Will the D800 make lenses above 300mm obsolete?

I wonder what the long term impact of these new super resolution cameras will to long distance lenses, cause you know in just a handful of years the massive 36 mp will seem average by comparison.

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› See More: Will the D800 make lenses above 300mm obsolete?

Except if you are into bird photography, air show photography or surfing photography, I don't really see the point of any lenses above 300mm.
They are expensive, they are heavy and cumbersome, they permanently require a steady support, and you attract a lot of attention (some like it though).

I think the core focal ranges of 35mm photography remains between 14mm to 200mm, where the choice of lenses should be more driven by perspective and compression effects rather than 'getting closer to the subject' or 'fitting everything in the frame'.

With the D800, the possibilities of large printing and heavy cropping are quite interesting. And perhaps thanks to the D800, you won't be contemplating that $70,000 lens anymore which would have collected dust in your shelve anyway.

I think they will still be needed. The 400 f/2.8 and 200 f/2.0 will still be needed for people like me that shoot low light auto racing. It allows for shooting without using really high ISO settings.

cropping rather than using a longer focal length will show the optical limitations of any lens. fantastic if it gave a good result though. imagine how useful an 18-300mm lens with optimal quality through its range, vr, and 36 mps would be! well, i can dream cant i?

one effect of the 36 million pixels is to allow less tight framing for all shots and not just telephoto. Allows you to fine tune your composition later on the computer. Too many times, I get home, and say darn,, why did I frame so tight? Now with the D800, you don't need to.

Originally Posted by stmv

one effect of the 36 million pixels is to allow less tight framing for all shots and not just telephoto. Allows you to fine tune your composition later on the computer. Too many times, I get home, and say darn,, why did I frame so tight? Now with the D800, you don't need to.

Agree! Think of the money you'll save not having to buy those crazy expensive 800mm+ lenses but yet getting a 12 mp image equal to one. It almost makes the price of a D800 seem cheap, huh? LOL!!!

Originally Posted by Photowyzard

In my opinion, more than ever, sales will increase. I have tried to enlarge images taken of subjects far away just to test this theory and by and large, a nice tightly cropped shot in the view finder produces substantially better results than images enlarged and cropped in PP.

Just because it is 36MP, in my opinion, doesn't eliminate the need for stronger lenses. I would gladly welcome the reach of a 600mm with my D800 any day. The results from not have to enlarge and crop in PP would make the image that much more stunning.

Absolutely agree...I don't believe a crop can do the same job...

I may do a test with my 28-70 and 80-200...