REVIEW : Nikon D780
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The D780 is a classic DSLR layout and size
It’s growing increasingly uncommon to see new DSLRs in the marketplace as the entire world moves to mirrorless. So why continue to deliver DSLR bodies? Reason one might be that some folks are uncomfortable with change. Another might be that there is an install based of lenses that won’t move to the new mounts, even with the availability of mount adapters.
In any case, Nikon has released an update to the very popular and very successful D750 in the D780. The D780 is not revolutionary in any way, it is an evolutionary upgrade. This is in no way a bad thing. In fact, it’s likely what the target buyer wants.
Review
My eval kit included the body, the wonderful Nikkor 24-120/4 zoom lens, and of course an SB5000 flash and wireless kit. As regular readers know, I will always put a flash in the bag, even before adding a second lens.
When I received the camera, I reset it to factory and checked the firmware. All good. Note to self in future, do the same thing on the flash so you don’t get odd results.
The camera fits my hands well, the same as the D750. It was about 100 grams more. It has the same full frame sensor as the D750 as best I can tell, but a newer CPU. The menus have expanded a bit to reflect enhanced features in some places but are otherwise similar. I confess to being a nerd about menus and in my opinion, it’s time for Nikon to look at a restructuring as the menus are getting both long and deep and even for a long time user are starting to be confusing. Not Sony level annoying but pushing the line.
I set the camera to 14 bit uncompressed RAW, because storage is cheap and while the uncompressed files take a tiny bit longer to read and write since they are bigger, I am hardly crushed for time in anything that I was shooting. I set the video recording mode to the highest 4K quality available and the MP4 video format. There is no RAW video support, and to be blunt, that’s good because the internal bus could not deliver the bandwidth demands of RAW video, and the part left out in most reviews is that editing RAW video is a LONG and computer demanding process.
Lightroom and Capture One both read the NEF files no problem, and I was on the most current version of each during my test period.
You would expect image quality to be excellent. It is. If I’m being honest, I haven’t discovered a quality issue with a new camera in years. The sensor is 24 megapixels in density, enough for anything most folks are ever going to require, and this density provides excellent low light / high ISO service. For my work, I encounter low light scenarios far more often than I find the need for 40+ megapixels. When I print, my default size is 13x19 and the 24 megapixel sensor is great. It’s great up to 45” on the short side and greater when fully considering proper viewing distances. Megapixel hype showed up again last year for no good reason, same as in prior years.
The camera has two SD card slots. As much as I believe that SD has served us well, I think its time has come and gone. I would personally prefer to see XQD or next gen Compact Flash, but again, the buyer may already have an investment in SD cards and if not, they are very inexpensive for high quality name brand cards. As always I propose SanDISK cards as I have never had one go bad and I want the highest possible bandwidth for 4K video. You can set the slots for failover, auto backup or split RAW and JPEG. I went with one card only and had no issues.
The lens mounts as one would expect. Autofocus is fast and precise. I personally prefer single point AF but for the testing, let the camera do its default practice. A couple of times I found that the camera would not drop a focus point where I wanted one, but these were the exception rather than the rule. Focus in poor light is good, certainly slower than in bright light, but was working down to -1 EV easily. You have the same 51 focus points, although there are a few more preset options. If it were my camera, I would be using a single centre point, so none of that would matter to me, but I am atypical.
ISO range is good. There are the usual assortment of calculated ISO shifts, but I stayed in the real range. The default base ISO is 100 as on the D750. Would I personally prefer the ISO 64 of the D850? Sure, but most buyers will not care a whit. On the high end, I would say that 6400 is excellent and 12800 is absolutely usable. Where the D750 topped out at 12800, the D780 goes to 51200 before going into the processed ISOs. I contend that in practical use that the D780 is one stop better at high ISOs in image quality.
