Nikon D850 Review (original) (raw)

The Nikon D850 ($3,299.95, body only) is built around a full-frame sensor with a huge 45.7-million pixel count. But it isn't just about the pixels. The camera boasts Nikon's latest autofocus system, and can shoot at a steady 7fps—boosted to 9fps if you add the optional grip—all while tracking moving action. It shoots 4K videos and time-lapses, offers a tilting touch LCD, and can transfer images wirelessly. It's an outstanding performer, backed by Nikon's extensive lens library, accessory system, and support network. That doesn't mean it's absolutely perfect—we've got a few complaints here and there—but it's the best in its class, and our Editors' Choice.

Design

The D850 ($2,196.95 at Amazon) follows the same basic design paradigm as the D810 and other models before it. It's a traditional SLR without a built-in vertical shooting grip (an add-on is available), with a body design that's about the same size (4.9 by 5.8 by 3.1 inches, HWD) and weight (2 pounds) as its predecessor. The portion of the body between the grip and lens mount is a bit slimmer, which gives the grip a deeper feel, without having it jut further out from the camera. Because of this, the D850 feels just a bit more comfortable in the hand, improving on the D810's excellent ergonomic design.

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But it also strays in a few key aspects. First, it eliminates the flash that Nikon previously included in the D700 and D800 series. Pro photographers don't typically utilize a pop-up flash to shoot events or portraits, but it's a useful tool for wirelessly controlling off-camera Speedlights. You'll need to mount a flash to control off-camera units that take commands via an optical signal, or invest in a radio control system for your flashes. If you currently use a pop-up flash as a wireless commander, it's an extra expense to consider when mulling an upgrade.

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Losing the flash isn't all bad. For one thing, it improves durability and weather protection, putting the D850 on the same level as the DX flagship D500. It also means there's more room for the viewfinder, which Nikon has taken advantage of. The magnification has been improved to 0.75x, palpably larger than the D810's 0.7x viewfinder, and image quality has been improved using a new aspheric element and condenser in the eyepiece. I've not had the chance to use the camera side by side with the D5 or Canon's flagship 1D X Mark II, but the D850's viewfinder is a noticeable step up from the D810.

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Controls will be familiar to longtime Nikon users. Depth of Field Preview and Fn1 buttons are on the front, next to the lens mount, and you get the same AF/MF toggle switch, with a control button to adjust focus settings, and a Bracket control button on the left side. The flash release is gone, of course.

There are some minor changes to the top controls. You still get a dedicated dial to adjust the drive mode on the left, topped with four buttons. And while White Balance, Quality, and Metering are in the same place as the D810, the ISO button has been moved and replaced with the Mode button.

You'll now find the ISO control on the right side, in a slightly different position than the Mode button was on the D810 ($1,584.95 at Amazon) . It's centered behind the shutter release, and flanked by the movie Record button to its left and EV compensation button to its right. The configuration is identical to the D500, a plus if you use both models together.

I've been using the D810 for a few years now—it's our standard test body for Nikon lenses. It didn't take me too long to get used to the changes in the top controls. Muscle memory had me reaching for the wrong place to change the ISO at first, but I was able to slide in and get a feel for the new layout pretty quickly. But I change cameras more often than I change my socks, and have also had time on and off with the D500 since its release. If you've been shooting with the D810 and only the D810, you may find the adjustment period more substantial.

The power switch surrounds the shutter, and includes a position beyond On that activates all of the camera's backlit controls. These include rear buttons, as well as the top LCD. It's a monochrome panel that shows exposure information and other settings, a mainstay on professional SLRs.

You also get the standard front and rear control dials, the former in the handgrip and the latter above the rear thumb rest. To its left is the dedicated AF-ON button, which is right next door to a small joystick for focus point selection. It's a new addition to the D850, copying a control I loved on the D500. Pressing it in activates AE/AF Lock, so even though that button is no longer part of the design, the function is still there.

The remainder of the rear controls are familiar to veteran D810 owners, although there are some minor changes in positioning. You still get an eight-way directional control with a lock switch and center button, the i, Info, and Live View buttons, the latter with a switch to change between photo and video modes, all located to the right of the rear LCD.

