Three Reasons to Upgrade Your Gear

Art Model, Panda

There is some really nice new gear out there right now! I mean, well first off... it's about that time of year for it, so many manufacturers are due for upgrade announcements and the holidays are coming up. Nonetheless, there is a ton of stuff already out there. Yeah, I'm looking at you Sony. You too, Fujifilm!

Now I've talked about this before and as a photog, I'm routinely asked about the latest and greatest. Personally, things are a bit different for me as I'm trekking the globe. My priorities aren't solely with the camera anymore. Backpacking comes with its own unique requirements, between expenses dealing directly with travel as well as gear unrelated to photography. Plane tickets, car rentals, accommodations, food... those are all things I need to plan for on a weekly or monthly basis. I recently had to drop a cool grand on cold-weather gear. And it came right at $1,000. I'd much rather spend that on camera gear!

Art Model, Panda

I'm currently back in Peru, but in a few weeks, I will be headed waaay down south to Ushuaia, Argentina. I just saw a video of that city, present-day, and there's a friggin' snowstorm. I know nothing about the place. I have a feeling that everything I've done to research and prepare will not be enough. Which just means I'll have to make adjustments on the spot. Somehow. So my immediate concerns may not be like everyone else's when they are trying to decide when to upgrade.

Back to my point... This is when you upgrade.

1. WHEN YOU NEED TO!

Over the years, as I developed my skills and my business, my needs in photography changed. That meant that I had specific standards and requirements that my current line up of camera bodies and/or lenses no longer met. My very first ever set up was with the Canon 40D. It was a very capable system. I paid $1500 for it 2008. Loved it! Why? Because it was the first digital camera system that I felt matched what I was doing in film.

A problem arose when I shot a wedding with the camera in limited lighting capabilities. I had to push the ISO too much and it showed, thereby affecting my standards on the quality of my print jobs. I kept the camera, but I upgraded to the Canon 5DII, arguably one of the most revolutionary cameras ever. No more problems like that! AND... I paired it with a Canon 7D and I rolled like that for years. That set up was great for my business for what I did.

Art Model, Panda

By 2012, I began venturing away from photography as a shooter and more oriented myself with photography as an artist. My standards changed. I was shooting more fine art prints and I wanted to more heavily concentrate on printing and I wanted to only print large images. No more 8x10s for me. The full-frame 5DII did the job... to an extent. It took me a bit to figure out what my frustration was as a photographer. I could still print a 30 x 40, but my work had no depth. I needed resolution! To me, that meant medium format which at the time had a steep barrier to entry with a $25k price tag just to get a camera and a body.

Nikon came out around that same month with a 36mp full-frame system for $3300 that became available a week before I was to head to Nicaragua. If you bought all my Canon gear new, you'd spend over $20K. I sold it ALL for Nikon. I did not care about price. Availability was all that mattered and I got the Nikon D800e and it got me what I needed. But the weight!! Back home, no problem. But when you travel and everything is on your back, it matters! Two years later, I was in Sony which gave me resolution, in a much smaller package and I have not looked back.

Art Model, Panda

2. WHEN IT MAKES SENSE TO!

This one is easy. After I bought my Sony A7RII, the most significant camera I have ever owned, they eventually came out with another version, the A7RIII. The similarities between the cameras were NOT significant enough for me to upgrade. Yes, I could have used the bigger battery and the two card slots. Other than that, the increases in performance, speed, etc., was negligible. In addition, I shoot with an a6500 crop-sensor camera as well. Had I upgraded, I'd have to pack and deal with two different battery types. Basically, when I DO upgrade my a7RII, I will upgrade the crop-sensor as well. So presently, it made no sense for me to upgrade.

Conversely, if I damaged my a7RII, then it's all a different story. Yes, you COULD buy another duplicate camera. The a7RII is still available for sale, at a much more decent price, at that. But if you have to buy a camera anyway, get the best one available! So in effect, it MAKES SENSE to upgrade your camera. That's perfectly justifiable. And in my case, I'd upgrade both my camera systems.

