Nikon D850 – Hands-On

I was at my local camera store to collect my camera from the repair center and just by chance, there was a Nikon D850 stand where there was a representative and 2 D850 bodies on display.

Despite deciding to leave the Nikon system, I was still curious to check out this new D850.

I only had about 10min of hands-on, so I went to test the features that were most important to me. Those features are the silent shooting and 4k video.

I was curious as to whether the silent shooting will suffer the same issues as any previous mirrorless silent shooting which were banding and rolling shutter. In short, yes.

However, I did feel the rolling shutter was much better controlled. The banding was still present, but that was to be expected I suppose.

4k Video looks to be just as sharp both in full frame mode and super 35. Now I could be wrong with this as the footage I took wasn’t the best. But I didn’t feel the difference was as significant as A7R II Full frame vs. Super 35.

Other notable impressions were that I felt the mechanical shutter was a lot quieter. Now this in all fairness may be due to my ears being conditioned to the load Sony mechanical shutters, but I’m sure the new D850 is quieter than my Nikon D800, D610 and D750.

Autofocus in LiveView is still awful!

Touch screen I forgot it existed as a feature until the representative scrolled through the photos via touch screen. It did seem much faster scrolling in this way, however with only a few minutes of hands-on, I couldn’t tell you if it’s of a major benefit.

I did intend on having sample footage, however I am hanging my head in shame as I did put in my card, assuming the camera was setup for back-up, but no…. 🙁

Rookie mistake!

So unfortunately, no sample photos and just a crappy video sample.

On this occasion, you’ll just have to take my word for it with regards to the Silent Shutter and Video.

If I do get a chance to have a proper play with this camera, I’ll give my full review later.

For now, I hope that has answered at least some questions you had about this camera.