One change from the D750 is the expansion of shutter speed range to 1/8000th of a second from the D750’s fastest shutter speed of 1/4000th of a second. At the time, the whining of some reviewers would have you think the camera lopped an arm off. In practical general use, the demand for 1/8000th of a second is a rarity. However if that is a showstopper for you, be stopped no longer. Another is the expansion of maximum exposure from 30 to 900 seconds although you must be in Manual Long exposure mode to get that time.
Maximum frames per second rises to 7fps from 6.5 fps, an amount that is of marginal value increase. The battery is the latest version of the EN-EL15, now the 15b. While the camera can use the older battery, the new battery in the camera offers a CIPA rating of 2260 shots vs 1230 on the D750. That is a measurable difference.
The rear LCD remains 3.2 inches but the resolution jumps to about 2.4 million dots from 1.2 million dots. It is a moveable LCD but does not flip around to use as a vlogging display. For that you would still need to add an external like a Lilliput which I would recommend anyway as its larger display space makes it easier to see.
There is now 4K video at up to 30fps. We see much higher frame rates on mirrorless and smaller sensored cameras. Depending on what kind of videos you make this is either fine or a concern. For most of my work, 30fps would be just fine.
The D780 has support for Nikon’s Advanced Wireless Lighting which means that you can use SB5000 style flashes remotely via radio control with an adapter. Unfortunately the adapter uses the Nikon side mounted remote control port, so as I found with the Z6, the transmitter sticks out the side of the camera on a rather wobbly connection just waiting to get sheared off accidentally. If in doing so, the camera side mount was damaged, the repair would be expensive. I would much prefer a front mount connection as on the D5 or D850 or that the wireless transmitter could fit in the hotshoe the way that Canon has done things. I like Nikon’s AWL system for usability except for this goofy mount and the extremely high price of the excellent SB5000 flash units. If I were blunt, I would propose going aftermarket where you could get a transmitter and three equivalently powered flashes for the price of one SB5000. It’s great, but it’s not 3 flashes great.
Control the camera from your smartphone with SnapBridge
Unlike the issues that I had with the Z6, Nikon’s SnapBridge software worked a charm on the D780. You have superb remote control of the camera using your smartphone. I’ve used SnapBridge since inception and it has gone from crap to superb. I like it a lot.
For the most part otherwise, the specs are identical so you have to ask if the D780 is worth the $1000 MAP price increase over the D750 which is still in market. Even as a working professional, I find the price increase to be greater than the value returned. If the delta was $500 it would be no contest. Perhaps Nikon will reconsider their pricing strategy.
There are more options for in camera editing and picture styles in the D780 but I did not review them because a RAW shooter is never going to use them. I am not a JPEG shooter and have no JPEG workflow thus any opinion in this area would be of questionable value. As RAW shooters we know that Picture Controls, White Balance and in camera post processing have no contribution to make.
Sample Images and Videos
All the still images were shot in 14bit uncompressed RAW and were post processed in Adobe Lightroom 9.x All the video clips were shot in 4K UHD at 30fps and were edited in DaVinci Resolve 16.
Conclusions
I liked the D780. I thought that the D750 was great as well. I find the D780 evolutionary but at a price point that would make me question the value differential. While I find the Nikon wireless flash option cumbersome at the trigger level, were I the buyer I would be using other flash units that I already own that do radio, so that would be a moot point. The 1/8000th of a second shutter speed would be limited in demand for my work, and while I definitely prefer the 4K video setup over the D750 it’s still very compressed and I could not find any documentation saying that sending the video stream out the HDMI port would give me better quality options. In fact the documentation on the internal bus of the camera in terms of bandwidth is rather skinny in my opinion.
If you are not a Nikon DSLR owner, consider the Z7 instead. It is a more flexible overall choice. You can often find deals where the F mount adapter is available at a reduced price or even thrown in, and in general AF with Nikon F mount lenses on the adapter is very good on the Z7.. It’s also smaller and lighter than the D780. However if you run a D750 and need 4K video or perhaps have a D610 or even a D800, you may find the D780 a pragmatic and very usable target body.
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I'm Ross Chevalier, thanks for reading, watching and listening and until next time, peace.
