I am the new owner of a Nikon D700 DSLR

Raid, if you want a split prism or matt focusing screen, you can buy one here:

https://www.focusingscreen.com/index.php.

These screens are genuine Canon, Nikon, etc., that have been modified, and come with a little fitting kit. The company's in China but are reliable and have been trading for several years. Make sure to select US dollars for the currency to avoid being freaked out by the price! (I've no connection with the company - just a user.)

I used one in my Nikon D800E for most of the 5 years I owned the camera. It did not have any adverse affects (metering was unchanged, etc.). Fitting is straightforward but a bit nerve wracking (OTOH, your camera was a lot cheaper than my bought-new D00E). I put the original screen back in before selling the camera, which, despite not having done the process for 3 years, only took about 15 mins from start to finish. Basically, the screen's held in by a wire clip that you unhook.

(As an aside, I can (or could) buy manual focusing screens from China on eBay for my Nikon. If available for the D700, don't do that! They're cheaply made trash!)

I suggest doing the swap in the bathroom after running a hot shower just long enough for a little steam to settle any dust. Dust was the most annoying thing - I had to remove and replace the screen three times before my viewfinder was dust free! When I put the old screen back in, I managed to do it dust free the first time!

Now, the important question: did it make focusing any faster, easier or quicker? The honest answer is no. Possibly the opposite. Manual screens are less bright than modern digital ones, and if you go for a split prism screen as I did, you now have that circle in the middle of what was a nice empty view.

The green dot is also very accurate. It does have a quirk, though, which I'd imagine is the same in D700: a kind of "slop" for want of a better word. It stays lit if you move the lens focus ring back and forth a little. I suggest experimenting with your fastest lens and a near subject, and deciding where focus is sharpest. Try focusing beyond the subject and see if the image you take is in focus when the LED just lights, then the other way by focusing behind then turning the focus ring until the LED just lights; you may even find that your camera is in focus just past when the LED lights in one of these directions! Anyway, when all that faffing and checking photos is done, you'll know at what point your camera focus is spot on when shallow DOF rears its head...!

It's also perfectly doable to judge focus using the standard screen.

In short, eyeballing when stuff looks in focus plus using the green LED works fine for manual focusing.

In hindsight would I bother fitting ye olde worlde split prism screen? No. Practically, it did not make manual focusing better in any way, and in fact had the downsides of adding clutter to and darkening my view.

That said, the downsides weren't sufficient for me to make the effort to put my standard screen back in (at least until I decided to flog the camera)! The clutter and darkening aren't that much...

It's worth pointing out that in all the time I owned my Nikon D00E (half a decade) I used only manual lenses. I don't actually own an autofocus lens!

So, at the end of the day, I'd say whether you prefer the standard screen or split prism or matt screen boils down to personal preference rather than one being better than the other in reality for manual focus.
 
raid said:
My D700 has fewer than 20k actuations.
Click to expand...

It's good to know that your D700 has less than 20K actuations. I concur that it should be good for a long time.

Regarding the 35-70 lens you asked about, here is a link to a review of the lens on Ken Rockwell's site:

https://kenrockwell.com/nikon/3570.htm

One of the reasons I am posting this link is because he has written a fairly decent review of the Macro Mode, one of the features of the 35-70. If you want to focus closer and use manual focus, this feature is very helpful. I have not personally used the Macro Mode on my 35-70 but I wanted to let you know that this feature exists.

Lastly, I look forward to seeing your images here on RFF taken with your new D700.
 
RichC said:
Raid, if you want a split prism or matt focusing screen, you can buy one here:

https://www.focusingscreen.com/index.php.

These screens are genuine Canon, Nikon, etc., that have been modified, and come with a little fitting kit. The company's in China but are reliable and have been trading for several years. Make sure to select US dollars for the currency to avoid being freaked out by the price! (I've no connection with the company - just a user.)

I used one in my Nikon D800E for most of the 5 years I owned the camera. It did not have any adverse affects (metering was unchanged, etc.). Fitting is straightforward but a bit nerve wracking (OTOH, your camera was a lot cheaper than my bought-new D00E). I put the original screen back in before selling the camera, which, despite not having done the process for 3 years, only took about 15 mins from start to finish. Basically, the screen's held in by a wire clip that you unhook.

