Quick Verdict
As we found out, the Nikon D780 copes with almost everything you throw at it, including freezing cold climates and continues to produce excellent results. If you're in the market for a full-frame Digital SLR, then the Nikon D780, with a 24mp BSI CMOS sensor, should be very high on your list, particularly if you shoot in low-light conditions, as you'll benefit from the low noise levels on offer. It's going to be particularly beneficial for people who regularly shoot weddings, portraits, or shoot at night, where low-light performance is key. Ultimately the combination of an excellent 24mp BSI CMOS sensor, and high-quality lenses delivers exceptional image quality in a variety of conditions.
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Nikon's new D780 is designed to be the "best of both worlds" with an optical viewfinder, a vast array of compatible F-mount lenses, impressive battery life, and the 24mp BSI CMOS sensor from Nikon's Z6 mirrorless camera, it offers a DSLR body with some of the advanced features of Nikon's full-frame mirrorless cameras.
Nikon D780 Features
The Nikon D780 has perhaps the best available full-frame sensor of any DSLR, thanks to having a 24mp full-frame BSI CMOS sensor, which can also be found in the Nikon Z6. With a lower megapixel count than other DSLRs, we get larger pixels on the sensor, and a BSI CMOS sensor gives better noise performance than standard CMOS sensors. This should give improved low-light performance, as well as allow a wider usable ISO range.
There’s built-in phase-detection autofocus (AF), built-in to the sensor, giving high-speed live-view focus speeds. With the sensor from the Nikon Z6, the camera also offers 12fps continuous shooting, using an electronic shutter. This means the Nikon D780 gives you fast snappy performance, whether you’re using the camera as a “traditional” DSLR using the OVF, or whether you’re using the live-view screen.
The D780 has access to Nikon F mount lenses, and we’ve been using a variety of lenses, including the 24-70mm f/2.8 VR, and 70-200mm f/4 VR, plus others.
The D780 has a number of advanced features that have been added or updated compared to the D750:
- HDR (with JPEG+Raw recording)
- Focus shift shooting, letting you take a number of shots and put them together later for more of the shot in focus
- 273 PDAF points for live-view focus
- 7fps continuous shooting with AF/AE
- 12fps silent continuous shooting (live-view)
- Extended ISO range, up to ISO204800
- 180,000pixel RGB sensor
- 1/8000s shutter speed, 900s slowest shutter speed (15min)
- 4K UHD video recording
- Bluetooth built-in
- USB3 Type-C connection
- 2260 shot battery life
- See our Nikon D780 vs Nikon D750 comparison.
Auto Focus has been improved, with the addition of live-view focus, which lets you use the 273 phase-detection autofocus (AF) points built-in to the sensor, in addition to the 51 AF points available when using the optical viewfinder (OVF). Focus is also more sensitive in low-light when using live view.
The Nikon D780 is designed to offer the best of both worlds, with the 24mp BSI CMOS sensor from the Nikon Z6, plus the tough weather-sealed body of a Nikon DSLR, along with the impressive battery life performance that comes with a Nikon DSLR.
The camera has P, A, S, M shooting modes, giving you manual controls, plus Auto, Effects, and two customisable user modes, U1, and U2. There are a number of "Picture Control" options letting you choose the photo colour settings, including a "Flat" profile which will be useful for video, or for greater control over the final look of an image when processing. These can be customised with options to adjust sharpness (includes clarity), contrast, brightness, saturation, and hue. There's also the option to shoot 1:1 aspect ratio photos and, in video mode, you can shoot 16:9 images.
There are a range of Creative Picture Controls, that give your images a different style of look with options including Dream, Morning, Pop, Sunday, Somber, Dramatic, Silence, Bleached, Melancholic, Pure, Denim, Toy, Sepia, Blue, Red, Pink, Charcoal, Graphite, Binary, Carbon.
