If you are in the market for a new full-frame DSLR there are two Nikons you should consider above all others: the Nikon D850 and the Nikon D810. Both are extraordinary full-frame cameras that most reviewers agree are the top two DSLRs available. The D850 was introduced in August, 2017 and the D810 was introduced in July, 2014. As of April, 2019 the D850 is selling for $3,295, and the D810 is now selling for $2,750. Ok, that’s a lot of money for either one, but either camera is pretty much one of the best DSLRs made to date. The D850 is truly extraordinary—only two DSLRs, both medium format digital cameras, score higher, and not by very much, on DxOMark’s test site: the Hasselblad X1D-50c and the Pentax 645Z, both of which cost almost three times as much as the D850.

Below is a simple example of the D850’s resolving power and noise handling at higher ISOs. It was taken with the newer Nikon 70-300mm AF-P VR (a surprisingly great lens) from about 25-30 feet or so. When the bunny is cropped you can see how much detail there is—and how well and accurately the D850 auto focussed in a scene with low contrast in dim overcast light. The bunny, by nature, blends into the surrounding grass and detritus of winter. It was hand-held at 300mm at 1/160.

So which one should you buy? Below is a partial list of their features, the ones they differ on mostly. Whether you’re already a Nikon shooter with some full-frame lenses or new to Nikon but looking for a full-frame camera, buy the D850. You won’t regret it, and the additional $500 or so will be well-spent.

Let’s look at some of the differences below. Right at the top of the chart you see that the D850 has 9.4 megapixels more resolution. Some people will say that it’s not a big deal, and that 36 megapixels compared to 24 megapixels is also not a big deal. It is. It’s a big deal and makes a real difference for a lot of different subjects especially when they’re somewhat distant. And some people will argue that the difference in file size will eat up your storage space on your hard drives. Lame excuse. Solid state drives have come way down in price and hard drives are cheaper than ever. If you perform that difficult task to cull your image files now and again and get rid of the ones that really are useless, you’ll have room for the D850 files.

CMOS BSI sensor versus CMOS sensor: In a CMOS BSI sensor, the wiring is placed behind the light-receiving sensor surface. Doing this makes the sensor more sensitive to light and the more sensitive it is the less light it takes to get a correctly exposed photo with less noise.

Sensor Resolution: 45.7 megapixels versus 36.3 megapixels, more is simply better. In the tree photo below even the smallest little branches are visible against the gray sky. Lower-res cameras have a hard time resolving such fine detail at such a distance against a bright background.

Image Size: The larger image of the D850 allows you to not only make a larger print, but it affords more picture area for cropping your final photo for composition purposes. Bigger is better.

Image Processor: The Expeed 5 processor is faster and that’s why the D850 can shoot at 7 frames per second versus the D810’s 5 fps. And, with the faster processor the D850 also has a bigger buffer that can hold 51 14-bit lossless images before slowing down, nearly double the buffer size of the D810.

Built-in Flash–it’s the one thing I wish the D850 had that the D810 does have. With the built-in flash of the D810 I can wirelessly control my other Speedlight flashes. It’s why I have kept my D810 after buying the D850 as I use my Speedlights for a variety of shooting scenarios. Still, for most shooters it may not make a difference and you can attach a Speedlight with commander mode to then control other Speedlights or to just replace the built-in flash as needed.

Storage Media: I’ve heard a lot of complaints from photographers grousing about having to buy the more expensive XQD memory card and the more expensive UHS-II SD card, but that’s not Nikon’s fault. Blame Sony and Sandisk and Lexar for charging so much. But if the expense doesn’t bother you, the upgrade is really well worth it, in fact it is another amazing difference. The XQD card transfers 40-50 45.7MP files so quickly you do not have time to get up and go to bathroom. And the UHS-II SD memory card is also a big improvement over its predecessor the UHS-I card. Both are worth the extra money as far as I’m concerned but they should be cheaper!