Play and Delete are to the left of the eyepiece, with a column of buttons squeezed to the left of the LCD. They are, from top to bottom, Menu, Lock/Help, Plus/Picture Control, Minus/Flash, OK, and Fn2. They're all backlit, which is a big plus for night sky and studio photographers.

The display is a 3.2-inch LCD with touch support and 2,359k-dot resolution. It's the same panel you get on the D500, which delivered excellent resolution and touch support when we reviewed it. The hinge is also the same, so it can tilt up or down, but not face forward or swing out from the body. Touch input is expanded; you can navigate menus by touch, which is something you can't do with the D500 ($1,794.95 at Amazon) .

I can't talk enough about the benefits of an articulating, touch LCD for landscape and tripod use. It's freeing to be able to compose shots more easily from lower angles, without having to get down on the ground to peer at the rear display or through the optical viewfinder. Canon's closest competing model, the 5D Mark IV, also has a touch LCD that lets you tap on a portion of the frame to set focus, but it doesn't tilt, so you still need to get low to shoot from ground level.

SnapBridge

The D850 continues to use Nikon's SnapBridge wireless system, which leverages Bluetooth, NFC, and Wi-Fi communication to pair with a smartphone. SnapBridge has been around more than a year now, and I continue to have a love-hate relationship with it. I love that it can add GPS data to images and set the D850's clock, and not having to manually connect your phone to the camera's Wi-Fi network to transfer images is a big plus.

It's deadly easy to use—pressing the i button on the D850's rear when reviewing photos allows you to mark an image for transfer, and it copies in the background. The option to send every photo you shoot as they're captured is also available, but I don't recommend it, unless you want to Instagram every shot. Either way, you just have to make sure that the SnapBridge app is running on your Android or iOS device for photos to copy in the background.

But transfers via Bluetooth are slow, even with photos that are resized to 2MP for speedier copying, so it's not recommended for sending a lot of photos at once, and there's no way to push a 45.7MP image from the camera to your phone. Only JPG images can be transferred, but if you shoot Raw exclusively you can use the D850's in-camera Raw processing system to create JPG images on demand.

Wi-Fi is there if you want to speed up transfers, copy video and full-resolution photos, or remotely control the camera. It's a bit of a pain to start up—you have to use the app to turn on the camera's Wi-Fi system via the Bluetooth connection, and, if you're on another network, pop into your phone's settings mode to change over to the D850's SSID network.

Remote control works well, but is very limited in functionality. You get a live feed from the lens on your phone's screen, along with the ability to tap anywhere in the frame to activate autofocus, and there's a big gray shutter button so you can snap a photo. Exposure information is displayed, but it can't be changed from the phone. You also can't start video recording via the app.

Setting up the Wi-Fi connection takes a bit of time. You'll need to start the connection via the SnapBridge app, and it takes about 45 seconds to get it started, switch your phone's network to the one broadcast by the D850, and start remote control or load thumbnail images from the D850's memory card. If you have a lot of photos on your card the delay extends. I had to wait an extra minute and a half when loading a card with 450 shots on it versus a memory card with only a handful of images.

For some reason, this load time happens again and again when switching between viewing full size images and the thumbnail gallery view. From the full image view you can download a 45.7MP (or 2MP) JPG to your phone. But tapping the back arrow to return to the thumbnail gallery view shows a dialog box with a spinning wheel ("Downloading information from the camera")—your wait time is about the same as it is on the initial load, which makes me think the app isn't properly caching data.

Full-size transfers aren't quick, even via Wi-Fi. A 45.7MP image takes about 30 seconds to copy. You can also transfer video. I tried a couple of 10-second test clips—the 1080p video copied in 40 seconds, but the 4K clip of the same length required about three minutes.

Why the slowdown? I'm convinced it's a software issue. Bluetooth 4.1 supports 25Mbps speed, which should be enough to load thumbnails quickly, and while the D850's 802.11g Wi-Fi radio isn't anywhere near state of the art, we've seen plenty of other cameras use the protocol to deliver snappier smartphone connectivity. As it stands, using SnapBridge is a poor experience when it comes to browsing the D850's memory card via Wi-Fi and transferring high-resolution photos and video.

