New friskyCamera - Nikon D700

September 28th, 2008 photography | | | ##

After lusting after it for more than a month - I finally took the plunge this week and bought myself a brand new Nikon D700. Ive had my previous camera, the Nikon D70, since 2004 so it was well beyond the time for an upgrade. First impressions of the camera:

It feels like a real camera. Its heavy and its extremely well built.
The huge LCD display is extremely sharp and clear.
The “click” noise of the shutter release is extremely pleasing - like a film camera.
I bought the camera with the Nikkor 24-120mm VR lens - which is absolutely awesome so far.
The low-light sensitivity of the camera is top notch. So far Ive only gone up to ISO1250 (out of a possible ISO 6400) and dont notice too much noise. The noise issue at high ISOs has been a huge problem for Nikon and Im glad they have improved on this a lot.
The D-Active lighting system is simply stunning. I can take low-light and shadow shots at f5.6 and above and still get amazing detail. Blown away.
I never quite understood the appeal of a full-frame FX sensor. Now I do.

Here are some test shots right out of the camera - absolutely no post-processing was done to these shots. Im amazed at the quality of the shots right our of the camera.

Outside my flats. It was cloudy and the light wasnt too optimal. D700 came thru perfectly at ISO 200. Click for large size at Flickr.

This was taken in my basement car garage of my flats. Its really dark there and I have never been able to take a clear shot there without a tripod. This shows the good performance of the D700 at ISO 1250. Virtually no noise! Really amazed. Click for larger size at Flickr.

And just for fun - I took a self-portrait of moi with a new getFrisky! T-Shirt. Click for larger size.

Thats all the shots I have to share so far. I have a few others but they are just me messing around… Im going on a 10-day trip starting Tuesday so expect loads of great shots from me soon… I love this thing!

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1 Ingo Vogelmann Sep 28th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

What’s the distortion at the corners of the garage pic?
2 frisky? Sep 28th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

Ingo: Its not distortion, its vignetting. That’s a trademark of mine - I love vignetting and you will notice that a lot in all my photography. It happens when the light going into the lens is very little, and I add to that effect by putting the lens cap on, even in low light. Love it.
3 (nf) nuno ferreira Sep 28th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

The low light capabilities of the D700 are amazing. It’s a fantastic camera.
4 Shamanah Sep 28th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

awesome!!!!!!!! and extra awesome that i see a buddha and some incense? the camera looks like its going to be coming way handy in the next few days!
5 paul Sep 28th, 2008 at 7:42 pm

f, really want one now…
take a look at this D700 HDR time lapse I saw on vimeo

http://www.vimeo.com/1635766
6 Papigiulio Sep 28th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

Damn! Just read the price on twitter. fuckin A bro. Looking forward to see more of your stuff and not only these 3 pics heh. Btw now I definitely know you look like Mohinder mwaha
7 Sotek Sep 29th, 2008 at 3:08 am

@Papigiulio: “Btw now I definitely know you look like Mohinder mwaha”

LOL
8 countach Sep 29th, 2008 at 6:47 am

Totally insane quality. There is nothing like a full frame…

Sadly, the money spiral goes and goes, and now is the lenses the ones to upgrade… and those are the real expensive thing in photography…

This “chromatic ab.” is the same as in my D80 50-135 Kit:

http://i35.tinypic.com/732err.jpg

[img]http://i35.tinypic.com/732err.jpg[/img]

Fortunately, shooting in RAW and then using the Nikon’s Capture NX software, those colour things disappear, in a better way (an fully automatically) than using Photoshop.
9 frisky? Sep 29th, 2008 at 9:30 am

countach Yep… Like I said, this is straight out of the camera, and not going thru even the NX software or anything… It truly is amazing straight out of the camera and not too much light flares etc… I havent yet used Capture NX as Im a complete Lightroom Photoshop CS3.

1 frisky? | vogelmann Pingback on Oct 9th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

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