to shooting video. The autofocus while shooting video is not good, so you'd better settle on using manual focus. None of this means that the D850 will produce bad video. If you know how to work around some of the annoyances and less-than-stellar features, you'll get video that is just fine. Most of us, however, aren't getting the D850 for shooting video, so let's talk about the true purpose of this camera.Image Quality:Thus we arrive to the most important aspect of any camera review, the image quality. This is actually a section where I have very little to say, partly because I covered a lot of supporting info, and the other part because it's quite simple. This camera is a beast. It's got a whopping 45.7 megapixels. This was a major upgrade for me, coming from the 24.1 megapixels in my D5200. I'm incredibly impressed with the sheer amount of data collected in the RAW images especially coming from my D5200. The amount of detail I can bring out in post is impressive. As such, the RAW files are very large, so hopefully you have plenty of storage space. It has great low-light capabilities, and the autofocus works surprisingly well even in low light. I can't think of a single complaint about this category, which speaks to the incredible images this camera produces.If you can afford it, I can't recommend this camera enough. It's an incredible piece of technology, one of the best cameras you can buy. If you are looking for an incredible full frame DSLR with no compromises (minus video of course) then look no further than the Nikon D850.

This is the camera Nikon needed to release. Please allow me to explain.Over the last 12-18 months I have found myself migrating away from my D750. For our production company I do about 50% stills and about 50% video. For video I use my GH5 - which for video - is a unbelievable. However.... it isn't that great for stills. The low light performance isn't great and as a whole... it lacks the finer points of higher end cameras. So I would use my D750 combined with my Otus 55mm for stills. The Otus is a beast - a fantastic lens that significantly outperforms the sensor on the D750.This combination of the GH5 is fine for the studio... but when I travel it just becomes too much to carry. For travel I use a Fuji X100F -which is a fantastic little camera. It has a 50mm equivalent lens and produces photos that are the same resolution as my D750+Otus combo but with marginally less sharpness and color accuracy.So my dilemma... why use Nikon equipment at all? I am not shooting sports or using telephoto lenses. Nikons are not superior for video.... and some of high end compact cameras nearly equal their performance (if you are primarily shooting mid-focal length primes ). Frankly, my Nikon D750 was ONLY being used when I was pairing it with a specialty lens. Sure there was the D810, but the increase in functionality didn't exactly overwhelm me. So - even in the studio - I was reaching for my Fuji X100F while leaving the larger Nikon D750 on the shelf.Enter the Nikon D850This is the camera they needed to release. The new sensor and increased resolution gives me a very compelling reason to use this camera. When combined with my Otus 55mm lens I have something that closely resembles medium format. I can crop, crop, and crop and still get excellent resolution and edge contrast. It is amazing. When used with autofocus lenses (like most normal people) I find it to be fast and extremely accurate. Easily the best I have ever used.The D850 low light performance is also much better than the D750. Again it is the best I have ever used. I have taken high quality photos at ISO 3200- and honestly it is workable all the way to 12,800.While the GH5 still has many more video features than the D850. That does not mean the D850 is a one trick pony. I can carry it on location with confidence that if I have issues with the GH5 the D850 can step in (or be used for B roll). Even better the D850's large sensor can provide far superior DOF control and low light performance. In fact, for some controlled interview settings I would speculate that the D850 could be the DSLR that you could use (when paired with a high end lens). The D850 sensor beats the GH5 and I would put Nikon's glass up against Sony (but that is just me).A few things to remember- Buy the high speed SD cards. They are crazy expensive, but they will fit directly into most computers while allowing you take photos almost as fast as you can push the button.- This camera will start to expose lower end lenses. Consider the price of high quality glass into your equation for your overall investment.- Most importantly... what are you doing with your camera? This is not... I repeat... NOT ... a camera for beginners. I would say that unless you are a real enthusiast or someone who uses their camera as a tool to make money you probably do not need the D850. If you can't answer the question "What specific feature of this camera do I NEED to aid me in taking (insert type of photo)" then don't buy it. Not only do you not need the D850 - it will be a hindrance to you. The menus can get complicated. The files will be unnecessarily large. If you shoot JPEGS in automode - do yourself and your wallet a favor and step down in camera.Final verdict - A hand-down improvement in the Nikon line-up. Unless you need the high speed output of the D5 I am not sure why any pro wouldn't invest in the D850.

This is Nikon's premier DSLR camera body and probably the last one of this design. As with other manufacturers, everyone is changing over to mirrorless designs. For those, like me who own too many DSLR lenses and other Nikon camera bodies, I purchased the D-850 to top off my collection. It's super fast and has more features than I can comment on here to keep most individuals very happy. If you are looking to buy this unit, you are probably already an expert in using such gear. Professionals may opt for the mirrorless units because they're the newest trend and tout features that may exceed this unit. However, for the semi-pro that understand all of the intricacies of light and shadow, f-stops, ISO ratings, and shutter speed, this camera will fit the bill. My one concern came up regarding the lack of a built-in flash. However, considering the high ISO sensitivity of the LCD sensor, there are few situations that one might be confronted with that could not be resolved using available light only with acceptable results. Catch this unit on a sale and you'll be very happy. :)