Damon Pena Photo wrote:
My wife and I are on the verge of upgrading to a D800 and making our D700 the backup. I've been reading reviews on the Nikon website and I'm a bit uneasy on the purchase. I know it had a rocky start, with AF issues and overall general build quality problems. I was wondering if Nikon has since cleared most of them up.

This is a huge investment for us, I would feel much better knowing that a lot of these things have at least been reduced to minor isolated cases. We absolutely love our D700, and I don't want to be disappointed.

Does anyone have any experiences with newer iterations of the D800?

They were fixed a long time ago.  The build quality issue was never real.  I have no idea where it came from, but the D800 is built like a tank.

The left point auto-focus issue was real, but it affected just a small number of cameras.  It seems there was a calibration issue on the early units but the issue was corrected quite quickly.  Nikon tacitly admitted that there were some cameras that had a problem, but it was never that widespread.

I do want to say this though, when someone chooses to be an early adopter of any camera, you stand the chance, almost the probability of being a beta tester.  The issues you are concerned about are not unique to the D800.  The Canon 5D II had a light leak they had to repair.  Other cameras have had other issues.  No matter how much they test them, until they get them out into the real world and onto the final production line (in quantity), they really don't know everything that will come up.

If you want the camera, buy it.  You won't be dissapointed.

Damon Pena Photo wrote:
My wife and I are on the verge of upgrading to a D800 and making our D700 the backup. I've been reading reviews on the Nikon website and I'm a bit uneasy on the purchase. I know it had a rocky start, with AF issues and overall general build quality problems. I was wondering if Nikon has since cleared most of them up.

This is a huge investment for us, I would feel much better knowing that a lot of these things have at least been reduced to minor isolated cases. We absolutely love our D700, and I don't want to be disappointed.

Does anyone have any experiences with newer iterations of the D800?

I have heard more positive reviews than negative reviews from D800 users. My experience with Nikon warranty issues have been positive and (like you) I will be upgrading to the D800 in the future and using my D700 for back up.

Refurbish is another option with an extended warranty. My favorite online store has good deals on the D800.  I have always look at refurbished gear as pre-owned and double checked.

I've left a link just in case you are interested in a refurbished option.

http://www.adorama.com/INKD800R.html

Damon Pena Photo wrote:
My wife and I are on the verge of upgrading to a D800 and making our D700 the backup. I've been reading reviews on the Nikon website and I'm a bit uneasy on the purchase. I know it had a rocky start, with AF issues and overall general build quality problems. I was wondering if Nikon has since cleared most of them up.

This is a huge investment for us, I would feel much better knowing that a lot of these things have at least been reduced to minor isolated cases. We absolutely love our D700, and I don't want to be disappointed.

Does anyone have any experiences with newer iterations of the D800?

Had my D800 far 3 months now. I've had zero misfunctuon issues. I'm a new "convert" to Nikon and this camera demonstrates on a daily basis that it was a great choice.

It might be worth your while to time your purchase with one of Nikon's offers. Often $300 - $400 incentive.

IMHO, a simply amazing, first rate, camera.

Robb Mann wrote:
The issues were largely the creation of the internet. I have an early D800 with zero problems.

Absolutely. One guy has a problem and writes about it and everyone starts talking about "known"problems that in some cases is simple operator error.

Damon Pena Photo wrote:
My wife and I are on the verge of upgrading to a D800 and making our D700 the backup. I've been reading reviews on the Nikon website and I'm a bit uneasy on the purchase. I know it had a rocky start, with AF issues and overall general build quality problems. I was wondering if Nikon has since cleared most of them up.

This is a huge investment for us, I would feel much better knowing that a lot of these things have at least been reduced to minor isolated cases. We absolutely love our D700, and I don't want to be disappointed.

Does anyone have any experiences with newer iterations of the D800?

A guy reports here:

"I had one(D800E) last summer that was great and no issues. I sold it in favor of the D4. Wanting to add the D800E I ordered one 2 weeks ago. It was way off, left focus issue(which I always thought was a myth until I got one), af tuning of +/- 20 could not even correct some lenses that are fine with my D4.

I sent it back, won't buy another, even though I love the camera.

I'm very thankful to have a D4 and will keep it for a long time. It's really an amazing camera. "

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1200208

Damon Pena Photo wrote:
My wife and I are on the verge of upgrading to a D800 and making our D700 the backup. I've been reading reviews on the Nikon website and I'm a bit uneasy on the purchase. I know it had a rocky start, with AF issues and overall general build quality problems. I was wondering if Nikon has since cleared most of them up.

