The New Nikon D850 Is Very Exciting But It Raises A Couple Of Questions Including Some Related To Fujifilm

Clearing the net and throwing fish.  These three fisherman can be found here almost every day.
The work is hard, the hours are long and the payoff is not great. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 22.7mm; 1/1250th sec. @ f/11; ISO 800

First, no I'm not abandoning my Fujifilm gear to go back to Nikon.  In fact, the two images I'm using to accompany this post were made the other day with my Fujifilm X-T2 and 16-55mm f/2.8 lens combination.  Indeed, a very versatile and powerful combination.  Yes, the new D850 is extremely attractive to a landscape, travel and generalist photographer like me and has incorporated some really fantastic features.  There is not much the new Nikon D850 can't do.  However, I'm loving my X-T2 and lenses too much to dump all of it to go back to full frame.  That is off the table.

That out of the way, there are a few questions that immediately arose in my mind when I read about this new Nikon 45.7mp camera.  My questions don't necessarily revolve around the camera itself, but the lenses that one would use with it.

First, 45.7mp is a lot of pixels (can we ever have enough?).  I previously owned both a Nikon D800E and a Nikon D810.  Both have 36mp sensors and I found that I really didn't need 36mp, even for very large prints.  There are other cameras out there that have almost as many pixels as the new D850 (Sony A7RII, Pentax K1) and some a tad more (Canon 5D and 5DS), but still, that is a lot of detail that most of us will never need (not want but actually need).  

Here is my concern.  Most of the current batch of the best full frame professional grade lenses for Nikon, Canon and others have been in the market for a while and were initially designed when cameras with about 24mp (or less) were the most advanced cameras available. Sony is an exception since they are currently introducing many excellent (from what I read) FE mount lenses to compliment their A7 series and their new A9 camera. The A7RII has about 42mp.  

I don't know the limits of capability in resolving fine detail and data with these older lenses and I don't know if using any but the newest lenses designed for these high pixel cameras will actually faithfully resolve all of the detail that can be captured with the sensor.  What are the limits of resolution for these currently available lenses when it comes to number of pixels they can accurately resolve?  The current, somewhat older, lenses have been truly excellent but are they good enough to resolve 45.7 mp?  Did Nikon design resolving power of this magnitude into their professional grade lenses when they first released them several years ago?  Are you going to actually get the detail you are paying for?  At this point, I don't know now but I would want to know before I put down $3300 US for the camera plus many thousands more for lenses to use with it.

I wonder if anyone will conduct resolution bench tests (Roger Cicala at Lensrentals.com maybe?) to scientifically determine that the files the average user will make with the current crop of lenses will actually resolve 45.7mp and not just 28mp or 37mp, etc?  I'm hoping we will all find out in the next couple of months as this camera proliferates throughout the marketplace.

I've been a follower of Thom Hogen for many years.  He writes the www.bythom.com blog, conducts African workshops yearly, is an author and, as far as I'm concerned, is the premiere Nikon expert in the United States.  I have a lot of respect for his opinions and he just published an article on this very matter.  He gives a list of Nikon lenses he believes will work well on this camera as he says he fully tested them for the D800 and D810 and says the lenses can resolve their 36 megapixels.  You can find his article here.  As far as I know, he has not actually tested each of his recommended lenses for resolving potential on this new, higher pixel sensor, which resolves about 25% more detail.  I'm sure he will and give us the benefit of his tests so we can make intelligent buying decisions.  Thank you in advance, Thom.  As of today, the jury may still be out as far as knowing if any of these lenses actually resolve 45.7mp.  But again, I trust Thom's judgment but we will see...

Clearing the nets. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 33.2mm; 1/1100th sec. @ f/11; ISO 800
He told me that he grew his beard right out of high school and his wife and
children have never seen him without it!  This work is not easy.

A second question that comes to mind is, "Will it actually be worthwhile buying one of these cameras if tests show that with current lenses achievement of full resolution isn't going to materialize?"  Will the typical D850 buyer place the high resolution capabilities as his or her number one priority or is it enough that the autofocus and processor are from the D5 and D500 and those are the main reasons for purchasing this new camera? Everyone is different, but what will be more important to the average D850 buyer?

Third, did Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Zeiss, Cosina and the other independent lens manufacturers, whose lenses many photographers use for various reasons on their current high end digital cameras with fewer pixels, design their lenses to resolve adequate detail for these new, higher pixel sensors?  Is it worth their while to design newer, more expensive but better resolving lenses.  Can they sell them?  Is the market large enough?  I think we have seen some of that already with Sigma's Art series of lenses.  But the pixel creep still is rising and there is no indication that it will stop anytime soon.  Is the bottom line that most lenses won't be able to resolve 45.7mp or more worth of detail and data? Certainly the inexpensive kit lenses would not.

I know Canon has a couple of 50mp cameras in the marketplace.  I think I remember reading that they weren't reviewed as being outstanding, but I don't remember why.  Did the reviewers not give them praise have to do with lack of superior dynamic range, ISO performance, camera features or other camera-based factors or were the Canon lenses that were being used were not giving the owners of these cameras the types of files they expected?  Those two cameras made a big splash in the media when introduced, then they kind of faded away for some reason.  I haven't been a Canon shooter for many years so I don't keep up with Canon and I don't have an answer to this. If anyone knows if the lenses' performance on these 50 mp bodies was the issue, please leave a comment.

As a result of all of these new high pixel count sensors in cameras now being introduced, will we see some of the stalwart professional Nikon, Canon and independently produced lenses with a Nikon/Canon/Sony mount redesigned and reintroduced to better resolve the data that can be recorded by these sensors as well as sensors that will be introduced in the future?  If so, of course the newer, higher resolving lenses will be at an even higher price than current lenses cost now.  I think it is a given that the megapixel race is still on and future sensors will have even more pixels?  How high will the pixel count go and can lenses keep up with it at a cost we can actually afford?

Finally, if the only thing you are after is the most pixels, does it make better sense to buy a camera such as a Fujifilm GFX or Hasselblad X1D, both 50mp medium format cameras, which are about the same size as the Nikon rather than the so-called "full frame" cameras whose sensors are much smaller resulting in individual pixels that are much smaller?  I think it is a given that larger individual pixels are better pixels and a medium format sensor with an equal number of pixels would produce higher quality files.  But that is another discussion.

I am excited about these new, high pixel cameras that we are seeing today.  I'm even more excited about some of the latest features from which we are benefiting, such as better dynamic range, faster and more accurate focusing, better high ISO performance.  It is all good in my book.  I love photography.  I love the technology we get to incorporate which allows us to be more creative.  I hope the market continues to support innovation and future creativity with our gear.  I also hope the manufacturers can keep their products affordable to most of us.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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