Nikon D780 Camera Review

The Nikon D780 is very good for travel photography. Despite its bulky size and heavy weight, it's comfortable to operate. It delivers amazing overall image quality, with a broad dynamic range and good noise handling capability even at high ISO levels, which is great for nighttime photography. Its wide shutter speed range allows you to capture still frames of fast-moving subjects or take long-exposure photos, while its autofocus system delivers quick, consistent, and reliable performance. Also, it should have enough battery life to get you through a whole day of use, depending on your settings.

The Nikon D780 is impressively well-suited for landscape photography. Image quality is excellent, with a broad dynamic range and low levels of graininess as you step up camera ISO, so shooting in dark environments shouldn't be too big of an issue. Its kit lens features a fixed maximum aperture, which provides you with a bit of added flexibility for your exposure settings, even as you tighten your zoom. It also feels very well-built, as it has a sturdy construction that's rated as being weather-sealed, though we don't currently test for that. Its tilting screen is bright enough to be legible even under direct sunlight. Unfortunately, while it's comfortable to hold, it's very bulky, which can make it a hassle to bring to remote shooting locations.

The Nikon D780 is poor for vlogging, though this isn't its intended use. It's very big and bulky, making it a challenge to carry around for extended periods. The screen also only tilts and doesn't rotate, so you can't see what's being displayed when the camera is pointing at you. It also does a middling job of smoothing out camera shake in 4k, though it performs better in this regard while shooting handheld FHD video. That said, video quality in 4k and FHD is good overall, recording in 4k doesn't incur a crop, and its autofocus system does a good job of maintaining focus on faces.

The Nikon D780 is very good for studio video work. Video quality in both FHD and 4k is good, with sharply rendered object contours and surfaces and fairly low levels of noise even in dark environments. It features a wide selection of ports and inputs for videography accessories, with microphone and headphone jacks and a clean HDMI output for using an external recorder without any overlays. Its N-Log shooting mode also helps preserve the camera's high dynamic range while recording and allows for in-depth color grading in post-production, though we don't currently test that function. Its autofocus system does a good job of acquiring and maintaining focus on moving objects and faces.

The Nikon D780 isn't designed for action video. It's far too big for mounting on a chest or helmet rig. Its video stabilization performance in 4k is sub-par, but it performs decently well while shooting FHD footage. It's incapable of shooting 4k video at more than 30 fps, but it does support 120 fps recording in FHD, which is great for smooth action videos or generating slow-motion clips. It also feels quite well-built and is rated as being weather-sealed, though we don't currently test for that.