Video: The D780 offers 4K video recording - 4K UHD resolution video can be recorded at 30/25 or 24p, with no crop for up to 29 minutes. With 10-bit N-Log (via HDMI) and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) options. Built-in timecode is included. FullHD video can be recorded at speeds up to 120fps, with sound, allowing for creative slow-motion video.
Bluetooth has been added to the camera, in addition to Wi-Fi, and this lets you transfer images using low-power Bluetooth. You can set this to continue to transfer photos, even when the camera is switched off, however, you'll need to keep an eye on battery life as this could leave you with less battery life than expected.
Key Features
- 24MP full-frame BSI CMOS sensor
- 3.2inch tilting touch-screen, 2360K dots
- 0.7x magnification optical viewfinder - Eye-level pentaprism
- 273 PDAF points (Live-view)
- 51 PDAF points (OVF)
- 7fps continuous shooting
- 12fps silent continuous shooting (live-view)
- ISO range: 100-51200, extended ISO range: 50-204800
- 180,000-pixel RGB sensor (exposure)
- 1/8000s fastest shutter speed
- 900s slowest shutter
- -3EV OVF AF sensitivity
- -4 / -6EV low-light AF (live-view)
- 4K UHD Video, FullHD video (120fps)
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth added
- Dual UHS-II SD card slots
- USB3 Type-C connection
- No built-in flash
- 2260 shot battery life
Nikon D780 Handling
The Nikon D780 feels great in the hand. There's a solid feel thanks to the magnesium alloy body, giving reassurance and confidence in the camera. The grip is ample, and comfortable, with a generous helping of rubber grip to hold on to. The camera weighs 840g (body only, with battery and SD card), making it quite heavy in comparison to mirrorless cameras, and smaller DSLRs, however, there will be those that prefer their camera to have some weight attached. It certainly helps balance the camera, when using Nikon's larger lenses, such as the 24-70mm f/2.8 VR.
The battery and memory card compartments are solid enough, with ample weather sealing. This is made of foam around the memory card compartment, and rubber around the battery compartment. The rubber covers protect the side ports and are re-assuringly snug in fit. We tested the camera in a variety of adverse weather conditions, including on a frozen lake at -10C, as well as next to a waterfall where the camera was covered in spray (see picture below). The camera continued to perform flawlessly.
We tested the camera in a variety of adverse weather conditions, including on a frozen lake at -10C, as well as next to a waterfall where the camera was covered in spray (see below). The camera continued to perform flawlessly.
The top LCD gives vital information at a quick glance, as well as displaying the status of your memory card(s) when the cameras switched off. The LCD screen can be illuminated in low-light, however, the camera buttons aren't illuminated, this being a feature of more sports orientated cameras in Nikon's line up, such as the Nikon D850, D500, and D5 / D6.
There's quick access to ISO and exposure compensation, as well as a video button next to these. Press the ISO button and you can use use the rear command dial to adjust the ISO speed, or use the front command dial to switch between AUTO ISO and fixed ISO. This makes it quick and easy to change this without having to go into the Nikon menus. The mode dial is locking, meaning you need to press the middle button to turn it. Under the mode dial you'll find the drive mode dial, again this is a locking dial, and stops you accidentally turning this. The camera is designed for two-handed operation, with a row of buttons on the left of the rear screen.
Nikon D780 In Water Spray
There's a multi-direction D-Pad on the back of the camera, which can be used to adjust the AF position, as well as go through the menu options. There's a fairly small OK button in the middle, that could be difficult to use with gloves on. Unfortunately, there's no joystick on the rear of the camera, however, you will find one on the Nikon D500, and D850 - if you're not used to using one this shouldn't be an issue. The layout of controls, buttons, and switches should be familiar to anyone who's used other Nikon DSLRs, and mirrorless cameras. You can use the i button (in italics) to quickly access on-screen settings, and you can use the touch-screen to select and change settings.
