D700 quick first impression

Woo hoo, postie just beeen with another big box!
The pile in the kitchen just got bigger and I'm going out a togging :)

Best get the other battery out first, this lot is going to take some getting used to. :)

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I do have plans to add a grip later on. Like you I do like the extra stability they offer (always prefererred my 1Ds for that) so I will add one in a few months. Also got my eye on a rather tasty 85mm later too but the bank balance has suffered enough already so will need a little time to recover before I spend a bean.

Although I do now need new cables for my PW's and I need to check if any of my flash accessories will fit the SB.
 
Awesome review of your new mortgage gear Ali!

Lurvely to hear you so excited! And even more so that you are so excited about the learning process with your new Nikon army!

Really looking forward to seeing your shots with it all! Don't forget your fiddytwo whilst doing all those test shots!
 
James Pardon said:
Grips makes it heaaavvy! Great for action to get that 8fps though, only reason I'm keeping mine.

Congrats on the New d700's! Another great thing to do is customise one of the front buttons (near lens) to spot meter, so you can just press that down and get instant spot metering. Let go and you're back to your preferred.

Yv, the little viewfinder cover switch (if you don't already know) is for long exposures to stop light getting into the prism and ending up with a sort of haze in the final image.
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It also stops light entering the eyepiece and affecting metering accuracy, James.

I found that changing the eyepiece for a magnifying one and adding a rubber eyecup improves things (maybe it's just me, but I find excluding all light from around my eye gives a better viewfinder image. Same when using bincs.)
 
BouncyMelons said:
Taking pics of my whippet and simply increased the ISO till I got 1/100 sec and it absolutely tack sharp. Having that ability to raise the ISO to get to those speeds was what I wanted from this rather large exercise and so far I have to say I am delighted that it appears to be everything I wanted :)
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Ali,

If you use the Auto ISO feature and set the minimum shutter to 1/100th, or what ever you want, it will raise the ISO to the mimumum value required to acheive that shutter speed. The Auto ISO gives you access to far greater ISO granularity, EG instead of you selecting 800 it might select 640.

Glad you feel you have made the right decision since that is some expediture!

John.
 
irw1 said:
One tip I found really useful, was to enable playback control on the scroll wheels. This way you can scroll quickly through the images on your card using the rear wheel, and the front wheel toggles the different views: "full screen, full screen with blinkies, and thumbnail with histogram" etc. I found it much easier than using the pad on the rear when reviewing images on the card.

Easy to turn on too: Custom setting f9, "Customise command dials", then set "Menus and playback" to "ON". :D

Have fun!
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Yv said:
Now THAT is a tip I may well use because so far the only thing I don't like is the rear pad button thing, it feels horrible compared to those on the D70s/D300, but not sure if its an unfamiliarity thing or not. :thinking:
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Just turned that on myself, very useful.

Thanks,

John.
 
JohnD76 said:
Ali,

If you use the Auto ISO feature and set the minimum shutter to 1/100th, or what ever you want, it will raise the ISO to the mimumum value required to acheive that shutter speed. The Auto ISO gives you access to far greater ISO granularity, EG instead of you selecting 800 it might select 640.

Glad you feel you have made the right decision since that is some expediture!

John.
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I'll make use of the auto ISO if I shoot in aperture priority John but it does not work in manual and that's what I've been playing with. The auto ISO is a blindingly good feature though. Allows me to set a "ceiling" of an ISO and a lowest value shutter speed and the D700 will keep you between those parameters. That's really clever and a proper real world application of a feature for the kins of things I like to shoot.

I'm staying away from that 85mm! :naughty:

It's actually quite daunting looking at that pile! With the Canon gear it was bought one little bit at a time which gave me a chance to grow into it slowly. This is like being chucked in at the deep end with a brick tied to each foot!

So one camera and one or two lenses for a day or two and slowly start to explore.
 
dod said:
You sure Ali? It works fine on the D3 :shrug:
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I've just checked my D700 and it seems to work fine on that too. :shrug: The iso figure is shown in red when auto iso is turned on.
 
dod said:
You sure Ali? It works fine on the D3 :shrug:
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Auto ISO works in Manual on my D300 & much older D2Xs Ali - and as Dod says it also works on a D3 I'm guessing you just haven't found that setting as yet on the D700 :D

DD
 
Alison,

It's worth looking at this series "Nikon D Town TV" on using the Nikon kit. It goes through lots of not often used menus, great tips, using CLS flash etc etc

I did a bit of an explanation on how to download the entire series so you can stick it on DVD.

