Introduction
This camera is the seminal Nikon DSLR, culminating in Nikon’s years of DSLR development into an extremely well rounded do - everything camera. So many people have dumped it, and other very capable DSLRs and moved to mirrorless. I am a much more tool to task type of shooter, who values the beautifully large optical view finders in Nikon’s D8xx series cameras, and the strengths which they play to.
Specifications
45.7MP BSI CMOS sensor
7 fps continuous shooting with AE/AF (9 with battery grip and EN-EL18b battery)
153-point AF system linked to 180,000-pixel metering system
UHD 4K video capture at up to 30p from full sensor width
1080 video at up to 120p, recorded as roughly 1/4 or 1/5th speed slow-mo
4:2:2 8-bit UHD uncompressed output while recording to card
1 XQD slot and 1 UHS II-compliant SD slot
Battery life rated at 1840 shots
3.2" tilting touchscreen with 2.36M-dot (1024×768 pixel) LCD
Illuminated controls
19.4MP DX crop (or 8.6MP at 30fps for up to 3 sec)
SnapBridge full-time Bluetooth LE connection system with Wi-Fi
Advanced time-lapse options (including in-camera 4K video creation
D850 Image Quality and Dynamic Range
The D850’s image quality in 35mm format is still class leading, many, many years after it’s release in 2017. Even the Z7II, which on paper is very close, cannot beat it. (it’s actually slightly worse, because if used to the absolute limit, the Z7II autofocus grid is hidden in the data if pulled too hard especially in serious applications such as deep sky work the autofocus grid can be seen. This does not occur ever in DSLR’s as focusing is carried out off sensor). So even present day, nothing is touching this sensor. Let’s look at the D850’s class leading sensor stats from photonstophotos.com:
This sensor clocks in a whopping 11.63 stop of dynamic range at base ISO of 64. Not only this, the RAW files are so malleable (which these charts don’t necessarily tell us) in post processing. You can pull a file any which way and it holds up. It saves you if you screw up when taking the image. The shadow latitude is absolutely insane. One can expose for the highlights, and drag the shadows up to get a realistic image, without horrendous noise or banding like with other brands. It is simply ridiculous how good this sensor is.
Dual Gain Design
Similarly to the D810 before it, if needing to boost an exposure excessively in lower light - it is best to shoot at ISO 400 due to read noise. (note the little bump upwards in dynamic range here on the graph). What this means is, if in low light shooting portraits, or astro foregrounds, increasing dyanmic range in camera is the same as doing so in post. This is called sensor invarience. However, the reason it is best to keep it at 400 and boost later, is you will retain dynamic range, particularly highlight data. If you crush it up to ISO 6400, your dynamic range will have dropped. The key here, boost it in post. During daylight, to get the best latitude, it is obviously advisable to shoot at ISO 64. The BSI part of the sensor design means the light gathering elements of the sensor are closer to the surface of the chip. This means, that the D850 is even better than the already good D810 at high ISO, and it can be pushed even further. The D810 can produce a slight magenta glow if pushed really hard, at high ISO.
ISO 64
ISO 64 is a magic ISO where one can feel free of dynamic range problems or constraints. For example, if you shoot Sony, Canon or Fuji, you are simply missing out. It’ s ironic for the sony shooters. Nikon sensors are made by Sony; however Nikon tune them and get more out of them than Sony do. ISO 64 is a landscape photographers dream with so much latitude that exposure brackets are needed less and less. NB: Of course, still needed in certain situations.
Electronic Front Curtain Shutter
This one is really useful for us landscape and particulary, astro guys. Yes it stops vibrations, (however I had no issues with the D810, which doesn’t offer this). However, what this does provide is less wear on the shutter at night. Astro often involves many, many exposures, particularly if doing time lapse photography. Using this mode means the shutter stays open and the shutter actuations count will not rise with exposures. The electronic shutter is a huge boon for this type of shooting because of this, potentially prolonging the shutter life of the camera as well as dealing with any vibrations.
Build Quality
The build of this camera reminds me of the D700. The whole D8xx range is superb and although feel like bricks, can take some punishment and come out unscathed. I have never had an issue with this camera in this vein. Simply holding it in your hand confirms the feeling of a well crafted tool. It feels superb and ergonomic and solidly built.