Focus - The D780 offers both the AF system of a DSLR, with 51 AF points when using the OVF, and also the on-sensor phase-detection system of the Nikon Z6, with 273 AF points when using live-view. Live view focus has the added benefit of face and eye-detection AF, with OVF focus limited to only face detection. Live-view focus also offers much wider coverage, letting you set the focus point to almost anywhere on the screen (except to the very far corners). In live-view, you can set the focus point using the touch-screen, or using the D-pad on the back. Using the left AF button, and front command dial, you can quickly choose the different AF modes, which include: Auto, Single, 9, 21, 51 AF points, 3D, and Group. Focus shift can be selected in the photo menus, and once you have your shots, you'll need to use a third-party application, such as Adobe Photoshop to put the images together.
| Nikon D780 OVF View | OVF Focus - outer focus points shown |
What is the AF-EV range? The D780 has a good autofocus EV range, being able to focus in low-light down to -3 EV (moonlight) using the OVF focus system, although the camera can struggle in VERY low-light (eg a music gig in a basement with terrible lighting). Live-view focus can focus down to -4 EV, or -6 EV when using the low-light focus mode (an option that can be enabled in the Custom settings menus).
The optical viewfinder (OVF) gives a relatively large view of the scene. Red illuminated focus points are re-assuring, giving clear confirmation of the focus point, and the camera will display a "FLICKER" warning when there is the possibility of flicker from artificial lighting. The viewfinder displays a good level of information including the metering, shutter, aperture, ISO speed and remaining shots.
The screen is a 3.2inch touch-screen that tilts up as well as down. This makes it particularly useful for live-view stills shooting as well as recording video. The resolution is good at 2.3 million dots, and the refresh rate is reasonable, but not the fastest we've seen. Viewing angles are excellent and viewability is very good, even outdoors in bright light. The screen does not tilt far enough for use as a "selfie" or vlogging screen.
Menus – The menus are clearly laid out, with colour coding for each section, starting with Playback, Photo Shooting, Movie Shooting, Custom Setting, Setup, Retouch, and My Menu. The Retouch menu has options to process raw files in-camera, as well as apply other edits to your photos. Built-in help gives you a quick guide to the options available and helps make the camera easier to use.
Side note: Keeping photo and movie options in their own sections helps with finding the options you're looking for and is something we wish Sony (and others) would implement. The Custom Settings menus are colour coded so that you can more quickly get to the section you're looking for, and is something we wish Olympus would re-introduce into its cameras!
Wireless Connectivity - Using Bluetooth, you need to be very aware of whether the camera is set to transfer images when switched off, as this can quickly drain the battery, leaving you with an almost flat battery when you wake up in the morning. Bluetooth is also relatively slow compared to Wi-Fi, so if you have a large number of photos to transfer (even when transferring 2mp images), you would be better served by switching over to Wi-Fi. Using Wi-Fi you can remotely control the camera from the SnapBridge app. Location information is supported so that you can add GPS data to images from your smartphone.
Battery life - Battery life is rated at 2260 shots according to Nikon / CIPA test results, which is excellent. However, extended use of Bluetooth / Wi-Fi, as well as leaving Bluetooth transfer switched on will reduce the battery life. Using live-view shooting will also reduce the battery life as the sensor is on constantly, compared to shooting through the OVF, where the sensor is only switched on to take the photo.
Nikon D780 Performance
The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.
Nikon D780 Sample Photos
Sample Photos - Colour reproduction is very pleasing, with excellent skin tones, and good levels of saturation straight out of the camera. For more "pop" the Vivid colour setting can be used.
Portraits – using the optical viewfinder, the camera has face detection, however, in a portrait shoot we found this wasn’t always reliable in terms of getting the focus correct (on the eyes), and also wasn’t particularly reliable in getting the exposure correct (for the subjects face), most likely due to the subject falling outside of the focus area. Switching to live view, we were able to benefit from face and eye detection focus, and this worked flawlessly, as well as correctly set the exposure for the subjects face.