Art Model, Panda

3. WHEN THERE IS NO GOOD REASON OTHER THAN YOU WANT TO!

And finally, I've chosen this option as well. I'm much more streamlined now, mainly because of my traveling. But there was a point in which I had so much friggin' useless gear, it was ridiculous. I'd upgrade for no other reason than it damn well pleased me to do so. And it is primarily for this reason, that I will not hate on you if you chose to do so. Go on, with your bad self. If you got the cash, spend it! Now if you don't have the cash and are using rent money to upgrade, I'm gonna talk about how your Mama didn't raise you with common sense. Other than that, ENJOY!!

Confession...
I do not need it, but I have my eye on that Sony a7R4 for the end of the year! Can it make my work better? Well, yeah. It's 61MP with pixel shift muli-shooting capabilities to boost resolution even further! Can I still kill with my current gear... yes...

So, that would put me in category 3 if I upgraded. See where I'm going with this? At any given time, you can be in any spot. Hence, No hatin' from me.

Peace! Mo' Power and Mo' Resolution to ya!

Art Model, Panda

The New Fujifilm GFX100. Who Needs 100 Megapixels?

Art Model Covenant, Dry Lake Bed, Nevada desert, ©2016 Terrell Neasley

***Special Note: This post is commentary only. These shots were not made with the GFX100.***

"The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense." 

~ Pablo Picasso

Fujifilm has just announced a new camera, the GFX100. This is a medium format 100 megapixel camera. ONE. HUNDRED. MEGAPIXEL! (Actually, it's 102MP) Oh, and it's $10,000... just for the body. No lens. Of course this begs the two-part question of "Who needs a hundred MP's?" and "Why pay Ten Thousand friggin' dollars for a camera. That's a very good question, so lets get into it.

There are already 100 megapixel medium format cameras out there. Hasselblad and Phase One are already out there since a few years now. You'll spend $30 to $50k on these systems...body only! I can't say this with a high degree of certainty, but I don't see the dslr/mirrorless pro photographer demographic making a bee-line to these systems. Nope, I'm gonna guess this market is for current medium format high end users with the scratch to purchase personally, purchase via a company account, or lease/rent these bad boys. That means a limited and small market base.

Art Model Covenant, Home in Las Vegas, ©2016 Terrell Neasley

This is where Fujifilm makes a drastically different game-change on TWO fronts. The first, of course is price point. Coming in for just $10K, (I laugh when I say JUST $10K, of course), you can get into this high end medium format market for a fraction of the current costs. Drop another $5K and you got yourself probably 3 good lenses. If I were to jump into this, it'd be the 23mm f/4 and the 63mm f/2.8. That would set me back about $3k, so for a $13K total, I'm in with what I need. For another $2K, I could pick up the 32-64mm f/4 zoom and be golden. So this price point might be a tad steep, I'll grant you, but it is much less hefty than dropping $30K on a single system and lens.

The other part to this is the fact that Fujifilm made the GFX100 to be emphatically similar to the Canon 1DX or a Nikon D5. What this means is that they made the thing to FEEL like a dslr/mirrorless full frame camera. Not only that, it also FUNCTIONS like a full frame camera. Going from FF to Medium Format would be like going from a Chevy sedan to a dump truck. Works the same, but TOTALLY different feel.

Art Model Covenant, Staycation in Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, ©2017 Terrell Neasley

The GFX100 is actually just a little bit smaller in size and weight as a Canon flagship camera. It has the integrated battery grip and supports 2 batteries. Like a full frame mirrorless, the GFX100 is the first medium format to have phase detect auto focus (3.7 million points over the whole sensor. Not even sure I understand that.) AND in-body stabilization that gives you a 5-stop assist for those slow shutter speeds. Unlike most of today's digital medium format cameras that give you 1 shot per second, the GFX100 can shoot at 5 frames per second. What makes that unique is the fact that this high megapixel count puts out a ton of information with each shot. So Fuji has coupled this back-side illuminated sensor (made by Sony) with a Fujifilm X-Processor 4 engine to process that info in record speed.

"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize." 

~ Robert Hughes

Here's one more target market reminiscent of the dslr/mirrorless similarity. Have you ever heard of anybody doing video with a medium format camera? I haven't. I haven't seen a single soul have their go-to system for video be a medium format anything. I think that changes with the GFX100. It will shoot 4k video. That's 30p... INTERNAL. You can do 4:2:0 internal OR output at 4:2:2 all at 400mbs. Damn. Oh, it also comes with F-log if you want to flatten everything out and color correct later. And of course, it has a mic and headphone jack. I can see somebody wanting to do some high end video production with this. I'd like to see what down sampling would look like.

