aut0maticdan Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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I currently have the D800 and D750. I had the D700 but sold it to my sister years ago to start her photography business and she has since added the D810.
I'd start off by saying the D700 is an awesome camera but really should only be considered to keep the body budget low in order to buy lenses. That's actually not a bad plan and its a great camera with probably the best OOC skin tone rendering of the four models, but its outclassed by the others in almost all other areas. Its the lowest resolution and poorest high ISO performer of the bunch (not by a ton), so I'm not sure it really meets your minimum requirements.
The D750/D800/D810 comparison is much more interesting.
The D810 overlaps with most of the best features of the D800 and D750 plus no AA. Its the best. Also has the best shutter sound by a significant margin. There are no real downsides to this camera besides price and bulk. EDIT: Forgot to mention base ISO 64 on this bad boy which is kind of a big deal. It firmly cements the D810 as the bright light king and makes it the best body to use with the 14-24.
The D750 has a lot of the updated features from the D810: additional tracking modes, new highlight priority metering, focus point orientation memory and improved video features. These give it a more refined feel over the D800. It also is the stand out of the bunch in a some areas: maybe the best grip (subjective--close with the D810 in my book). Its lighter and smaller. it has a flip out screen which I find quite useful. It has the best FPS with a caveat (smaller buffer). I bought an $8 remote trigger for it from amazon that is small enough to swallow. WIFI! I have U1/U2 programmed for different video modes I like to shoot in. Dual SD cards is my preference.
I have two gripes with the D750: no dedicated AF-ON button and no 1/8000th. These can be major downers. Since I switch back and forth, I find it harder to reach the reprogramed AF-L button; it is not in the right place and I often hit the info button after hunting for a bit. Using an sb800 to optically trigger my lp-180s, I've hacked my way to pretty high flash sync speeds, so that is not an issue for me. I love this camera. I feel like its so well-rounded. I miss a few features and ergonomics of the 800 line, but love the additional consumer features that fit nicely into every day life.
The D800 overlaps with the pro ergonomics, features and resolution of the D810 but lacks the recent refinements I mention with the D750. It also has 1/8000th and more ways to hook up lighting over the D750. 36MP files are easier to work on, if you do a lot of fine detail work or masking at 100% in lightroom/photoshop. You definitely notice the difference of 50% more pixels in post processing. I like the round eye piece on the view finder of the D810/D800. I have no explanation for this other than I think it looks way cooler. I think the pro bodies look way cooler in general. I’m not one that sees a huge benefit in the image quality of the D810 over the D800. I also have no problems with the focusing speed or accuracy of the D800. I think its on par with the others in this group. On the downside, the D800 has a loud clunky shutter compared to the other two. Its tough to be inconspicuous with it between its size and sound.
In short... You can't go wrong with this bunch. If you absolutely need the best image quality, the D810 may currently be unbeatable. There is no camera that handles as well and provides the same results. The D800 gets you most of the way there on a budget but definitely lacks the refinement of the recent models. The D750 is a very refined camera with a lot of extras and is no slouch in the resolution department.
I think the D750 is the best of the group for most people and that includes myself. If I had to give up the D800 or D750, I'd give up the D800. The reasons are simple. Its size and extra features are nice. If we are being honest, I reduce all photos to around 12MP before sharing them anyway and I print very seldom. I like to shoot video. The D750 + 58/1.4 feel awesome together and I could shoot them all day every day. I was feeling a strong pull from Sony’s new line and the D750 reeled me back in with its improved video and hobbiest-oriented features. Most of these things would mean nothing to a working pro, but I feel like they integrate the camera into my life and shooting style more effectively.
I do reach for the D800 in cases where I'm shooting landscapes. This is just because I am programmed to think high MP is for landscapes, but see my point about sharing at 12mp and seldom printing. I also grab it if I'm doing significant lighting work that may involved reducing ambient light. I sometimes use it for portraits mostly due to ergonomics and because I have a battery grip. Its also great, if you plan to do a lot of touchup work on the resulting images. Basically, I use the D800 when I want to act like a working pro and the D750 the other 90% of the time
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