(As an aside, I can (or could) buy manual focusing screens from China on eBay for my Nikon. If available for the D700, don't do that! They're cheaply made trash!)

I suggest doing the swap in the bathroom after running a hot shower just long enough for a little steam to settle any dust. Dust was the most annoying thing - I had to remove and replace the screen three times before my viewfinder was dust free! When I put the old screen back in, I managed to do it dust free the first time!

Now, the important question: did it make focusing any faster, easier or quicker? The honest answer is no. Possibly the opposite. Manual screens are less bright than modern digital ones, and if you go for a split prism screen as I did, you now have that circle in the middle of what was a nice empty view.

The green dot is also very accurate. It does have a quirk, though, which I'd imagine is the same in D700: a kind of "slop" for want of a better word. It stays lit if you move the lens focus ring back and forth a little. I suggest experimenting with your fastest lens and a near subject, and deciding where focus is sharpest. Try focusing beyond the subject and see if the image you take is in focus when the LED just lights, then the other way by focusing behind then turning the focus ring until the LED just lights; you may even find that your camera is in focus just past when the LED lights in one of these directions! Anyway, when all that faffing and checking photos is done, you'll know at what point your camera focus is spot on when shallow DOF rears its head...!

It's also perfectly doable to judge focus using the standard screen.

In short, eyeballing when stuff looks in focus plus using the green LED works fine for manual focusing.

In hindsight would I bother fitting ye olde worlde split prism screen? No. Practically, it did not make manual focusing better in any way, and in fact had the downsides of adding clutter to and darkening my view.

That said, the downsides weren't sufficient for me to make the effort to put my standard screen back in (at least until I decided to flog the camera)! The clutter and darkening aren't that much...

It's worth pointing out that in all the time I owned my Nikon D00E (half a decade) I used only manual lenses. I don't actually own an autofocus lens!

So, at the end of the day, I'd say whether you prefer the standard screen or split prism or matt screen boils down to personal preference rather than one being better than the other in reality for manual focus.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Rich. There is a lot of useful information that you have posted. I will start out with the D700 and its original screen that comes with it to first see if I can use the camera for accurate focusing or not. I do not wear glasses or contacts (lucky me!), and hopefully it will work out well with the original screen. Thanks for the link for focusing screens! This sounds to be a good place to order screen from if I find myself unable to focus well with the original screen.
 
ornate_wrasse said:
It's good to know that your D700 has less than 20K actuations. I concur that it should be good for a long time.

Regarding the 35-70 lens you asked about, here is a link to a review of the lens on Ken Rockwell's site:

https://kenrockwell.com/nikon/3570.htm

One of the reasons I am posting this link is because he has written a fairly decent review of the Macro Mode, one of the features of the 35-70. If you want to focus closer and use manual focus, this feature is very helpful. I have not personally used the Macro Mode on my 35-70 but I wanted to let you know that this feature exists.

Lastly, I look forward to seeing your images here on RFF taken with your new D700.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will try to use the DSLR during the holidays break. I will keep things simple by using one lens only for a while until I better understand how to best use the camera.
 
Can someone please write some firmware for the 700 & Df so we can do 1080 hd @ 60/30/24?

I used to be a purist...guess I still am dang it. :)
 
Raid, For my mf Nikkors, I put a Katz eye screen in my D7000 and was very disappointed in the results. I have the standard screen in my D700 and the green focusing indicator works fine for me. I don't normally shoot at very wide apertures.
 
Contarama said:
Can someone please write some firmware for the 700 & Df so we can do 1080 hd @ 60/30/24?
Click to expand...

At this point, I don't think there's any chance that new firmware will be written for the D700. It's such an old camera by now that I can't imagine anyone would be doing this.

As for the Df, I cannot say.
 
Live view is the way to go in lowlight sporting manual focus glass but watch that shutter speed. And the 700 does low light just fine ty very much. :)
 
What is a good buying price for a clean Nikkor 80-200 2.8 AF? Is the manual 80-200 2.8 equally useful? I guess, with a DSLR, a reasonable reach with such a lens could be very useful.
 
raid said:
What is a good buying price for a clean Nikkor 80-200 2.8 AF? Is the manual 80-200 2.8 equally useful? I guess, with a DSLR, a reasonable reach with such a lens could be very useful.
Click to expand...

