I know that you all have already experienced this, But I just upgraded to a D700 from a D300 last night, and all I can say is "WOW!" Just to see what it was capable of, I cranked ISO up to 6400 and snapped off a couple shots. They look like ISO 400 shots from the D300! Not to mention all the extra bells & whistles (eyepiece shutter is a big one for me). This thing is amazing!

Sorry, had to express my amazement. I know this is a bit premature, but I think I may have just purchased a camera that I won't be able to justify ever upgrading (to my wife at least).

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Jason,

Welcome to the ever-growing "I love my D700" gang. This is such a great camera that its easy to run out of adjectives in describing the wonders of the D700.

Bob

Hi Jason,

Congratulations on your new D700!
Have fun exploring available darkness.
Good Luck and Enjoy your Nikons!

Best Regards,
Marty

Fear not the darkness for thou hath a D700 in hand.

Ernesto Santos

esartprints.com Ernesto Santos Photography
Now offering fine art print services and ICC printer profiling.
Great service - at a great price!

Your reaction is what we have all had on getting this camera. Don't stop at 6400, try the higher settings, and you will be blown away at your ability to photograph stuff you can't even see.

Bob Baldassano
My Nikonians Gallery

"Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the
camera"

Retirement is a gift of time - Don't waste it!

Thank you all. I was used to good quality with the D300, but I was expecting to be a bit underwhelmed with results. Nothing could be further from the truth! Fortunately, I built up my lens kit before I jumped to FX, so I already have the lenses to take full advantage of the larger sensor. I already have a photo shoot scheduled for this weekend to break it in. Can't wait!

Yup had the same feeling when I got mine! The great part is the D700 keeps on giving you that WoW feeling over and over again. Congrats on your D700!!!

Jim

Share, Learn and Inspire
www.nikonians.org



I will use film until the last roll and last lab are gone. Go Navy

I call mine the vampire camera, because it loves to come out at night.

Scott Chapin
Powder Springs, GA, USA
Nikonians Team Member

>I call mine the vampire camera, because it loves to come out
>at night.
Scott,
What if your camera wants to come out during the day?
I also am quite happy with my D700.

Cheryl

Jason -- You have experienced and expressed what every new D700 owner learns out of the box. I imagine the D3 experience is identical. I am not the overseeer of the D700 forum, but I don't think I have noted a soul stating disappointment with a new D700. Now... if only Nikon will leave the video capability -- and added expense -- out of the FX family, I will be delighted. I neither want nor need video and it would just add cost. If I am shooting video, I'll get a video camera. But I digress. Welcome to the D700. I see you shoot/process black and white. Jump to 25,600 and convert your images to monochrome -- it's a little like Tri-X pushed to about 800.

Alan
Waterloo, IL, USA
www.proimagingmidamerica.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Alan:

I agree 100 percent regarding video in a still camera. I have "HD" video in my iPhone, and you know how many time's I've used it? One, to see how it works. Granted, there are some outstanding photographers moving into video work with DSLRs (Chase Jarvis and Vincent Laforet come to mind), but that diverts Nikon and Canon away from giving us better still cameras. Of course, that's not an easy task, as the D700 is very close to perfection!

As for shooting at ISO 25,600, I intend to do just that. Here is a shot I took of my dog at 3200. IMHO, the clarity and quality of the pixel rendering is absolutely fantastic!

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Jason the shot looks great!

Bob Baldassano
My Nikonians Gallery

"Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the
camera"

Retirement is a gift of time - Don't waste it!

A truly wonderful shot of a truly difficult subject. My black lab is hard to get with any detail in his fur.

Scott Chapin
Powder Springs, GA, USA
Nikonians Team Member

Ditto about details on my chocolate lab, but I love to keep trying!

>Jason -- You have experienced and expressed what every new
>D700 owner learns out of the box. I imagine the D3 experience
>is identical. I am not the overseeer of the D700 forum, but I
>don't think I have noted a soul stating disappointment with a
>new D700. Now... if only Nikon will leave the video
>capability -- and added expense -- out of the FX family, I
>will be delighted. I neither want nor need video and it would
>just add cost. If I am shooting video, I'll get a video
>camera. But I digress. Welcome to the D700. I see you
>shoot/process black and white. Jump to 25,600 and convert
>your images to monochrome -- it's a little like Tri-X pushed
>to about 800.

I couldn't agree more and thanks for the tip about monochrome.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/43019448@N04/

That is a great shot. I too have a black lab (mixed but mostly black) and I know how hard it is to get right. That image has great tonality.

