I am considering my first digital camera to go along with my view cameras. I see that the d800e provides sharper images but has more problems regarding moire. I photograph natural landscapes and manmade landcapes. Has anyone with the d800e noticed a moire problem? I have read the reviews but am looking for personal experience. Thanks. Joe.
Hey Joseph - This might be on the list of what you said you DIDN'T want... but I wanted to make sure when you said you had read the reviews, you had also seen these. They're more of a hands on report from photographers actually using the cameras - not lab tests - and they include looks at sharpness differences and a hunt for moire issues.
The issue with moire has to do with the layout of the pixels on the sensor. Pixels are layed out in a pattern of vertical and horizontal rows as one would think. When this is done and an image is taken that also has perfectly straight vertical or horizontal lines there is a possibility that the lines of the image being taken will line up perfectly with the lines of the pixels on the sensor, this would result in moire. That is the reason digital cameras have an anti aliasing filter covering the sensor which results in a raw image that needs capture sharpening to remove the less than sharpest result, it kind of diffuses the capture to prevent moire.
If you shoot nature image you have nothing to worry about since the occurrence of perfectly straight lines in nature is almost non-existent. You also mentioned man made landscapes, I am assuming this would include buildings possibly or structures that could have perfectly straight lines. In that case you could experience moire with captures of these images.
The only person I know who was excited to get their hands on the D880e uses it for night photography only and will never have to worry about the moire issue.
If you shoot nature image you have nothing to worry about since the occurrence of perfectly straight lines in nature is almost non-existent.
Here's an example of moire in a nature photo: a Mourning Dove taken with a Nikon D70, a 300/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC20E 2x. This is a 1:1 crop from the image viewed at 100% in Photoshop. This is the only time I've seen this effect in the thousands of nature photos I've taken with this lens setup on three Nikons (D70, D200, D300), but it occurred on the entire series of shots I took of this dove in this position.
I plan to post the full frame image on Sunday in the Weekly Challenge gallery (why I dug it up from the archives).
Discussion
4 repliesRob Galbraith D800/D800e
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Mark Dubovoy on Luminous Landscape
The issue with moire has to do with the layout of the pixels on the sensor. Pixels are layed out in a pattern of vertical and horizontal rows as one would think. When this is done and an image is taken that also has perfectly straight vertical or horizontal lines there is a possibility that the lines of the image being taken will line up perfectly with the lines of the pixels on the sensor, this would result in moire. That is the reason digital cameras have an anti aliasing filter covering the sensor which results in a raw image that needs capture sharpening to remove the less than sharpest result, it kind of diffuses the capture to prevent moire.
If you shoot nature image you have nothing to worry about since the occurrence of perfectly straight lines in nature is almost non-existent. You also mentioned man made landscapes, I am assuming this would include buildings possibly or structures that could have perfectly straight lines. In that case you could experience moire with captures of these images.
The only person I know who was excited to get their hands on the D880e uses it for night photography only and will never have to worry about the moire issue.
Here's an example of moire in a nature photo: a Mourning Dove taken with a Nikon D70, a 300/2.8 AF-S Nikkor and TC20E 2x. This is a 1:1 crop from the image viewed at 100% in Photoshop. This is the only time I've seen this effect in the thousands of nature photos I've taken with this lens setup on three Nikons (D70, D200, D300), but it occurred on the entire series of shots I took of this dove in this position.
I plan to post the full frame image on Sunday in the Weekly Challenge gallery (why I dug it up from the archives).