But for social media purposes, the 2MP images are absolutely fine. And if you need to crop a shot heavily you can do so in-camera, using its touch LCD to pinch in and narrow your frame. If you're working in a studio and want to shoot tethered without having to run a micro USB cable from the camera to your computer there is a faster, but expensive, add-on option. The D850 works with the same WT-7A ($934.95) that Nikon offered for the D810. It supports 802.11ac as well as wired Gigabit Ethernet, and can transfer photos via FTP and HTTP.

Connectivity and Power

The D850 has a slew of physical ports. There are 3.5mm headphone and microphone, micro USB 3.0, and mini HDMI connections on the left side. The front includes a standard PC sync connection and an accessory port, and there's a standard hot shoe atop the viewfinder. Memory cards are accessible via a door on the right side. The D850 supports one XQD and one SD/SDHC/SDXC card, with the latter slot supporting UHS-II speeds.

The battery loads in the bottom, in its own dedicated compartment. It's rated for 1,840 images, or about 70 minutes of continuous video capture. That's without wireless communication enabled. During field testing I left the SnapBridge system turned on and set to add both GPS location data to my photos and to ensure that the camera's internal clock was set correctly. Leaving the wireless connection enabled does take away from battery life—on one full day of shooting I netted 1,060 images and was left with a 20 percent charge—you can extrapolate that out to 1,325 shots. That was with liberal use of continuous shooting. A second test day with fewer pictures captured over a longer time netted 260 shots with 60 percent left on the battery, a less impressive 650-image projection.

If battery life is key, you can set the D850 to Airplane Mode to disable its wireless system. You'll lose GPS data and the convenience of an always-correct clock—a plus if you're bouncing around in different time zones with any frequency—but you'll get more images out of a charged battery. It's also possible to leave SnapBridge turned on and disable the GPS and clock setting options independently if you want to reduce battery usage without having to dive into a menu to enable file transfer.

If you need to go even longer you can add the MB-D15 battery grip ($399.95). Using it with a second EN-EL15A battery doubles shooting life. The grip can also use the huge D5 battery, which will provide up to 5,140 shots per charge in conjunction with an EN-EL15A, and also ups the D850's capture rate to a maximum 9fps.

Imaging Features

The D850 includes the time-lapse features that Nikon shooters have come to take for granted. Its intervalometer can be set to capture time-lapse videos and image sequences. The interval itself is very customizable, from 0.5-second to 24-hour periods between images available, and with sequences of up to 9,999 shots. For those who may be a bit challenged with doing math in your head (like me), the camera tells you what time your set interval will finish when shooting stills.

How long the resulting movie will be will depend on your editing choices. I shot a time-lapse of sunlight creeping onto Smith Rock (below) and my initial edit, which simply put the images on a 24fps timeline in Adobe Premiere CC, resulted in a 4-second movie, culled from 130 images shot over a 25-minute period. It seemed a bit too fast to my eye, especialy since cloud cover comes in midway through and changes the progression of light, so I slowed it down to 8 seconds.

Customizing playback time isn't the only advantage of creating a time-lapse from still images. You also have the option to work with Raw format files, so you can adjust exposure across the sequence if it's not quite what you want. Resolution is the other plus. When cropped to 16:9, the D850 outputs images at 8,256 by 4,644—that's 38MP, and qualifies as 8K resolution. To ease editing, the camera can create a new folder when starting a time-lapse, which makes it easy to locate the start and load the image sequence into Premiere.

If you don't want to edit the time-lapse yourself, you can set the D850 to movie mode and have it create a video in-camera. Resolution is limited to "just" 4K, with 24, 25, or 30fps playback options. You are limited to finished videos of 3 minutes in length, but you have just as much freedom in setting the interval between shots.

Regardles of whether you opt for still or video interval capture, you can turn Exposure Smoothing on or off—when enabled it compensates for minor changes in brightness to reduce flicker. It also has an option for silent capture, which uses the camera's electronic shutter to shoot each image. Using this method reduces battery drain, a bit of a concern when shooting for long durations.

The D850 also adds automated focus bracketing. Nikon calls the feature Focus Shift. Macro photographers often struggle with depth of field when shooting tiny subjects—even at narrow apertures you may not get as much of your subject in focus as you'd like. Focus Shift makes automatic, minute adjustments to focus, so you can combine them using focus stacking techniques. It does require a lens with an internal focus motor to work, but is not limited to Nikon glass—I was able to shoot a sequence of images using the system with a Sigma lens.

