Getting to Know the D800

I'm just getting to know the D800 a little better and I wanted to see what she could do. I had several questions to answer with this image. First of all can I shoot the D800 handheld ? I know I can with the D3s but the D800 is no speed demon and I was worried about noise with HDR at ISO 400. Second, can I do handheld HDR as I have been doing with the D3s more frequently now that the alignment routine in Photomatix has been greatly improved? And thirdly, how does the sharpness hold up at f16?

This is my unscientific test, a handheld, 5 exposure HDR of Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, ISO 400, aligned and processed in Photomatix.



My conclusions from this little test?

1. Not much noise at ISO400 even with a 5xp hdr which can by the nature of the processing accentuate any noise present in the image. I will not be afraid to boost the ISO when needed.

2. Photomatix does a great job aligning the 36.3 megapixel images. I can use the D800 for handheld HDR.

3. Near to far sharpness is well maintained at f16 even with the 36.3 megapixel sensor. While there probably is some refraction and I didn't test more wide open aperture, I was pleased with the result and DOF achieved.