When Nikon approached me to review the Nikon D850, it was a little daunting task for me as I do not consider myself a DSLR full-frame photographer knowing that it doesn’t have an Auto Mode. Still, if you are looking to buy the D850, you should be good enough photographer to use the manual mode with ease. Considering all this, I do have good knowledge of manually using a camera. Still, under the tricky situation, I tend to give the camera’s computational algorithm the driver’s seat. Knowing that I will not get that privilege with D850, I did my extensive study about its controls to prepare for my 3-week trip to India.
Practise makes perfect
In the first 2 days, I was struggling with the controls, making me think that maybe this is not the right camera for me. But after a week of handling it, I was a pro. I was changing the setting left, right, and center as per my requirement for each shot. The first thing I noticed was how smooth the auto-focus works. I was having almost no issues focusing on my subject. It features a 45.7 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor with no optical low-pass filter and an Expeed 5 image processor, which allows for fast burst rates and 4K video capture. The images came out sharp and clear with clean and true to life colors.
All-round camera
My primary purpose with this camera in India was Street Photography. On top of that, the camera performed great for almost all types of photography.
Build quality is excellent. The grip is excellent. The flippy screen is excellent. Subjective observation, but the shutter sound is pleasant as well. The AF in live view is also great, but slow. That been said, it does have FOCUS PEAKING when manually focusing or using tilt-shift lenses.
The D850 also has refined auto white balance masking features. This is a big deal for me. I did not expect and haven’t heard much about anyone else for some reason. You can now have the ability to dial in your auto white balance to make relative “masking” adjustments. What this means is that you can tell the camera “make this image cooler where you’d normally balance it warm.” or any other modification to temp or tint. It’s a feature that’s been available on other cameras, but it’s implemented the best with the D850.
There are some other excellent features… Wi-Fi is more simple to set up. Better implementation of the star rating and sub-menus, but I’m going to wrap this review up neatly for you…
It’s disappointing that the video autofocus performance of the D850 is not better because, as we will see, the camera’s actual video quality is quite impressive.
D850 Key Features
- Weather-sealed magnesium alloy body
- Tilting 3.2-inch high-res touchscreen
- Touch operation for all menus
- Nikon’s biggest optical viewfinder ever
- Dual card slots, including one XQD and one SD card slot
- Illuminated buttons
- New backside-illuminated 45.7-megapixel full-frame sensor without optical low pass filter (OLPF)
- Native ISO range of 64 – 25,600, expandable down to ISO 32 and up to ISO 102,400
- The same 153-point autofocus system as the Nikon D5 and D500
- EXPEED 5 image processor
- Up to 7 frames per second full-res continuous shooting (9 fps with the optional battery grip and EN-EL18 battery)
- 200,000 cycle low-vibration shutter
- Focus-shift mode for up to 300 shots
- 8K time lapse
- Full-frame 4K UHD video recording at up to 30 frames per second
- Slow-motion Full HD video at up to 120 fps
- Focus peaking when recording Full HD and using Live View
- HDMI output for 4:2:2 8-bit 4K UHD footage and simultaneous internal and external recording
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for Nikon SnapBridge compatibility
In-camera batch RAW processing
The D850 allows users to batch process RAW files in-camera even faster than their computer at home, providing more flexibility in the field than ever before. Nikon says the D850 can convert a RAW file to a JPEG in as little as 1.5 seconds, which is very quick.
Conclusion
Nikon has delivered class-leading resolution with an excellent dynamic range. AF works very fast and burst shooting is excellent too. You get the durable weather-sealed body and improved ergonomics with a touchscreen display. The live view mode can be a little better for easing viewing.