Macro shooters can also use the D850 to digitize negatives. You'll need a lens with 1:1 magnification capability, like the AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED and the digitizing kit ($139.95), which holds slides or negatives in place in front of the lens. But once set up you'll be able to convert your film to digital more quickly than with a scanner, and the D850 can automatically convert negative images to positive format.

A fully electronic shutter option is new to the D850. Like all electronic shutters it does have some drawbacks—there's a chance that you'll see some skewing of fast-moving subjects due to rolling shutter readout, so you won't want to use it to photograph a moving propeller or helicopter rotor, for example. But using it allows for completely silent operation when shooting in live view mode, or when shooting a time-lapse. You can also shoot at a very fast 30fps rate, albeit at 8.6MP JPG quality, with fixed focus and exposure for a sequence when using the electronic shutter. It's a useful tool for capturing fleeting moments.

The camera also supports automated focus fine-tuning, a feature we first saw in the D5 and D500. Earlier Nikon cameras supported manual focus adjustment, which is very useful if you have a lens that's focusing slightly in front or behind a subject. But automating the process makes it quicker and even more painless. It's not well marked, however. To dial in the adjustment, open up your lens apeture, switch to Live View, and press the focus select button (on the left side of the camera) and Record button (on the top) at the same time. You'll want to be on a tripod, with a clear, high-contrast focus target at the center of the frame. I used it to dial in adjustments on a few lenses and found it to be very effective.

Finally, Nikon recognizes that not every photographer needs a 45.7MP Raw image, or has the computing horsepower to work with files of that size effectively. The D850 also supports medium (25.5MP) and small (11.3MP) Raw capture. Quality is limited to 12-bit, as opposed to 14-bit for full-size, but you'll still have plenty of room to make exposure and color adjustments.

Performance and Autofocus

The D850 is a high-resolution monster, but also a speedy performer. It starts, focuses, and fires in a little less than 0.3-second, so your ability to grab an unexpected shot is only limited by the speed at which you can bring the viewfinder to your eye. Focus speed is quick as well; in bright light there's just a 0.05-second delay between pressing the shutter and capturing a crisp image. The duration can slow a bit in very dim conditions, I clocked it at 0.2-second, and shooting using Live View, which relies on contrast focus, isn't as speedy—0.3-second in bright conditions and 0.5-second in very dim light. It is noticeably faster than the D810, which requires about 0.8-second in bright conditions and 1.4 seconds under dim light. Shooting with the LCD wouldn't be my choice for action shots, but I enjoyed using the screen when shooting landscapes from a tripod.

The phase detect autofocus system, which is used when shooting with the optical viewfinder, is inherited from Nikon's pro sports cameras, the full-frame D5 and APS-C D500. It features 153 individual focus points, spread wide across the frame. The spread isn't as wide as you get with the D500, which offers near edge-to-edge focus due to the system covering a sensor that is physically smaller than full-frame, but is still larger than you get with the D810.

The focus system boasts 99 cross-type sensors and 15 sensors that work at apertures as narrow as f/8. You won't find any lenses that capture that little light on their own, but adding a teleconverter to a lens narrows its maximum aperture. A 1.4x add-on drops the aperture by one stop, making an f/4 lens an effective f/5.6, and a 2x converter cuts light by two stops, making the same f/4 lens an f/8 optic.

Not every point is manually selectable. You'll see 55 of them in the viewfinder, but rest assured the remaining 98 points are there and working. The focus system is very customizable. When working in single (AF-S) mode you can opt to select a single point, a group of six visible points in a cross hair alignment (Group AF), or let the D850 select focus points automatically. The camera has a high-resolution 180k pixel RGB meter, which helps the camera better recognize scenes and also faces.

Focus options are a bit more robust when you set the camera to continuous (AF-C) mode. You get all the same options as with AF-S, as well as d9, d25, d72, and d153. The d modes group the respective number of points together, covering varying areas in the viewfinder. Obviously d153 covers the entire spread of the focus system, but the d9, d25, and d72 modes let you move the focus area around the viewfinder. The D850 will only look for focus at those points, and you can use either the rear joystick or directional pad to move them around.