Art Model Covenant, Blacks Beach, CA ©2017 Terrell Neasley

So yeah. I think there are definitely some opportunities with this. I was not on board with the GFX50s series. I did not see a noticeable viable improvement over my Sony A7r2. It was still too much of a medium format system that I haven't adapted to. But this GFX100...? I won't lie. I want to see what my nudes look like under this. I wish it was out for me to take to Patagonia in a few months and see what I can do with some mountain/landscapes or some portraiture. Will the 23mm still let me do Astro photography at f/4? And is it too bulky for me to travel with? Those are the only two points I have that give me pause. Deal-breakers, though? I think not. Hell, I'd figure out a way to carry it. Admittedly, I drooled a little bit. Nudes and mountains at 100 megapixels... Hmmm...

Dang...I forgot. I'd need two systems. I'm not backpacking around the world with one camera. Maybe that Rangefinder body-style GFX50r would be up to par.

Here's what it comes down to.

Do you need it? Good question. It all comes down to two things. ONE, if you are making money and can justify the expenditure, meaning you KNOW you will make your money back this year, then why not do it? I'd talk bad about you if you retorted with memory space issues. The hell with that. Get the friggin' camera.

Art Model Covenant, Mojave desert, CA ©2017 Terrell Neasley

Second... Let's say you are not a professional. You know you will not make your money back on the camera and it's just another hobby expense. Take a look at your current system. If it's a crop sensor or consumer end full frame that you got used, then just enjoy my pics here and I hope you are entertained. But if you are a hobbyist with a D850 or A7R3 with enough lenses to start your own camera store, Get the damn Fuji. Why would you not want to produce the best possible images you can make? For marginal upgrades, yeah. Sit tight. But for THIS? If you can pay $3k for a camera, you can do $10K, so quit trippin'.

Will I get it? Prob not right this second. Availability won't be til end of June. I will not be stateside to purchase one. Towards the end of the year, though...I'm going to be making some decisions. Hopefully, the camera pans out and lives up to all the hype. If so, B&C Camera, Here I COME!!

Check out these links for more reviews and info:
Fujifilm’s GFX 100 is a medium format camera that performs like a mirrorless
Fuji GFX 100 Hands-On First Look YouTube
PROJECT REAL: Michael Clark x GFX100 / FUJIFILM YouTube
Here’s the First Timelapse Shot on the 102-Megapixel Fujifilm GFX100

Three Companies that Excel in Customer Service Part I: Fujifilm

Anonymous Model in Nicaragua, Shot on Fujifilm X-E2, ©2014 Terrell Neasley

"Always render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be." 

~ Og Mandino

No matter the industry, there are companies in each that make a good product and suck at customer service. Often times its because of their product demand, like the iPhone or the size of the company like Bank of America. Canon and Nikon are the most well-known photography company brands and that brand is also factored into their product pricing models.

Right now, I'm going to give props to three photography related companies that I feel do an excellent job at delivering a great product and STILL provides a great customer experience to the consumers who purchase their products. First, in this Part I, I'm going to go all in a camera manufacturer.

Anonymous Model in Nicaragua, Shot on Fujifilm X-E2, ©2014 Terrell Neasley

Fujifilm

I first picked up a Fujifilm X-E2 a few years back and took off to Nicaragua for about 3 months. I had become a fan of mirrorless tech and I started with them before eventually making Sony my main system. At the time, Sony had the full-frame mirrorless experience, but lacked the lens line-up that I needed. I did not expect much and bought the camera strictly for street photography work, but I learned it was capable of much more. After less than a week in country...I had a rather rough experience with ocean waves, large rocks, and a cliff. My poor Fuji spent hours in and out of the Pacific as I attempted to save my life.

I don't know of ANY camera system that can come back from that. It wasn't even weather-proof, yet after 5 days in a plastic bag full of rice, (and eventually ants), the camera came back to full functioning operation capability. both camera AND lens. Upon my return to the US, I stopped in Los Angeles to shoot the Black College Expo AND models in fashion apparel for a non-profit. I rented an X100S to pair with my X-E2. Upon returning home to Las Vegas and beginning my edits, I quickly realized there was absolutely no added benefit had I used my Nikon D800e. That's a 16mp crop sensor versus a 36mp full frame. No added benefit!