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Neil
Nikonians Team
My Gallery

I use 8 stop ND filters of course! LOL.

Scott Chapin
Powder Springs, GA, USA
Nikonians Team Member

Scott -- Or... you might just try leaving the lens cap on! Of course, you should masking tape the edges to ensure as little light as possible leaks in!

Alan
Waterloo, IL, USA
www.proimagingmidamerica.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Also Scott -- concerning the 8-stop neutral density filter, I suspect you MAY be old enough to remember something today's digital "newbies" don't even know about - reciprocity failure. It was a partticular bugaboo for color, when extreme long exposures caused color shifts due to variation in reciprocity failure btween the color layers! Of course, there was Ektacolor Type-L, to help. Do you remember the famous long exposure -- several hours, I believe, of Union Station in NYC, which was supposed to show an empty station, but whigh contained the image of one person, a bum who slept on a bench throughout the several hour exposure?

Alan
Waterloo, IL, USA
www.proimagingmidamerica.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Alan,

There's no maybe about it . Yes I certainly do recall reciprocity failure, but I don't recall the Union Station shot. That would be a hoot to see.

I guess it pays to keep your eye on the subject, especially in NYC!

The very first time I tripped the shutter with the D700 sitting on a table in a dark room, I thought how awesome it was. Reciprocity failure was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the image appear in the monitor. Truly amazing isn't it?

Scott Chapin
Powder Springs, GA, USA
Nikonians Team Member

<"but I think I may have just purchased a camera that I won't be able to justify ever upgrading (to my wife at least)."
I was not even awake, very groggy, read your post that begin this thread, and thought for a fleeting moment that you loved the d700 but couldn't justify upgrading your wife. I thought, huh? Then I re-read.
Ok, well I woke up at least. I wrote to say, "yes," I have the 700 here, mine, for 3 1/2 weeks. I love it.
This was last night, walking by. Hand held, merely walking by, iso 2200.
A so-so picture but still, I love the black. I just love the quality of this camera.

So, I agree that it is thrill to handle the d700. What I did since I was "lens poor," I bought a 24mm prime, used, and so now I am really "off and running." Before yesterday I was using a dx lens to get by.

Finally, this is the dx on fx and it's kinda cool. But that is a crop from a wide dx lens, as if you wouldn't notice? And my son... I think two days ago. I bought the 24mm yesterday. The tipi is with the 24mm. My son with dx 11mm.

In final conclusion,
very Best wishes on your d700. I just love mine.

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PS, and I hope my note a moment ago seemed funny. I tend to have that personality of being "lite." Sort of a list-light personality, even though my passion for photography is indeed more profound and serious beneath the lightheartedness.
Again, very best wishes as you enjoy this neat, amazing camera.

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Cool 11mm photo!

OP - Don't forget to look for the Nikon rubber eyecup accessory - makes the viewfinder even better.

Best regards and welcome to the D700 forum, SteveK

'A camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.' -- Dorothea Lange
My Nikonians gallery
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LOL@musical. My wife would probably want me to say there is no upgrade to her; she's top-of-the-line! (She's right.)

When I ordered my D700, I made sure to order a Hoodman eye cup. Mine should arrive today.

:) glad you see it/me as humorous. My mind is whimsical I guess; mere jokes probably; well, this is mine (my wife) exiting our nighttime, sleepy spot. Halloween eve... but I feel very blessed. A super-cool lady, a 24' tipi, children, and a d700. As they say: just wow. So much suffering in the world yet I have such a way to record my own personal life. I never go too far now I suppose, but the moments are so poignant and the camera gives me a chance to stop the world for a brief second.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

"Life is good."
Our wives are to relationships what the d700 is to cameras.

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>I know that you all have already experienced this, But I just
>upgraded to a D700 from a D300 last night, and all I can say
>is "WOW!" Just to see what it was capable of, I
>cranked ISO up to 6400 and snapped off a couple shots. They
>look like ISO 400 shots from the D300! Not to mention all the
>extra bells & whistles (eyepiece shutter is a big one for
>me). This thing is amazing!


Ha! I'm upgrading from a D70 (yeah, you read that right) whenever USPS decides to actually deliver it to me. Your post both excites and depresses me!

Congratulations on your new D700. I got mine yesterday along with my Nikon 24-70 2.8 lens. You stated "WOW" and I totally agree. I've been using a D300 for the past couple of years and I liked it, but I love this.

I can't wait until this evening to try it out at my daughters Karate class and then again Saturday at my other daughters gymnastic meet.

