Nikon D810 review: Hands-on

The latest DSLR in Nikon's range boasts the highest image quality yet in the maker's history. Check out our Nikon D810 hands-on review

 

The Nikon D810 DSLR sports the highest image quality in Nikon's history, says its maker. Big words, but can the replacement for the Nikon D800 and Nikon D800E live up to them?

Sitting below the top-of-the-range Nikon D4s in the range, this is a pro camera that's also in reach for enthiastic amateurs (albeit ones with bags of cash). It sits just above the Nikon D610.

Nikon D810: Size and build

The D800 was already an impressive camera and some would argue that there wasn't much room for imrprovement, but Nikon has made several tweaks to the design. The grip has been improved so that it's more comfy to hold - although we weren't able to get our mitts on it for very long, we found it was great to hold and didn't feel overly weighty even with a lens attached.

Some of the buttons have also been switched around slightly since the last model to make them more easily accessible, while an i button has been added for swifter access to some of the key controls.

The new model comes with dust and weather sealing, like that on the Nikon D7100 so you should be fine taking pictures even if there's a classic British downpour.

Nikon D810: Features

The new ultra-wide ISO range goes from 64 to 12800 so the camera can cope in a variety of lighting conditions and will maintain definition even in bright light.

According to Nikon, you'll be able to capture up to 1200 images on a single charge, something that we'll best tesing out later on.

Nikon D810: Screen

The D810 features a respectable 3.2-inch 1229k-dot LCD anti-reflective display, which looked clear and bright in our short test. We only had the chance to try this out in studio conditions, rather than out in bright sunlight but that's something we'll look at again as soon as we get our mitts on a review sample.

Nikon D810: Picture quality

 

The brand new FX-format CMOS sensor has a pixel count of 36.3MP and Nikon has left out the optical low pass filter so that the image packs in as much detail as possible.

The D810 also features the same Expeed 4 processing engine as the flagship D4S and as well as the same 51-point AF system as the range-topping pro cam.

The new model can shoot with a a burst rate of 5fps on full resolution images and up to 7fps on cropped pictures. All of these enhancements combined certainly add up to some very impressive specs.

The camera's video credentials have also been given a boost including increased frame rates. We didn't get time to try out the video mode but that's something we'll be looking at in more detail in our full review.

Nikon D810: Verdict

Although the Nikon D810 may seem like a modest upgrade compared to the popular D800, the jump in picture quality is extemely impressive on paper. And the results that we were shown taken by pro snapper John Wright after a very short time with the camera were great. We look forward to testing it out in full.

Nikon D810 release date: 17 July 2014

Nikon D810 price: £2699.99 (body only)

Posted in: GADGETS