Nikon D800 DSLR: USB 3.0, 36.3MP Monster is Released
There is something almost tangible about hearing of another upgrade to Nikon’s prosumer line. The D hundred line is designed to cater to the needs of consumers who want a serious "FX" Full frame sensor but do not want to take out a second mortgage to afford it. As with any new prosumer camera from Nikon, there are many great features that make the new D800 DSLR a Nikon camera. Chief amongst these is of course the full frame sensor which in this new D800 is rated for a whopping 36.3 mega-pixels (15.4 in DX mode). Granted, more is not always better as it adds in more "noise" in low conditions. When dealing with a sensor 23.9 x 36mm in size (compared to usual 7.18 x 2.32mm found in a P&S camera), this is not an overly large concern. To counteract this issue the Nikon D800 is "limited" to a mere ISO 6400. This more than enough for most consumers. The same can be said of the frames per second this camera boasts. 36.3 mega-pixels is a lot of data to store on a card so not only will you need an uber-fast card such as the 600X UDMA CF, you will be hit with a slight fps penalty compared to previous models' 8fps. With its optional battery grip, the D800 can do 5fps before the internal RAM is full and things start to slow down. This too is a bit disappointing but is more than fast enough for most non-paparazzi consumers. While internally it can transport 5 frames per second of massive 36.3 mexa-pixel images to the CompactFlash card, things would be downright grim if you were to transfer these files from the camera to your computer via USB 2.0. This has always been the weakness of many of Nikon's cameras. Luckily, this camera is USB 3.0 equipped and will be able to transfer files at the speed of the CF card to your hard drive. All these feature of course do come at a price. With an asking price of $3000, this is not a cheap camera, but for the serious shutterbug, its great features more than make this a bargain.