Again, good luck and enjoy!

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I've had my D700 for about 15 months now, with 51K shutter clicks and I still get a bang out of it every time I use it!

f/8 30s ISO 800 (actually about 20s - I capped the lens after the last blast)
D700 24-70/2.8 AFS @32mm


That image has a lot of deep shadow detail but at ISO 800 it isn't a fair test. I shoot the camera with noise reduction turned off and only apply it in NX when I really need it- as in I underexposed a high ISO image . Didn't use it here. That is a 3 gun cannonade closing out the Maryland Renaissance Festival's final day on October 24th.

This next image was shot at ISO 6400, with no noise reduction applied to this rendering. It's clean even full size on my 22" monitor. This is "Pub Sing", usually held from 6pm to 7pm throughout the Faire season, starting in late August. It's a fun event to shoot because most of the various musical performers all get together and there is great ambiance with the audience. I shoot the Faire and always Pub Sing about 6 times a year, at various times in the season, and I've been doing it for 7 years now.

I started with a D70, and by mid-October that was always a huge struggle, with me trying to shoot a dozen people performing on that open air stage, usually around 1/10s at the highest ISO my older cameras could tolerate, first D70, then D2h, then D300.

Now it's just fun and easy . This image was shot at 1/40s f/2.8 ISO 6400 with the 70-200/2.8 VR (old version). Where previously I would shoot 50 images to get one with everyone at least reasonably sharp with no unwanted blur, now my yield is far higher at 1/40.

Like I said, I still get a bang out of this camera every time I use it and I always look forward to some low light shots....

f/2.8 1/40s ISO 6400
D700 70-200/2.8 AFS VR @125mm



And a final one just because I really like it, even though there is some subject motion but I think I lucked out and got good subject motion . Same exposure.

f/2.8 1/40s ISO 6400
D700 70-200/2.8 AFS VR @190mm

_________________________________
Neil
Nikonians Team
My Gallery

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Man (wow) I just don't think I have ever taken a picture as neat as that canon picture. There are those sort of tracer lights in the bottom right.
This (mine) was was from the ice folder I did yesterday. I had joked a lot about that. I just so much agree, what a thrill it is to try this camera-- myself out in odd situations this time happily sliding out on the icy hill. I have not even begun to really experience my d700. This picture is more slightly out of focus & I have the more inexpensive lens...
Your three photos are inspirational and all this speaks once more to a startling camera. Neat theme on those, too. Amazing skin tones...

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Thanks James . All you need to do is find 3 operational replica 16th century canons and be there

Glad you liked the skin tones. I tried to keep the ambiance of the incandescent lighting, which is fun to shoot as the ambient light declines and the incandescent kicks in, putting a glow on their faces. By the time this was taken, though, it was quite dark. Those were among my last few shots before stumbling in the dark over to the cannonade.

I find myself using auto ISO much more often now because I have so much ISO latitude. That is a little discussed feature of the camera. When I shoot something near sundown with the light rapidly declining I might start out at ISO 200 to 400 and I'll set the max to 6400 and then I have a long way to go before I start losing shutter speed.

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Neil
Nikonians Team
My Gallery

I know that it would be in the book, and my book is of course right here, but maybe if you, or just anyone, would describe it to me... How do insure that I am in auto iso if I am in P mode? What I mean is that in a menu I saw I asked for auto but above that listed 1100 iso, and auto never kicked in. Is there any trick to settling in to auto in P mode?

I don't shoot P mode but I assume Auto ISO works the same with A and S modes. It sounds like you had the basic ISO set to 1100 (the value it would use if you turn Auto ISO off). That setting is your minimum ISO. You also specify maximum ISO on the Auto ISO menu. Depending om the light and minimum shutter speed you set, it's very possible that ISO 1100 delivered a shutter speed greater than or equal to the minimum you specified so there was no reason for the camera to boost it.

In general, you probably want to set the base ISO to 200 or thereabouts unless you would like to shoot at a shutter speed greater than the minimum you set whenever possible, and the high ISO performance of the D700 is such that it isn't a bad idea to set it higher when hand holding and/or shooting moving subjects.

_________________________________
Neil
Nikonians Team
My Gallery

Hi, I felt very inspired by your picture! I didn't have three cannons but I did have a rounded house and a child with a head lamp. It is all because of your picture that I wanted to experiment like this. I'd say not too bad.
Otherwise thanks very much for the advice on the auto iso. I really mean that. I can't think of more questions yet.

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