Camera Construction and Ergonomics / Handling
The Nikon D810 went through small, but important ergonomic changes. The most important change is the grip, which makes the D810 much more comfortable to hand-hold than the D800 / D800E cameras. Nikon reduced the size of the “Pv” and “Fn” buttons on the front of the camera, which gives more space for fingers. The grip shape has also been changed to be a bit curvier and it extends a little further for added comfort. The back of the camera and the memory card door have also been modified ergonomically. The hump on the back of the camera that separates the thumb has been enlarged and the memory card door is now also covered in rubber, which not only helps to keep a good grip on the camera but also reduces the chance of potentially dropping the camera.
To follow the trend of the recent DSLRs, Nikon has moved the BKT (Bracketing) button from the top left dial of the camera to the front. Another welcome change is the textured surface of the Autofocus mode button on the left front of the camera, which makes it easy to locate it with your fingers when looking through the viewfinder. Here is a comparison of the front part of the D810 and D800E:
You can notice the slightly bumpier look of the grip on the D810 from top to bottom and the increased space for fingers.
The most notable change on the top of the camera is the large dial to the left of the viewfinder. The Nikon D810 gained a new “Qc” (Quiet Continous) mode, which allows shooting the camera in Quiet mode continuously. As mentioned above, the Bracketing button has been moved from the dial and its placeholder has been replaced with the Metering button. Speaking of which, I am glad that Nikon changed the Metering switch to a button and moved it completely from the back. The previous metering switch was painful to use, especially when wearing gloves. Now you can just push the button on the top of the camera and use the back dial to switch between different metering modes.
My biggest complaint is the “QUAL” (Quality) button – I don’t know why Nikon does not swap it with another function. When wearing gloves in the cold, I once accidentally switched from RAW to JPEG without knowing it and did not realize that I was shooting in JPEG mode for a few hours. I believe it would have been better if Nikon replaced it with something less critical, such as Info or Live View.
Aside from the changes to the left dial, the D810 only got a slight ergonomic change on the top of the camera. The On/Off switch / Shutter Release button, along with the Exposure Compensation button, have been angled down a little and there is now a slight bump that separates the index finger from other buttons, which surely makes the D810 more comfortable to use.
When I talked to our wildlife and rock climbing guru John Sherman, he complained about the D800 / D800E / D810 cameras not having a feature to allow adjusting ISO with one hand while looking through the viewfinder – something he could easily do with his D4S camera. What he did not know, was that the D800 / D800E cameras actually had that feature delivered as a firmware update earlier this year: one could program the video record button on top of the camera to do just that by going to Custom Setting Menu -> Assign movie record button (f13) -> ISO sensitivity. The Nikon D810 also has this capability, so once you make the above change, you will be able to modify Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO with just your right hand. Big thanks to John Lawson for providing this useful information.
The back of the camera also went through very light changes. Nikon added an “i” button, which provides access to the most important camera settings. Although the button is new, the function access is identical to that of the D800 / D800E. On the D800 / D800E cameras, you have to press the “Info” button twice to get to the same menu. Instead, Nikon disabled the double press function on the “Info” button and moved it to this dedicated “i” button. Personally, I was perfectly fine with just a single button on the D800 / D800E and I do not feel like this function separation adds any value to the already excellent ergonomics.
Another positive change is the LCD screen. Although the screen size stayed the same at 3.2″, the resolution has increased from 921K dots to 1,229K dots, which means that you can see more details in images. In addition, as mentioned on the previous page, you can now actually adjust the colors on the LCD screen by going to “Setup Menu” -> “Monitor color balance”. This is a neat feature because you can actually take a picture of a color chart and calibrate the screen to give you more accurate colors. If you see any color tint in images, you can quickly make quick corrections without having to load any software.
Overall, the camera handles very well – better than any other standard profile DSLR I have used in the past for sure…
The build quality is stellar, something one would expect from a high-end DSLR. Just like its predecessors, the D810 has a full magnesium-alloy frame and is built to last. The buttons and access doors on the camera are weather-sealed for dusty and humid environments.
