I am the new owner of a Nikon D700 DSLR

peterm1 said:
I suppose one good thing about Nikon's mirrorless cameras is that if they really take off and eventually replace its F mount line there will be even more lovely old F mount lenses available more cheaply (for us folks who do still use MF though like you Nick I often revert to AF when I really need to nail shots. Though of course all of these can be adapted to Nikon Z cameras many wont bother.

BTW Nick, While speaking of adapted lenses, I recently realized that old DKL mount lenses (from the Retina Reflex line etc) are able to be adapted to Nikon F mount bodies. The Retina camera bodies and other dkl mount cameras were amongst the few with deeper register than Nikon. I bought a 135mm f4 Retina Reflex Tele Xenar lens primarily to use on mirrorless cameras but instead of mounting it directly I bought a DKL to Nikon adapter which allows it to be used on my D700 or when both are mated with a further Nikon to NEX adapter can be used on that system. Good results too - just for fun.
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Sounds cool. One of the lenses that I am planning to put up for sale here on RFF (just have been too busy -- uh, okay, lazy...) is a Helios 44, 58/f2.0. This lens was known for swirly bokeh. I bought it as a fast 85mm portrait equivalent for my D5300 crop sensor.

Now. This lens is special and and a rarity. It was CLA'd and machined in Russia such that it does not need an adapter and will mount right to any Nikon f-mount camera and focus to infinity. Also has a dandilion chip.
 
Well......we're waiting for some sample images. Its been a few hours already :rolleyes:

My D700 is officially dead. Very dead. Shutter issue is more expensive to repair than a new body (even a potential upgrade to 600 or 610). I am quite sad about this as it was my digital Nikon that played with all my lenses in the same way as my film Nikons. Right now, using my film Nikons just doesn't appeal -- and I have so many of them.

I have the battery grip for my D700. I wonder if it will fit any other models that I would be interested in? Wonder if it fits the D600. Hmm. Same wonder with the batteries. It would be motivating if the grip and batteries could be used in another model that gave me a little more than the D700.
 
Gerry M said:
Raid, Good luck on the first outing with the D700. Looking forward to your report. Have fun!!
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Thank you Gerry. I now have in my camera bag the D700, a Nikkor 50/1.4 and a Tamron 35-80 SP with Nikon adapter. If the rain would only stop!
 
peterm1 said:
Raid have fun.

I am sure you will do well with this superb camera. It IS a classic because it just does what it does without fuss or fanfare and does it well. If you are inexperienced in DSLRs, some patience may be required in the beginning. Not that the process is all that different or difficult but as always new cameras have differences that can be frustrating.

Menus for example - though Nikon's is mostly fairly logical the D700 is essentially a pro camera and does have heaps of options to allow you to particularize the camera to your preferences and requirements. This can be confusing if you delve into these too much - I never have. BTW you can select favorite menu options and save them as a personal menu so that your most commonly used menu options can always be found quickly.

My advice on beginning to shoot using MF legacy lenses includes the following:
(1) Set the lens focal length and maximum aperture into the camera using the relevant menu option. This provides useful metadata in you images thought it is not necessary otherwise.
(2) Always shoot raw or raw and jpg (fine) to get the most out of the images you shoot. Nikon NEF files are "deep" and have much more extractable data than jpgs.
(3) When shooting in contrasty conditions I find it beneficial to set my exposure to 1/3 stop under what is recommended by the meter (with any camera) to reduce blown highlights though shooting raw/NEF will mean you can pull a lot of any blown image back
(4) Whether using MF or shooting with an AF lens I always set the camera to Aperture priority (or occasionally program mode), using centre weighted average metering and single shot. That simplifies things a whole lot by approximating film cameras which I grew up with. I will often also set the ISO to auto with a range of 200 to 1600 ISO letting the camera decide which ISO to use within this range in any shot. It is convenient and the image noise is so low anywhere in this range that it does not create those problems in the image (maybe just a touch of noise reduction is needed in post on any images shot using 1600.
(5) Use good MF technique - use the focus ring to roll slightly past the point of max focus then roll back again slightly to the max focus point and look at the green dot in the finder to confirm that the camera also thinks you have hit max focus. I find this quick and works.
(6) One useful option which you may want to use later are "shooting banks". These allow you to have several sets of customized settings for different shooting needs which you can quickly access. (e.g shooting bank (a) can be set up for every day shooting in color, shooting bank (b) can be set up for shooting in monochrome, shooting bank (c) can be set up for shooting at higher ISOs. etc