There's also 3D tracking. It lets you track a moving subject using a single point. As long as you half-press the shutter or hold down the rear AF button, the point will move across the viewfinder along with the subject. It works quite well, and is the tracking mode I typically use for wildlife photography.

Continuous focus is often used in conjunction with continuous drive shooting. The D850 can fire images at 7fps while tracking motion. It can be upped to 9fps by adding the shooting grip and the big EN-EL18b battery used by the D5. We haven't had a chance to test the camera with the grip as of yet, but the same autofocus and metering system nets 12fps with very accurate focus in the Nikon D5.

Despite capturing huge 45.7MP image files, the D850 has a good sized shooting buffer. I tested it with both a 440MBps XQD card and a 299MBps SDXC card. When shooting 14-bit Raw images with lossless compression and the highest quality JPG shots simultaneously, the D850 netted 23 shots before slowing down using both memory cards, but the time to clear the buffer was shorter with XQD (5.6 seconds) than with SD (10 seconds).

Shooting in Raw only changes things. The XQD card nets a 50-shot burst before the rate slows, with 5.4 seconds needed to fully clear the buffer. With SD you get just 27 shots, with 6.5 seconds of recovery time. If you're shooting JPGs only you get 200 shots with XQD, with just about one second of buffer clearing, while the SD card nets 122 shots with 6.2 seconds of recovery. If you plan on shooting action with the D850, investing in XQD memory will let you shoot for longer durations.

Image Quality

The D850's image sensor is one we haven't seen in any other camera to date. It boasts 45.7MP of resolution and a BSI design. It's the second full-frame BSI sensor we've seen, the first being the 42MP BSI sensor Sony uses in several of its cameras, including the a7r II. The BSI design means that the light-sensitive areas are closest to the surface, rather than behind circuitry, which improves image quality at high ISO settings.

The sensor supports a native ISO 64-25600 coverage range. There is a low extended option, ISO 32, for shooting long exposures or working in very bright light, as well as high extended settings up to ISO 102400 for low-light capture. Like other recent Nikon cameras, the sensor omits an optical low-pass filter (OLPF), a design choice that maximizes image detail.

I used Imatest to check noise across the camera's ISO sensitivity range. When shooting JPGs at default settings the D850 keeps noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 6400. A close look at photos from our test scene shows that detail is excellent, with no evidence of image degradation, through ISO 6400. At ISO 12800 noise increases a bit (2 percent), and there's some slight smudging of fine detail.

Images are grainier at ISO 25600, and very fine lines are visibly smudged, but quality is still solid overall. You can push the ISO beyond its top native ISO 25600 setting. At Hi1 (ISO 51200) the noise is quite high (3.8 percent), and while very fine lines blur together, those with more seperation between them in our scene remain distinct, if rough around the edges. At Hi2 (ISO 102400) you get a ton of noise (6.3 percent), and image quality is rough all around. We've included pixel-level crops in the slideshow that accompanies this review so you can see the output at each setting for yourself.

If you prefer more detail in photos you can set JPG noise reduction to Low or Off. And if you want less grain, a High option is available, which applies more agressive cleaning than the standard Normal setting. Of course, if you're looking at the D850, there's a very good chance you'll be shooting in Raw format, which doesn't apply noise reduction to images.

Adobe Lightroom is our standard Raw converter, but it hasn't yet been updated to support the D850. I converted test images from Nikon's NEF format to Adobe DNG using the Adobe DNG Converter, and loaded those DNG images into Lightroom, applying default develop settings in the process. The D850 delivers superb Raw image quality. Details are extremely crisp and clear through ISO 6400.

There is just a little bit of visible roughness at ISO 12800, feathering the crisp edges of the smallest details in our test image. It's a bit more evident at ISO 25600, but fine lines are still distinct. At Hi1 (ISO 51200) noise increases to the point where the closest lines smudge together, and it's a bit worse at Hi2 (ISO 102400).

Shooting in Raw doesn't just get you better image quality at extreme ISO settings. It also makes it possible to adjust exposure and white balance, brighten shadows, or reign in highlights after a photo has been captured.