Improved Viewfinder
Another boost the Nikon D810 received when compared to the D800 / D800E is its superior pentaprism with a coated surface for more brightness and clarity. Indeed, the viewfinder on the D810 is amazing – it is both brighter and clearer when compared to my D800E viewfinder. This was especially noticeable when photographing in low light situations. In addition, Nikon actually changed the digital screen inside the viewfinder. The Nikon D810 is the first Nikon FX camera that features an OLED viewfinder display (the first Nikon DSLR to have one was the Nikon D7100), which has brighter white colors than the traditional green we see on the D800 / D800E.
New Mirror / Shutter Mechanism
If you have been using a Nikon DSLR, you already know how loud Nikon’s shutter is. Well, the biggest contributor to noise and camera shake is in fact not the shutter – it is the mirror. When the mirror is raised before each exposure, it results in a “mirror slap”, which generates a lot of vibration that can be felt, especially when using long lenses. That’s one area where Canon has traditionally been superior, thanks to their quieter mirror and shutter mechanisms. With the D810, Nikon has finally caught up with Canon in that regard – the D810 has a much different, dampened mirror mechanism that produces much less noise and vibration. In addition, Nikon also redesigned the shutter, which also significantly reduces noise and vibration. These two changes together amount to drastic changes when the D810 is compared to the D800 / D800E cameras.
This change alone has made the D810 worth upgrading to for some people. I personally found this change to be quite important for wildlife photography. Wild birds did not seem to mind the shutter sound from the D810, whereas the D800 / D800E and even the D4S (which is specifically targeted for sports photography) would often spook them after just a single shot. I really hope that Nikon will continue dampening the mirror and shutter mechanism on all future DSLRs, similar to what they have done on the D810.
Now if you find yourself in a situation where you really need to go as quiet as possible, the “Q” (Quiet) mode on the camera is actually pretty neat – it raises the mirror slower than usual, which produces even less noise. And the nice thing is, you can now switch to the new “Qc” (Quiet continuous) mode if you are after wildlife and do not mind the slower frame rate.
Electronic Front-curtain Shutter
I was very excited when I first found out that the Nikon D810 has an electronic front-curtain feature, also known as “electronic first-curtain”. This is something I have been longing for and I never thought that I would actually see the feature implemented on a Nikon DSLR (a number of Canon DSLRs, Sony SLT and mirrorless cameras have had this feature for a while). Basically, once you turn the Electronic front-curtain shutter “On” in the Custom Setting Menu (a5), the camera will be able to start the exposure without using the shutter mechanism, which helps a great deal in completely eliminating camera shake resulting from the shutter. Since the mirror and shutter must be raised for this feature to be actually useful, Nikon only enabled it in two settings: when shooting in “Mup” (Mirror lock-up) mode and in Live View.
When shooting in Mirror Lock-Up mode, the behavior of the D810 changes when compared to the D800 / D800E cameras. When you press the shutter release button, the mirror is raised and the camera waits for you to trigger the camera. Once triggered, the camera starts recording the image right away and once it is done, the shutter closes and the mirror is lowered at the same time. If you do not have a remote and you are shooting at very low shutter speeds, the camera will still vibrate from your hand releasing the shutter. In such situations, my advice would be to use the Exposure delay mode, which delays the beginning of the exposure by a set amount of time (1, 2 or 3 seconds). You can access this via “Custom Setting Menu” -> “Exposure delay mode” (d4) (I usually set mine to 3 seconds).
If you prefer to shoot in Live View mode, the Electronic Front-curtain shutter is even more useful, since the mirror is already raised. Well, that’s where Nikon screwed up since it also requires you to be in Mirror Lock-Up mode to work as intended. If you are in any other mode, the camera will still close the shutter before the start of the exposure, which does not make any sense. This is certainly a bug and something Nikon should fix via a firmware update. Until Nikon fixes this problem, my recommendation is to use the Mirror Lock-Up mode in Live View.
