Michael Zawadzki from UniquePhoto.com interviewed Steve Heiner at the WPPI Wedding Photographer Trade Show. Heiner is a Senior Technical Manager at Nikon. He provides some insight into the new 91,000 pixel metering sensor and its improvements over the D700. Also discussed are some of the features that will be of interest to those shooting HD video on the D800. One of the issues mentioned is how the D800E will handle video since it lacks the traditional anti-aliasing filter. The answer given is that the D800E should have no problem with moire when shooting video because the downsampling involved in going from full resolution to 1080 resolution will take care of interference patterns.

The Nikon D800 is still weeks away from delivery, but here is are reading material to keep you occupied in the meantime:

Nikon D800 Product Brochure

Nikon D800 / D800E Technical Guide

Amazon sent out Delivery Estimate emails for Nikon D800 orders with delivery dates of January 2013! The emails list ship date of December 31, 2012. The messages were sent to many customers who placed pre-orders for the Nikon D800 on Amazon, many of the customers report placing their orders just minutes or hours after the pre order was open.

This appears to be a mistake and hopefully Amazon will correct the error before customers unwittingly cancel their orders.

UPDATE: Amazon explains that the 2013 delivery estimate is not accurate. Since they do not have an ETA from their supplier, the date in their system is a placeholder.

“Our latest information indicates that ‘Nikon D800E 36.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)’ hasn’t been released yet, and we don’t know the expected release date. The 2013 date listed on our website is displayed as a placeholder until our suppliers are able to provide us with a specific release date. Once we know the release date, we’ll add that information to our website.”

Apparently the placeholder date triggered an email with the incorrect delivery estimate to be sent to everyone who pre-ordered the D800 on Amazon.
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The Nikon D800 is being produced in Nikon’s Sendai, Japan factory. Select members of the media were recently invited for a special tour. Photography was prohibited inside the building, but they were able to extract some interesting information about D800 production.

The Nikon Sendai plant is capable of pumping out the D800 at nearly one camera per minute rate. This means they can make up to 30,000 of the D800 per month. Each camera contains over 1,600 individual parts. Some of the components are produced at the factory, while others come from various locations. It takes about 4 hours to build a D800 from start to finish. The plant is also producing the flagship D4 camera.

The factory incurred significant damage as a result of the 2011 earthquake. Luckilly it was able to escape the floodwaters of the ensuing tsunami, and none of its 1,600 employees were injured. Nikon spent over $100 million on repairs and had the factory back up and running in under a month.

Sources: CNET Asia, bernama.com
Photo: Nikon

The Nikon D800 made its appearance at the CP+ Show in Japan. Those in attendance were able to see the camera up close and hold it, however they were not able to take sample pictures using the camera. On display were some of the D800’s components including the magnesium alloy body. Brian Tobey (btobey.com) got his hands on the D800 at the event and was impressed, stating its looks and handling are an improvement over the D700.

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