Humm interesting Jennifer Deming I was hoping my experience was an isolated occurrance but I guess not. Like I mentioned, I used a 32 GB Extreme Sandisk and the camera definately doesn't like high speed shooting and writing to disk. I couldn't playback shots or even turn on camera for a good 30 seconds. SD cards have always been considered more dangerous than CF cards in terms of lost memory though. I have not had any trouble with the CF cards yet..

I was just as impatient - but happened to have a freshly charged battery from the D7000. The D800E images are truly spectacular - very sharp with fantastic color and dynamic range. I was initially concerned about moire but have about 2500 bird images and no sign of moire.

If is is any consolation - I placed the order for a D800 sight unseen in November 2010 when I ordered a 600mm f/4. I had the option to receive a D800 but decided to wait for the D800E - and am glad I did.

I have had my D800 for about 3 weeks; and have corrupted 2 San Disk 16gb cards! Both were extreme. Very frustrated, but was able to recover the one disk! The other one errored out during the shoot and I was able to switch cameras! Do I just have a lemon, or are others having similar problems?

Its a shame tomlianza, I guess all you can do is hang in there, I feel for you. I work in South Korea and we seem to have no problems with D800 stock. There is a camera district with about 30 shops along the street, and it seems half the stores have 1 or 2 D800 boxes on the shelfs. The D800e is a bit of a different story though as Nikon clearly did not produce many of these with the intention that it was going to be specialty product. I heard only two were shipped to Korea in April and I got one of them because I sold my Leica M9 to one particular shop. The shop owner then sold my Leica M9 to his father and they did me a favor and got me my D800e quickly. As for May I am not sure how many have reached Korea now, but I have not seen in the shops here. Just have to be patient I guess. The prices might even drop a little..

It's reassuring to know that these actually exist....It's clear Nikon was not prepared for the response to this camera. I've been shooting Nikon since 1965, I guess I can wait, but the notices from B&H are not particularly reassuring.

This is why the manual says to not turn the camera on without a freshly charged up battery when you first buy it. Sadly, nobody can wait though and I was the same. I've had the D800e since April 15th so about a month now without any others problems of any kind.

I remember when I first got my D200 years ago. It was my first DSLR so I didn't really know what to expect. I did the same thing while waiting for the battery to charge. Like you, I couldn't get a clear image in the viewfinder. But, once I put the battery in, it cleared up. For some reason, it seems there needs be power to the camera, at least initially, before viewfinder becomes clear.

Yes I had this happen to me as well when I first mounted my 50mm 1.8 G lens right in the shop. Nothing since then although I had trouble with a sandisk 32 GB SD card after shooting in continous mode...

I received my D800e yesterday and was naturally impatient to try it out. I wanted to charge the battery fully first so I put it on the charger and decided to have a look through the viewfinder. I attached my trusty 24-70 and looked through the viewfinder. I couldn't get it to focus in the viewfinder, focusing manually changed the degree of out of focus but I couldn't get it near sharp. Understandably concerned I then put the battery in and it focused perfectly and after that initial AF was also able to focus manually, even with the batt out.

So, anyone got any idea what happens on that first event? Does this happen to all D800s?

Tomorrow I will be fine tuning all my lenses with my LensAlign rig, guess I'll find out if there are any real issues.