Why I want a Nikon D780 in 2021 but won’t buy one
In a world where DSLRs are dying, mirrorless is the future, and the smartphone camera is queen of the scene, I really want to get a Nikon DSLR. But I can’t bring myself to do it.
Specifically, I want a Nikon D780, Nikkor AF 50/1.8 or 1.4 D, Nikkor AF 24/2.8 D and either a Nikkor or Sigma 24-70/2.8. Currently, I have a Sony a7 III, FE 50/1.8, 24/1.4 GM, and Sigma 24-70/2.8 DG DN—with the new 24/2.8 G and 50/2.5 G on the way later this month.
Now, I hear you, shouting from the peanut gallery, “She wants to go from the superior technology of the future to the inferior technology of the past? AND she has an iPhone 12? Why?”
Why it’s foolish to want a Nikon D780 in 2021
On a specs-comparison level, the Sony ecosystem is superior in just about every conceivable way. The a7 III is lighter, the lenses are sharper, the video capabilities are better. Newly released Sony mirrorless cameras even outperform Nikon mirrorless in most ways, and Nikon has to play catch up years after the fact. Sony is blazing a path, and Nikon is left in the dust.
Nikon is suffering so badly, in fact, that they’re reportedly closing factories and laying off employees, and perhaps even gearing up to cancel the DX DSLR line altogether.
On paper, the a7 III and D780 are the same camera, which would logically make the a7 III better because it’s lighter and smaller. From what I can tell, the 24MP backside illuminated sensor is almost exactly the same, in terms of resolution, dynamic range and low light performance. Sony might even make that Nikon sensor. Most of the specs are the same. Even the flippy screen is pretty similar. The main difference between these cameras, at first glance, is the size, weight, and presence of a mirror box and optical viewfinder vs. an electronic viewfinder.
Why I want a Nikon D780 anyway
The D780 is actually better than the A7 III though. Here’s why: Nikon DSLRs are blazing fast, ergonomic masterpieces that take incredible photos—which is why professionals cling to them.
The D780 is faster than the a7 III
The D780’s controls respond instantly, and the cheapest Nikkor D lenses have excellent controls (aperture ring? full time manual focus? hello? is anyone at Sony reading this?). My a7 III, by comparison, takes half a second to respond to aperture and iso changes done by any means: the selector wheel, the front dial, or a bona fide aperture ring—which is of course controlled electronically and not mechanically. The EVF, while pretty decent, still has noticeable lag and lack of resolution, especially compared to the OVF of a DSLR.
Old Nikkor D lenses are better than current Sony lenses
The cheapest Nikkor D lenses have fast autofocus, even by today’s standards. While the Sony GM and the Sigma DG DN autofocus motors are accurate and fast, the FE 50/1.8’s autofocus is extremely bad. It will often miss focus and take a long time to get there—to the point where I would rather focus manually with it 99% of the time. And yes, this is with the latest firmware. The incoming 50/2.5 G will solve this problem for me, but then I still lose a stop of light.
It’s true that Nikkor D lenses aren’t as sharp or well-corrected across the frame at wide apertures. But who cares? At f/1.4, almost nothing is in focus anyway. Chromatic aberration wide open can be controlled by simply not taking photos of light sources or strong silhouettes. These lenses also sharpen up and correct real quick when stopped down, even at around f/2.8. They produce incredibly realistic looking photos with tons of 3D pop, owing to their low element count. Bulky, over-corrected, 13+ element Sony GM and Sigma Art lenses can’t do this.
Also, there is half a century worth of extremely high quality glass floating around out there on the used market that performs even better than Nikkor D in ways that I care about. Zeiss even still sells the formidable 50/1.4 Planar.
The D780 has better ergonomics than the a7 III
Perhaps the most annoying thing about the a7 III is that while the it’s small and light, it’s ergonomically atrocious. The grip is just too small to hold comfortably. I usually either have to hold the lens, or support the camera with my pinky, because my hold on the camera is otherwise too loose. I happen to like the hard edges of the body and dials, although others have complained.
And then, of course, there’s the myth that mirrorless cameras are lighter. With the most modern, sharp high end lenses mounted on a mirrorless camera, your kit can often be more lens than camera. Some of these fast primes weigh around 500g, which is far more than the typical 1-200g Nikkor D lens of similar spec. In the end, often your lens+camera combo ends up being very similar in size and weight. But with that smaller grip, it’s harder to hold.
