I just bought a D700 from someone here on FM and I love it. But there's two things (so far) I can't seem to find out. I've tried to find it in the manual but haven't.
1. With my Canon mkIII it would go into a "sleep" mode after a user specified length of time and there was practically no drain on the battery. It seems the D700 sort of does this, but I can't find anything that says A.what that amount of time is B. can it be set by user and C. is there a drain on the battery while in this mode?
2. With Canon most cameras will not autofocus with any lens/tc combo slower than f5.6 (f8 with the MK III) Will the D700 autofocus with a f4 lens and either a 1.7 or the 2.0III TCs?
Thanks.
1 no, only the lightmeter switches off after xx sec, setting c2, there is no battery drain, can stay on for weeks.
2 nikon camera stos or goes bad autofocussing when it gets too dark, doesn't matter what it causes: lack of light or a 'bad' lens.
ps there is not a list with "what Caon can and Nikon don't", it is amanual of the D700 and discribes how that camera works.
egd5 wrote:
I just bought a D700 from someone here on FM and I love it. But there's two things (so far) I can't seem to find out. I've tried to find it in the manual but haven't.
1. With my Canon mkIII it would go into a "sleep" mode after a user specified length of time and there was practically no drain on the battery. It seems the D700 sort of does this, but I can't find anything that says A.what that amount of time is B. can it be set by user and C. is there a drain on the battery while in this mode?
2. With Canon most cameras will not autofocus with any lens/tc combo slower than f5.6 (f8 with the MK III) Will the D700 autofocus with a f4 lens and either a 1.7 or the 2.0III TCs?
Thanks....Show more →
Hi egd5,
I am new to the D700 also - I will try to answer your question, but keep in mind that I do not know all the in's and out's yet.
1. I think the metering will shut off after so many seconds - whatever you set. But, I don't think there is an actual "sleep" mode
2. The D700 will AF with any compatible AF lens. If the environment is too dark, there is an AF assist beam on camera that can be turned on and off. And if you have an external Nikon flash there is an AF beam that will be emitted from it.
There should be no problem with the AF when using a TC especially Nikon's TC - assuming the lens you are using it with is on the TC compatibility list.
my advice to all new D700 owners is to obtain Thom Hogan's newly revised D700 CD/Manual. it answers all (or certainly more than the factory book) questions. www.bythom.com (I believe). have fun with a great camera.
regards, tom
Thanks everyone.
hjannsen-that's what I was hoping to hear, no battery drain
Pam-I've been playing with metering and playback timing, just didn't find anything about total camera timing. That's nice that anything will work if there's enough light.
Tom- I've looked at Thom's guides, and may do it, but I wish he had it in a paper one, not just an e-book. I want something I can carry with me.
But the Nikon manual IS awfully good compared to the little thing Canon gives you.
There is always some battery drain on the D700 if only because the battery powers the LCD overlay screen in the viewfinder. If you doubt this then try removing the battery and looking through the viewfinder - notice how much darker it is ? I believe this feature was in the Nikon bodies long before the Canon bodies but Canon now has it too in some bodies. It's how they implement cropping overlays, etc.
If you intend to store the camera for some time then remove the battery. Otherwise, there is little difference in power draw between switching the camera off and having it inactive (meter and display off, no card operations, etc.).
AF systems used in the modern DSLRs rely on getting two angles of view of the image being focused. This is best done with large apertures and much harder with small apertures, no matter how much light or contrast is available. Canon took the approach that beyond a certain aperture the AF sensors would be disabled or at least not used. In most cases the limit is f/5.6 but in some cases it is f/8. Nikon, at least with the D700, took a different approach; the AF is not disabled at small apertures but it just gets slower and less reliable. They rate it is as being acceptable at apertures down to f/5.6 but anything beyond that is a bonus. You might get lucky but don't count on it.
And I recommend the Nikon D700 Digital Field Guide by J. Dennis Thomas (Paperback, 2009). I have read this guide (and the one for the D300 by the same author) more than the user manual.
