I've just bought my first ever Nikon camera, a D700, and now I have a lot of reading and learning to do I'm quite familiar with Canon pro gear but while I'm reading the D700 manual I was hoping that you guys could steer me towards a few must-do settings or must-have accessories to speed things along.
So far I have a 50mm lens but an AF-S 24-70 is on the way. I'm guessing that with this set-up I'll mainly be doing landscape and "general" daylight and travel photography. The long-lens stuff will be done by my Canon gear. I'm afraid I haven't jumped ship entirely and probably never will because the financial cost is too great. However, I have had more than my fair share of problems with Canon gear and so here I am.
It's a shame that I cannot fully benefit from the AF system on the D700 for bird or sports photography and such but maybe that will happen in time.
Since I shoot raw, there aren't many settings that I put into the camera. I just setup a few custom menus for my own convenience. Also I setup the auto-iso since I use that almost all the time.
I see a 200-400 f4VR in your future (once you are well entrenched in Nikon and have sold off your Canon gear. You'll be spoiled with that combo that's for sure.
Alan, I have one foot on each camp as well . I have never had any issues with my Canon gear, including the much-maligned 1D MarkIII. I bought a D700 in June and the main reason for that is the 14-24mm that I used on my 1Ds MarkIII with an adapter. I just got tired of doing that and decided to try it on a native body. The second reason is the 200mm f/2.0 VR that I got in trade for another Canon body. So far, I have been selective to obtain my Nikkor lenses as to minimize overlap with my Canon lenses but some kind of overlap is inevitable and my Nikkor lenses are growing in number. Recently, I started buying manual focus AI-S prime lenses to go back to basic and go out there with 3-4 lenses. I compose more carefully and use the "sneaker zoom" and and enjoy photography like I did in the old days but digitally.
The learning curve was fast for me; you just have to get used to the other direction of lens mounting/dismounting and if you don't buy MF lenses you don't have to worry about the different direction of the focusing ring. I don't know what else to tell you at this point but to just get used to the new user interface.
Alan -
As a fellow Canon expat, I'll recommend looking at the following settings:
Custom Setting A8 - lets you limit AF point selection to 11 points
Custom Setting A9 - turns off the built-in AF assist lamp, which is annoying and largely useless with zoom lenses - the 24-70 included.
Custom Setting B4 - allows you to change the exposure compensation without having to actually hold down the EC button at the same time
Custom Setting E2 - controls the flash shutter speed so that it can be slower than 1/60th.
Custom Setting F2 - Configued "Playback Mode" to magnify. I personally find the positioning of the magnify buttons to be awkward in playback. Setting this custom setting will allow you to zoom in to a preset level and will focus on the active AF point at the time of the exposure.
Custom Setting F5 - Assign the Func. button. This allows you to assign any function you want to this button. Personally, I have this set to trigger the first item in "My Menu", which is to show me the Commander Mode screen so I can easily tweak my flash setting.
Custom Setting F7 - Assign the AE-L/AF-L. I usually don't use AE/AF lock, so I've assigned this to trigger Live View. From a Canon user's perspective going this way gives you an experience more like a Canon - after you actually shoot, it will return to Live View mode. This is unlike actually manually selecting Live View which unintuitively shuts Live View off after you take a picture. Very confusing.
Custom Setting F9 - Setting the Custom Command Dials "Menus and Playback" setting to "On" allows you to use the back thumb dial to review images, which I find much more intuitive than using the multi-directional controller.
There's custom settings for reversing the dials so it's more "Canon like", but after using it for a while I found that there were too many cases where it wasn't consistent, so I've just resigned myself to re-wiring my brain to the Nikon way.
Other things to be aware of:
The D700 doesn't shoot 14bit RAW out of the box - you have to configure it in the shooting menu.
The default Picture Control settings are a bit hyped imo, I prefer the Neutral setting.
Nikon's flash system is fundamentally different than Canon's in at least one critical way - EC and FEC are not completely independent values as they are with Canon. FEC controls the flash level in relation to the EC value. So you really use FEC more as a ratio than an independent value. The nice thing about this is that if you've got your ratio setup, but you're underexposing, all you need to do is adjust EC and you're good to go.
Commander Mode allows you to control your remote flashes in manual mode! Worth the price of admission right there for my studio work.
The D700's cross-type AF points are concentrated in the center - a 3 column by 5 row array. So, in 11-point AF mode you can only actually select three of them - the center-top, center and center-bottom points (in landscape orienttion). So don't get tricked into thinking any of the 11-points are selectable, like the selectables on on a 40D/50D or Mark III are all cross-type - you'll get burned eventually. This is one of my biggest complaints with the camera, and will certainly upgrade to the D700's replacement if it corrects this issue.
I'm sure there's plenty more. Still working on my "Review of the D700 from a Canon user's perspective".
