Keith,
Hi, I’m posting here as many have experience of both Hasselblad H and Nikon.
I’m currently shooting Hasselblad H series and thinking of adding a Nikon D800E. Almost all of my current exposures are in the range 1/8 second to 8 seconds. I’ve never experienced any vibration problems using the H leaf shutters - always use mirror-up with the Blad and would use liveview with the Nikon - and was just wondering if I should be at all concerned about the focal plane shutter on the Nikon at similar exposures?
I do not have any experience with Hasselblad cameras but I can help you re the Nikon D800E.
In my opinion, no, camera shake in the range you stipulate will not be a problem. However, I would hate for you to take my word for it, purchase a D800E and subsequently find that its performance does not meet your own standards. Therefore, I have attached three 100% crops from a photo I shot at the weekend, so that you can judge for yourself.
The photo was shot with the Nikkor 24-70mm at 38mm. Aperture was f/8. Shutter speed was 1/5th second. ISO was Lo 1, which is 'effectively' ISO 50, and is the minimum ISO setting available from the D800E. The camera was on a 3-series, 3-leg section Gitzo tripod and an Arca Cube head. The tripod shortest leg was one leg-section in height. There was a wind speed of approximately 10mph and I shielded the camera with my body when tripping the shutter via remote release. Mirror Up was used and the shutter was tripped after approximately five seconds delay.
Base ISO is 100 for the D800E and returns the greatest dynamic range of any ISO setting. However, while ISO Lo 1 returns slightly reduced dynamic range, it also returns the least noise and a marginally, but clearly sharper image. Therefore, so long as the scene dynamic range fits within the latitude of ISO Lo 1, that is the ISO setting I adopt by default, all else being equal.
The photo can be viewed in its entirety on my website. It is the 8th photo on the Landscape page. The three crops are identical and have been taken from the summit of the foreground hill as follows:
1st crop "nothing": As shot. No in-camera sharpening applied. No other processing.
2nd shot "sharpened": High Pass and USM sharpening applied to my taste. No other processing.
3rd shot "complete": Color cast from shooting pre-sunrise corrected to my taste, local and global contrast and an increase in brightness applied to the image. This shot is a crop from the finished image, though it may require some additional work to optimise the print.
Hope this helps.
