Intermediate

D850: Special Delivery

Glossary
The D850 continued to not only surprise me, but inspire me.

The D850, with it's 45.7 megapixels and nine-frames-per-second capability, could be a camera that was custom-made for Andrew Hancock. It wasn't, but it coulda been.

"I'm doing pictures for teams, collegiate and pro that they're putting on the sides of stadiums, on billboards and on buses, in addition to going in media guides and programs and on tickets," Andrew says, "and I need a file that's going to hold up across all those platforms."

Which means that for Andrew, resolution is key. "The D850 had what I was hoping for: a great sensor and a high megapixel count. Then they told me the frame rate—seven-per-second, nine with the battery grip. To be able to shoot at that resolution at that speed—that's cool!"

Andrew is not a photographer awed by the numbers; everything is evaluated in terms of what those numbers actually deliver for his photography. "The D5 has a faster frame rate," he says. "It's insanely fast, but it's more than I need. Sure, I'll put 12 and 14 fps to use—I'll always find a purpose for that—but when it comes to action work, my best picture tends to be the first or second picture; it's my instinctual reaction, the peak-moment capture. The ball on the fingertips of the receiver running down the sideline is usually the first or second frame; everything after that at a high frame rate is just gravy."

And sports isn't all he does. "I'm most known for my sports work," he says, "but I do everything. I've always rejected the notion that you have to find your niche and milk it for all it's worth. I'm a photojournalist by trade, and when you work for papers you have to be able to do everything. I want to be the best at everything—action, portraits, landscapes—it's how I'm wired."

He believes the D850 "changes the landscape for photographers" with its combination of pixel count and high frame rate. Referring to Nikon's 100th anniversary this year, he says, "They've got a hundred years into this camera. That's one of the things that makes it special."

All the features and tech specs of the extraordinary Nikon D850 are right here.

Andrew Hancock is an Indiana based photographer working for a diverse base of editorial and advertising clients both in the United States and abroad. He is a contributing photographer to Sports Illustrated magazine and his photos have appeared throughout the entire SI portfolio as well as in other premier magazines and websites. Visit his website www.andrewhancock.com and check out his ambassador page.

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