Just bought

SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
Hey guys, been a little since I posted here.

I just bought the Nikon D5 last night and will be selling my D800. I mainly shoot portraits and occasionally landscapes. What would be the best in camera settings to get the most out of this camera body?

Should I just look at good D4s settings since this just came out? And if so, where can I look at for that?
 

Vincent

Senior Member
...I just bought the Nikon D5 last night and will be selling my D800. I mainly shoot portraits and occasionally landscapes. What would be the best in camera settings to get the most out of this camera body? Should I just look at good D4s settings since this just came out? And if so, where can I look at for that?

I checked if this was posted 1 April.
@SacrificeTheory you probably know why you bought the D5, since it is not the recommended camera for portraits or landscapes, you will at least have an original approach. That said, the D5 is a super camera it will be handy for "action like" natural light portraits and landscapes in rough environments. It is the camera with the best computing capability, so let it calculate and start to adapt when needed, but most people state that the new RGB sensor is spot on.

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I do recommend people to check SacrificeTheory`s profile and the link to his flickr page, I would call this "action like" natural light portraits, wedding and nature photography, far from what I would call portraits or landscapes photography.
 
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kkchan

Senior Member
The D series cameras are better built and well balance compare to their consumer product line. I shot with a D70 when I first started digital, then I bought myself a D2H after gathering some cash.
I have played with the D700 for about 2 months, but the camera wasn't beefy enough to fit my hands, so I grabbed a D3.
They are pretty much "multi purpose" cameras to me, and it doesn't really matter if its for action, landscape, portraits, pets or whatsoever..
I always shoot aperture priority and manual if using a flash, and I just use them like my old F2, F3 , 4, EOS A2 and 3 back in the good old days.
 

Vincent

Senior Member
...They are pretty much "multi purpose" cameras to me, and it doesn't really matter if its for action, landscape, portraits, pets or whatsoever..

I tend to agree and with the D5 you can not go wrong, however is the price of the D5 not overkill and are there no better cheaper solutions?
 

kkchan

Senior Member
I tend to agree and with the D5 you can not go wrong, however is the price of the D5 not overkill and are there no better cheaper solutions?
I wouldn't pull out 6k for the camera to be honest, and I probably will wait til it drops down to 3k or so in a few years then buy it..if I really want it.
Cheaper solution will be go for a D4 or D4S if wanting all metal body, or even go for a D3S. By having a Pro camera, probably have to invest some pro lens as well, and mounting a Sigma 28-70 3.5-4 or a DX lens ain't not gonna work.
People have the rights to buy whatever they want if they can afford it, if I have the money right now, I will go ahead and get myself a Lamborghini LP750 :)
 

Elliot87

Senior Member
This video does a pretty good job of showing why you might have wasted a whole lot of money buying a D5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCwk-Obu0dA

It just doesn't make sense getting a D5 for landscapes or portraits when the D810 (and presumably your D800) will get you better IQ in the majority of circumstances and will not be much easier to carry due to the weight difference. To me it seems like buying a ferrari to go off roading in, when you'd be much better off in a Jeep. Each to their own I guess and I hope the D5 meets your expectations and you're happy with it.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
This is just a bizarre thread, from the initial question to many of the answers. I learned quite a lot. I learned that it is not recommended that you shoot portraits or landscapes with a top end professional camera designed to shoot almost anything and everything. And more importantly I learned that the best advice about anything comes from people who have never used the device in question. Thank you, internet. Thank you, Nikonites.
 

Elliot87

Senior Member
This is just a bizarre thread, from the initial question to many of the answers. I learned quite a lot. I learned that it is not recommended that you shoot portraits or landscapes with a top end professional camera designed to shoot almost anything and everything. And more importantly I learned that the best advice about anything comes from people who have never used the device in question. Thank you, internet. Thank you, Nikonites.

Fair point but I don't need to have driven a land rover or a ferrari to know which is going to be better at driving off road. I don't think anyone is saying the D5 won't take great pictures and is probably the best body to fulfil certain needs, it just seems fairly obvious that the features which make it a $6500 dollar camera like it's autofocus system and huge buffer are fairly redundant for landscape photography and standard portraits which is what the OP mostly shoots. So the recommendation is to spend less money on a body better suited to that type of photography. I don't think anyone is recommending that you don't shoot landscapes with a D5 if that's the camera you own.
 

kkchan

Senior Member
People in the past shoot fashions with majority F3 & F4 film cameras (as seen many on Vogue and Bazaar), them cameras were quite heavy in weight, but they can with stand any abuse in rush and buzy enviroments. Pro cameras don't mean ONLY for sports even they can pump out 11+ frames/sec.
The built of those cameras are way way much better than those cheapo DX ones. Once you play with the Pro series, you will never go back to the lower stuff. This is simply you get what you paid for.
Those idiots on youtube just giving out BS because thay have never ever shoot with a pro camera or just simply can't afford one :(
 

kkchan

Senior Member
Any camera can do any kind of photography.
People back in the days use 8X10 cameras to shoot landscape, people and still life.
 

Elliot87

Senior Member
People in the past shoot fashions with majority F3 & F4 film cameras (as seen many on Vogue and Bazaar), them cameras were quite heavy in weight, but they can with stand any abuse in rush and buzy enviroments. Pro cameras don't mean ONLY for sports even they can pump out 11+ frames/sec.
The built of those cameras are way way much better than those cheapo DX ones. Once you play with the Pro series, you will never go back to the lower stuff. This is simply you get what you paid for.
Those idiots on youtube just giving out BS because thay have never ever shoot with a pro camera or just simply can't afford one :(

Right?? So the D810 is a badly built camera? Did you watch that video? They actually own and test a hell of a lot of equipment and are far more thorough than a lot of folks. I don't always agree with them but I think they test as fairly as they can.

If you are wanting to take a landscape shot and intend to make a large print, which do you think will get you the better image, D810 or D5? From comparisons I've seen of IQ and basic logic it seems clear the D810 will get you a more detailed shot which you can print bigger. So why would a landscape photographer pay more for a camera which most likely won't get as good a result, so they can have extra features they don't need?
 

gizmo285

Senior Member
Sure will be nice though using that d5 for nightscapes and twilight shots. Noise is very clean at high ISO.. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I had the money and I shoot mostly landscapes and people.. JMO............
 

SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
Here are some photos from the D5.

26474595046_804d33a02f_b.jpg


26406634145_0192a366d8_b.jpg


26446604701_94ba015a0f_b.jpg
 
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SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
First image:

Nikon 85 1.4
1.4 f-stop
500 shutter
400 ISO

Second Image:

Sigma 35mm 1.4
1.4 f-stop
2000 shutter speed
100 ISO

Third Image:

Sigma 35 1.4
1.4 f-stop
320 shutter speed
100 ISO
 

SacrificeTheory

Senior Member
This is just a bizarre thread, from the initial question to many of the answers. I learned quite a lot. I learned that it is not recommended that you shoot portraits or landscapes with a top end professional camera designed to shoot almost anything and everything. And more importantly I learned that the best advice about anything comes from people who have never used the device in question. Thank you, internet. Thank you, Nikonites.

Not sure how it's a bizarre question. It's actually a pretty simple question where if you don't have an answer to what I'm asking, there is no need to reply to it. Just move along to another thread.

Some people customize their settings in the camera for specific things. So why would it be so hard to see what people might suggest.
 
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