I found the D850's Raw output to be excellent in terms of dynamic range. I intentionally underexposed shots at low ISO and pushed exposure in Lightroom and was happy to see that noise introduced in the pushed file was very similar to what I'd get if I'd simply shot the photo at a higher setting and exposed it properly. In the field, I did my best to find as many scenes with tricky lighting and strong backlight as possible. I was able to process Raw files to open shadows and curb highlights, just as I'm used to doing with the D810. The D850 offers as much flexibility in exposure adjustment as the best cameras we've tested, which include the D810 and Sony a7r II, and well exceeds Canon's high-resolution alternatives, the 50MP EOS 5DS and 5DS R.

The D850 is the highest-resolution camera that Nikon has released to date. It doesn't quite match the aforementioned Canon 5DS models, but costs less and has a much wider ISO range, starting at 100 and topping out at 12800.

We know you get about a 10MP advantage over the D810, but how does that translate into actual image quality? The sharpest lens I have on hand in a Nikon mount is the Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art. I tested it on both the D810 and D850. On the D810 the lens hits peak resolution at f/8, where it shows 4,088 lines per picture height on Imatest's standard sharpness test. On the D850 the lens nets 5,094 lines at its sharpest. That's a 24 percent advantage in resolution, which is in line with the pixel differential between the two bodies—the D850 enjoys about a 26 percent advantage in pixel count.

How does the resolution translate into the real world? Take a look at the image of the horse above, which has been resized to display at a typical resolution for web viewing. The pixel-level crop below is taken from the image. It's a fly sitting on the equine's face.

Video

The D850 adds 4K video capture at 30, 25, or 24fps with uncompressed HDMI output and full frame width coverage, although you can shoot 4K with an APS-C (DX) crop if you'd like. Autofocus is still contrast-based, and while it's noticeably quicker than the D810, it has to hunt back and forth before locking on. That's simply par for the course with contrast detection.

When shooting in 4K, you get video that is extremely sharp and detailed. Each frame boasts 8MP resolution after all, four times that of 1080p. At its top quality footage is recorded at a very high 125Mbps compression rate, with the option to output uncompressed footage to a field recorder via HDMI. You do have the option of shooting with a flat color profile, which reduces contrast in order to give you more leeway for color correction. The only really bad thing I have to say about the quality of the video is that you can see the skew from the rolling shutter effect during quick pans and subject movement.

If you're a serious videographer, you probably prefer manual focus. But photographers simply looking to add a bit of video to the mix will want to use manual focus when shooting scenes where focus adjustment in the middle of a shot is needed. That's not every shot, of course. If you're shooting a clip that just needs to be focused once you'll be fine with the autofocus system.

The rival Canon EOS 5D Mark IV delivers smooth, cinematic autofocus thanks to on-sensor phase detection. But it has its own drawbacks, including the lack of an articulating display, cropped 4K capture, and the Motion JPG codec, which results in huge file sizes. For videographers who want full-frame coverage, 4K, and smooth, quick autofocus, we recommend a mirrorless camera from Sony. The a7R II is our top pick if you want one with a high-resolution sensor, and the a7S II offers the best video quality in low light that we've seen thanks to its 12MP full-frame sensor. Both Sony models boast in-body stabilization, which is missing from the D850—you'll need to use a lens with stabilization in order to smooth out handheld footage.

In addition to 4K, the D850 also supports 1080p resolution for video projects with lesser needs. Standard frame rates through 60fps are supported, and you can also shoot 720p footage at 60 or 50fps only. In-camera slow-motion is an option as well. You can shoot 1080p footage for playback at one-quarter or one-fifth speed.

Comparisons and Conclusions

Whether or not the D850 is even on your radar is largely dependent on how vested you are in your current camera system, and whether or not that system is Nikon. Let's talk about other systems first. For Canon devotees, we recommend the EOS 5D Mark IV in the professional full-frame class. Its 30MP sensor doesn't pack as many pixels, but it does deliver very strong image quality, and focuses more smoothly in Live View mode. When using the viewfinder, Canon's autofocus system is strong in its own right, but it doesn't cover quite as large an area as what you get with the D850. Still, the 5D Mark IV sees ample professional use—it's up to the task, and earned Editors' Choice marks when we reviewed it last year.