Electronic Front-curtain Shutter (EFCS): For me, this is a big one, available on both the D810 and D850. However, the difference is that on the D850 you do not have to be in Mirror Up (MUP) mode for it to work. It works in MUP and the two quiet shooting modes, Q and QC. What does it mean? There are two shutter “curtains” in digital cameras: the front or first curtain that opens at the beginning of an exposure to let light in, and the second or back curtain that closes to block the light out at the end of the exposure. That first curtain opening causes a certain amount of vibration. With EFCS the front curtain opens before the shutter release is actuated and the exposure is started electronically when it is actuated thus eliminating shutter shock, a problem on both DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras and can make your images slightly out-of-focus.

Focus Stacking: This is another big one for me. It allows you to set the D850 to take multiple exposures of the same subject at different focus settings. You need to have your camera on a tripod for this to work and you can do it manually if with any camera, but the D850 it does it for you. Suppose you have a scene that is 30-40 feet in distance from front to back and with your aperture at f/8 the depth of field is only about say 5 feet, but you want everything from the foreground all the way out to infinity to be in focus. By taking multiple exposures of the scene and refocussing each one to get a different slice of the image in focus you can then later combine or “stack” them in Photoshop or Lightroom into one image that’s in focus from front to back. The D850 does it for you automatically. It’s a great new feature.

You can go down the list below and see many other features that the D850 has that the D810 doesn’t have or ones that the D850 has better specs for or more of. You’ll see that the D850 has many improvements. There is one feature I haven’t included that both cameras have (as do other Nikon models) and that’s wi-fi. Nikon’s implementation of wi-fi basically sucks. Canon does it right, it works almost flawlessly and easily, but that’s not the case with Nikon. Simply put, wi-fi isn’t a selling feature and if you need it more than anything else be ready for some challenges, or buy a Canon.

Features	Nikon D850	Nikon D810
Sensor Resolution	45.7 MP	36.3 MP
Sensor Type	CMOS BSI	CMOS
Image Size	8,256 x 5,504	7,360 x 4,912
Image Processor	EXPEED 5	EXPEED 4
Buffer: RAW 14-bit Lossless Comp	51	28
Built-in Flash	No	Yes, with flash commander
Storage Media	1x XQD, 1x SD (UHS-II)	1x CF, 1x SD (UHS-I)
Continuous Shooting Speed	7 FPS, 9 FPS with MB-D18	5 FPS, 6 FPS (DX), 7 FPS with MB-D12
Electronic Front-curtain Shutter	Yes	Yes
Silent Photography Mode in Live View	Yes	No
Exposure Metering Sensor	181,000-pixel RGB sensor	91,000-pixel RGB sensor
Autofocus System	Multi-CAM 20K AF sensor	Adv. Multi-CAM 3500FX + Group Area AF
Dedicated AF Engine	Yes	No
Focus Points	153, 99 cross-type	51, 15 cross-type
AF Detection	Up to f/8, 15 sensors	Up to f/8, 1 sensor
AF EV Range	-4 EV	-2 EV
Auto AF Fine Tune	Yes	No
Memory Card + External Simultaneous Recording	Yes	Yes
Multi-Selector Exposure Compensation	Yes	No
Touch AF in Live View	Yes	No
Focus Peaking	Yes, Stills & Video	No
Interval Timer Resolution	4K, 8K	1080p
Interval Timer Exposure Smoothing	Yes	Yes
Timelapse Exposure Smoothing	Yes	Yes
Silent Timelapse Mode	Yes, Up to 9,999 frames	No
Focus Stacking	Yes	No
LCD Resolution	2,359,000 dots	1,229,000 dots
Tilting LCD	Yes	No
Touch-Enabled LCD	Yes	No
In-Camera Batch RAW Processing	Yes	No
Button Illumination	Yes	No
Bluetooth	Yes	No
Battery	EN-EL15a Lithium-ion Battery	EN-EL15 Lithium-ion Battery
Battery Life	1,840 shots (CIPA)	1,200 shots (CIPA)
Weight	915g	880g
Dimensions	146 x 124 x 78.5mm	146 x 123 x 81.5mm
Original Price	$3,299	$3,299

And finally, take a look at DxOMark’s comparison of the D850 and D810.