Nikon D800: specs, release date, price, and our in-depth preview

Nikon has announced a 10 percent price rise in the UK on its forthcoming D4, D800, and D800E cameras, with the originally published (and now retracted) MSRPs being blamed on a "local internal systems error." Prospective British buyers can now expect to pay a hefty £5,289.99 for the D4, £2,599.99 for the D800, and £2,899.99 for the D800E. Nikon also says that the Irish pricing is similarly affected, but hasn't given a figure in Euros. While $300 might seem a steep difference between the D800 and D800E, £300 feels even sharper.

It's been a long wait for Nikon's newest full-frame cameras, however the company does give one piece of good news for those who have been holding patiently. Customers who have pre-ordered the camera at the original price shouldn't be affected by the hike — Nikon says that it will honor the original prices to retailers on any pre-orders placed prior to March 24th.

The Nikon D800 is officially out today in Japan, with pre-orders shipping around the country and retailers hailing the full-frame camera's arrival. However, if you're not one of the lucky few it looks like you'll have trouble securing your own. Major retailers Bic Camera, Yodobashi Camera and Camera no Kitamura are all out of stock, without any estimations for when they'll be able to get in more shipments. Bic and Yodobashi both price the body at ¥298,000 (about $3,575), while Kitamura is selling for ¥268,200 ($3,217). That's a pretty big discount, but the former two retailers both operate 10 percent loyalty point schemes for cardholders, so regular shoppers likely won't mind if they have the cash upfront.

In any case, the question is academic for now — with the camera's supplies so clearly limited, we imagine most photographers will buy from the first seller they can find. No word yet on when US shipping will start, but we wouldn't expect the D800 to be any easier to find elsewhere.

We previously heard that the Nikon D4 was set to come out in "mid-March" with the D800 following a week or two later, but if Amazon's listings are anything to go by it looks like both cameras will be available on March 20th. The retailer has placed both full-frame shooters back up for preorder, and we'd definitely advise anyone interested to go that direction — pro-level Nikon cameras are often sold out for several months after release. You'll even save 95 cents on Nikon's list price, with the 16-megapixel D4 going for $5999.00 and the D800 at $2999.00 (both in body-only form). The D800E doesn't have a release date listed, but is also available to preorder for anyone interested in paying a $300 premium to remove the anti-aliasing filter.

Earlier today, as part of a Q&A on Nikon France's Facebook page, the company said the D4 would be launching on March 15th, with the D800 launching a week later on March 22nd and the D800E coming on April 12th. Naturally, we wondered if those dates were for France only or if the US could expect to see Nikon's latest around the same time — Nikon let us know that the D4 will indeed be launching in the US in "mid-March," rather than in February as we heard initially. Nikon also confirmed that the D800 will follow in "late March," and the D800E in "mid-April" — this timeframe matches up with what we heard for the D800 when the camera was announced last week. While we can't say for certain that these new DSLRs will be launching in the US on the same date as they are in France, it wouldn't surprise us at all to see them hit stores within the same week. Mark your calendars — the D4 is only a month away.

After months of rumors and years of waiting, Nikon has finally announced the D800, the latest addition to the company's DSLR lineup. After some flood-induced delays, the new full-frame camera will be available in March for $2,999.95, and it's full of new features and upgrades. Rather than a lite version of the recently announced D4 like the D700 was to the D3, the D800 has a new angle: Nikon is aiming the new camera squarely at the Canon 5D Mark II, which has so far held something of a monopoly in the video world. Nikon thinks it can change that.

The D800's most eye-popping feature is its whopping 36.3-megapixel FX-format (35.9 x 24mm) sensor, which apparently creates TIFF files as large as 212MB. Many of its other upgrades mirror those on the D4: it has the same 91,005-pixel RGB metering sensor, the same 3.2-inch, 921,000-dot LCD, the same Expeed 3 processor that makes startup time as fast as 0.12 seconds, and the same new 51-point autofocus system with 15 cross-type sensors. The D800's ISO range goes up to 6400, expandable to 25,600 — not quite D4 territory, but solid nonetheless. To get the giant 36.3-megapixel shots off the camera, there's a USB 3.0 port built in, a first for any Nikon camera; there's also an SD card slot next to the CF slot, which the D700 didn't have. Nikon gave the D800 slight ergonomic redesign as well — the company evidently feels it got things right with the D7000, since the D4 and D800 were both reorganized to more closely resemble the D7000's controls and layout. One of the best changes, though, has to be the door that covers the ports: it's sturdy, and opens and closes like, well, a door — unlike the shoddy pieces of rubber we've seen covering ports before.