Long lenses and long zooms are part of the fun of DSLRs.

There were a few versions of the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AF and although the optical formula is either identical or very similar (I cannot recall off hand) the price varies for other reasons. The early models which are "push pull" zooms but tend to be cheaper because their focus gearing means slower focusing.

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photograp...resources/AFNikkor/AF-Nikkor80200mm/index.htm

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photograp...esources/AFNikkor/AF-Nikkor80200mm/index1.htm

This is rectified in the later Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AF D lenses which has faster focusing and is of a two touch / two ring design.) I bought this D variant of the lens as I intended to potentially use it for moving targets. So its really a matter of which one suits your style of shooting best and your price range.

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photograp...esources/AFNikkor/AF-Nikkor80200mm/index3.htm

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photograp...esources/AFNikkor/AF-Nikkor80200mm/index4.htm

Others can advise on prices as its been a few years since I researched this thoroughly. But my impression is that the earlier push pull models are about 60-70% of the later versions.

I seldom see the MF version of the 80-200mm f2.8 lens on eBay and my recollection is that it is rather expensive. Bear in mind that both the MF 80-200mm f 4.5 Ai and the later MF 80-200mm F4 AIS are excellent lenses in terms of image quality and well worth owning. Both are pretty cheap due mainly to the large numbers sold back in the day.

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photograp...resources/AFNikkor/AF-Nikkor80200mm/index.htm

While I enjoy my Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 AF D it is a big and heavy lens to carry and for this reason when travelling on holidays I will often leave it behind in favor of a much smaller and lighter prosumer lens from that era - the Nikkor AF 70-210mm f4 - 5.6 D. Note that like its big brothers, with this lens the model to get for focusing speed is the D version which has faster gearing than the older non D version. It produces lovely images that in practice are seldom much different from those made by the f2.8 lenses.

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/AFNikkor/AF70210mm/index2.htm

If you have not delved into Nikkor lenses much the following resource is a source of endless pleasure if you have not already discovered it.

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/AFNikkor/AF70210mm/index2.htm

PS if you want a great lens with long reach either the MF or AF version of the 180mm f2.8 ED are superb with some of the smoothest bokeh you will ever see in your life. (Bear in mind the earliest 180mm is not an ED lens and so lacks some of their punch though in my view it is still a great lens (I own this variant and an AF version)

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/180200mmnikkor/180mm.htm
 
raid said:
Thanks, Keith. How many shutter actuations did your camera have? This seems to be the weak spot of the D700.
Click to expand...

Mine is actually quite a low shutter count ... around twenty thousand. Just bad luck I guess and it's a shame because with prices for them being so low I can't really justify the expense of a repair.
 
raid said:
This is good to know, Peter. My D700 has fewer than 20k actuations. It should be fine for years to come, hopefully.
Click to expand...

Less than 20K?

Unless you are in the very unlucky region for of the Gaussian sample , you should have 80K - 150K left.

PS I forgot to mention, the 105/2.5 AI was the lens I enjoyed the most with my D700. As I remember MF worked the best as well.
 
Contarama said:
Can someone please write some firmware for the 700 & Df so we can do 1080 hd @ 60/30/24?

I used to be a purist...guess I still am dang it. :)
Click to expand...

Well the D700 has 4256 x 2832 pixels in FX mode.

What exactly is "1080 hd @ 60/30/24?

How come the having 2831 pixels across the shortest image dimension is not HD?

HD TVs have 1,920 x 1,080 pixerls.

4K UHD TVs have 3,840 x 2,160 pixels.

4K cinema projectors have 4,096 pixels for the longest image dimension.
 
robert blu said:
Yes but I used it only on film!
robert
Click to expand...

This is a good point. We have now this added point of complexity when chooing a lens that we must also consider whether we will use this lens mainly ofr film or for digital or for both. You would think that 35-70 does not cover any extreme angles, and the light path will not be at a very oblique angle when hitting the sensor of the D700, say.
 
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