Nikon D810 review: Ladies and gentlemen, meet the perfect DSLR

When it comes to serious photography, the kind where you are willing to cut absolutely no corners on image quality and detail, there are very few products that come close to an honest-to-goodness Digital SLR camera.

You may argue in favour of smaller devices such as the newer micro four-thirds cameras or may even go so far as to say that high-end mobile phones (such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 or the iPhone 6) have cameras that rival DSLR cameras. Hogwash.

In the world of photography, there is one universal truth--nothing can compensate for ‘bigger’. It is pure physics--bigger sensors capture purer image information with lesser noise, and larger lenses capture more light, which is all important in taking great photos or videos. Even while advancements have been made in digital signal processing, where the inherent challenges of image noise, brightness and distortion can be ‘compensated’ by smart image processing algorithms in smaller devices, the final result--though it may look alright to the untrained eye--is still processed. It’s like a top-of-the-menu McDonald’s burger and a gourmet burger from a fine dining restaurant: they’ll both taste good, but the difference in quality is unmistakable.

Which brings me to the Nikon D810. This is Nikon’s new full-frame DSLR, and it pushes many limits on how much photographic power can be packed into something that fits in two palms. Its standout features include 36.3 megapixels of resolution, which delivers all the pixels you’d possibly want even if you aggressively crop your photos (see the example above--the photo was taken at regular laptop viewing distance, but even individual pixels are discernable at 100% view). In conjunction with its fast and intelligent EXPEED 4 imaging processor, you can snap burst shots at a speedy 5fps (going up to 7fps if you use the DX mode that has a lower-resolution setting). All the while, the D810 is significantly quieter than its predecessor the D800 (and even the pro-quality D4S or the D600 for that matter).

We used both a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G prime and a Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM zoom lens over the course of the review. Autofocus is particularly stellar in this camera: along with the 51 AF points, we experienced its excellent Auto AF mode that locks on to subjects in the viewfinder with immediacy and precision. It is also able to stay locked on to relevant areas even when the subject is moving within the field of view. The quick autofocus tracking works excellently with that inherently quick burst mode: no matter what the action in front of you--from extreme sports to a particularly wired toddler--this camera responds with unfailing enthusiasm and reliability.

Having a full-frame sensor itself begets images with lower noise. The D810 notches this to another level with the ability to step the ISO down to an ultra-clean ISO32, or up to ISO12,800 in regular mode (and up to 51,200 in HI+2 mode). While image noise does show up in the higher ISO modes, it is so gradual that it doesn’t really matter given the amount of resolution--it is all but impossible to perceive any image noise when viewing photos at full size. This camera, like others that have debuted recently, does away with the anti-aliasing filter and the optical low pass filter (OLPF) making its sensor far more receptive to incoming light and resulting in truer colors and greater detail compared to the majority of today’s cameras that need to utilize these filters.

Like other cameras of its ilk, this one also stores in both NEF and JPEG formats. Full resolution JPEG files will range in size from about 18MB down to 3.2 MB depending on the compression chosen. While a full-resolution uncompressed 14-bit RAW image can weigh in at a hefty 73MB level, there is a special lower-resolution 12-bit uncompressed RAW mode that brings the per-shot image size down to about 28MB. This is an interesting mode to utilize if you want to retain the higher-quality advantages of RAW processing, while working faster with manageable file and image sizes.

On the video shooting front, this camera does a maximum of 1080p at 60fps. It also features stereo microphones, making it ideal as a primary video shooting system if you’re interested in nothing higher than HD video. The imaging processor does a fine job here too, controlling ISO, color and sharpness while shooting. You can also change aperture while recording, making for creative scenarios.

While a camera such as this aims to deliver on every front, there are a few minor areas that could have seen improvement. I’m nitpicking here, but given the range of feature this devices packs, accessing some of them can be a bit meticulous at times. For example, to use a smaller crop for the image sensor (the 1.5x DX mode, for example), you need to access the Menu and click through to the Shooting Menu and Image Area. Other such interesting modes are hidden within menus, which means knowing how to get there and spending time getting there each time you need to invoke them. Not all of these can be mapped to the function buttons on the camera body, which is a pity.

At a whisper under Rs 2 lacs, this is an all-out enthusiast/professional camera. It surpasses virtually all of its predecessors both in terms of capability and price, and raises the bar on many fronts; its best-of-class resolution, spot-on autofocus, ultra-quiet operation and responsive shooting speed. It is one of the few cameras out there that we can wholeheartedly recommend, no matter what the shooting requirement--from still life to wildlife to real life--the D810 is the current king of the hill.

What we liked: Excellent sensor resolution, fast and reliable autofocus, quiet operation, very low noise even at higher ISOs
What we didn’t: Some settings are cumbersome to access, the camera weighs in at almost a kilo which becomes noticeable during extended use