Anonymous Model in Nicaragua, Shot on Fujifilm X-E2, ©2014 Terrell Neasley

On top of that, I have to say that of all the camera manufacturers out there, Fujifilm is the one that listens to its customer base the most. They are firm believers in the Japanese philosophy of the Kaizen continuous improvement model. They'll usually add firmware to update your current camera, whereas other manufacturers will only add the more demanded features in subsequent models. The Fujifilm X-T1 came out only a few months after I bought my X-E2. It was more rugged and more frames per second. Fujifilm eliminated any buyer's remorse I might have acquired by issuing a firmware update that gave me almost the exact same features as the X-T1. Later on, they added more firmware upgrades that effectively gave me a brand new camera. When have you ever had a camera that had more functionality spec-wise three years after you bought it than at the time of purchase? Only Fujifilm has done this.

If you bought the X-Pro2 when it came out last summer, you bought yourself a good rangefinder-style mirrorless camera. Its the papa of the X-E series. Guess what, they've now just announced a firmware upgrade to make your camera do 4K video. See what I'm talking about? Can you feel me now? Most camera companies will use a firmware upgrade to fix a bug OR to make the camera more compatible with a new product from the same manufacturer. A camera maker might release a new lens and then do a firmware update on older cameras to accommodate said lens. Who the hell is dropping 4K functionality into a pre-existing system. Canon isn't doing that. Nikon isn't doing that. If Canon or Nikon had the X-Pro2 and wanted to add 4K video, they'd sit on that firmware upgrade for a year and then introduce the X-Pro3!

Anonymous Model in Nicaragua, Shot on Fujifilm X-E2,
©2014 Terrell Neasley

Fujifilm is definitely not paying me to say any of this. And like I mentioned, I shoot primarily with the Sony Alpha system and I love it. That full frame tech with the high ISO system (a7sII) along with the high resolution system (a7rII) is bad ass. Fujifilm only has APS-C senors in their mirrorless system. I've been full-on Canon. I've been full-on Nikon. I'm full-on Sony right now, but I am not above shooting two systems. In fact, I've got my eye on the Fujifilm X-T2, even though I'm also likely to upgrade my Sony a6300 to the a6500.

On top of that, if you didn't know before, then you know now. Fujifilm is in the medium format business. The Fujifilm GFX 50s is a 50MP medium format mirrorless camera system. Right now, its not where I need it to be to dive into it. Personally, I think there were a few missteps with this first attempt, but I have no doubt the next generation will be a hit. A leaf shutter, faster sync speed, and I definitely want to be able to shoot in bulb mode for longer than 60mins. I think I can adjust to a mechanical shutter that tops out at 1/4000th, but why? That, along with a deeper lens line-up, and I can easily see myself rocking dual systems. I see the GFX in my life moreso than the Sony a9 and I'm very likely to pull the trigger on the next version of this camera. They just released a new 120mm macro!  That makes 6 lenses in the line-up. A new wide prime is one thing I'm waiting for. They have a 23mm f/4, but can it get faster in medium format? Maybe I'm still thinking in full frame perspective.

Anonymous Model in Nicaragua, Shot on Fujifilm X-E2, ©2014 Terrell Neasley

Another New Paradigm - The Sony A7s

Art Model, Kristi C ©2014 Terrell Neasley

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” ― Frank Zappa

Its happened. I've made another major change in my photographic evolution. For the first time in my photographic life, I'm DSLR-less. Or more commonly stated. I've gone Mirrorless. So this makes the third time I've made a metamorphosis like this. It first started when I chose to leave film and jump into the digital world in the fall of 2007. I was already a Canon user and felt no real reason to NOT be Canon just because I no longer used film and darkroom techniques to create my images. That was a hard switch, but I felt the Canon 40D did the job as about as good as I could get in film and stay within a budget. I think I paid about $1500 or so and got some speedlites and umbrellas to put on stands for my lighting gear. That's how I started. I used the Canon ST-E2 Infrared transmitters to trigger my 430EXII Speedlights. I quickly learned its limitations and rented the Canon 5DMarkII full frame system and fell in love with it. I paired it with a 7D and felt unstoppable. I eventually acquired a full line-up of Canon L-Series lenses, to include the 24mm Tilt-Shift (which made me money by simply having the lens ON my camera. It got attention and got me gigs), as well as my favorite the 85mm 1.2. The 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II was by far my sharpest and fastest lens to focus with, but the shallow depth of field of the 85mm 1.2 held my heart.

