2014-07-22T21:00:00
Rated 4 out of 5
For "School of Hard Knocks" photography
I got this after I suffered a broken top LCD on my Nikon D800. I bike about 8000 miles a year, nearly always with the D800 tossed into the saddlebag on my bicycle. It took a little tugging and hauling to get the skin onto the camera, and a little getting used to when it comes to locating the various control buttons. The buttons on the skin have the icons molded into them, but are black-on-black, so it's hard to see which is which, except in bright light. After a while, you get so you just hit the buttons by instinct, so it's a learning curve issue. The skin comes with a protective plastic cover for the rear LCD, which is redundant since I've already got Nikon's cover on it, but a little more protection doesn't hurt. There's another piece of clear plastic packaged with the skin, with no explanation of what it's for. I decided to cut a piece of it to fit over the top LCD--cut the piece enough oversize so it fits under the skin to keep it in place. So far, this has protected that top LCD. Overall, this is a very good product. It does add a bit of bulk to the already sizable chassis of the D800, but the silicone rubber provides a very secure grip, really helps reduce the chance of dropping the camera when grabbing it casually, one-handed. And, of course, the rubber would provide a decent amount of cushioning if you did happen to drop it. The fit on the camera is perfect, with the exception that the flap that goes into the accessory shoe tends to slip out--not a big problem.
MICHAEL S.
2014-02-10T19:00:00
Rated 4 out of 5
Great Skin To De-badge A D800
I have been using gaffers tape to de-badge my D800 now with this skin the only thing I have to cover is the Nikon on the front of the pop up flash. So for this purpose it is perfect. Be aware that the added thickness will affect the grip. If you have small hands this might be an issue but for me the grip still felt good. The material was thick, durable, and easily installed with a body cap on the camera. I had just installed a screen protector so I did not install the one that came with the skin so the fit isn't as good as with it (the skin has a groove to connect to the screen protector) but I still don't have any issues with the skin staying in place. My complaints are the skin slips into the hot shoe and if you leave it out the skin is pretty loose...so I am stuck removing and re-attaching when I need the hot shoe. All doors and the batteries are accessible without removing the skin, but the skin does interfere with my tripod quick release plate attachment (Manfrotto RC2) so that you either have to put it on crooked with the skin sandwiched or move the skin out of the way. Overall this is a good product with only a few items to watch out for.
LAURA R.