Pentax owners only have one full-frame option, the K-1. It sports a 36MP sensor, the same as you get with the D810, and has a sturdy build. Pentax was very late to the full-frame digital game, so its lens selection is rather limited, and its video capabilities and autofocus system lag well behind the competition. But other features, including in-camera stabilization, GPS, and its AstroTracer system for night sky photography may sell you on it. That said, we haven't seen any new full-frame lenses come from Pentax since the camera's launch, and third-party support is limited as well.

Sony has a true spiritual competitor to the D850 in the form of the a99 II. It boasts a 42MP image sensor, 12fps image capture, an amazing autofocus system, and stellar video functionality. It uses an EVF rather than an optical finder, but it's an excellent EVF, so that comes down to personal preference. Where the a99 II lags behind is in support. The A-mount lens library is aging, and nowhere near as extensive as what you can get from Canon or Nikon. If you're happy with the lenses available, and enjoy using an EVF, the a99 II is a solid performer. But I think the writing is clear on the wall: Sony's future is in its mirrorless system.

The Sony a9 is its flagship mirrorless model. It's priced higher than the D850, and doesn't pack as much resolution—24MP—but is the fastest shooting full-frame model out there. It captures action at up to 20fps. That puts it closer in design and performance to the Canon 1D X Mark II and Nikon D5. Sony's high-resolution model, the a7R II, omits some of the pro features you expect from a top-end SLR—it only has one memory card slot—but from a pure image quality perspective it competes very closely with the D850, and betters it in video quality. Its autofocus system is quite good, but its 5fps capture rate may be a bit slow for some action photographers.

In the Nikon world, the D850 does a little bit of everything, and does it all well. No, it doesn't shoot as fast as the D5, which can rattle off shots at up to 14fps, but it delivers much more resolution than the 20MP you get with the D5. It delivers excellent image quality, even at higher sensitivities, and can shoot at up to 9fps if you invest in an add-on grip. That's good enough for most types of action.

It's not just about image quality and speed. The D850 has solid controls and ergonomics. The addition of a dedicated joystick to adjust the focus point and the tilting touch LCD are big pluses. The in-body flash is gone, which is a concern if you're used to using it as a commander, but the larger viewfinder certainly ameliorates that loss.

The biggest blunder is SnapBridge, and even though the Wi-Fi image transfer portion is in need of some serious improvement from an app development side, selecting images from the camera to send over to your phone via Bluetooth is a painless process. I'd love to see Nikon improve the remote control portion of the app and cut down on the delay when browsing photos from your phone, but working photographers aren't going to worry about copying an image to their mobile device when shooting a wedding or sporting event. If you're a serious travel photographer and big on social media, it's something to consider—you should be happy working with 2MP images for on-the-go social media posts.

We're naming the Nikon D850 our Editors' Choice pick in the pro SLR category. We don't expect longtime Canon owners to jump ship, but the D850 does offer palpable advantages in image quality and autofocus over the 5D Mark IV, and the tilting LCD is a big plus for tripod work. If you're currently dug into the Nikon system, I see the camera as a worthy upgrade to the D810. It offers more speed, better autofocus, and more resolution, along with some ergonomic boosts, like the aforementioned LCD and deeper handgrip. Put everything together and the D850 is the best, most versatile SLR that Nikon offers.

Pros

Full-frame 45.7MP image sensor.
153-point autofocus system.
7fps burst shooting.
Wide ISO range.
4K video.
Large optical viewfinder.
Tilting touch LCD.
Dual card slots.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Cons

Live View focus uses contrast detection only.
Omits built-in flash.
SnapBridge system needs some work.

The Bottom Line

The Nikon D850 offers the best of all worlds: extreme resolution, fantastic image quality, fast shooting, and an exceptional build. It's our favorite pro SLR.

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About Jim Fisher

Lead Analyst, Cameras

Jim Fisher

Images, and the devices that capture them, are my focus. I've covered cameras at PCMag for the past 13 years, which has given me a front row seat for the DSLR to mirrorless transition, the smartphone camera revolution, and the mainstream adoption of drones for aerial imaging. I have extensive experience with every major mirrorless and SLR system. As a Part 107 Certified drone pilot, I’m licensed to fly unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for commercial and editorial purposes, and am knowledgeable about federal rules and regulations regarding drones. You can find me on Instagram @jamespfisher.

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