I have been using the Nikon D850 since September 2017 which is a good 8 months now. I wanted to share the features on the D850 which I used most often. If you use these features in the appropriate manner & photography situation , in addition to setting it up correctly, you will increase your chances of success in capturing the moments successfully.
Hope you enjoy the 1st of a three part series.
9FPS Feature
By upgrading the D850 with a MB-D12 Battery Grip with a BL5 Chamber cover + EN-EL18 battery , I can bump the frame capture rate from the standard 7 FPS (Frames Per Second) to 9 FPS.
With the MB-D12 Battery Grip installed.
BL5 Chamber cover with EN-EL18 Battery
attached
Having that additional 2 FPS burst capability may not be the most important factor (timing & anticipation to me is much more important) in capturing the moments but that additional 2 FPS does make a significant improvement for experienced photographers , so it is definitely a feature that I really appreciate.
More importantly shooting at 9 FPS speed helps greatly when I do BRACKETING with the D850. I have less mis-alignment issues when I bracket hand-held which I do a lot in my photography workflow.
AUTO-FOCUS (AF) TRACKING FINE-TUNING Capability
The improved fine-tuning features in the D850 (over the older models) is a very much valued improvement.
- AF-C Priority Release options
These options do impact the AF response and also the focusing hit rate. My preference in most cases for subjects with action is the Focus + release in option , for more predictable action I may also use the Release + focus option
- AF-C Focus Tracking with Lock-On setting options
The D850 settings set are expanded if compared to that of the older D810 or D800 DSLRs.
Setting the "Blocked shot AF response" appropriately is very important in making sure that the AF tracking responses in line with the speed of the action being photographed.
For example, if I was photographing water polo or swimming , my Block shot AF response would be at the default (middle) or towards the delayed end. If my subjects were 100m sprinters then my settings would be on the quick end.
In addition to fine-tuning the continuous tracking sensitivity, the D850's various AF Area modes also supplement how effective & accurate the AF-C tracking capability becomes. Selecting the appropriate AF Area mode (which has different tracking algorithms) is key in tracking the different active subjects.
For fast moving (or even erratic moving) subjects that are well defined with sufficiently clear backgrounds , my favourite is the Group-area AF mode.
Single point AF is still the best but that is true only if you are able to place the AF point successfully on the subject. This can be an extremely difficult thing to do if the subject is small and is moving very fast and erratically.
Exposure Delay feature
This is an extremely useful feature which I use to ensure no vibrations present would impact the sharpness of images captured.
The exposure delay mode options in the D850 now offers new delay timings of less than 1 second. Exposure-delay mode delays the start of each exposure until a set time after the mirror has been raised.
A fantastic feature to use to get pin sharp images but don't forget to turn it off when reverting to daily normal hand-held photography.
Watch out for Part 2 of 3 where I will share on how features like Focus Shift , Multiple Exposure and the in-built intervalometer helps me in my photography endeavours.
Till then , cheers and happy shooting.
Andrew