800 or 800E ???

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Cowleystjames

Senior Member
I bought the D800e and haven't regretted that decision for one moment. I regularly shoot landscape including buildings and as yet haven't seen any moire on my images, even those with a regular pattern. If you get the D800 you'll always wonder if you should have bought the D800e!
 
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Bunsen Honeydew

Senior Member
I bought a D800 a couple of months ago & have not given the D800e a second thought. I think it's splitting hairs, & I don't consider myself that good a photographer that it should make any difference. I've been shooting various SLR's for 35 years. With the $ 300 that I saved, I bought a Nikon battery grip.
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
Bunsen Honeydew said:
I bought a D800 a couple of months ago & have not given the D800e a second thought. I think it's splitting hairs, & I don't consider myself that good a photographer that it should make any difference. I've been shooting various SLR's for 35 years. With the $ 300 that I saved, I bought a Nikon battery grip.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that. Everyone here has their own priority and preferrences.

After 35 years as a photographer, I think by now you have all of the requisite skills and knowledge as a great photographer. You just don't know it. ;)

These are just our tools which can make our craft much easier and convinient. The photographer is still the most important factor.
 
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crycocyon

Senior Member
Yes the D800e has better resolution, but when you are talking about 36.3 MP the D800 is by itself incredible in the resolution department. So you get, what, 10% better resolution with the D800e? The two specific reasons I got the D800 over the D800e were that I planned to use it for weddings and to occasionally shoot video and so it was essential to have the D800 with the anti-aliasing filter, which is actually a mild filter anyway as there is still going to be occasional moire. If I was just going to do nature photography like I used to, then it would have been the D800e, no question about it.
 
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crycocyon

Senior Member
But then again, Ming Thien reported that moire wasn't a real problem under most circumstances...

Mid term report: The Nikon D800E

And of course people that shoot digital medium format routinely shoot without the anti-aliasing filter and get by just fine.
Now I'm contemplating the D800e, hmmm......or maybe as a second FX camera (I need a back-up FX body...or primary one depending on the application).
 
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jwstl

Senior Member
crycocyon said:
If I was just going to do nature photography like I used to, then it would have been the D800e, no question about it.
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For landscapes I'd stick with the D800 over the E. By all accounts, the E only shows the increased resolution at apertures around 5.6 and wider. Most landscapes are shot at f/8 and higher where there's little difference between the 2 cameras.

From Thom Hogan's review of the 2 cameras:

"Okay, so what about the AA (D800) or lack of an AA (D800E)? Does that make a difference. At f/8 and above, not really. Diffraction is a worse sin than anti-aliasing, at least when you use the "visible" criteria. Technically, I measure a bit more resolution on the E than the non-E in these mid-range diffracted apertures. But looking at pixel views of images, the diffraction kills the edge acuity that the E normally provides you. I'm not convinced there's enough gain to warrant the difference if you're shooting at f/5.6 or above all the time. That shouldn't surprise anyone, considering that I concluded the same thing with a D3x (24mp) with and without an AA filter. In that case, the "without" was optical glass, with no fuzz/defuzz system like the D800E has. Below f/5.6, things are completely different, and surprisingly so. From f/1.4 to f/4 the D800E has crisp, clean edges and is clearly gaining something from the lack of an anti-aliasing filter. But the D800 is different. While the D800 has what I would characterize as a weak AA filter (I've got plenty of moire examples from it, and can produce color fringing with it, too), it exhibits a different pattern than the D800E. From f/1.4 to f/4 there's a small but steady degradation of edges, almost like some form of weak diffraction were in play. That's actually entirely possible, as Nikon claims that there is a waveplate involved in the AA filter, and it may be the culprit.
So basically the conventional guess about who would want an E and who would want a non-E are exactly backwards. If you shoot wide open or near wide open with your lenses all the time (portraits, wildlife, sports, etc.) there's something to be said for having the D800E. If you shoot landscapes and are going for depth of field, diffraction will be your real enemy, not the AA filter."

Nikon D800 & D800E Review | byThom | Thom Hogan
 
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oldsalt

Senior Member
Picked it up this morning ...
P1030977.JPGP1030978.JPGP1030980.JPGP1030985.JPGP1030987.JPGP1030996.JPG
 
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oldsalt

Senior Member
Put this pic up already over in the "flower" section but I thought you'd like to see it here - lovin' the 800E.... off out this morning to try some architectural stuff.

Final stack pic. copy 01.jpeg
 
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oldsalt

Senior Member
Thank you Glenn - yes I did make the right choice and I'm very pleased with it ... a good friend and his wife stayed with us a few days ago and he tried my 800 E and loved it - his wife was less then impressed though ... she can see more of their dollars going out the door to Mr Nikon !!!!!!
cheers
 
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Silven

Senior Member
I'd just like to chime in and say that based heavily on this forum and this thread I made my decision and bit the bullet. I went with the D800E. Now all I'm fretting about is how I'm going to tell my wife!?!? She's under the opinion that I can get amazing results with any camera I use. Maybe to the non photographer, not to mine. So cheers and thanks for the great thread and the good advice!
 
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