Happy hunting.
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I went through most of the menu of the D700, and I made sure that the essential settings were in place as I wanted them to be. I am too impatient to read a manual. I try things out until they work as they should.

I will add settings as you have pointed out above, but not now.
Thanks.
 
rfaspen said:
Well......we're waiting for some sample images. Its been a few hours already :rolleyes:

My D700 is officially dead. Very dead. Shutter issue is more expensive to repair than a new body (even a potential upgrade to 600 or 610). I am quite sad about this as it was my digital Nikon that played with all my lenses in the same way as my film Nikons. Right now, using my film Nikons just doesn't appeal -- and I have so many of them.

I have the battery grip for my D700. I wonder if it will fit any other models that I would be interested in? Wonder if it fits the D600. Hmm. Same wonder with the batteries. It would be motivating if the grip and batteries could be used in another model that gave me a little more than the D700.
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Too bad that your D700 died. They can be bought cheaply, as you know.
 
Help! How do I open NEF files? Which software do you recommend using?

is this OK: raw.pics.io ?
 
Loads of options to open NEF files.

Lightroom handles them well. Other options would include DXO Photolab 2 (really nice software), Capture One, RawTherapee (freeware), Iridient Developer, RPP64 (donationware), Afinity Photo and many many more.


Shawn
 
Yes, I just tried LR, and it works well.
Thanks, Shawn. I will upload the 200+ images that I took this morning in 1 hour :)
I had to try things out with the D700. I will post a link here and some of the images, all untouched other than NEF to JPG with LR.
The most important part for me was to master the focusing. The focus "square" or the AE square (no clue yet what the camera shows me!) was off center, so the green light did not come on when I expected it to do so. Then I pushed 5-7 buttons quickly until I managed to move the "square" in the viewfinder to the center. Then the green light matched what I saw as being in focus with my eyes. Cool. It was nice to be able to shoot photo after photo quickly when tracking some birds in flight. The battery seems to be powerful to hold plenty of charge too. I now see the D700 as complementary to my M9 and M8.
 
I think LR was tuned around Nikons. The Auto Tone function always seemed to work better on my Nikon files (D700 and Coolpix A) compared to many other digital cameras.

If you want a change of pace (and have a mac) try RPP64. It has an odd interface but their colors and film simulations are beautiful.

Latest version here.

Free software. A small donation will unlock a plugin to integrate with LR.

Shawn
 
Link: https://raid.smugmug.com/D700501412302018/i-C7Tz9xM

D700-%20%282%20of%20213%29-X2.jpg
 
I also recently started using the D700 just for fun and found that all I ever want to use is the 24-120/4 and the 85/1.8D, with the zoom being on the camera most of the time - I just "set it and forget it" and enjoy the instant availability of a very useful span of focal lengths.. and the IQ on this zoom can be amazing.
 
akptc said:
I also recently started using the D700 just for fun and found that all I ever want to use is the 24-120/4 and the 85/1.8D, with the zoom being on the camera most of the time - I just "set it and forget it" and enjoy the instant availability of a very useful span of focal lengths.. and the IQ on this zoom can be amazing.
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Hi Andy. I am still undecided which Nikkor AF lens to get.
 
Lenses 35 or longer work well. Shorter ones do not work well with any sensor because the ray angle is too acute in the corners. Fuzzy corners and vignetting are the result unless you stop down to F 8. Every wide is different.

D700 and D3 are really nice cameras. I have one 700 and two D3.
 
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