Art Model, Kristi C ©2014 Terrell Neasley

And so it came, as all things must, the end of my fellowship with Canon. My desire to travel quickly became a priority and my intention was to go medium format. And then Nikon came out with the D800/D800E. I was disappointed in the Canon 5DMarkIII. It just didn't have the resolution and detail I desired for my artwork. A friend of mine showed me what the D800E could do and I quickly noted that what I saw was exactly what went on in my head. Oddly enough I paired it with a Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 image stabilized lens and it served me far better than Nikon's own 24-70. I took it to Guatemala and Belize in 2012 and got exactly what I wanted. Match made in Heaven, right. Well, kinda...

The D800E fit my hands well. The size and weight were great for what I do here in the US...but abroad? Not so much. I thought I could carry fewer lenses by packing the 28-300mm and the 50mm 1.4. The 50mm did work. The 28-300mm did as well, but not quite as well. I began to see extensive Chromatic Aberation problems with the lens when the lighting conditions were higher in contrast such as the bright sun coming through the trees. This meant that I could no longer cut corners and would have to bring out the good stuff and carry more and more costly lenses on my next trip. But this notion did not appeal to me. I backpack. I don't have roller bags when I travel. Carrying all that heavy gear in Guatemala, the D800E and the 2 lenses were already bothersome. I just couldn't imagine carrying even more gear.

So then I got the Fujifilm X-E2 for my next trip to Central America. Right before I left, I picked up the camera kit, which came with the metal barrel 18-55mm f/2.8-4 and aperture ring, along with the 35mm 1.4. Fuji has an excellent line-up of cameras and especially lenses. I came back after almost 3 months in Nicaragua with EXCELLENT work. I even took it on a pro gig in L.A. on my way back to Las Vegas. The Fujifilm X-E2 is the first mirrorless camera that I purchased, but I still worked with my D800E in and around Vegas.

Art Model, Kristi C ©2014 Terrell Neasley

But now, that's all changed since I'm doing more work with low-light, nighttime, and astronomy...particularly with shooting nudes in these settings. This is where Sony has solved this problem. There's not another camera on the planet that have these attributes better than the A7s. Its another learning curve to get used to, but frankly, I like it. As of last week, I made my 3rd evolution and ventured into the little-known world of Mirrorless Interchangeble Lens Cameras as my sole system of choice. I still have the APS-C sensor Fujifilm X-E2, but I no longer have my Nikon D800E. I am 100% Mirrorless. My needs have changed and I had no problem with making the adjustment...again. I needed lighter weight systems and I needed the ability to shoot better in lower light. Usually, all that's necessary is a tripod, a cable-release and some patience. But sometimes the elements in my composition would move, such as the clouds, and I needed much shorter shutter times. And then there are a few other reasons I won't get into at the moment, but suffice to say, I think this is special. The full-frame A7s simply gives me what I need in order to get what's in my head to in front of my eyes. I've had a few people speak negatively on my decisions in this regard, but I'll save that for another post.

Art Model, Kristi C ©2014 Terrell Neasley

For now, I'll have images edited before long and I'll continue to test and learn this new system. I still have another body, another lens, and a couple more things to get to prepare me for my next adventure. I think that'll be the new A7MarkII or a new Fujifilm system. I'm pretty sure, that'll be it. I picked up the 35mm 2.8 yesterday and still need the 55mm 1.8, along with at least 1 Rokinon lens, but maybe two. Over the past few months, you've seen me blog about what I thought were shortcomings in the lack of innovation of Canon and Nikon. Well, now I've put my money with my words and made that change.

Not Upgrading to the New Nikon D810

"Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse."

~ Winston Churchill

Art Model, Covenant  ©2014 Terrell Neasley

The Nikon D810 has just arrived in stores this past week and the reviews are very positive for this new camera system. I have to admit, its pretty dog gone stunning and a very desirable piece of equipment. I own the D800E and several people have asked me if I will upgrade. The easy answer is, No. Not right now anyways. And I'll tell you why. I've got several other priorities before I make that move. While I am a gear head, I don't feel the immediate draw to ditch my 800E for it. I might feel otherwise had I bought the D800 (non-E version). But the fact of the matter is that I'm happy with the E. And I haven't been wishing for the upgrades that appear in the 810.

