I'll be samplin' this afternoon, Marty. Suffice it to say...if the D7100's not WAY better,
I may have wasted the money from the sale of my old 4Runner (but it didn't take pictures)
FWIW 90% of my outdoor shots with the D800 have been in the 1.2 mode..low light/indoor it's FX all the way
Hey Will,
I am flipping back and forth d800 or d7100. My returnable d7100 is due thursday but will await your testing results.
If I do get either camera my lens collection will be:
300mmF4
70-300 vr or if not good enough than the 70-200 f4
18-200 dx
1.4 extender if i go to d800
I do have limited funds and this will probably be my last camera!
Marty
I've been shooting D800 in 1.2 crop mode as well... the results are killer. But I am still waiting for my D7100, as they are not shipping yet in Canada.... at least I haven't had the call yet.
mfrank999 wrote:
Shooting DX mode on D800, which camera would have better image quality assuming 300mm f4 lens on both.
Answer is: depends.
In general the D800 should have better IQ with the bigger pixels on the FF sensor. That will also help with you're not in an ideal lighting situation.
BUT...
with the D7100's higher pixel density, if you want to shoot wild life (ie extra cropping) you can get more pixels on your birds with the higher pixel density of the D7100 sensor, in certain situation (mainly distance to subject and lighting) the D7100 may get you better results.
The D7100 should be a great compliment to the D800 versus a replacement for.
Vox Sciurorum wrote:
I think you'll have better quality with the 7100 than with D800 DX because the larger image in the viewfinder will make shooting easier.
The shooting experience will be easier..... As your subject will be in the frame, wheras 1.2 or 1.5 crop mode can be tricky for framing the subject if the background is complicated.
VinnieJ wrote:
with the D7100's higher pixel density, if you want to shoot wild life (ie extra cropping) you can get more pixels on your birds with the higher pixel density of the D7100 sensor, in certain situation (mainly distance to subject and lighting) the D7100 may get you better results.
+1.
I'm waiting for the new 80-400mm VR to dip in price. I'm betting that in crop mode the D7100 is about equal to the D800, and it costs less than half as much! That leaves me with more money for either a lens upgrade or a ticket back to Iceland! That concentrated 24mp resolution on the D7100 has really opened my eyes.
This should be interesting.Just picked up a 7100 2 days ago.Was going to get a d600 but shot it side by side with my d7000 and cropped the d600 shots to the size of the d7000.Every d7000 shot had better resolution and color depth.Doug
Looking forward to hearing your results, Will. I'm quite curious about this myself. My faithful D300 is still running strong with 5 years and 120,000 actuations, and I've been waiting for far too long for the mythical D400. If the D7100 performs well (and the buffer is decently large), I may just have to go that route.
84FJ60 wrote:
My faithful D300 is still running strong with 5 years and 120,000 actuations, and I've been waiting for far too long for the mythical D400. If the D7100 performs well (and the buffer is decently large), I may just have to go that route.
If you've followed the FM forums long, you know I've also been holding out for a D400 for years. Last week I bought a D7100. I have to say that the improvements to the AF system plus the 24mp resolution make this overall a better camera than my D300. It's not perfect, but it's very good. So far, I'm happy. It seems to focus my old Niko 80-400mm VR faster than the D300 did.
glassartist wrote:
Ouch that's nice Will. Do you have it set up on the Bush Hawk (sp)?
Yessir, thanks! For 600mm handheld SOOC I'm jumpin' around like a 'monkey onna cupcake
Still workin' tweaks, and I'll get around to fine tuning but know y'all are curious so here's another...f5 ISO200
Suffice it to say...if the D7100's not WAY better,
Best FX/DX IQ and sharin' da batts 