For the most part, exposure is reliable, although there can be a slight difference between the exposure when using the optical viewfinder and live-view modes, with the live-view exposure being more accurate, and requiring less monitoring (and subsequent adjustment). D-Lighting can be used to boost shadow areas in the image, although we kept this on the low setting for these photos. The camera offers excellent dynamic range, with great results in the JPEG images. If additional recovery of shadow detail (or highlights) is necessary then the raw files give additional possibilities, and can easily be adjusted in-camera.
The camera offers a built-in HDR shooting mode, with the camera using the electronic shutter to take a number of shots and combine the image(s) in-camera. Care needs to be taken to ensure your subject or the scene isn't moving otherwise you can end up with a blurred image. The camera gives the option to save the original raw files, and this means you can go back to the original shot should your JPEG not turn out how you had hoped.
Built-in raw processing can be very handy to quickly correct an exposure mistake (particularly if you've dialled in -0.7 exposure compensation and then taken a series of photos with this mistakenly left on), and you can even select multiple images and process them all at the same time.
Nikon D780 Lens test images
Lens Performance - We used the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR lens, the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4G ED VR lens, and the AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens, and found that they all performed very well with the D780. For a more detailed analysis of these lenses, feel free to click the links, and have a look at our full reviews.
We particularly liked the 70-200mm f/4G, and it's relatively compact and lightweight size and excellent handling made it particularly enjoyable to use. It also made for a versatile portrait lens. Flare was very rarely seen, but we did manage to capture it in one or two of our shots (out of about 2000), so have included an example above. There are vignette correction, diffraction compensation and auto distortion control options to automatically correct lens distortion.
Detail and resolution captured by the camera are impressive, with pleasing results straight from the camera, particularly in terms of sharpness, when using these lenses. We didn't feel the need to process the images for additional sharpness, although there are options built-in to the camera if you wanted to adjust the settings. The built-in Vibration Reduction (VR) helped keep shots stable and improved the view through the viewfinder.
In very low-light, the standard AF system struggled, and photographing something like the Aurora Borealis is likely to be darker than any current camera can automatically focus on, so that manual focus was required. In other lighting conditions focus was excellent.
Nikon D780 ISO test images
ISO Noise Performance - The camera offers an extended ISO range, with speeds down to ISO50 available, albeit with reduced dynamic range recorded. Noise performance is excellent from ISO100 all the way up to ISO3200. It's not until ISO6400 that we start to see a slight drop in fine detail, with a further drop in detail at ISO12800. Noise performance and control at these ISO speeds remains excellent, with generally low levels of noise, and a "fine grain" look to noise that is visible. Noise becomes more visible at ISO25600 but the camera still produces usable images. At ISO51200 there is a drop in colour saturation, and you may not want to use these images without further processing (or resizing). ISO102400 (Hi1) and above show the highest levels of noise, as well as a visibly processed image so these settings may be best avoided. There are High ISO NR (Noise Reduction) options of High, Normal, Low, and Off. We took these on the default setting of Normal.
The D780 gives noticeably improved noise performance compared to the D750, with much better detail at higher ISO speeds (ISO3200-6400), and higher ISO speeds (ISO12800-ISO25600 and beyond) are vastly improved compared in comparison.
Nikon D780 White-balance test images
White Balance Performance - Auto White Balance (AWB) has options for Auto (Keep white), Auto (Keep overall atmosphere), Auto (Keep warm), and you can access these using the menu system or more quickly using the rear i / function button and the on-screen controls. Auto white balance gives a warm result under tungsten (incandescent) lighting, with the "White" option giving a slightly more neutral result. The AWB Warm option gives a much warmer image. The tungsten preset also gives a warm result, so for more accurate whites (and particularly product shots), you may need to use manual white balance. AWB performance under fluorescent lighting is reasonable, with the fluorescent preset giving a slight colour cast. AWB outdoors, in natural lighting is excellent.
Video - The D780 offers uncropped 4K UHD video recording, at frame rates up to 30fps, with 25 and 24fps also available. You can record FullHD video at speeds up to 120fps. Focus uses the on-sensor phase-detection and performed very well. You can use ISO speeds from ISO100 all the way up to ISO204800 (Hi2).