Art Model, Covenant  ©2014 Terrell Neasley

I can't say that a little later down the line, I won't make that jump. But if I do, its because my priorities have been fulfilled and the upgrade is allowable. Right now, I've been upgrading my Dell T5500 computer workstation which is entering its 3rd year this fall. I've added an external hard drive and 16GBs more RAM, giving me close to 30 now. This system is still good enough that a tune-up will suffice rather than an overhaul. I'm still trying to determine which graphics card upgrade I'll get and chances are I'm going also beef up my internal hard drives again along with my back-up external drives before year's end. To me, this is more important that the D810 right now.

What I Like
Make no mistake. The D810 is bad ass. Several features make me wanna jump on it. One of the things that gets my attention on the camera the quiet nature of it. Its got an electronic front curtain shutter and is now whisper quiet. I'm big on that, but its not as if my current system is blaring in my ears. But let me back up to the sensor. Its a misnomer to state that the E has the AA filter removed. Its actually simply negated by another piece of glass on the sensor. The 810 actually has it removed. Its simply not there. But this could be a negligible improvement to the naked eye. As a fine art specialist, I gotta give cred to the native 64 ISO. So far, you see all the rage on the extended high ISO. If there is a low ISO, its a system edit moreso than a specifically designed sensor capability. They'll call it L1 and L2. Same with the high ISO. Once it reaches its max, manufacturers like to boast extended H1, or H2. A natural ISO of 64 means even more fine quality shots about a stop lower than the native 100 ISO of most cameras. I like the new 4-digit counter instead of 3-digit. That means time-lapse shots can go to 9,999 in stead of 999. In fact, I'll likely make the switch as video and time-lapse become more prominent in my work, as opposed to occasional. The exposure smoothing option is key here. This is the only time Auto-ISO becomes important to me. I like the AF and Metering systems that come courtesy of the D4S. Beautiful.

Art Model, Covenant  ©2014 Terrell Neasley

What I don't Care About
Frame rate isn't that important to me. And unless you are doing sports, chances are, you don't benefit from it as much either. The D800 has never been a sports camera. So the single frame rate addition is a marginal benefit in my opinion. I personally don't need the added stop of ISO on the high end. Nice feature, allowable with the new processor, no doubt. But its not a huge jump. I have rarely ever shot above 3200 much less blasting at 6400.

What I WISH it Had
Now here's the tricky part. As I mentioned in a previous post, both Nikon and Canon are missing the proverbial boat here by remaining conventional and traditional. Ask Kodak how that worked out for them. But its tricky in that the features I want to mention aren't necessarily ones I really "need" per se. But shaking things up a bit, surprising us a bit, getting outside the same old predictable would have set the D810 apart. A touch screen for instance. Nikon has absolutely no touch screen systems what so ever despite that almost every display we have starting to trend that way. So why not? Why not give us built-in WiFi/GPS? Canon has this and touch screen in two of their systems already. And every other camera manufacture has already implemented it as well. What Nikon could have done to really throw it in Canon's face would have been 4K video to challenge the Canon 5DMk3 (and its successor), even if it meant having an external output like the Sony A7S. Focus Peaking or Split Screen Focus would have made me immediately sell my D800E for that feature alone. How about some aps on the thing? What else...? I can't think of anything else at the moment. Wait...that's it!! Give me something that I haven't even thought about! Or show us a video of someone using a water hose on the camera and that it still functions perfectly. Forget the High ISO and megapixel war that has been raging since the dawn of the Digital Age. Give me voice command...or something! I just want to feel like innovation is important to the company. Just about every last one of the new features on this camera were predictable.

Art Model, Covenant  ©2014 Terrell Neasley

And I can be further impressed if they do firmware upgrades that make the D800/D800E better cameras. What? Would that cannibalize 810 sales? Fuji does it all the time and its called brand loyalty and consumer support. Do a firmware upgrade on a Fujifilm camera two years after the fact and its almost like you just downloaded a new camera. But hey...maybe Nikon has some things in the pipe I/We aren't aware of that will be featured in the D900. But I live in Vegas. Chances are, the next upgrade will be a D820 while Sony introduces a curved 50MP medium format sensor that fits in the palm of your hand.