Image Quality
Nikon D810 review – Image Quality
With its 36.3-million-pixel, full-frame sensor with no optical low-pass filter, the D810 delivers an impressive amount of detail that’s matched only by the D800E and Sony Alpha 7R. You’ll need impeccable technique to exploit this fully, though: using sharp lenses at their optimum apertures, perfectly focused, and shot either on a tripod or at high shutter speeds to avoid blur.
Nikon D810 Sample Image Gallery
On this note, the D810’s electronic first-curtain shutter should help to keep to a minimum any sharpness loss from mechanical vibrations.
Dynamic range is very high at low ISOs, which in practice means you can extract lots of detail from deep in the shadows in raw processing. The camera’s highlight metering mode can help to get the best exposures for this approach to shooting, by minimising clipping in bright areas of the image.
Nikon D810 Sample Image Gallery
At higher ISOs, image quality deteriorates, but only the 12.2-million-pixel Sony Alpha 7S is likely to give obviously better results.
Overall, it’s fair to say that the D810 is one of the most accomplished performers we’ve tested in terms of image quality, though with the caveat that it’s not massively better than the D800E. Only medium-format cameras have the potential to deliver obviously better images.
