Brian

The D500 looks interesting. The controls and setup are very much like a D5. It really is the true D300/D300s replacement. So before we go further, what does your lens setup look like? If you do get a D810, you really NEED to use the best lenses with it. Those 36MP need to be fed, unfortunately, those lenses usually end up being the $2000 lenses.

Well, it's because you are crunching data from 36.1 Million Pixels. Which really puts it at the limit of what the EXPEED4 Processor can handle. If you want 9-11fps, you need to have less pixels. This is why the D4/D4s/D5 are below 20MP. That's why I say the D810 is like a Bomber. It goes in, does its job really well, than leaves. It's not like a Fighter Jet, which does a lot of things quickly, but it's not a true air to surface bomber. KWIM? Most of the things that I noticed with the D700 coming from a D300s, is that the D700 is a tad bit "slower." It's more like a D810 than I realized. The problem today is people are looking for a "Forever Camera." They want to get back to the days of inheriting Grandpa's F2 and a bunch of prime lenses, which gets a person through college and some time beyond. They want a body that is going to last 10+ years. Or longer. The problem is today's cameras are computers that think they are cameras. Bodies only last 4-5 years on average, then they start getting quirky. Take my D300s, the rubber that wraps around the body, the glue is breaking down and it needs to be re-glued and re-wrapped. Sometimes it locks up on me and I have to pull the battery out for a few seconds. Weird thing like that. Which puts me in the market sooner than later.

Note: If anyone is reading this thread and thinking I'm being too hard on the D810, I'm not. I really would love to own one. It's a fine camera.

I'd allow it to do it's thing. That said, if I wanted to purge the cache weekly, you could set it by launching the preferences and changing the duration. If you are a busy photographer who is working on new / different sessions every few days, purge the cache sooner than later. If you like taking your time and not editing batch after batch, then stick with the 30 day purging.

Now, what am I going to do? Since I have a limited budget after purchasing the 24-70, more than likely I will go with a used D700 for about $879. I will add the D3s battery to my MB-D10 grip, and that will get the thing up to 8fps instead of 5fps. I shoot Weddings and Sports, so I need a camera that's fast. I'm also really tough on my gear, so I think I would eat a D750 alive. Plus, I can use all the cards and accessories that I have now, since the D300s is pretty much the same. My final cost with the extra battery is around $1299. About $1000 less than the camera that I'd really like to have, the D3s. I'm hoping to make some money with the D700 then get a used D4s next year. Oh, one more important thing: You really do not want to use DX lenses on a FX body. Sure they will work, but they will Cripple that FX body. For example, if you put a DX lens on a D700, it goes from 12MP to 5MP and the image in the viewfinder? It will be darkened around the sides, which makes things tough to frame.