For full-frame DSLR enthusiasts who can't quite afford the almighty D4, Nikon is introducing the 36-megapixel D800 and D800E. This all-new DSLR succeeds the D700 as the more affordable full-frame option for professional photographers, with its E-appended model adjusting its low-pass filter so as to let more light in at the expense of some color inaccuracy. If you want it put in simple terms, the D4 is the ultimate camera, a photographer's studio on the move, whereas the D800 is the perfect studio camera, with the D800E moving even further into the comfort zone of fine adjustment micromanagers.

Physically, the D800 is typical Nikon: robust, reassuringly heavy, and thoughtfully laid out. The shutter release button (shutter has now been tested to 200,000 cycles), is slanted in exactly the same way as on the D4, while the buttons accompanying it on the camera's topside will also be familiar to anyone who's tried the company's flagship DSLR. Although the control scheme is well organized, I would have preferred to see more of the on-the-fly adjustments moved to the right side of the camera so as to facilitate single-hand operation. Nikon presumes that you'll have both hands available when shooting with the D800, which is a reasonable expectation for such a high-end shooter, but cameras from Canon, like the 60D, and Sony, like the incomparable NEX-5N, offer more flexibility. I guess this just reaffirms Nikon's positioning of the D800 as a studio camera.

We've been hearing about the Nikon D800 in one form or another for a while now, but after a few tantalizing sneak peeks it looks like we're getting our first real look at Nikon's latest. Earlier today Brazilian site Ztop posted the press release and a set of official images for the 36.3-megapixel behemoth, and confirmed that it will be announced tomorrow. They've since since pulled them — according to a message on the site the PR agency for Nikon Brazil jumped the gun — but we can apparently expect more information when the official embargo drops later today. In the meantime, check out the images below.

Nikon has officially discontinued its D700 and D300s cameras, listing them as such on its Japanese website. Speculation has been ramping up over the mythical D800 full-frame 36 megapixel DSLR, and the discontinuation of the predecessor D700 will only fuel that fire. The D300s cancellation is also interesting, as we haven't heard much in the way of rumor surrounding a potential prosumer successor from Nikon with an APS-C sized sensor. We might not have to wait too long for official confirmation — if either camera were to be announced, the CP+ show in Yokohama in a couple of weeks would be a pretty good place to do so.

Nikon's German website has been updated with some fresh images this morning, which now include the just-launched D4 among its stable of professional DSLRs. Nothing unusual about that, you might think, however the D4 isn't the only debutant in the image above. A closer inspection reveals that the fourth camera from the left is not part of any of Nikon's currently announced product lines. It features the same sort of downward-slanted shutter release key as the D4, it's bulkier than the D700, has an FX label denoting a full-frame sensor, and its (admittedly unreadable) model name is written at an angle instead of Nikon's usual horizontal orientation. The unconventional labeling matches up with an earlier leaked image of the D800 uncovered by Nikon Rumors, with that site also being first to spot this mysterious appearance on Nikon.de.

All we can surmise from this appearance is that Nikon did indeed plan to launch a D800 alongside the D4 — D700 owners have certainly had long enough to wait for an upgrade — but a last-minute decision was made to delay it. This may very well be as a result of the Thai floods that affected Nikon's supply chain or it may have been in response to technical challenges that the company was not able to overcome in time. Either way, the German webmasters clearly weren't provided with updated resources, so now we're gazing at an official image of what looks very likely to be the Nikon D800. It's certainly a new model of some description.

We've heard most of these specs before, but it looks like these are the real deal, and though the D800 isn't quite as epic as the D4 we've been hearing rumblings about, it sounds like it's still going to be worth the wait.