Let's hope you don't bring ALL your bad luck with Canon gear over here. The Nikon Forum has been refreshingly free of
QC issue threads for the most part. Good luck with your D700/AF-S 24-70...that's certainly a nice place to start.
Congrats on the new camera Alan! I'm thinking of jumping the Canon ship too!
I bought A 50D last week, And I had problems with it and had to return it on Monday.
At the moment I don't have A camera (Sold the 40D).
Now I'm seriously considering buying a Nikon. I've been looking into making the switch, But I'm Still not sure if I will go with A D300, Or A D700. I've even been considering the D90 (Then spend more money on lenses).
At the moment I will wait for Canon Australia to release the price details on the 5D2, If it's going to be over $4000 (AU$) I think I might get A D700 instead (Better camera, And is going for around $3550 (AU$).
The thing that is holding me back is the cost of Nikon lenses (To replace the focal lengths I've currently got) I think I might end up with A D300 if I do make the switch, Then pick up A D700 (Or A D800) Once I've rebuilt my lens system.
But I will wait till we get a firm price on the 5D2 before making my final decision.
You and I bemoaned together concerning our MKIII's. I sold off all my Canon gear and went totally Nikon. I'm loving it. There IS a learning curve, but you will have it down in no time. Glad to see you over here.
trenchmonkey wrote:
Let's hope you don't bring ALL your bad luck with Canon gear over here. The Nikon Forum has been refreshingly free of QC issue threads for the most part.
That has nothing to do with luck, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on which brand you're invested in...)
I think all settings make a sense, depending on what you are shooting.
I have two set-ups : one for action and one for everything else rest.
Some points that I strongly advice to check out:
F7 - AE-L AF-L button : what I really like here, is the possibility to selectt 'Reset on Release': if you press the AE-L button, the metering is locked until the moment you shoot
B4 - Easy exposure compensation : allows you to dial exposure compensation with the sub command wheel, but when you activate this, you don't get a numerical indication of the amount of exposure compensation...
D2 - Viewfinder grid => one of those great Nikon ideas
F5- Assign FUNC button : I use this button for spotmetering control. If I want to spotmeter, I press the FUNC button. When I release the button, I have standard Matrix Metering
F9 - Menus and Playback : allows easier scrolling through pictures in playback
I have both systems. I'm sure you will really enjoy the 24-70. I think it's better than the Canon. If you like wide the 14-24 is the best there is. I also like the 70-200 a bit better than the Canon. But don't give up your Canon gear because they make lenses that Nikon doesn't.
Try setting that little switch below the jog wheel to the topmost (solid rectangle) click. That way you can just frame and shoot while the D700 will acquires focus with amazing results.
Trenchmonkey, I'm a sharing kind of guy. Are you sure you don't want some of my bad luck ? You haven't even heard about my latest 1Ds2 problems.
molson, maybe you're right that it's not bad luck - I'm just cursed.
eos20, I'm unable to speak from first hand experience but I expect that the extra AF speed of the D700 could be worthwhile. If you're going to get a D700 eventually then it's probably a false economy to get a D300 first unless you want to keep both. I have a great collection of Canon gear but I am just so very fed up with the problems and the long down times for servicing. New gear will get very expensive because our dollar has lost a third of its value in recent months. Cheap D700s were imported while our dollar had some value. The 5D2 will have to be expensive.
Sam and flappie, thanks for those settings. I can see that that most of them would suit me and will try them out.
So far it seems that my D700 can AF. You might be dismayed to realise what a big improvement that is after three Canons in a row that could not AF properly when purchased.
Trenchmonkey, I'm a sharing kind of guy. Are you sure you don't want some of my bad luck ? You haven't even heard about my latest 1Ds2 problems.
molson, maybe you're right that it's not bad luck - I'm just cursed.
eos20, I'm unable to speak from first hand experience but I expect that the extra AF speed of the D700 could be worthwhile. If you're going to get a D700 eventually then it's probably a false economy to get a D300 first unless you want to keep both. I have a great collection of Canon gear but I am just so very fed up with the problems and the long down times for servicing. New gear will get very expensive because our dollar has lost a third of its value in recent months. Cheap D700s were imported while our dollar had some value. The 5D2 will have to be expensive.
Sam and flappie, thanks for those settings. I can see that that most of them would suit me and will try them out.
So far it seems that my D700 can AF. You might be dismayed to realise what a big improvement that is after three Canons in a row that could not AF properly when purchased.
My story is not unlike yours Alan...the d700 caught me when I had run out of Canon's to try and just wanted to take good shots!
Great thread, lots of good tips thanks!
I'm quite familiar with Canon pro gear but while I'm reading the D700 manual I was hoping that you guys could steer me towards a few must-do settings or must-have accessories to speed things along.
