Known problems on Nikon D800?

[giellaleafapmu]

I'd like to ask to members of the forum who have better knowledge of these kind of things: is there some known problem on (at least some) D800 cameras which made them cheaper on the second hand market? I know it is not very fast and it has high megapixels count coupled with AA filter, which somebody does not like, but I found several examples of the camera to be surprisingly cheap on the second hand market, hence the question. For istance, I found several mint examples with shutter count somewhere in the 20,000s costing almost 600 US$ less than a D750 (new, of course) and from what I have seen except for the speed (which is not really great on the D750 either) the D800 should be superior in every respect.

GLF

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Did you google this question? Sometimes you get information that way. At least, I learned a while ago that if you google the question about problems with the D600 you will get oodles and caboodles of data about the well-known issue of the oily shutter.

Try doing that too. And I'll see what others post here. I'd like a D800 myself, but my D700 is still going VERY strong.

 

[Jan Pedersen]

The D800 is a great camera, it is huge and if you want to use the fastest zoom lenses and i am thinking the holy trinity range of zoom lenses it can create very nice large files.

Issues, yes there is at least one you should be aware of.
A few of the D800's had like the D600 oil splatter on the sensor issues. Mine did and was sent to Nikon twice for repair but Nikon did nothing but cleaned the sensor.
If you are buying second hand and the camera have > 20k clicks the problem will most likely be a non issue, mine has about 6k activations and the problem is slowly disapearing.

Nikon have as far as i know never acknowledged the problem on the D800 and they lost me as a customer after more than 40 years of buying their cameras.

 

[lcpr]

Some D800s may suffer from the left focus issue:
http://blog.mingthein.com/2012/07/0...-d800-d800e-d4-has-the-left-focusing-problem/

Other than that, there aren't any other flaws. A used D800 is probably one of the best bang for your buck cameras on the market at the moment. I saved ~$1k in going for a 4K shutter count D800E instead of a new D810 or D750.

 

[jsrockit]

I know it is not very fast

In what regard?

 

[giellaleafapmu]

In what regard?

It's maybe 4fps or so... Sorry, I know I am really in the wrong forum for this but, among other photographic addiction, I also enjoy birding and I always think to the fps number when I look at any camera. It's not really a huge problem as long as the buffer is large and the camera does not freeze but is a number I always look at.

GLF

 

[jsrockit]

It's maybe 4fps or so...

Oh ok, understood.

 

[Ronald M]

It was made to be a studio or landscape camera and it does that well. D3 or D4 series are for sports or other action.

Buy the camera for the intended purpose.

 

[endoplas]

I have a D800 and it's been superb - I have had oil on the sensor but side from that fantastic. It does spend most of it's time on the copy stand for my digitisation of negatives now though 🙂

 

[giellaleafapmu]

Buy the camera for the intended purpose.

All actions in life are the result of some sort of optimization process which often involves some compromise. Of course, if I had the money or could recover quickly the money necessary to buy all Nikon, Leica, Canon, Sinar and PhaseOne catalog I would, but, like most people I have to make choices, so I try to find out also how weak is really the weakest point of a product and sometimes I have to do my best with what I have.

GLF

 

[Larry H-L]

Some don't like how loud it is.

I think the shutter noise was tamed somewhat in the 810.

 

[x-ray]

I've had one since they came out and use it commercially and have had no issues. I'm extremely happy with it. It's so good I sold my Hasselblad digital equipment.

 

[kxl]

Not sure if the D7200 is out of your rice range, but if you like birding and need higher fps, you may want to look at that.

 

[giellaleafapmu]

Not sure if the D7200 is out of your rice range, but if you like birding and need higher fps, you may want to look at that.

Yep, I know, and it is indeed in the right price range, just I was contemplating the choice between a pro body with FF and large buffer, and a really fast camera, either a D3 or D4 or switching to Canon pro-APS. I am kind of fed up with these "almost there", "quite good", solutions. What is out of my price range is to have both the high pixel AND the superfast camera bought now so I will have either to catch a lot of pictures and content myself with not so good high iso and not so nice smoothness and bokeh (if I go with Canon) or not so many pixels (if I get a D3 or a D4) OR have a lot of MPX and ability to crop if necessary but going at around 5fps max. I am sure I'll survive in both cases... 😀

Thanks for the suggestions anyway.

GLF