[Dennis]

Thom Hogan is conducting a D800 focus test and gathering information via a survey. people are invited to share their information. It may look like Thom may take this to Nikon, not quite sure, it is a long article. Here is the link to his website if your interested. http://bythom.com/

[Art]

Thanks for the link, Dennis. He seems to have a 4th of July arbitrary cutoff date and I have yet to receive my camera so I am not to worried. I am hoping that the one I get will have no issues.

I will be eagerly testing it out when it does arrive and you can be certain, I will be posting a few thousand images when I do in fact get it!

BTW, I picked up the light stand I was mentioning in another folder. I bought an umbrella stand for $35 shipped!!! I should have taken a picture of the box it came in. You could easily have shipped 15 of the umbrella stands in it. The guy who packed it just grabbed the biggest empty box he could find and tossed in my tiny item. Made me laugh and shake my head at the same time as I am sure it could 3 times what I paid just to ship a box like that! Oh well, worked out fine for me. When I get a minute, I will try and rig up a stand for the big reflector and will post a DIY pic.

Thanks for the tip.

[Sailjunkie]

Charles has posted a link to a similar (the same?) article by Hogan in the Semi-Pro bodies forum. Although lengthy, it is worth the read. It reinforces my hunch that the D800 may be more camera than I need. Overall, I thought that it was a very objective assessment.

[Dennis]

Thom must have gotten a lot of information about the D800 focus issue, he has changed his recommendation from recommended to not recommended. Nikon must have tick him off a bit. Based on the "very long read" and several very long articles, it seems one can correct the issue with the fine tuner option. But, Thom is saying that is more a band-aid and Nikon should address the problem (or admit the problem). So far, Thom is the only one I know of that is reporting the problem (plus all the respondents).

However, he just finished and is selling his book on "the complete guild to the Nikon D800 and D800e" I wonder if he will retract or modify his book?

I have not noticed anything but great D800 images here, so, I guess the focus issue is in the eye of the beholder.


Update; Thom took the D800 review link off his review page, but you can still see it here; http://bythom.com/nikond800review.htm
It has the not recomended, but I did not see where he explained why in any details. I guess thom's point is that he wants Nikon to admit there is a problem with some of the production models. Could be all good stuff in the end. I would think, it is something that a software update could be used to fix the issue, and one does not need to send it in. If one had the problem that is.

This post has been edited by Dennis: 24 July 2012 - 09:42 AM

[photojazz]

I downloaded it to read later just in case it gets removed.

[Art]

I spoke to Nikon Canada 10 minutes ago. Here is what I was told:

a) this focus issue is NOT permanent. If a camera has the one focus point out of whack, Nikon will recalibrate your camera and the fix is permanent unless you damage the camera yourself somehow.

b ) I my case, Nikon Canada has the proper equipment to fix the problem. Thom Hogan told me that repairs out of Melville, NY are done properly but there have been issues out of the Nikon Mississauga office. Regardless, they will fix it until they get it right. Not a happy way to experience a repair, hopefully, I don't have this problem when mine arrives.

c) Nikon Canada has had cameras come back with this issue but hasn't seen anything official from Nikon Japan on this issue. I guess what is getting some peoples backs up is that Nikon Japan is ignoring the problem instead of admitting it exists.

I was starting to get ticked a bit about this, but after talking to them, I am not that concerned. As I have said before, I think this camera is one of those defining technology advancements and this is a minor, insignificant hiccup, if that. Lets hope I don't have to experience the grief of getting it fixed.

This post has been edited by Art: 26 July 2012 - 09:41 AM

[Dennis]

Art, on 19 July 2012 - 03:11 PM, said:

BTW, I picked up the light stand I was mentioning in another folder. I bought an umbrella stand for $35 shipped!!! I should have taken a picture of the box it came in. You could easily have shipped 15 of the umbrella stands in it. The guy who packed it just grabbed the biggest empty box he could find and tossed in my tiny item. Made me laugh and shake my head at the same time as I am sure it could 3 times what I paid just to ship a box like that! Oh well, worked out fine for me. When I get a minute, I will try and rig up a stand for the big reflector and will post a DIY pic.

Thanks for the tip.

Your welcome, can't wait to see the setup! And the great images to follow!

[Art]

Dennis, on 26 July 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:

Your welcome, can't wait to see the setup! And the great images to follow!

As soon as I do a rig, I will post some images. Unfortunately for me, I am swamped right now with work. No time for at least the next 10 days, maybe longer.

[photojazz]

Art - has the Dynomoite D800 appeared? If not, I hope that you get it soon.

[Art]

Sorry, PJ, I missed this one! I think you know the answer now!

[Art]

I recently went into a photo shop in a small town in Northern Ontario and had a wonderful chat with one of the sales reps in the store. I had my D800 strapped over my shoulder and it was a natural conversation starter.

I asked him how popular the D800 was in his store. His response was interesting, to say the least. He has never seen anything like the D800 in terms of interest and sales. Pre-Orders were through the roof, sales phenomenal. They can't keep their allotment in stock and the demand has not declined since they started taking orders earlier in the year! 4-5 come in and immediately sell out.

He was of the same opinion as I, that the Nikon hit it out of the ball park with this camera. We shared a few laughs over the amount of hard disk space images burn and how hard it is to shoot anything but the max. resolution in RAW to get the best image. We seemed to both agree every image had to be the best resolution it could be, just in case you hit on a stellar photo op.

I asked how the DIII was selling? In this particular shop, it is not selling, "AT ALL!" Zip. Customers come in and ask for the D800. I was really surprised. He said there is little interest or demand for the DIII because for the same money, the D800 outshines and outclasses it. Period. He laughed when we talked about it coming out more expensive than the D800 and how the price quickly dropped to match it, to not much success!

The most interesting comment was Canon users (his customers) were dumping their gear and going back to Nikon. I thought this was an interesting comment. Now, this is a small town, I wonder how this translates in bigger cities?

We got to talking about other things including NIkon pricing policies to dealers. I am always fascinated by this due to my experience in dealing with Apple when I was a dealer.

Nikon gives the same price to all their authorized dealers regardless of volume. I was blown away by this and delighted to hear it.

North of Toronto, Nikon sales are very brisk! Very happy to hear it, at least in this small town.

This post has been edited by Art: 12 August 2012 - 10:59 PM

[Sailjunkie]

Interesting observation, Art. My LCS told me much the same thing before we went on holidays. Lots of demand for the D800.

He also told me that the D700 was no longer available in Canada. D300s was only available by order--he didn't have any in stock and wasn't expecting any. Interesting!

Hopefully, the D800 is only the start of good things for Nikon.

[Art]

Indeed, I do hope it is the start of something good for Nikon as well. In regards to the D700 and D300s, if you are looking for anything you can't find locally, there is always Henry's Church St, Aden Camera and Downtown Camera in Toronto that typically have lots of stock of everything Nikon. You can always call or email.