Here is the typical behavior of photographing subjects in Live View mode (Nikon D800 / D800E / D810):
Nikon D800 / D800E / D810:
- Pressing the Live View button Raises the Mirror and opens the shutter
- Shutter quickly closes and opens as soon as the shutter release is pressed at the beginning of the exposure
- Sensor records data
- Shutter closes at the end of exposure and immediately opens back up to continue in live view mode
- Mirror is lowered when Live View is turned off
With the Electronic Front-curtain Shutter feature turned on, step #2 should not include any shutter action, since the shutter is already open. This is the part that Nikon needs to fix via a firmware update.
Now here is what happens when you use Mirror Lock-Up in Live View on the Nikon D800 / D800E:
- Pressing the shutter release button closes the shutter and awaits for exposure start
- Pressing the shutter release button again opens the shutter
- Sensor records data
- Shutter closes at the end of exposure and immediately opens back up to continue in live view mode
With electronic front-curtain turned on, the Nikon D810 works a bit differently in comparison:
- Pressing the shutter release button does nothing – it awaits for the exposure to start
- Pressing the shutter release button again starts the exposure without any mechanical movements
- Sensor records data
- Shutter closes at the end of exposure and immediately opens back up to continue in live view mode
As you can see, the Mirror Lock-Up feature in Live View is super effective, as it does not require the shutter to close and open again at the beginning of each exposure. The neat thing is, Exposure delay mode works even in Live View mode, so if you forget your remote camera release cable, you can set a 3-second delay as well.
This is how I captured the moon, while it was quickly moving at 1350mm focal length:
When I photographed the moon with my D800E before, I had a hard time stabilizing the setup, even with a 3 second exposure delay mode. Vibrations at such long focal lengths are insane and sometimes require more than 3 seconds to completely settle. With the D810, I fired up Live View, used contrast-detect to focus on the moon, then used the Mirror Lock-Up mode with a remote shutter release. As you can see, I was able to get excellent details – something I had not been able to do before.
Live View
One problem that I absolutely hated on the Nikon D800 / D800E cameras was live view interpolation. Unfortunately, Nikon completely screwed up the magnified view on those cameras and what you saw at 100% magnification was not pixel level, but an interpolated view that looked like a fuzzy mess. This was a huge problem for me and many others because it made live-view practically useless for very precise focusing. This problem also made the job of testing lenses in my lab much more difficult – I often resorted to focus bracketing, as I simply could not clearly see how properly focused a test target really was.
Nikon fixed this annoyance on the D810 – it now has a true 1:1 pixel-level magnification. This proper live view implementation was alone worth the upgrade from the D800E for me. Not only is it much easier to test lenses now, but it is also easier to acquire precise focus on distant subjects in landscape and astrophotography. If you attempt to use a 2x teleconverter with a slower lens, contrast-detect AF might no longer be functional. In those situations, being able to see clearly in Live View is important for obtaining critical focus.
A neat new feature that Nikon introduced in the D810 is “Split Screen Zoom”. When activated, the camera shows you a magnified area from both the left and right sides of the frame side by side, which can be used for accurate leveling of the camera. This is a great feature for correctly aligning the horizon when photographing landscapes. Architectural photographers will also appreciate this feature because they can align buildings and other lines/objects in the frame perfectly.
Video / Movie Recording
Movie shooters will probably be happy to see drastic changes in movie recording capabilities of the D810. Nikon introduced a new “Auto ISO” feature in Manual Mode for video shooting, which should make it easy to keep the shutter speed and aperture the same, while letting the camera adjust brightness levels depending on the scene. Full HD recording has been increased to 60 fps and the D810 now comes with a slew of options for movie makers. In fact, Nikon is pushing the D810 heavily for videography needs, thanks to the many video recording options and simultaneous recording of footage to memory cards and external devices. Nikon now even bundles a special “filmmaker kit”, which includes the Atomos Ninja 2 external video recorder. Sadly, there is no 4K support, which is quickly becoming the standard in videography.
From what I have seen in various Internet resources, the quality of videos produced from the D810 is amazing – much better compared to what the Canon 5D Mark III is capable of. I personally have not done much video recording with my D810 yet, but I am happy to see that it is also a superb camera for shooting movies.
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