No... The camera does not make you work hard to get a decent picture. If you could get a good picture with another camera, you will get a good picture with a D700.
Hmm... you think, huh?
Explain to me how this is "hard"
What metering modes are available with the D700?
In detail, how do they work?
What metering mode you going to use under what conditions?
What setings for D-light settings are available in the D700?
In detail, how do they work?
What setings for D-light you going to use under what conditions?
What settings for image quality are available in the D700?
In detail, how do they work?
What settings for image quality you going to use under differing conditions?
What different settings for the kind of lens does the D700 use?
In detail, how do they work?
What settings for the kind of lenses you own are you going to use?
Want me to go on? I could add another 75 questions EASILY to that list, but I hope you get the idea.
Check your light meter... set your shutter and aperture... shutter is to slow.. choose anywhere from 200-6400iso... Take a picture. Honestly, what is so hard about that?
For someone with a beginner level understanding of photography and the capabilities of the D700? Nothing. But then again, driving a Ferrari around in the parking lot at 2 MPH in first gear doesn't get you very far either.
I would actually say it is much harder to get a good picture from a D40
Not even close to reality. The D40 hand-holds a photographer through almost the entire process and though it's capabilities are way lower, it is much more forgiving.
Look for a recent thread about why a guy with a D200 wondered why he was getting better pictures from a D40 he bought as a gift for someone, and how disappointed this caused him to be with his D200. It was certainly NOT becuase the D40 was a better camera than a D200... it was lack of knowledge, understanding and expectations.
If you know how to use a camera and know photography... You can shoot with a D700 and get a good picture.
No, you will get *a* picture, I highly doubt it will be "good".
There are alot of Menu's, and a lot of things that you can customize to your liking.. does that mean you have to in order to take a good picture? No.. it doesnt.
Riiiiiight.
Ok... so you without a D700 seem to know more than me, who owns a D700. Sorry, you are just wrong. Your lack of knowledge using this camera is vast. Mine is a little closer to reality, becuase I own one and know how it works in real life. The D700 has no automatic modes like the D40. Looking at the OP's photostream, 99% of the shots are taken in automatic mode. This tells me that the OP's understanding of even basic photography is lacking deeply. A D700, that has no such hand-hodling modes, will
not help him, it will frustrate the hell out of him to the point that he is going to be one very unhappy camper for quite a long time.
To get a picture out of the D700 is easy. I can hand it to my 17 year old niece who knows nothing and she can press the shutter, but thats a snapshot... not a photograph. Put a Stratavarious voilin in your hands, I am sure you can make that thing wail and sound like a dying cat in heat... but put that same violin in the hands of someone knowledgeable, you have music. This is what I am talking about. Real results. Getting the most from the thousands of dollars that you spent.
You make it out like you have to take a class on it just to understand it... Or that it takes a rocket scientist just to figure it out.
Let's look at something...
The Nikon manual (downloadable directly from NikonUSA), of the D40x is 139 pages (yes I downloaded it and checked this out personally). Relatively impressive and a lot of information.
From that same site, the D700 manual is 472 pages. What do you think... do you think that we need to have more than a couple of differences between the D40x and the D700 to generate 333 pages of extra material, no?
Food for thought now... Thom Hogan is an acknowledged reliable source of good information concerning Nikon products and his manual on the D700 PDF is double the size of the Nikons D700 PDF and close to 900 pages!
"Oh no... there are no differences between a D40 and a D700. If you can shoot a D40, a D700 is a walk in the park, just pick it up and shoot... irrespective of the fact that there are over 700 more pages of information in a Thom Hogan PDF manual compared to Nikon's 139 pages on the D40x... even your understanding of the basics of photography is weak."
If this is what you are trying to tell me, permit me to say... uhhmm... no.
I am not a rocket scientist and I took no real classes, however, let's look at a fact... I spent 2 years, thousands upon thousands of pictures and countless hours of diligent focused study to get my BASICS of photography down pat. I am *still* in this same mode and constantly refining my skills.
I fully understand and can talk ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure, lighting, chew gum and walk at the same time without forgetting to breathe and passing out... lol.
To get more than a snapshot out of a D700, the above statement is a mandatory requirement for the D700. If your understanding of the basics in photography are weak, how can you even get into the advanced functionality of a camera as complex as a D700? The answer is... you cannot.
How can you learn about each setting and how to best use your camera if you have not read through several times, studied, memorized, tested out and played many times over, with EACH and every setting in the D700? The answer is... you cannot.
Your end results will not be better than those from your D40... in fact initially they will even be worse. My first few days with the D700 and it's results were far worse than my D200 results, even with all the pre-learning, researching and reading in advance before I received my camera. This is normal.
So... bottom line... anyone can purchase a D700 and even use it to take snapshots, but if your understanding of photography is weak AND your understanding of the intricacies of the D700 is weak... your pictures will match your levels with incredible clarity.
THAT is what I am saying.
Not at all, I am in a grrrrrrrrreat mood! For the first time in 3 months, I get to have an afternoon off today *and* I have an entire Saturday off to go and do some city shooting. On top of that, the local weather looks cloudy and PERFECT for a day outside. Better than working 14 hour days, 7 days a week.
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