For stabilisation, you can use a lens with Vibration Reduction (VR) built-in, and there is also an option for electronic vibration reduction which can be switch on/off in the menus. Both options help keep video more stable, but neither is perfect and for better results, you'll need to use a tripod or look into additional stabilisations options, whether that's a gimbal or post-processing (and stabilisation in editing software).
Video quality possible is excellent, with high levels of detail captured in the 4K footage we recorded. One thing to be aware of is the amount of noise recorded by the internal microphones in windy conditions. There are options for wind reduction (on/off), and the camera supports Timecode. There are headphone and microphone sockets on the side, plus HDMI out.
You can watch additional videos on the ePHOTOzine YouTube Channel.
Value For Money
The Nikon D780 is available for £2099 body only which makes it more expensive than the D750's RRP price (of £1799), and it makes it quite expensive in comparison to many of the alternatives, so value for money may not appear great, but the value of what's on offer will be personal to you. Some of the DSLR options include:
Nikon D850, 47mp, up to 9fps, 4K video, £2499 body only
Canon EOS 6D Mark II, 26mp, 6.5fps, FullHD video, £1174 body only
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, 30mp, 7fps, 4K video, £2549 body only
Sony Alpha A99 Mark II, 42mp, 12fps, 4K video, £2499 body only
Pentax K-1 II, 36mp, 6.4fps, FullHD video, £1789 body only
If you're looking at the full-frame mirrorless market, then the options include the following 24mp (ish) cameras:
Nikon Z6, 24mp, 12fps, 4K video, £1699 with F-mount adapter
Sony Alpha A7 III, 24mp, 10fps, 4K video, £1699 body only
Canon EOS RP, 26mp, 5fps, 4K video, £1125 with EF mount adapter
Canon EOS R, 30mp, 8fps, 4K video, £1899 with EF mount adapter
Sigma fp, 24mp, 18fps, 4K video, £1999 body only
Have a look at more options in our list of Best Full-Frame DSLRs, or look at something smaller, with an APS-C DSLR, or you could look at full-frame mirrorless cameras. You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.
Nikon D780 Verdict
For people who are familiar with Nikon DSLRs, the D780 will feel like "an old friend", with excellent handling and ergonomics, along with the latest technology and advances borrowed from the Nikon Z mirrorless range. This gives you the ability to benefit from eye-detection focus, a wider focus area, as well as faster continuous shooting at 12fps, using the electronic shutter. There are other benefits to be found, including focus shift shooting, which also uses the electronic shutter.
We tested the camera in a variety of conditions, in the spray of a waterfall, and at temperatures down to -10C. The build quality of the camera is re-assuring, and the weather-sealing certainly proved it's worth, with the camera performing well even in wet and freezing conditions.
Sure, we'd like it if the OVF focus system worked at lower light levels, but we're talking very low-light conditions where we found the camera struggled a little. However, the sensor allows for photos and video at ISO speeds which we wouldn't want to use on other cameras. The OVF focus system also takes more skill to master, compared to live-view focus, and the central positioning of the AF points means you'll most likely want to switch to live-view if your subject is outside this area (rather than focus and recompose every shot).
The Nikon D780 copes with almost everything you throw at it, and produces excellent results. If you're in the market for a full-frame Digital SLR, then the Nikon D780 should be very high on your list, particularly if you shoot in low-light conditions, as you'll benefit from the low noise levels on offer. It's going to be particularly beneficial for people who regularly shoot weddings, portraits, or shoot at night, where low-light performance is key. Ultimately the combination of an excellent 24mp BSI CMOS sensor, and high-quality lenses delivers exceptional image quality in a variety of conditions, with the addition of further shooting features and performance from the Nikon Z6 being the icing on the cake.
| The Nikon D780 offers exceptional image quality, excellent battery life, and a tough weather-sealed DSLR body. |
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