DSLR News

Does Nikon’s New D850 DSLR Have Focusing Tracking Problems? Watch This Video & See for Yourself

Ron Leach  |  Sep 29, 2017

Nikon created a big buzz recently with the introduction of their full-frame D850 DSLR that combines high-speed performance with a 45.7-megapixel sensor. The response was pretty much uniformly positive, until photographer Matt Granger put the D850’s focus tracking performance to the test and found it lacking.

As you can see in these two short clips and the detailed video at the bottom of this page, Granger made a real-world comparison between the autofocus performance of the D850 and that of the Nikon D5, two cameras Nikon says share the same AF components. He tested the cameras indoors and out, and in both instances the $6,500 Nikon D5 came out on top of the $3,300 D850.

To be fair, we recently spent two days in Oregon shooting with the Nikon D850, and we didn’t detect any issues with the camera’s AF system when shooting high-speed action. In fact, it performed admirably for us, although we didn’t have the Nikon D5 on hand for a comparison.

You can read our first impressions of the Nikon D850 here, and see how it performed on day two of our shoot here. And you can find more videos from Granger on his YouTube channel.

Via PetaPixel

COMMENTS
EricBowles's picture
Submitted by EricBowles on September 30, 2017 - 3:40am

It's a real stretch to say there are AF Tracking problems with the D850. Yes - the D5 may have faster response and slightly better AF performance, but the D850 matches or exceeds the performance of the D500 and probably any other camera on the market.

I just finished a week with a wide range of photography from polo matches to professional golf. The D850 performed wonderfully for polo in a wide range of changing conditions. For golf, it rendered images with great color straight out of the camera. The percentage of keepers was better than expected. In the test posted above, while 3D is one option, Group AF would have eliminated virtually all the out of focus images. There is certainly a difference comparing the D850 and D5, but why compare photos using the wrong AF Area Mode for the job? You have an erratically moving subject so 9 Point Dynamic, 25 Point Dynamic, and Group would all be better choices than 3D.

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