Nikon D7100 vs nikon D700 (Internet is more confusing)

enerlevel · Mar 3, 2015

hi all,
I have mainly narrowed my choice to these two cameras. I pretty much know the pros and cons of both. for me, the only deciding factor would be high ISO noise and IQ.
now I have read on the Internet that

1) D7100 is pretty much same or even worse compared to D7000 high ISO noise.

2) another reiview said that if I downsize the D7100 image to 12 M.P , then the images are actually same or better than D700.

3) another review said that D700 is better in sharpness and high ISO than D7100

I had previously used D600 and then moved to D7000. the image quality and high ISO noise is day and night.

therefore now I could sell the D7000 (terrible release value atm) and either move to D7100 or D700.
so anyone has any personal experience ? and which review is actually saying the truth?

jaomul · Mar 3, 2015

D700 has better high iso. D7100 has better dynamic range at base iso, so in theory it gives better photos at more extremes of highlights and shadows. The higher res offers bigger possible prints.

Taking numbers out of it (I have a d7100), from my limited use of a d700 I think it's the better imager

Braineack · Mar 3, 2015

What crazy reviews are you reading? because all these points are inaccurate.

what made you go from a D600 to a d7000?

coastalconn · Mar 3, 2015

It depends on much you crop.. The D700 has about 5MP where the D7100 has 24.. So to compare apples to apples, you would have to downsize the D7100 to 5 MP..

qleak · Mar 3, 2015

coastalconn said:
It depends on much you crop.. The D700 has about 5MP where the D7100 has 24.. So to compare apples to apples, you would have to downsize the D7100 to 5 MP..

the d700 has 12MP...

The same argument applies just not a drastic.

D700 released 2008, discontinued 2012. So not only has it been discontinued for 3 years, it was on the market for 4 years. Can you in good conscious shell out for a 7 year old sensor design?

Why not a d600 or d610 if price is what's keeping you down?

pixmedic · Mar 3, 2015

when I got my D600's, i had looked at getting a D700 as the backup.
when i looked at used prices on ebay, the D700's were so close to the price of the D600's it just didnt make any sense to get a D700 over a D600.

coastalconn · Mar 3, 2015

qleak said:
coastalconn said:

It depends on much you crop.. The D700 has about 5MP where the D7100 has 24.. So to compare apples to apples, you would have to downsize the D7100 to 5 MP..

Click to expand...

the d700 has 12MP...

Yes it is a 12mp camera, but it is 5 MP is equivalent DX mode. So where the D7100 has 6000x4000 pixels, the D700 has 2784x1848... hence 5MP.

qleak · Mar 3, 2015

coastalconn said:
qleak said:

coastalconn said:

It depends on much you crop.. The D700 has about 5MP where the D7100 has 24.. So to compare apples to apples, you would have to downsize the D7100 to 5 MP..

Click to expand...

the d700 has 12MP...

Click to expand...

Yes it is a 12mp camera, but it is 5 MP is equivalent DX mode. So where the D7100 has 6000x4000 pixels, the D700 has 2784x1848... hence 5MP.

Well it makes total sense when you say it that way

goodguy · Mar 3, 2015

I would probably say the right camera for you is the D750 but I dont know if you have the money to get it.
D7100 and D700 are pretty different beasts, its hard for me to compare them, DX vs FX, new tech vs old tech.
If you are doing a lot of sports and nature/wildlife then these cameras will be better then the D610 which has a slightly less effective AF system but if you dont do mostly this type of photography then the D610 should be your right choice.
AF on the D610 really isnt so bad, it looks less impressive in numbers (39 vs 51) and as I said less effective but I think out of these 3 I would go with the D610.

nerwin · Mar 3, 2015

Just get a D610. It couldn't of been easy going back to a D7000 after shooting with a D600. I think you'll feel better going back to a D600/D610.

You can't compare a DX sensor to a FX sensor..they are two very different sensors.

enerlevel · Mar 4, 2015

thank you all for replying. i had a thread which explained why i shifted from D600 to D7000. basically i lost my wallet on a trip and had to downgrade to get some extra cash. the D700 and the D7100 can be brought now for £550 where as the D600 as going for more than £800 ATM.
i know the differences between the two formats and i was certain that FX performance in low light cannot be touched by a DX camera but this review got me thinking.

Better Family Photos High ISO comparison D7100 vs. D7000 D600 and D700

if you see at the bottom, he says ...
CONCLUSION
The D7100's high ISO performance does not seem very remarkable when viewed against competing cameras at 100%. However, at the same size viewing size, the D7100 shines and can actually offer the same (or even slightly better) performance as the full-frame D700. I invite you to download samples from DPReview (using their studio comparison tool) to draw your own conclusions.

astroNikon · Mar 4, 2015

Have you compared the prices of a d600 to a d700 to where you are at?
If there's marginal price differences then I would take the d700 off the table
and go with a d600 again.

i have a d600 and d7000. I barely, barely use the d7000 anymore for anything. Even photo'ing aircraft the d600 is used.

pixmedic · Mar 4, 2015

I have owned the d7000, d7100, and d600.. all were fantastic cameras.
The 7100 does indeed handle low-light pretty well. However, I'll give you a great, real use example of the difference I saw while I had both the 7100 AND the 600 before I got the second d600.

At iso 1600 the d7100 would start showing some noise, not a lot if the exposure was good and there was not a ton of shadow. A little noise reduction and it was fine. At 3200 iso the 7100 would start to show more noise, especially in the shadows, but not so much that LR'S noise reduction couldn't handle it. Properly exposed, the 7100 could even go to iso 6400 and still be cleaned up decent if the scene wasn't very dark.

The d600, like the 7100, also has a 24mp sensor. Just bigger.
Properly exposed at iso 1600 I saw little to no noise, no noise reduction needed.
At iso 3200, again, properly exposed, there was very little noise and only minor noise reduction was needed.
Even at iso 6400 I didn't need much noise reduction to clean up the image.

I can't say that the d600 handles low light twice as good ad the d7100, because I didn't find that to be the case, but it was a noticeable difference. It was even more of a difference when you took a picture that was underexposed with high iso. The d600 had better results when I needed to add exposure on top of the iso.

I'm a huge fan of the d7100, but if low light performance is a big priority for you, the d600 wins over the d7100.

enerlevel · Mar 4, 2015

the difference between the D700 and D600 is about £300. for that price i can upgrade my lens hahaha... so yes it is a big difference in price between the D700/D7100 and D600.
i tried to scale down images of D7000 to 12Mp. and even 5Mp. and i am not impressed. its not as sharp as i would want it plus most of the pics are just out of focus... i think it has been discussed a 100000 times about focus problems on the D7000.