Some advice on moving to full frame (D7/800?)

[jdong217]

I'm thinking of making the jump, what with the D700 dropping down to $2200 now. As of late, I almost exclusively have been shooting wide angle on my D7000. I haven't even touched my 35/1.8 and most certainly not the 85/1.4g (which is fantastic btw).

I pretty much use the Tokina 11-16 half the time and the Nikon 24/1.4g the other half of the time. I suppose if I wasn't so lazy I could find a use for my 35 and nifty fifty when I'm with friends. Anyway, here's my dilemma: funds are kind of low right now. I could sell my D7000 + 85mm/1.4g for a pretty decent price I think. At the very least, it would put me very close to the price of the D700. But then this leaves me with a D700 and only the 24mm.

The problem is that this isn't really wide enough for my needs. I'm eyeing the 14-24 or 16-35 right now, but again, funds would be a problem. I could continue to use the Tokina but does that decrease the image quality? or is it only that a full frame sensor will give the same quality as a DX sensor if I put it in the DX mode?

 

[djacobox372]

If you shoot the d700 in dx mode, you will only get 5.1mp images; however they will be quite high quality images--much better then other 6mp dslrs.

You could consider a 20mm f2.8 af-d prime lens, this would be similar to 13.5mm on DX which might be wide enough for you.

 

[IgsEMT]

As Djacobox said, shooting dx lens on fx body mean you're shooting with HARD CORE sensor but at lower resolution.
What's really cool though is that if you're using some of the 3rd party lenses, the camera doesn't read it as a Dx lens and gives you a very nice vignette When you switch to Dx mode, you're ok w/o vignette. This is the reason, actually, why I very much enjoy using Tokina 10-17 Fisheye. It isn't the sharpest lens in the bunch, however the vignetting is very nice, at least for my jobs, and adds a flavor the final image.
On D700, dx mode is 5.1mp - good enough to print out 16x24 (didn't try going bigger so can't tell you). On d800, some days its 15mp (you do the math )

Good Luck

 

[jdong217]

Thanks guys. Will look into those lenses.

I will call B&H and Adorama tomorrow but I'm also curious what kind of price I could get for selling the D7000 and 85/1.4g. They were both purchased when I was abroad in Hong Kong

 

[IgsEMT]

I can almost guarantee that you can make more $ on ebay or craigslist then selling it into the store.

 

[molested_cow]

Hmmm.... my only advice is to have A LOT more money than you are willing to spend. FX lens aren't cheap, unless you are willing to go for older, used lens, which is what I do.

IMO if your budget is low, you shouldn't even be thinking about it. Enjoy what you have now and save up!

 

[robolepa]

I can almost guarantee that you can make more $ on ebay or craigslist then selling it into the store.

I agree with IgsEMT. If you sell it to Adorama or B&H, figure on 65% of what you could get by selling it yourself, and that's being generous.

 

[jamesbjenkins]

You should sell me your 85mm 1.4. I guarantee a better offer than B&H. :lmao:

 

[Sw1tchFX]

The 24mm f/1.4G is phenomenal on FF. A completely different lens. That and the 50mm f/1.4G are the two lenses I use the most when i'm shooting Film or the D700.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

I suggest getting some full frame lenses, or just save up some money and buy them all in the future. Buying a body now without the lens you want is a waste of money. Body prices drop dramatically. If you really need a full frame camera, get the Nikon D800, at least you can have enough megapixels, compared to Nikon D700.