Body Before Glass? A D700 Challenge

Have you ever heard photographers tell you that you need to buy good glass before getting a better body?  Well I certainly have.  Over the last 10 years of getting into photography I have shot Canon, Pentax, Sony, and Nikon.  All have been DSLRs.  All of them have been APS-C (Cropped 1.5x) sensors.  Which if you don't know means that all your lenses require a 1.5x conversion to them.  So for instance a 50mm lens on an APS-C Sensor is actually a 74-75mm.

 Before I go much farther, I am going to assume from here that you know basic knowledge of photography.  The terms and acronyms will be thrown around a lot as I go.  I will try my best to put everything in basic terms so everyone can understand, but I may not always.

Over the course of these years shooting these different brands, I had decided to stick with the APS-C format, thinking that no matter what happens I will be okay, and never need what a Full Frame camera offers (Full Frame is a sensor the size of a traditional frame of film 35mm).  Which is higher dynamic range, shallow depth of field, low light performance, and to some extent a truly wide angle.  Another very nice thing, is that there is no more 1.5x conversion on your lenses!  That means that 50mm is really a 50mm!  This can, to some people be a disadvantage, because the 1.5x crop factor does give you some extra reach with telephoto lenses.  In my case, this isn't something I really care about.

Well.. its been a while and I have finally found out what I really like to do with my photography.  I love low light/available light, I love the shallow depth of field, and something I never got to experience was the high dynamic range.  So its decided right?  Its just easy to go out and get a Full Frame camera?

Yes, and no.  Full Frame is still very expensive to buy into. The avg. cost of a Full Frame DSLR is the $1999 through $5999.  So yes you can just go buy one, but you need money!

Now most people are going to tell you... don't get a better/bigger body.  Learn what you have before you buy more bodies.  Glass lasts a lifetime bodies wear out.  Well to be fair, they are right.  Before you do a lot of spending you really need to work on photography and get good with what you have.  Buying a $5000 dollar camera body wont make you a better photographer.  That however doesn't mean you can't learn and grow with a $5000 dollar camera body.  I mean, really?  Is it that important to have expensive glass on an expensive body.  This is where my challenge comes in.

What if you really wanted to get a Full Frame camera but the body will be eating up your budget, allowing you to purchase only one lens?  Specifically the cheapest new lens you can get from Nikon the 50mm 1.8D (Avg. price is $119-$135)?  Why can't someone buy a body they want to hold on to for a few years and build a lens collection around that?  Many photographers might laugh or ridicule you for that choice... but I think there is nothing wrong with it.  In fact starting this way, even with an expensive body could help you hone your photographic skills.

So here I am, I about to take delivery of a Nikon D700 DSLR.  Nikon's "affordable" full frame camera.  It comes in around $2400 dollars as of current prices but originally launched at $2800.  Today, most used D700s still run you around $1900-$2200... most being around that $2000 mark.  Its a body I have coveted for quite some time and since I just made the switch from Pentax... I am without any older glass for this body.  I am limiting myself to the Nikkor 50mm 1.8D prime lens.  The cheapest lens Nikon makes.

My challenge (if you're still with me) is to use this set up for three months.  Thats right, about the time someone could recoup from spending such a initial investment on a modest income.  So for three months I am going to post at LEAST one photo per day.  At the end of this three months I will evaluate my photos and see what I am lacking or what I feel would benefit the most to my kit.  Then I will select another cheap lens from Nikon's stable and run with that in the same fashion as my original challenge.  This whole project will run the course of a year, with each quarter bringing one new lens into the mix.

Now, I am no professional photographer.  I cannot guarantee that every photo I take will be good, hell I won't even guarantee that they will be mediocre.  What you will get is a day to day photo set of my life.  Which I will admit is not that interesting!  However, it will prove that a one lens one body challenge can be done, and you can make things interesting.  If anything, maybe this will inspire you to try your own experiment.  These photos will range from street, landscape, sports, and portraiture.

I encourage you to follow along, or even join in me in a one body one lens challenge.  You don't have to have the same gear as I do.  I would love to see people posting along with me as the year goes on, and maybe we can look back at everything we did during the year.  It sounds like fun to me!