D700 ~the unpacking video ...... just joking!

[Ronald M]

KEH has a lot of nice Nikon Ai and AiS lenses. Katz Eye sells a nifty split image screen for it. Get the battery grip if you do a lot of verticals..

You will need more sharpening than Leica, around 50%. Maybe boost the color sat some.
Camera Quest has a nice Leica to Nikon adapter so you can put viso lenses or bellows on it. 65 black Elmar/90 2.8/135 4.0 tele Elmar are killer lenses on the D700.

There now I spent all your profits

Put the manual lenses in the camera menue. For ease, 50mm is #5 85 is #6 135 #7 35 is 4 28 is 3 etc.
Makes it easier to find what you want

ENJOY it

 

[Creagerj]

Oh man, I want one of these real bad, especially since I finally have a full complement of glass.

 

[ashrafazlan]

Glad you enjoy the 35/2 zf, I have the same combo and I love the images it produces (when focused properly)

 

[md2008]

As everyone has said, the D700 is a great camera - easy transition from Nikon film cameras because of the FF sensor and ability to use manual focus lenses with full metering capabilities. I've found the output from this senser very "film-like" in its output, including the noise "grain" at high ISO.

Keith, now all you need is Capture NX2 as there's no software that really compares to it for working with Nikon raw files. There's another 200 bucks.


Taken in the subway tunnel, ISO6400

Another at ISO6400

ISO12,800

 

[peterm1]

One disadvantage of my strategy of buying low usage second hand DSLRs is that I am always behind the pack. So I was very happy when I bought a near new and almost unused D200 about a year ago but it may be more expensive in the long run as I see threads like this and want to have the latest and greatest myself. All of which is a very long winded way of saying I envy you. The D700 is one of the greats. The funny thing is that while I would love to own one, the full frame possibilities don't especially draw me for the effect on lenses (I prefer to shoot "long" not "wide" anyway so cropped sensors benefit me.)

What I really crave is superb high ISO ability. I recently bought a Canon G11 as my pocket back up and i have to say that whatever they are doing with their hardware and software they are doing it quite well. I shot a low light photo of my wife in a restaurant at 1600 and there was no objectionable color noise only some film grain like luma noise. If the little G11 is quite good I ask myself how good must the D700 be - I would love to see some results when you get around to it.

 

[jarski]

One disadvantage of my strategy of buying low usage second hand DSLRs is that I am always behind the pack. So I was very happy when I bought a near new and almost unused D200 about a year ago but it may be more expensive in the long run as I see threads like this and want to have the latest and greatest myself. All of which is a very long winded way of saying I envy you.

but that probably bothers you most when reading forums or checking web pages of stores etc., not when you're out using your cameras ? 🙂

as an owner of G9, that camera really is would benefit better ISO handling. noise is quite ugly from 400 and beyond. and due to its small sensor, noise reduction softwares cannot do much to fix the results, like with files from larger sensors.

 

[Keith]

KEH has a lot of nice Nikon Ai and AiS lenses. Katz Eye sells a nifty split image screen for it. Get the battery grip if you do a lot of verticals..

You will need more sharpening than Leica, around 50%. Maybe boost the color sat some.
Camera Quest has a nice Leica to Nikon adapter so you can put viso lenses or bellows on it. 65 black Elmar/90 2.8/135 4.0 tele Elmar are killer lenses on the D700.

There now I spent all your profits

Put the manual lenses in the camera menue. For ease, 50mm is #5 85 is #6 135 #7 35 is 4 28 is 3 etc.
Makes it easier to find what you want

ENJOY it

I managed to get into the menu for setting non CPU lenses without too much drama and assigned #5 for my 50mm Planar with the appropriate settings ... but it got a bit messy when I decided it would be nice to assign the function button to lens selection via the command dial to save entering the menu all the time when switching lenses!

I eventually figured it out and having done so now feel that no challenge is beyond me! 😀

I did notice straight away that the files take a lot more sharpening than the M8's.

 

[Keith]

So, after two days, do you have some nice sample pictures to share?

The weather here in Brisbane has been unbelievably bad for the last week and a half and just getting up my driveway at the moment is a challenge.

I took the Nikon in to my one day a week job last friday as a wheel builder to show one of the guys who works there the camera ... he's a part time pro photographer with a five year old 'D something or' other and was keen to see the D700.

My first real photo turned out to be a product shot for their web site on a hastily set up back drop ... they normally use a little point and shoot for this but asked me if I would lower myself to photograph their wheels with my new rig! 😛

Tomorrow I may head off to downtown Brisbane for some DSLR style street! 😀

 

[jonmanjiro]

Congrats!

And thanks for the post. That's a much cheaper option than buying a Katzeye screen! I have a J screen in my F6 and its great. The same screen in my D700 would be awesome.

Success!!

Over the weekend I successfully adapted Nikon F6 J screens to both a Nikon D3 and D700.

I stapled some coarse grit sand paper to short 2x4 and worked the edges of the J screens against it. I used a set of calipers to measure the dimensions of the native screens and sanded until the J screens matched. It took about 20 minutes for the D700 and about 10 minutes for the D3.

Both the D3 & D700 screens are smaller than the F6 screen. Very little needed removing for fitting to the D3, more for fitting to the D700. The tweezer tab of the J screens had to go. The brush in a replacement Oly OM screen was useful for cleaning the screens prior to insertion.

The microprism center spot is slightly low and slightly left of center in both cameras, but this seems to have no effect on any of the metering modes, nor does the presence of microprism spot itself effect the metering.

The microprism center of the J screen is useful to me for focussing my lenses up to the 105/2.5, including a 50/1.2, 40/2.0, 28/2.0 & 24/2.8. Both the 300/4.5 and 500/4.0 seem easier to focus off center on the surrounding matte field, no different than the B screen standard for both bodies. But the improvement, for me, with the 28/2.0 and 105/2.5 is enough of a difference to justify the purchase and effort.

I haven't tried a KatzEye or any other replacement screens for these cameras. I'll need more time to test and verify results but for now I am satisfied with the J screen for manual focussing.

Hopefully this will be of help in time for the Vernal Equinox (March 20)....

 

[Keith]

I don't know many people with D700's ever use the mirror up function but I tried it the other day and I can get sharp hand held images down to 1/8 sec quite easily.

In mirror up mode the camera focuses and meters at the first press of the shutter and also flips the mirror up and locks those settings until the second press when it fires the shutter and drops the mirror back down. It sounds complex and slow but it's actually very quick in operation and with the apropriate accessory viewfinder in the hot shoe to match the focal length of the lens you have something that's a bit of a weapon in low light (read almost dark) at relatively low ISO's of 400 or 800 where the images are as clean as you could ever possibly want!

With the autofocus and metering system being as good as it is the entire process can be done through the accessory viewfinder and although it's obviously not as fast as an M8 or M9 for those ultimate 'decisive moment' shots it's a pretty decent method of being able to use a DSLR in very low light without paying the price for mirror shock at ultra slow shutter speeds!

 

[Nikon Bob]

Keith

That is a pretty interesting idea you have regarding the MUP function to help in hand holding at slow speeds. I may have to try that but using Live View instead of an aux finder in the hot shoe. Thanks.

Bob