This is a huge investment for us, I would feel much better knowing that a lot of these things have at least been reduced to minor isolated cases. We absolutely love our D700, and I don't want to be disappointed.

Does anyone have any experiences with newer iterations of the D800?

mshi wrote:
A guy reports here:

"I had one(D800E) last summer that was great and no issues. I sold it in favor of the D4. Wanting to add the D800E I ordered one 2 weeks ago. It was way off, left focus issue(which I always thought was a myth until I got one), af tuning of +/- 20 could not even correct some lenses that are fine with my D4.

I sent it back, won't buy another, even though I love the camera.

I'm very thankful to have a D4 and will keep it for a long time. It's really an amazing camera. "

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1200208

Yes, but that relates to last summer, almost a year ago.  I have not seen any reports of any issues for many months.  Which again goes back to what I said before.  If you are an early adopter of any camera, you stand the chance of being a late beta tester.

Damon Pena Photo wrote:
Thanks for all the input! I was thinking it was probably just early kinks and vocal minority making it sound iffy, but its good to hear you guys confirm it. Gonna go ahead and take the plunge.

It's a fine camera!

GPS Studio Services wrote:
Yes, but that relates to last summer, almost a year ago.  I have not seen any reports of any issues for many months.  Which again goes back to what I said before.  If you are an early adopter of any camera, you stand the chance of being a late beta tester.

No, he was talking about his experience with a new D800E this March! You can PM him if you don't even believe it.

matt 1 wrote:
Make sure  you update your firmware - Nikon has released to fix a number of problems .
>>>>>.... Link below......

mshi wrote:

OMG... DUDE... look at his avatar!...   I'm thinkin Nikon recommends you have an IQ above that of a chimpanzee to effectively operate the camera...

Damon Pena Photo wrote:
Thanks for all the input! I was thinking it was probably just early kinks and vocal minority making it sound iffy, but its good to hear you guys confirm it. Gonna go ahead and take the plunge.

If you don't already have the 85mm lens, do consider the 85mm f1.8G (great price for what it does.  Even though the 85mm f1.4G is a little better but not 3 times the price, unless you absolutely need the f1.4).

mshi wrote:
]

Select Models wrote:
OMG... DUDE... look at his avatar!...   I'm thinkin Nikon recommends you have an IQ above that of a chimpanzee to effectively operate the camera...

ROTFLMAO ! 

I suppose even a chimp can get a lemon.  Every manufacturer of anything complex has them, cars, boats, airplanes (scary but true) so why not cameras.  We don't know any details of who he bought it from, etc.  At any rate, though we probably don't know how many were made, how many had the left focus issue, etc, most seem to have been fixed with firmware upgrades.

And maybe "Chimp Man" hasn't figured out how to even upgrade his firmware.  He doesn't mention it in his post.

Light and Lens Studio wrote:
ROTFLMAO ! 

I suppose even a chimp can get a lemon.

Won't happen... like 99% of the rest of the world... the chimp will get a completely functional and great working camera... shoot some killer pics with it... and make the rest of us look like monkees...

OwenImages wrote:
I want an 800E really bad!!!  Maybe one day I will get one.  I want stuff SHARP!  I currently have the D300.

I shot for years with a D300. I still have it and it's still a great camera...

The images were were super sharp.   If you're having issues with sharpness, it's not the chip. Check your lens and/or camera...or yourself..

Fred Greissing wrote:
Highlights are pretty much the same story.

Actually, the highlights in this example are very obviously clipped. Look at the top of the post. But with so much DR, it would seem that you should just not expose-to-the-right as much as you might have in the past.

Robb Mann wrote:
The issues were largely the creation of the internet. I have an early D800 with zero problems.

RennsportPhotography wrote:
Absolutely. One guy has a problem and writes about it and everyone starts talking about "known"problems that in some cases is simple operator error.

This particular issue is not a "creation of the internet." Nikon guru Thom Hogan has done extensive reporting on this issue, including very extensive testing. While I think it's safe to say that new D800's coming off the line are in spec, and are among the most amazing cameras ever made, it wasn't always the case. He even gave the camera a "not recommended" rating last summer.

Nikon's handling of the issue certainly didn't help their case. The D600's  issues seem to have been handled the same way. It makes me sad, because I love Nikon.

