Nikon D850 review

Backscatter staff · Issue 101, Mar/Apr 2018 · pp. 37–43

Products mentioned: Nikon D850, Nikon D810, Nikon D5, Nikon D500, Sony A7R II, Nikon 8-15mm fisheye lens, Gates GT14 video lights

When the specs for the Nikon D850 were released, we couldn’t help but lick our chops. With high resolution, fast frame rates, and some big claims in the video arena, the camera sounded too good to be true. Since then, we’ve had a chance to plunk the Nikon D850 in a housing and test its features in some demanding underwater situations. Read on for what we found to be the camera’s biggest strengths and a few of its weaknesses. A Note About Our Testing Backscatter CEO Jim Decker took the Nikon D850 to Roatan to test both the wide angle and macro abilities of the camera. To say that conditions were less than ideal would be a gross understatement. Rain was measured in feet, not inches. The runoff created a blackwater top layer of about 2 to 3 feet thick in some areas, which when combined with black thunderstorm clouds and constant pounding rains, reduced available light and visibility to extr…