MCoomber Loc: Hamilton ontario

Hi there.
Just wondered what opinions there were regarding the Nikon D700. Right now i have two D300 that i use for weddings, portraits, and headshots. Wanting to go to full frame body due to the fact that 4 of my 5 lenses are FX now. What is the noise like at iso 1600/3200, quality of print at sizes 16x20 max. Any other help is much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

You shoot weddings with a D300?
About the only thing a 700 will get you is a bigger sensor.
Maybe you could beg, borrow or steal and at least get a D800.
You'd never shoot MY wedding!!! Good luck with that 10 year old camera!!!
I'm not trying to be negative, but you're a professional!
SS

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

Did you miss a zero from the listed Nikons. I thought the D300 was full frame? Not as verse on full frame as I should be with older models but a D700 is that meant to be a D7000? Same with the D300 is it a D3000? I am thinking you missed a zero someplace on both of them. I shoot a D7200 and have owned the D3200 and still have a D5200. Dumped them when the D7200 came out. As for noise at 3200 It is a fine pic very low noise. When you get to the D7200 at around ISO 25600 you see the noise but it still makes a good print at least to almost 11X14 on my monitor. The two ISO numbers below 25600 are where the noise begins to show up. As for full frame I plan to go with the D850 because of the 45MPX and I think I will get a little more low light ISO out of it. I shoot primarily sports and Hockey usually takes at least a 12800 ISO to get a good shot. The noise at that ISO seems still minimal so I figure the D850 will be better than the D7200 since the D850 is full frame and the D7200 is DX frame. I do use ISO 3200 a lot in my D7200 and have done 11X14 prints from it.

MCoomber Loc: Hamilton ontario

Thanks for the response. I do shoot weddings with my d300 have my clients have had no issue with the quality. Being a professional is not always about equipment but more about high quality artistic results. From what have read the d700 is the same sensor and focusing as the d3. By the way i also use my Hasselblad 500. My clients dont have an issue paying my rate of 250-325 per hour.


quote=SharpShooter]You shoot weddings with a D300?
About the only thing a 700 will get you is a bigger sensor.
Maybe you could beg, borrow or steal and at least get a D800.
You'd never shoot MY wedding!!! Good luck with that 10 year old camera!!!
I'm not trying to be negative, but you're a professional!
SS[/quote]

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

I used to shoot weddings with my Bronica then digital showed up. So I understand why he should not use the 10 year old gear. I quit after 1500 weddings and retired because digital did not have enough resolution. I am back now using a D7200 I might do a wedding or two on it but only because I can. If I were to go back to shoot for the top guys in town like I used to do using a Bronica I would not call them until I had the new D850 in my hands. As is I can do the sports with my D7200 which can pay for the D850. Your message is understood here. A lot of folks since digital up think they are great wedding photographers. I have seen the new studios spring up and have seen the shots they display in their windows. What a shame they don't even know how to pose group shots. much less a great bride shot. The studios I shot for loved to hang my sots as large as possible in their studios. That is why I retired from wedding work. Came back as a hobby but wanted more gear and hooked up with what I started shooting in the beginning, High School Sports. I agree you need more than a 10 year old Nikon to shoot weddings. The old Nikons never had enough resolution.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Images are pretty clean at 1600 with a little noise (not terrible at all) at 3200. It's a great camera, with the same sensor as the D3. A better bet for weddings might be a D3S which set the bar for high ISO/low noise imaging.

As far as print size is concerned, you have no limits. I have printed 40x60 uncropped images from my D70S which was only 6 mp. Even with some modest cropping you still have enough mp to print any size you want.

I would not use a D800 for weddings, there are better cameras out there, Including a D750 or a Df for weddings, or even a used D4.

If someone suggests that 12 mp is not enough for wedding shots, then they really don't understand pixel count, print sizing, and cropping. My background with Nikons includes owning the following: D70s, D200, D300S, D700, D3S, D800, D810, and using a borrowed D500.

And if a guy showed up with a Canon to shoot my daughter's wedding I'd send him out to get a real camera - as we all know, CANON stands for Can't Afford Nikon Oh No!

Since Sharpshooter appears to be in a funny mood today and showed up with some jokes.

MCoomber Loc: Hamilton ontario

Thank you for the informed thoughts.

quote=Gene51]Images are pretty clean at 1600 with a little noise (not terrible at all) at 3200. It's a great camera, with the same sensor as the D3. A better bet for weddings might be a D3S which set the bar for high ISO/low noise imaging.

