Which to Buy: Nikon D780 vs D850 Comparison

May 2020

The D780 is 4 year(s) old while the D850 is 7 years old. These are both FX DSLR cameras and there are additional similarities but also some differences worth noting.

The similarities between these two cameras are:

Fast startup and little shutter lag
Support JPEG, 12-bit and 14-bit RAW images
Dedicated Fn (function) buttons
Matrix, center-weighted and spot metering
Highlight-weighted metering
Hotshoe
HDMI jack
External microphone jack
Headphone jack
Top-side control panel
3.2 in. 2359k-dot TFT LCD tilting touchscreen monitor
Dual card slots
7 frames-per-sec. stills
1/8000th sec. highest mechanical shutter speed
Bulb shutter
Focus-stacking
Auto FP High-Speed flash sync
4K UHD video, 30 fps
Slow motion video - 1080p, 120 fps
4:2:2 video output
High dynamic range mode
Time-lapse movies
Electronic silent shutter
100% viewfinder coverage
DX crop mode
Built-in WiFi to pair the camera with a smartphone
Built-in Bluetooth to pair the camera with a smartphone
Nikon SnapBridge

The advantages the D850 has over the D780 are:

45.7 megapixel FX sensor
No anti-aliasing filter/optical low pass filter
Buffer holds more RAW images (51 vs 28 images)
1/250th sec. flash sync speed vs 1/200th
Back-illuminated buttons
Optional battery grip accessory
Better auto-focus in low-light (-4 EV vs -3 EV)
Low native ISO of 64 vs 100
Support for TIFF images
Support for 5:4 image format

The advantages the D780 has over the D850 are:

900 sec. slowest programmable shutter speed
Much longer rated battery life at 2260 shots vs 1840 shots
Much lighter at 840g (1 lb 13.7 oz) vs 1005g (2 lb 3.5 oz)
273 AF points (with 90% frame coverage) in Live view vs 153 points (99 cross type) in optical viewfinder
Eye autofocus (Eye-AF)
N-log and Hybrid Log-Gamma video output
Timecode to synchronize video
On sensor phase detect AF for video
273 focus points in Live view
EXPEED 6 image processor vs EXPEED 5
Better live view auto-focus in low-light (down to -5 EV)
High native ISO of 51200
Price

Neither camera has:

Built-in flash
Built-in GPS
IBIS
Built-in NFC to pair the camera with a smart device
Panorama Mode

Additional Notes

The D780 exhibits banding in the shadows due to its on-sensor phase detection, but this is not a huge problem as it just means a slight change to the style of photography by the photographer (do no expect to be able to recover detail from shadows without a little added banding of the noise). The D780 has a native ISO of 100-51200. Both card slots are SDXC (UHS-II) card slots.

The D850 has back illuminated buttons to aid in low-light photography. It has a native ISO of 64-25600. One of the D850 card slots is XQD.

Conclusion

If needing greater megapixels then go with the D850 otherwise the D780 will give better video performance.

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