First shots and impressions

Well I have had some time to play with my new toy.  Seriously oozes perfection.  The in-body motor is actually way quieter than I thought it would be.  Coming from Pentax this surprised me.

Honestly, this camera is just about perfect. The ergonomics are supreme and the camera handles so easily.  The viewfinder is massive and so bright.  The D300s I had was very good but this just blows it away.

Okay, so by now some of you probably have wondered why Nikon?  Why the D700?  I mean its not the cheapest on the block.  You have the Sony A850 at $1999.. what about the Canon 5D MKII?  Its around the same price as the D700, maybe a little more expensive.  So why Nikon?

Well lets compare them.

1. Sony A850
The ultimate studio machine.  From everything I have seen and heard, this is the FF camera you want for full on studio work.  It out resolves the D700 and 5D with a 24.6 megapixel sensor!  Its low ISO performance and dynamic range trumps both the D700 and 5D.  Its only hold back is the high ISO, which is slightly behind the 5D but falls short of the D700 quickly.  No doubt due to the massive amount of pixels in the sensor.  The AF system is decent.

2.  Canon 5D MkII
The Jack of All Trades.   The 5D falls almost perfectly between the A850 and the D700.  It can't resolve like the A850 and its high ISO performance is not quite as good as the D700.  The dynamic range is somewhere between the D700 and the A850.  Its quite the middle road and the only thing holding it back is the archaic AF system.  The meager nine point AF system barely covers any of the frame and its sloooow.

3.  Nikon D700
High ISO Monster.  This camera has less than half the pixels as the Sony A850 and much less than the 5D MkII.  However because of the smaller pixel count the pixels are much bigger and collect massive amounts of light and detail.  The dynamic range is among the best, its not quite as good as the Sony at low ISO, but its very good, some people still say its the best.  The AF system is superior to the other two.  51 AF points with insane speed and accuracy, seriously its so good!

Now, all that being said.  This is a very loose interpretation of my research and hands on experience, its my own subjective opinion.  All of those cameras listed are excellent camera and all of them will give you excellent results.  However, if you could pair your individual needs with one of these systems you could really push the limits of your ability.  For instance, I shoot the vast majority of my shots with available light and low light.  I simply do not like flash.  I also do sports, so I needed a very fast AF system.  My style of photography is best suited to exploit the strengths of the D700.  I bet someone who did a lot of studio work with lighting and flashes could exploit the power of the A850 to unimaginable levels.

So thats why I went with the D700.  Its low light performance is just amazing, based on their legendary D3 camera.  The AF system is proven and is very accurate and fast.

Okay...okay.  You don't want to hear about all this junk anymore.  On to the first few samples.  (Clickable for larger images)

Okay, so there you go, Day one.  The camera is just amazing and the detail and dynamic range its capable of makes my jaw drop.  APS-C cameras tend to fall behind in this respect, although they are getting very good as of late.

For anyone interested, here is a small sample of my derby photos I took with my D300s.