As far as print size is concerned, you have no limits. I have printed 40x60 uncropped images from my D70S which was only 6 mp. Even with some modest cropping you still have enough mp to print any size you want.

I would not use a D800 for weddings, there are better cameras out there, Including a D750 or a Df for weddings, or even a used D4.

If someone suggests that 12 mp is not enough for wedding shots, then they really don't understand pixel count, print sizing, and cropping. My background with Nikons includes owning the following: D70s, D200, D300S, D700, D3S, D800, D810, and using a borrowed D500.

And if a guy showed up with a Canon to shoot my daughter's wedding I'd send him out to get a real camera - as we all know, CANON stands for Can't Afford Nikon Oh No!

Since Sharpshooter appears to be in a funny mood today and showed up with some jokes. [/quote]

miked46 Loc: Winter Springs, Florida

My Niece has 2 D700 bodies that uses for portraits/weddings. one has over 300,000 photos and the quality is awesome,

JTann Loc: North East, MD

Way back when I was still an active photographer with a studio I also used the D300, which has a DX sensor for those who are confused above, and for wedding work at that time in the digital era it was and still is a fine camera. Most of our work as well as most event photographers is providing print sizes of 14" max for album work and there's plenty of quality available from the D300 files. BTW, when mine became a 'shelf queen' I sent it to Lifepixel for Infrared conversion and still use it for awesome landscape work today. I also owned a D700, in fact had a beta version provided by NPS to play with for a month or so before it was released. The low light image quality was beyond anything available at that time. The D700 was my first FX sensored camera and performed beautifully at low and high ISO. Granted each generation is better and better, but quite frankly for event work those cameras in good condition will serve well. Or, you can spend a bunch more for the latest and greatest which will also be poo-poo'd by the 'hogs' when the newer latest and greatest come out. The D300 and D700 are ruggedly built and have features that most newer Nikon DSLRS don't, like body buttons on the top of the camera to quickly change things such as Quality, ISO and white balance with a touch of a button. The majority of the newer cameras have those features hidden in menus. On the plus side of the 'new guys' is that I often use mine newer models set to auto ISO since the resolution is great and low digital noise have gotten so minimal to be almost a non-issue. I started using Nikon DSLRs with the D200 and by the D700/D3 I was using that feature (auto ISO) often for event and journalistic work.

fuminous Loc: Luling, LA... for now...

In its day, it was an excellent camera- and still is, though later models offer better performance. The point is, despite being ten year's old, I'll bet it performs better than you- that's not an insult (and not intended to be) that is, my D700 is a better camera than I am a photographer. I now use mine for "adventure" work where dropping or dunking is a possibility and have no qualms regarding image quality or mechanical reliability.

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

I used a D700 along with a D300s for years. Both are excellent bodies and the big plus is that the controls and menus are exactly the same. The noise level on the D700 is a bit better than the D300 but I don’t think I’d go much past ISO 2000. I was printing up to 20x30 with no issues. All my glass is Nikkor FX and my genre is landscape/scenic. I was carrying both bodies with lenses mounted to avoid lens swapping in the field The weight was getting tiresome so I sold both bodies and acquired a D810 with 15K actuations.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Obviously, I am not a professional nor I am a wedding photographer but I do know the D700 is a very capable camera that has been used by professionals for weddings.
The enlargements I have seen from its 12 Mp. are awesome and I mena 20x30 inch enlargements.
I believe that the problem is not the camera but who uses the camera.

phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

I had a D700 for 2 years before moving to other bodies (I'm not young and have problems with my hands). I still think that, despite tremendous advances in technology, it is an extraordinary camera. You'll get better noise control and better resolution.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

I successfully shot weddings and hi-caliber legal photography in the 70s/80s with much lesser equipment than described...and I believe that technique and a good eye can trump many equipment shortcomings.

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

I shot many weddings with the D700 which I still have and use. I stayed at iso 1600 or less as I also do when using my d810. As someone mentioned previously my go to is the d700 when I shoot in areas where I could end up losing equipment or a high risk of damaging it. I find it interesting that when we used d70's we and our customers were very happy with the results, yet today there are those that can't stand the results of any thing not done with a D850. For the vast majority of shooters the d700 is more than adequate. For the pixel pipers, the Hubel Space Camera would be lacking.