Will the scales on butterfly wings create moire like fabric does? That is a keypoint for me, but I have no idea...

MikeWhis said:
The decrease in sharpness when you compare a 12MP and 16MP camera isn't big too if you resized them to the same size. It only matters when you print larger. If you said that sharpening could get more sharpness from one with filter, then I could sharpen the D800E photos to get even more sharpness.

First, it's worth noting that going from 12 MP to 16 MP only allows you to print about 12% larger in linear dimensions, all other things being equal.

Second, removing the low-pass filter mostly enhances the contribution of spatial frequencies that are too high to be sampled by the imaging array anyway. These frequencies are ALWAYS aliased, meaning the reconstructed image contains its contribution as spurious lower-frequency detail -- it's just that if your subject doesn't have strong, coherent detail in those spatial frequencies (think leaves on distant trees rather than parallel grooves on the side of a distant building), that aliasing gives the impression of greater sharpness in regions of fine detail.

Landscape photographers might benefit most from this, but it's a subtle effect, and since much of the effect of it is to add detail that simply isn't faithfully represented from the original scene anyway (due to aliasing) you're likely to get an extremely similar effect from a sharpening filter after the fact, without the additional moire.

I have the D800E. Over the past 10 days I have taken more than 2000 bird images and have not seen any moire.

The only moire I have seen from one of my cameras in the past 90 days was using the V1 - a patterned fabric on a golf bag captured at an angle showed some moire that was dealt with in Capture NX2 using the Low setting.

I have seen one very credible report of the resizing process in Lightroom producing moire in an image. The moire on clothing showed up in a print, but was not in the file. By using alternate resizing settings in Lightroom the photographer was able to eliminate the moire.

With my D7000 I have seen Moire only once: on a patterned tuxedo vest. It appeared on my computer screen in some of the photos at different sizes but didn't appear in any of the prints I made. It seems to show up more after I sharpened some of the images. I could enlarge the image on screen and decrease or increase the Morie effect. I don't know why that was. When I saw it on my screen I thought it was going be a real problem and show up on some of the prints (even those that didn't show it on screen) but it didn't.

If Moire had ruined all those shots it could have been a problem.

TaoTeJared you are right you really need to blow up the image to see much difference really and when you do its usually in the distant details. I really don't think moire is much of concern at least for me anyways...

Here is a direct comparison providing one person's opinion.

http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/d800/vs-d800e.htm

Moire doesn't seem to be much of a problem. But also the sharpness increase from a D88E doesn't seem to be noticeable in any normal size prints.

If you can't tell the difference in the sharpness between a D800 and a D800E then there is no point to contemplate further and to simply get the D800. It is the extra sharpness that have people asking about the moire and whether it is worth the trouble. Personally, I'd go for the sharpness and therefore get the D800E. Should moire arises, there are a number of ways to counter that problem by doing post processing or starting shooting using diffraction.

Hi guys. A friend just got a D800E. He gave it to me to try and get some moire pattern. And I shot every type of fabric pattern I saw in the restaurant from very fine checks to fine lines, all done with the 105 Macro lens. While a moire shows up in the viewer on the back of the camera, absolutely none was detected in the downloaded images on a 32" monitor. This is not to say that it cannot happen, but it does not appear from this "real life" test that it is going to be a problem dealt with in moat photographs.

Having said all that, I think if I were doing studio fashion work, and a fabric came in that looked like it could be a problem, I would definitely want to be tethered and look at the images on a 30+ inch monitor to be absolutely certain no problem existed. And if it did, pull out the D800 with the AA filter and do the shoot.

Well interesting responses. I personally examined the nikon site and examined enlarged images and quite frankly I cannot see a significant difference in sharpness. Also on the web I cannot find any real d-800e user that could show me moire in their images. My conclusion is that 800E is the choice if moire is not a problem to you. The D-800 is so close to the 800E in sharpness I cannot justify the extra $300.00. If you have other "evidence" please post it. I would like to see real-life examples.

