VRLR
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Upload & Sell: Off
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Well let me start by giving a little of my DSLR history. I started with a 20D and upgraded to a 5D. Then someone gave me a D200 as a gift, and for a long time I ran two systems, a 5D and the D200. I shoot a lot of available light photography, and at the time the 5D with some of the amazing canon primes did a great job. But I fundamentally liked the D200 better, ergonomics, speed. But it could not compete above iso 400 with the 5D. So the D200 was the daylight camera, the 5D the low light camera. I am in no way knocking the 5ds images, but the camera was slow, had ok autofocus, a poor LCD, and the ergonomics weren't what I liked. Add to that those amazing L primes are huge, and although I enjoyed my results I never enjoyed taking the pictures all that much. In April I traded the D200 for a D300 hoping that the slight iso improvement would be enough for me to abandon the 5D. But it wasn't. The D300 was really maxing out noise wise for me at 800, I could use 1600 but I was never too happy with the results at iso 1600.
The thing was I never really bonded with the 5D, it never felt quite 'right' to me. What I wanted, was a D200 with a 5D sensor in it. That was the dream. And when the D700 came out, I thought its finally arrived. ( I wished I hadn't pulled the trigger on the D300 in April, had I waited, had I known that the D700 was coming.)
So after selling the 5D, all my canon glass I finally got a D700 last night.
These are just initial impressions, for anyone thinking of going D300 to D700.
- the bodies are almost the exact same size, but they feel very different. The D700 is a bit more cramped than the D300 is. This is due to putting a larger mirror/viewfinder assembly on the same size body. Its not uncomfortable, but I can tell the difference easily just by grabbing the camera.
-in my opinion the D700 finally opens us my MF nikon glass. I know I've always been able to mount MF nikkors on DX nikons, but besides the crop factor, it never worked all that well. I even installed a katz eye on the D200. Focusing was difficult even with the focus confirmation light. But the larger finder of the D700, combined with the three focus lights really does the trick. Also in my initial testing the MF lenses seem to behave better on FX than on DX.
-the focus point spread occupies less space than the D300, but I like this.
-the rear control thumb thing is a big improvement over the D300/D200.
-I wish I could load min shutter speed ISO setting in the quick menu the way I did on the D300
-high ISO is much much better than the D300. I know its only supposed to be one or at most two stops better, but it is much better. For available light I live right around iso 1600 plus or minus a bit. and 1600 on the d700 is amazing, it was borderline on the D300. its even fair to push the D700 higher and use a narrower aperture.
All in all, this is the camera I wanted my 5D to be. Fast, responsive, great ISO speed, and nikon primes MF and AF are great. They may not be quite as fast as their canon L equivalents, ie. 1.2 v. 1.4, but they are much smaller and lighter.
I still see myself using the D300. I think DX has a role. Crop factors are useful, small DX zooms portable.
I'm happy about this. I haven't said this before, but I can't see anything more that I would need than the D700. I don't need any more resolution, or frame rate. I have all the iso speed I need. Sure someday I'd love if D700 quality came in a F3/FM size body. But besides that, which I think is very unlikely, I really don't see me upgrading a body for a long time.
I'll post some pics this weekend when I get a chance to really put it through its paces.
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With leather gloves, it IS impossible to turn it. And yes, you need gloves at this time of year around here. 