"Unintended Consequences
July 23 (commentary)--With Nikon basically still in traditional Japanese denial mode on the left autofocus sensor programming problem, the fallout has begun.

First up, me. After thinking about this (again, there's not much to do sitting on the tarmac for two-and-a-half hours and in a terminal for another six), I've realized that I've made a mistake. My D800 Review currently says Recommended. It should not. I've got enough data now to know the left sensor issue is not a problem with just a couple of cameras, but is reasonably widespread. I also have enough feedback from Nikon users that getting Nikon's attention is a giant game of Gatekeeper: some people are getting past the gatekeeper more easily than others. It seems that it isn't quite as simple as calling them and reporting that your camera has a focus problem. According to some emails I've been receiving, Nikon seems to want to make at least some of you leap over some unknown hurdle first. Plus, here in the US Nikon is not picking up shipping to them, not even retroactively when they discover that your camera did indeed have the manufacturing error they know about and are fixing.

Thus, because of the apparent widespread nature of the problem and Nikon's response to it, I'm going to have to change my review to Not Recommended, and it will stay that way until such time as it becomes clear to me that all new cameras coming into the US are free of the left AF sensor programming problem. That might be a day, a week, a month, or more. One problem will be that Nikon almost certainly won't send me a message saying "all new cameras are fine," which is a relative of the "we won't acknowledge any problems with our cameras" position they've been taking. So I'll have to figure out for myself when it appears that the pipeline is free of this demon, and that might take me longer than it should. Not a consequence Nikon wants, I believe, but one they now deserve given their stance."

Leggy Mountbatten wrote:
Actually, the highlights in this example are very obviously clipped. Look at the top of the post. But with so much DR, it would seem that you should just not expose-to-the-right as much as you might have in the past.

Shure there's clipping at the top of the pole, but look at how much recovery there is
on all the other parts. This test was with a grossly over exposed file.

What impressed me is how natural the recovered detail is with the exception of the one remaining hotspot. It's also nice that the recovered image does not look flat.

My point here is that if you take an very good exposure you will have plenty of room each side and a large window of recovery.

KevinMcGowanPhotography wrote:

I shot for years with a D300. I still have it and it's still a great camera...

The images were were super sharp.   If you're having issues with sharpness, it's not the chip. Check your lens and/or camera...or yourself..

The difference in detail between the D300 and the D800E is palpable.
And I also bought the 800E (to replace my D300) based on demonstrable detail differences between the 800 and the E version in some published test images.

However, I'm using top-of-the-line lenses, so I don't disagree that if sharpness is severely lacking, that looking at the lens is the 1st thing to consider. When I was just starting out around 1988, I switched from Canon to Nikon because the Canon images were not sharp at all (the Nikon's were very sharp). At the time I was too new to realize that the difference was the quality of the lens and not so much the body. But the camera store wanted to sell me Nikon gear.

Damon Pena Photo wrote:
My wife and I are on the verge of upgrading to a D800 and making our D700 the backup. I've been reading reviews on the Nikon website and I'm a bit uneasy on the purchase. I know it had a rocky start, with AF issues and overall general build quality problems. I was wondering if Nikon has since cleared most of them up.

This is a huge investment for us, I would feel much better knowing that a lot of these things have at least been reduced to minor isolated cases. We absolutely love our D700, and I don't want to be disappointed.

Does anyone have any experiences with newer iterations of the D800?

I have one. I bought it in August. Have borrowed and shot 3 others trying to replicate the issues others have claimed. I know 4 bodies are a small sample but I had ZERO issues with any of them and at least one was  from the original batch. Best camera I've owned since my Rollei SL66 and it puts all other DSLRs to shame in both tonal range and resolution IF you get the right glass. As a warning, FF glass that looks good on your D700 may not look so good on the D800. Older Zooms that hold up are the Nikkor 24-70 F/2.8 IF it's in good shape. i tested 4 and 2 were NOT sharp. The Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8 VR2 is stunning. The 85mm F/1.8 G is too. In fact most G series Nikkors seem to hold up well on it. The newer zooms are stellar minus the 24-120 F/4 VR which was OK. The new F/ 16-35 is one of the sharpest zooms they make. Topped only by the 14-24 F/2.8. And the new 70-200 F/4 is also tack sharp if you don't already own an older F/2.8 model.

matt 1 wrote:
Make sure  you update your firmware - Nikon has released to fix a number of problems .
>>>>>.... Link below......