Optical View Finder
The D8xx series have supberb optical view finders that give a superb in the moment feel: you are looking at the scene at the speed of light with zero lag, and zero feeling of tunnel vision with constant use. They are easy to use and compose with. Information on the LCD panel below is sufficient and gives all the details one would want. The only minor thing they should have popped in here is the battery life remaining. (It does come up when critcally low).
LCD monitor
The LCD monitor is extremely high resolution and adjusts to a level that it can be used in bright sunlight. It should, like the D800 have auto brightness, like all phones do. It seems Nikon considers it’s user base confuses brightness with actual image exposure perhaps and removed this function? It tilts in one axis only, my only complaint is that I would prefer a dual axis tilt screen, like the Z 8 and Z9 now have. (This becomes really useful when doing low lying vertical orientated shots, especially at night.
Autofocus and FPS
The autofocus in the D850 is another evolution of the D810. The D810 can’t match the D850 in sports, but this was never really my forte. I have shot some equestrian events, and some motor racing and have always been able to nail it on the D810 and make pictures with fast lenses. That said, close fast moving subjects on the D850 have a higher hit rat with this camera. There are lots of modes and options to make the camera do what you wish it to do. The camera shoots at 7 FPS in full RAW mode, producing gorgeous, highly editable files.
Use Cases:
Deep Sky Astro
I have a tutorial on this here with the D850 used for years to photograph the deep night sky. For this camera body, shoot at a higher ISO for this specific purpose and ignore what I have said above about limiting to ISO 400. Nikon camera’s can produce concentric circles when shooting at too low an ISO and stacking multiple hours of night sky data (commonplace in deep sky astro of course), then stretching it to reveal faint signal afterward. Start at ISO 800 to reduce your chance of problems in this regard.
Landscape Photography
You are in good company if you particpate in this genre. For 99% of shooting, you will be at ISO 64. To maxmise IQ, in lower light, ISO 400 should be selected (dual gain point, below that, the sensor is ISO invariant). I don’t need to say anything more about this camera for this genre as it is tried and tested. In 35mm format, nothing beats it.
Sports
A large bright OVF is what a sports shooter should consider. They spend vast amount of time watching and studying before pushing the shutter. A lot of that time, is spend with the eye pressed up to the finder. Do you watch to watch TV all day? With the OVF advantages (and battery), along with excellent reliable AF and amazing lens selection, you cannot go wrong if you like using a body this size for sports (some prefer the larger nikons).
Portraiture / Weddings
Another obvious win for this camera. Yes it lacks eye AF, but you really don’t need this, not really. Image quality for portraits is excellent, skin tones are sublime and the files are so malleable as with the other genres, this camera is tried and tested.
Macro / Copy work
I am not a macro shooter per se, however I can see no reason why this camera would not be perfect in such disciplines. The high quality, high megapixel sensor will take care of all needs in these situations.
Final Thoughts
I would not have added a Z 8 into the mix if the D850 had a few things:
A higher sensitivity in lower light for astro purposes, helping vastly when constructing panos (mosaics) of the night sky
A dual tilt screen
USB charging
I wanted to upgrade my landscape lenses to zooms and wished the latest lenses (24-70/2.8S), (14-24/2.8S with front filters)
If you are a sports shooter, shoot weddings, or portraits, candid or in a studio with lights - think long and hard about why you want to move everything to mirrorless. The main reason I added a mirrorless body was because of the way I was using the D850. I was using the monitor most of the time these last few years, as per common landscape / astrophotography practice. So I am not missing the OVF in that regard. As soon as I want to shoot people, a wedding etc, the DSLRs come out. Don’t necessarily ditch all your DSLRs for the new toys. Tool to task…
As you can see from above technically, I have lost a small amount of image quality at base ISO and at around ISO 400 where there is a small dip in the camera’s range. For the Z 8, we either shoot at ISO 64, or at 500 for this reason (500 is the dual gain switch point in this model and means more stretching and cleaner images can be had, then trying to drag up an ISO 400 shot). At base ISO, the image quality loss is small, but it is still mildly annoying that we have a kind of one step forward, one step back game going on here. Due to the stacked sensor, the Z 8 has about 1/3 of a stop less dynamic range. It makes it’s RAW files slightly less malleable and yes - I have noticed it. Most will not however, and it can be mitigated by good shooting technique. So no need for the sky to fall; however if you want class leading image quality at an absolute steal of a price - you have just won a watch if you pick up a D850, especially right now, or forever…Because of this, it remains Highly Recommend.