Here's my tiny Sony a7 III with my massive Sigma 24-70/2.8 DG DN. I mean, just look at the size of this lad. An absolute unit:
Why I’m sticking with Sony
Nikon is playing catch up
Here’s the thing: the a7 III is a three-year-old camera. The D780 is only one year old. Nikon took two whole years to catch up its FX 24MP DSLR to the a7 III. That’s in a world where consumer and semi-pro photographers are moving towards mirrorless, and most casual photographers are just using their fantastic, ubiquitous phone cameras, throwing the entire camera industry into a tailspin.
Better Sony lenses are coming this month
If I want a super high pop manual focus lens badly enough, I can get very comparable results to the Zeiss from Cosina/Voigtlander, with their 50/1.2 Nokton for Sony E, right on the camera I already have.
But luckily, I don’t have to do that, because Sony announced the compact G trio just a couple of months ago, and they ship later this month. I preordered two of them: the 24/2.8 G and the 50/2.5 G. These lenses are 8 and 9 elements, respectively. The sample shots I’ve seen so far demonstrate an incredible capacity for realistic 3D pop. They have that super fast silent internal autofocus. They have aperture rings. They have af/mf switches. They have customizable focus hold buttons. They have click switches. And they’re very well corrected. Perfect!
True, they’re at least a stop slower than, say, a 1.8, 1.4, or even a 1.2. But here’s the thing about low-element, super-fast lenses. Wide open, they have tons of chromatic aberrations and are very soft, even on the focal plane. In some circumstances, especially at night, sometimes you can’t avoid including light sources in your photos. To me, that’s the one special case in which I’d prefer to use an over-corrected GM-type lens. So my thinking is: 2.8-ish G lens for super-sharp stopped-down day shooting, 1.4-ish GM-ish lens for wide open, super-corrected night shooting. Problem solved.
Faster Sony mirrorless cameras are already here
Now what about that speed problem? The D780 may have the a7 III beat for now, but folks: the next generation of image processor is upon us. Bionz XR has made amazing things possible in the Sony mirrorless world: instant-response interfaces and controls, HEIF capture, 4K120p 10-bit 4:2:2 internal HEVC, imperceptible lag even on high resolution EVFs, higher framerate bursts, lossless raw compression, silent shutter with almost no noticeable rolling effect, and the list goes on. No Nikon can currently do these things.
Three cameras exist so far with the Bionz XR, all released within the last two years: a7S III, a1, and FX3. None of these cameras suit my needs. The a7S III (and very similar FX3) only has 12MP and is just a bit too expensive ($3500) for me. It’s a video-focused camera, but I mainly take lots of stills, with some live video work for my YouTube live guitar show. The a1, on the other end, has too many pixels at 50MP. I’m not doing large prints, so I only really need 24MP. And if we’re being honest, I probably don’t even need 24MP, but it’s nice to have that extra resolution in case I need to crop. The a1 is also ridiculously expensive, at $6500.
It’s been rumored that the a7 IV is due later this year, and to be honest, I’ll believe it when I see it—and then I’ll preorder it. But I predict it’ll be one of the next cameras to include the Bionz XR. For all the reasons previously stated, that will make it a significant upgrade over the a7 III—and the D780. The advantages of an OVF have already been canceled out by the super fast EVFs enabled by the Bionz XR. The advantages of the EVF over the OVF are numerous: live histogram, level, zebras, focus peaking, exposure preview without changing aperture, etc. Once the EVF’s drawbacks are eliminated at every price point and megapixel count, the DSLR’s death knell will sound far and wide.
The DSLR is dying. Sony knows it, and that’s why it stopped selling its last A-mount camera, the a99 II, just the other day. Within Sony, the DSLR is already dead. For some reason, Nikon has kept pumping money into producing new DSLRs, even up to last year. Perhaps a better strategy to move forward into the future while still supporting the past would be for Nikon to take the money it’s burning on DSLR development and put some of it into an FTZ mount adapter with a screw-drive—and then aggressively invest in Z mount. Even though Sony killed its own DSLR lineup, it’s keeping screw-drive autofocus A-mount lenses alive with the LA-EA5, instead of screwing its A-mount customers. It’s time for Nikon to do the same, and once again, catch up to Sony. Maybe one day, Nikon can even surpass Sony once more.