Leon S Loc: Minnesota

After shooting my grandson's wrestling match again this year, I though I'd compare this years pictures with last year. This year I used my wife's D800 with her 70-200 vrii. Last year I used my D700 with my 80-200D nikon. The only difference was that with the D800, I also used a monopod. All shots had the white balance set to auto. All photos have been cropped to different degrees.

D700 with 80-200d
#1 is shot at ISO400, 1/80, f 2.8, at 135mm.
#2 ISO800, 1/160, f4.5, at 80mm
D800 with 70-200 vrii
#3 is shot at ISO2200, 1/500, f2.8, at 200mm
#4 ISO 3200, 1/200, f2.8, at 170mm

I wanted to use a higher shutter speed this year to have less blur in the rapidly changing wrestlers. I also used a monopod for the same reason. The location was the same dimly lit gym. I think the point of this post is that you don't have to have the newest, most expensive equipment to get good shots. What do you think.

Dana C Loc: Buhl, Idaho

I think that they are swell. I take photos of high school basketball, both boys and girls. I use my 80-200 and a 50mm 1.8. I don't use my monopod as the action and movement is to extreme to follow. While I don't think that many sports photos are tack sharp as taken from enthusiasts like you and I, yours are as sharp as any I have taken.
Good job IMHO.

OviedoPhotos

My 80 to 200 is still awesome!

CHASEPLACEMAIL Loc: Ct,Fla

I've always been a believer that it's not the arrow, it's the Indian. Makes you wonder why you'd spend $2000+ on an 70-200mm f2.8?

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

That was the vary point of why I posted this post. If I would upgrade my equipment to the D800 or D810 with the new 70-200 vrii, my pictures probably wouldn't be much better than what I get with my D700 and 89-200. obviously I would be able to crop more or print over 24x36, but I have never done that yet anyway. So why spend $6,000 dollars and get so little out of it. Thanks for commenting.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Although my favorite format is the DX format I am going to say I am in full agreement with you.
The D800 is a very nice professional camera and very useful to those who crop a lot or need mural size enlargements. The D700 has been and still is a camera that continues to enjoy the preference of professionals because of its excellent performance. At usual enlargements I seriously question if anyone will be able to see the difference.

lhdiver Loc: Midwest

I love my D700, bought a 2nd used body rather than put all that money into a D810. It is better in low light & I keep a telephoto on one & wide angle on the other, don't have two different controls to switch between. The video would be nice at times but I can live without it.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

I've thought the same. With the price of used d700's going down for whatever reason, doing so is really tempting. So far it and the 80-200 using a monopod does everything I need it to do. I remember doing to a reception and bringing my d700. There was another pro photographer there and he was really envious of my camera. He thought no camera could be as good at producing high quality photos. So how is it possible that we shouldn't be as excited with the quality of the pics now?

SteveR Loc: Michigan

To actually compare the photos, it would be nice if we could download them and also know which ones were taken with which camera. Remember, too, the smaller the picture the easier it is to look sharp. What would happen if you blew up those 12.1 mp photos verses the D800's 36mp photos?

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

The first and second one is done on a D700 and the third and fourth are done on a D800. The first and second use the 80-200d and the third and fourth use the 70-200 vrii. The first two are hand held and the last two are done with a monopod. I prefer not to down load the pictures because they are of my grandson and this is as public as I wish to get at this point with a juvenile. Of course you can crop the heck out of the images from the d800, but you can also crop images off the d700 quite a bit too. When taking pictures I always try to get what I want into 75-80% of my view finder no matter what camera I am using. If I was shooting film, I would hold it tighter still. I bought the D800 for my wife when she upgraded from a d300. Her choices were a d600 or a d800 at that time. She made the right decision, but she would have been happy with a d700 12 mg pix camera. The decision to get a d800 was at the time and still is for us, the right decision. However for me at this point upgrading my d700 is not for the immediate future. For clarification I have printed 36x24 already and the sports shot came out very good. If I had used a tripod and done a portrait, I would feel comfortable blowing it up farther. If you are asking how much could I have cropped it, the d800 would win that contest. So with the d800, you would probably be able to crop images away from the original subject to print as an independent shot more so than with the d700. Hope that answers your question. IMHO Leon

CHASEPLACEMAIL Loc: Ct,Fla

Good point. However I think the first 2 were taken by the D700, the last 2 by the D800. Note though that the D800 shots were taken with a higher shutter speed and had to go to a much higher ISO, which would affect the IQ. These wrestling pics don't really require a higher shutter as the action is not continuously quick. For this situation the d700 pics look better but to make a true comparison you'd need to take photos of basketball or hockey where shutter speed comes more into play and the resulting higher ISO would enable you to compare apples to apples better.
Regarding enlarging them. Many of us don't go over 8x12 which may not make too much of a difference unless you have to crop a lot.
It ain't a simple answer.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

The first two were taken with a d700. I'm posting a girls hockey match I did a couple of years ago. I've learned a lot and am sure I would do better if I do another. However hockey is faster than b-ball so I though I'd put one in as comparison. Keep in mind that my settings were not what I would use today, but it does show what the d700 can do inspite of lack of knowledge. Also this shot is cropped quite a bit and taken from the far side of the arena.
D700
f3.2
ss 1/200
@ 80mm ISO 250
Today I would shove the ISO much higher and increase the ss.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Leon....checking the store button merely allow us to see higher resolution of the photo. As far as worrying about downloading because he's a juvenile....any time you post his photo it can be copied.