I'm not sure of the question? LOL!! Believe it or not, I am exactly in the same boat. I have a D300s and will be making the jump to FX soon. In fact, I just bought a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 in preparation for this. OK, here are your choices: Used Nikon D700, Used Nikon D3s, New D750 and New D810. Used Nikon D700: This is the cheapest route right now. They are running around the $879 mark for EX+ condition. The bonus is you can use the batteries and CF cards that you have now. As far as a Battery Grip, with the D700 you only want to use the Nikon MB-D10. The 3rd party grips have a habit of zapping the D700's electronics. Yes, I'm sure there are people out there who have 3rd party grips and don't have any problems. But when I had Ask Brian on Facebook, I had 4-5 members who had their D700 cameras turn into paperweights due to 3rd party grips. I have a friend in real life who's D700 started acting weird with her Targus Grip. So I can't in good conscious recommend them. Stick with Nikon in this case. The reason I'm going on about this is we haven't discussed what you have in terms of gear now, or if you do have a battery grip. Downfall to the D700: It's tech from 2009. So you if you are looking for those insane high ISO numbers, you are going to have to go to the D3s or get a brand new body. That said, I'm a old film guy, and ISO 6400 seems magical to me. Used D3s: Great camera. Professional Body. All the Bells & Whistles turned on. (You'd be surprised on how many features Nikon leaves out of the consumer bodies.) It's heavier and bigger than your D300, but you get used to it. Viewfinder is different too, the light meter is along the right side and not on the bottom. External controls are very similar to a D300. It has a built in grip and dual card slots. It's fast too, about 9fps. Cost is between $2000 - $2500. New D750: This camera reminds me of a happy puppy. "I'm-a-D750!! Let's go shooting!! C'monC'monC'mon." Images from this camera are great. But it seems that it has chronic problems and there are multiple recalls out. So you might be sending your brand new Nikon D750 back to Nikon if it's one of the models that are affected. Now since you are used to shooting with a D300, which is "Pro Level DX," the D750 will feel like a step backwards. (At least to me.) It's like shooting a D90 or D80 instead of a D300. It just feels like going backwards and the body doesn't feel rugged. D300 users can just "Tell." It's hard to explain. The D750 is equivalent to the D5xxx Class. It's like a FX D5200. New D810: I really like this camera. But the D810 is like a Bomber instead of a Fighter Jet. So it will feel "Slow" compared to your D300. But the images produced from this thing...OMG! The detail and dynamic range. I've played around with one, and it's like... "I'm Tex. Glad to meet you. Now we are going to mosey over there and take great photos...but in a little bit. I have to finish this thing first..." Compared to the D750 where it's like a hyper puppy yanking on the leash. "Let's go shooting!! C'monC'monC'mon....yank-yank-yank.... So the D810 reminds me of a old film camera. It really makes you slow down. At 5fps, you really can't go into "Machine Gun Mode." So if you do shoot sports, you are going to use Group Area AF with 3D tracking to compensate. Also, with the 36MP and the 75MB Raw files, you will need the infrastructure (Large EHDs, i.e. 4TB or larger) and a computer that can keep up. So the biggest downside to the D810 is all the stuff you'll need besides the camera. All the computer stuff. 32GB or 64GB CF cards. 4TB EHDs, 16GB of RAM but really you want 32GB. So you are spending money on a possible new computer AND the D810. In addition, the D810 isn't cheap. If you want the Grip and D4s battery to get the crop mode up to 7fps, It's gonna run you about $3800. In reality, I wish Nikon would come out with a D810h...put the D750's sensor in the D810 body and give us 7fps natively. Those suckers would sell like hotcakes. But that will never happen. Nikon keeps splitting the bodies up to give you just "enough" but wanting more. Like the D810...you want a faster camera? Then you have to buy a D4s or D5. The D750....want a better AF function, want the focus points to be spread out more? Then you have to buy a D810, etc. etc. One camera that you will not see me recommending is the D600 or D610. They are "Entry Level FX" bodies. Think Nikon D3xxx class. I'm not going to be spending over $1000 on an entry level anything. The D610 is meant to be outgrown, just like a D3300. Honestly, it's better to spend a little more and get the D750 and skip the D610.

I'd get a better reader. I know it sounds counter-productive, but I'd rather have peace of mind than wondering if this is the time that my card gets corrupted by the reader.

It's probably a flaky card reader. Two choices: 1. Contact Dell and get a replacement if it's in warranty. 2. Get a better reader, like this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/810152-REG

Anyone have recommendations?

DisplayPort is the future. So if your new display still won't calibrate, then try the DisplayPort. If it works, stick with the DVI.

You are splitting hairs. Either. DisplayPort is fine. So is DVI. It's a 24" display.

I like G-Drives. They come Mac formatted and on the "Pro" level ones, they come with decent hardware. Of course, with a price-tag to match. They aren't your $79 special from a box store. Give this one a look: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024614-REG

I thought that if you had the "Elite" Sypder (i.e. Sypder 5 Elite) they had an app that would allow you to use the calibrator so you could calibrate your iPad? That said, an iPad Pro would be great for showing off your portfolio, not editing with. The Cintiq is designed for this sort of thing.

Use the DNG converter. That will work. After converting the Raw files to Adobe Digital Negative files (aka, DNG,) Bridge will be able to read the files.

