Pulling the trigger... Nikon D700.

JerryPH · Nov 19, 2008

OK... I went and picked it up. First off, it is noticeably heavier. I transferred my neoprene neck strap to it. A D700 w/grip & 24-70 "feels" about as heavy as a D200 w/grip and a 70-200!

Second impression: I felt right at home almost immediately! There is so much similar to the D200 that I am having NO issues doing the basics (ISO, shutter, aperture, and on and on). There is so much new, that this is where a little time invested with it

Third... I did a series of unwrapping pics (nothing tremendous, but I did do it) and then snapped off a couple of pics.

All I have to say is... the 24-70 is a BOKEH machine at F/2.8 (thanks to the FX)!

I thought the D200 and a 85mm F/1.4 were smooth... I cannot wait to slap the 85mm on the D700!

You will excuse me... I have to get up at 4:30AM tomorrow and I want to spend a little more time with the D700 before bed.

Pics and more impressions soon to come!

impressme · Nov 19, 2008

Congrats on it arriving safe and sound, enjoy!

SpeedTrap · Nov 19, 2008

Enjoy, Get that grip on it and load it with some AA's to test the 8 frames a second, I love mine and I am sure you will love yours.

Sw1tchFX · Nov 20, 2008

JerryPH said:
Does it click them off at 8FPS? It is possible that either I misunderstood the guy or they were BSing, but I was told that it was a "back door" way to do it without the EN-El4a battery

As an aside, I ordered that Phottix En-EL4 clone battery with charger for $50 from Hong Kong. We'll see how that turns out. If I like it, I may order 1-2 more.

Got it! I forgot to set the last 2 custom functions when I was doing it.

Whew, it FLIES!!!!!!

For more stationary or distant situations where AF isn't quite as important, I think it'll work great, i'm going to toy with it, but if it makes my flash exposure funky, then it wont' be worth the trouble to set it up to fly like that.

Heck, 5fps is good enough for me

JerryPH · Nov 20, 2008

SpeedTrap said:
Enjoy, Get that grip on it and load it with some AA's to test the 8 frames a second, I love mine and I am sure you will love yours.

Sw1tchFX said:
Got it! I forgot to set the last 2 custom functions when I was doing it.

Whew, it FLIES!!!!!!

Speedtrap, apparently, for at a maximum of 9 frames at a time, we don't need the batteries or the EN-EL4a batteries! See above!

Sw1tchFX, glad you figured it out. I'll be taking a look at that at some later date. As of right now, I am thrown back to memories of my first week with the D200 where I could not get the camera to do things to my liking... the only difference now is that the D200 got me to quite a high level and I am picking up from that level with the D700... but it has so much more latitude that it is rediculous, and I am demanding more of my myself than my knowledge of the camera can accommodate... for now.

jlykins · Nov 20, 2008

Felt the same way the first day I had my D300. I knew it was a step up from the D70, but I couldn't get it to do some of the things that I wanted. Ahh memories....

JerryPH · Nov 20, 2008

There are some incredible resources out there for D300 users... Thom Hogan's ebook, all kinds of instructional videos, manuals and more. I cannot believe how much more there is for the D300 than the D700, but then again, it's only been a couple months that the D700 is out.

I did end up ordering the eBook from Thom Hogan, and realized its now a lot more and he prints out a portion of it for you as part of the package.

lids369 · Nov 20, 2008

is she there yet?

JerryPH · Nov 20, 2008

Came in last night around 6:00PM. :mrgreen::heart::mrgreen:

I'm working hard hours from now till friday, but I will post a few pics with it this weekend as well as the pics of the unwrapping the box and what not.

SpeedTrap · Nov 20, 2008

It is true that you can make it shoot at 8 frames a seccond without the grip, but you can do it for only 9 shots maximum.
With the grip you can do it for 16 or untill the buffer fills and you have to let it catch up.
As well you don't need and funky hacked commands, just set to High Speed and shoot.
I us mine with NMh Rechargables (2650 mah) and it works great. Best thing is if for some reason I kill all my batteries somewhere or at a shoot I can get AA anywhere and keep shooting.

JerryPH · Nov 21, 2008

Yes I agree, AA batteries or an EN-EL4a in the battery grip is the best way to go.
I promised a couple of unwrapping pics and at the same time it lets me test out this place for online pics:

http://jerryph.myphotoalbum.com/slideshow.php?set_albumName=album01

Do forgive the 1-2 lightly blurred pics, I was in a rush both because I was excited and also really rushed to get to a client right after.
I'm planning to take it out on it's first real test run tomorrow and I'll post a link here. I am eager to test out a few ISO 1600-6400 shots on a few of my different lenses.