Gabbb said:
I don't believe that. Thanks to the Beyer pattern a well designed filter shouldn't decrease the resolution in a way that it should be very noticeable after the batch sharpening has been added. In my opinion if you are not shooting any video it doesn't really matter which one you pick, very little increase in sharpness vs. more moire. Most of the current lenses with most of their aperture settings won't even reach that sharpness with a 36mpx sensor that's required for moire to appear. On my d7000 which has a filter moire does appear every now and then (same pixel pitch as the d800) and with the new moire tools in LR4 or Nx2's auto moire removal it's not a field relevant problem.

The decrease in sharpness when you compare a 12MP and 16MP camera isn't big too if you resized them to the same size. It only matters when you print larger. If you said that sharpening could get more sharpness from one with filter, then I could sharpen the D800E photos to get even more sharpness.

TaoTeJared said:
Surprisingly I really haven't seen photos out of both that really looked like removing the filter made a real difference. Pixel peeping you could tell - sort of. A bit a post sharpening and the difference is almost void in the photos I have downloaded.

I'm of the mindset that avoiding Moire in the beginning is worth more than a bit more of sharpness that can be batch added. Paying $300 more to be able to try to edit moire out doesn't appeal to me. Me, I would save the money and the time and go non-E.

Exactly why I opted for the D800 over the D800E. The minute (and it is minute) difference in sharpness between the two does not promote the risk of moire. Nikon's website has a great side-by-side comparison.

MikeWhis said:
Although there doesn't seem like a big difference in their sharpness, you could print much larger with the D800E. Megapixels stays the same, but detail increases by 50%.

I'd recommend D800 if you will only have one body.
Or else, you should go with D4 with D800E as second body.

I don't believe that. Thanks to the Beyer pattern a well designed filter shouldn't decrease the resolution in a way that it should be very noticeable after the batch sharpening has been added. In my opinion if you are not shooting any video it doesn't really matter which one you pick, very little increase in sharpness vs. more moire. Most of the current lenses with most of their aperture settings won't even reach that sharpness with a 36mpx sensor that's required for moire to appear. On my d7000 which has a filter moire does appear every now and then (same pixel pitch as the d800) and with the new moire tools in LR4 or Nx2's auto moire removal it's not a field relevant problem.

Although there doesn't seem like a big difference in their sharpness, you could print much larger with the D800E. Megapixels stays the same, but detail increases by 50%.

I'd recommend D800 if you will only have one body.
Or else, you should go with D4 with D800E as second body.

Surprisingly I really haven't seen photos out of both that really looked like removing the filter made a real difference. Pixel peeping you could tell - sort of. A bit a post sharpening and the difference is almost void in the photos I have downloaded.

I'm of the mindset that avoiding Moire in the beginning is worth more than a bit more of sharpness that can be batch added. Paying $300 more to be able to try to edit moire out doesn't appeal to me. Me, I would save the money and the time and go non-E.

I just wanted to say that I have not really had any problems with moire for any of my work shooting with the D800e. I also have not any trouble with it with my Leica M9 in the past either. I would not let this topic sway you in your decision making. However, both cameras are excellent. I think if you want the maximum amount of detail and clarity out of your images, and are looking forward to spending less time with post processing then the D800e might be the camera for you in the studio and outdoors. Let us know which way you decide to go :)

I'm waiting like many other for a Nikon D-800. I have been in the throws of indecision. Which is better for the type of work I do, the D-800 or the D-800E?
Workflow: I use Lightroom 4.x and Photoshop 6.0.
Subjects: 60% small to medium still life in studio. Nothing bigger than a motorcycle and as small as a diamond ring or gem stones. 30% Landscapes. 10% Portraits of no specific type, family corporate etc. 0% weddings.
I am familar with Moire,Aliasing and anti-aliasing. However, I do not recall specificly having a problem with it. I assume the anti-aliasing filter on my image sensor took care of it. What am I likely to face with the D-800E without that Anti-aliasing filter? Yes, I know aliasing. But how much of a pain in the butt is it going to be? Do you feel it is worth the $$$ and the slight gain in sharpness? I havn't seen any field test showing the comparison or when the problem is most likely to occure. Are there any Medium format shooters out there who experience aliasing and moire and has it been a problem not worth facing with the 800E?
Since the D-800 is on Backorder I'm sure I can switch, should I?