Hey all.....a few years ago when my son was born, my dad gave me his D200 along with the 17-55mm 2.8 DX lens as a hand me down gift. Not really being into photography at the time, I thought it was cool, but just another thing to learn. Eventually, I got hooked on photography and it's been my main hobby ever since and I still have the D200 till this day.

Well 2 weeks ago, a friend asked me to shoot his wedding, which I agreed to. Wanting the best possible pics, since I had never shot a wedding before, I wanted the advantages that the D700 has over the D200 especially in the low light environments of reception halls, so I asked my dad if I could borrow it along with his 14-24mm 2.8 and the 24-70mm 2.8 and SB900 flash, which he agreed to. Shot the wedding and I held on to the camera for a week till I saw my dad again.

On Saturday, I went to drop it off at his house and he tells me that he saw the wedding pics on Facebook and that he thought that they were great.....and that the camera, BOTH lenses, flash, remote shutter and Expodisc were mine to keep! I could NOT believe it and thought that he was joking....but he wasn't. I initially said that I couldn't take it, since that was thousands of dollars worth of equipment. My wife's jaw was on the floor, since I had been raving all week how awesome that camera and lenses were and wasn't looking forward to giving it back LOL

He said that he's not into lugging heavy equipment around anymore and is completely satisfied with his Leica M9 and that he knows that I'd take good care of it and would use the equipment to its fullest potential and that he felt that I deserved it.

Well, that's the story, I'm the proud owner of a mint condition D700 with some high quality glass to go along with it! My dilemma now is what to do with the D200. Mind you, I'm not a pro, just really into taking pics of the kids, nature, landscape (I live in scenic Hudson Valley in Upstate, NY), macro and portraits. I don't think that I need a backup, so I could either probably make some good coin in selling the D200/17-55mm 2.8 in a combo package, or pay it forward and gift it to a friend that's interested in photography, since I received it as a gift myself.

Also, I know that many of you came from the D200 or DX camera up to the D700 and wanted to know how steep the learning curve was. My dad's gathering all the manuals that he has for me so that I can begin to read up on it.

Thanks for "listening".....I'm a happy camper! :-D

Congratulations! I hope dad had a great Father's Day - actually, I'm sure he did!

That D200 will still take some great pics and with the DX sensor you effectively have a 1.5x teleconverter for your long lenses. ")



Anthony

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The important things in life are simple; the simple things are hard.

Yeah, I considered the crop sensor part....comes in handy with the 18-270mm Tamron lens. I tried the Tamron lens on the D700 and it had a funky frame around the images until I realized that the D700 has a DX mode for such an occasion LOL

Hi Porfirio,

Congratulations!
I continue to use my D200 and 17-55mm along with my FX bodies.
Good Luck and Enjoy your Nikons!

Best Regards,
Marty

Congratulations on your D700. You will definitely love it.

I think your dad found an excuse to get the new D800/D800E or D4

Dave

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Sell all your dx glass and buy a 70-200. You'll find you don't use that camera much anymore. If you're using it for reach you will have fx glass on it anyways. I use two cameras a far amount. I used to use a 700 and a d90. I always kept the longer of the lens of the dx. For one that 14-24 is amazing way beyond it's sharpness and two as a general rule I tend to Print bigger the smaller the lens.
I don't know what you have for glass for it, but the only thing I would keep is a travel lens. Thats where those light dx lens really pay off!

>Sell all your dx glass and buy a 70-200. You'll find you
>don't use that camera much anymore. If you're using it for
>reach you will have fx glass on it anyways. I use two cameras
>a far amount. I used to use a 700 and a d90. I always kept the
>longer of the lens of the dx. For one that 14-24 is amazing
>way beyond it's sharpness and two as a general rule I tend to
>Print bigger the smaller the lens.
>I don't know what you have for glass for it, but the only
>thing I would keep is a travel lens. Thats where those light
>dx lens really pay off!

That's a good idea....the only DX glass I have is the 17-55 2.8 DX, which I think still has some demand and could get some good money for, and an 18-270mm Tamron which I may be able to get $3-400 for. At that point, I could either pony up the difference and buy the 70-200 VRII brand new or find myself a used one in good condition.

Thanks for the tips.

>Congratulations on your D700. You will definitely love it.
>
>I think your dad found an excuse to get the new D800/D800E or
>D4

HAHA That's what I thought, but then again he wouldn't have given me the 14-24 and 24-70 2.8's if he planned to buy the D800 LOL

Maybe your wife would like the D200. I got my wife involved in photography and she ended up taking more photos than I did. It's a fun hobby to share.

Len

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>Maybe your wife would like the D200. I got my wife involved
>in photography and she ended up taking more photos than I did.
>It's a fun hobby to share.
>
>Len
>
>

She's tried to take pictures with the D200 and she just didn't like the size. She's fine with her little point and shoot LOL