I would use a DisplayPort to HDMI cable. Or a DVI from the computer to the DVI port on the monitor. In either case, THROW AWAY THAT VGA CABLE.

Your Dell 8700 should have a DVI port on the back of it. It's in the slot, not along the ports of the motherboard. Your Dell U2412M should have had a HDMI cable in the box. The ends of the cable are white. YOU DO NOT WANT TO USE A VGA CABLE WITH TODAY'S FANCY FLAT-SCREEN DISPLAYS. Those VGA cables were only meant for CRT (TUBE) Displays up to 20". In addition, those stupid VGA cables that come in the box are CRAPPY. They just suck. I can't tell you how many display issues are caused by that VGA cable, so I agree with Dell...let's try a new cable first.

What?!? The Dell U2412M has a VGA port (Blue) DVI Port (White) and a cousin of a HDMI port, called a DisplayPort. From Left to Right: DisplayPort | DVI Port | VGA Port | USB B (In) | USB A (Out) http://www.prad.de/images/monitore/dell_u2412m/anschluesse2.jpg

Any suggestions to avoid as much CA as possible? Avoid shooting high contrast swing areas. Purchase and use the BEST lenses you can afford. For example, think using a 16-35 f/4 instead of a 10-22. But on a crop body, that won't be very wide. So the best thing I can tell you to do, is correct CA in ACR. There are sliders that will help minimize CA. As for the camera body, it has nothing to do with CA. It just records what it's given by the lens. In really, it has to do with the sensor and the dynamic range that it has. The 7D Mark II is newer technology and has a better sensor which records the colors better. That results you noticing it more now than with your older body. The CA has always been there, it's just more obvious with the new camera body.

Stopping down and using apertures between f/16 - f/22 causes something called Diffraction. This is known as Circular Aperture Diffraction in the photography world, What this does to the image, is degrade overall image quality around the edges, almost like a smudging effect. Stopping down to f/22 can makes your image "fuzzy/less sharp," especially around the edges. Diffraction doesn't add to the CA problem.

It's 100% caused by the lens. CA happens when the lens is unable to focus the all different wavelengths of light on the image sensor at the same time. As the light enters the lens, it is bent slightly, and this phenomenon is known as dispersion. Lenses typically are designed to counteract this problem, with usually the more expensive lenses having better glass yielding the best results. That said, this is not a hard and fast rule. Even $2000 lenses can suffer from CA. CA is mostly caused by high contrast-swing situations. Tree branches against a bright sky, dark rocks against white snow, etc. Where CA happens the most is towards the edges of the lens. So the center part of the lens will have less CA, compared to the outer rim. This means subject placement is key. If you frame your scene with your subject in one of the corners, and it's a high contrast situation, you might have CA issues around the subject. Or your subject could be dead-center and be fine, but the damn tree line in the upper left corner could have all sorts of purple fringes.

But I would still get the 100mm f/2.0 lens over a Canon 85 1.8 ANY DAY.

I'm the same way. I can not stand Canon's Menu System, nor the feel of their cameras. Since optically the 85mm is 85mm and 50mm is 50mm, you'll get more compression due to the longer focal length, which is more flattering for portraits. The angle of view change happens at the sensor.

Seems like an average price. I don't see what Motherboard they are using, but it's more than fine for photo editing. You might want to just get extra RAM and bump it up to 32GB.

Well, her question implied viewing Raw files in the Windows Explorer. With XP, her D750's files won't read. If she wants to cull files outside of Bridge, she will need Windows 7 at the very least or a program like Bridgestone. But I'm not sure Bridgestone works on XP at this point. So my remarks stand. She should start putting money aside for a new PC. Does she need it now? No. There are work-arounds. That said, as much as I loved XP, things will start being more difficult as time goes on. I can imagine a future edition of PS not being compatible with Win XP. Especially if Adobe changes the programming language like they did with the Mac versions.

Windows XP is no longer supported and the Raw Codec that works with XP is also not being updated. (So you can view the image files in the Windows Explorer.) At this point, I'd start saving up for a Windows 10 machine. Windows 7's days are numbered. I think support for Win 7 ends in 2020.