JUST HERE
 
DiddyDave said:
Auto ISO works in Manual on my D300 & much older D2Xs Ali - and as Dod says it also works on a D3 I'm guessing you just haven't found that setting as yet on the D700 :D

DD
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It's definitely there I use it! It's also explained in detail in the D Town videos above!
 
lol I'll go and strangle the guy in Jessops that told me it didn't then! :)

Thanks for that guys, that makes it even more useful :)

Goes off to check email to see what DD is up to!
 
BouncyMelons said:
I'll make use of the auto ISO if I shoot in aperture priority John but it does not work in manual and that's what I've been playing with. The auto ISO is a blindingly good feature though. Allows me to set a "ceiling" of an ISO and a lowest value shutter speed and the D700 will keep you between those parameters. That's really clever and a proper real world application of a feature for the kins of things I like to shoot.
Click to expand...

the d90 works in exactly the same way, awesome feature in low light when you have the lens fully open and the shutter at its slowest acceptable speed.



Nice kit you've got there not jealous at all!! :'( !!

i've got a whippetty thing though, same model in a different colour!

Al
 
irw1 said:
I've never been a big fan of the rear pad thing either Yv - the scroll wheel mod was a revelation to me! :love:
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which mod is this?
 
ahh i thought they meant something else, ye i have that set much better!
 
arclight said:
It also stops light entering the eyepiece and affecting metering accuracy, James.

I found that changing the eyepiece for a magnifying one and adding a rubber eyecup improves things (maybe it's just me, but I find excluding all light from around my eye gives a better viewfinder image. Same when using bincs.)
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I lost several of those on my D200\D300's - D3 has a lever that drops a shutter on the eyepiece, very convenient,
 
And I can confirm that it does indeed work fine on the D700. :)

To be honest it si going to revolutionise the way I shoot. I've always balanced ISO, Aperture and shutter speed manually when shooting in manual and the trade off between ISO and shutter has always been my concern (as is should be really!) So being able to set the aperture I want and shutter speed I need while allowing the camera to work within the parameters I have prescribed is just a joyous experience and I've not even used it in low light yet!
 
Just to agree, auto ISO works like that on all mine too, though I don't actually have it activated unless I feel I might need it because I have a habit of forgetting its on, trying to do a low light shot that I actually want dark, and the camera ramps things up to 3200 and of course I don't notice till I get home :bonk: Tis a very useful tool in the right circumstances though it has to be said.


Only managed a few shots a church today, will post later but nothing inspiring.
 
I was just having fun with two racketing dogs on a hill. Aperture on f8 set the shutter higher than that I normally would (I usually go for 1/500 but I decided to play at 1/800 and let the auto ISO do it's stuff. And it did. :)
 
Sorry been doing family stuff like taking dogs out and getting little un's feet measured. (She's growing like a weed!) SO been kind of restricted to things around the house. Did stalk the kitten this morning to try out the 105mm macro and that's a lot of fun!

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Off to take some pics of tulips we bought yesterday and might get the flash working. woo hoo!
 
Joe T said:
Just wait till you try a 200 f2 on a D700... :p
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Joe, that's just mean! :nono:

you tempt me with these things just to torture me don't you?

I already have the 85mm f1.4 on my wish list and now you are not making anything any better! :help:
 
darrenb said:
I lost several of those on my D200\D300's - D3 has a lever that drops a shutter on the eyepiece, very convenient,
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I lost my rubber eyecup 8 days ago. It came off when my camera was slung over my hip. Retraced my route next day and found it covered in mud, but it washed OK.
D700 has the same eyepiece shutter blind.
 
My eyecup's very hard to remove, you almost need to snap it round before it will release. Was yours not 'locked in' or reckon it just came loose?
 
Results of a very quick play with the SB900 and the 105mm macro

Shot these on the dining room table with a window behind in the first one. Gelled the flash with the orange filter which makes daylight go blue :)
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Then took the filter off and shot these straight. Used a shutter speed of 1/80 so it does not let any ambient into the pic at f8 so I didn't need to go setting up a background. I just made it disappear. lol Shot withonly one bare flash so it's going to be a bit hot on one side but no blown pixels and good control so far. I'm enjoying this :)

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Stunning Tulip? Ali!

Seems like you already have a good grasp of the new gear (excluding Aussie thread!)

m
 
BouncyMelons said:
Joe, that's just mean! :nono:

you tempt me with these things just to torture me don't you?
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You're a right one to talk !!! I'm now seriously considering the 105mm Macro, which before you shots above was only a maybe !!!

That's on top of the 24-70 which somebody on here said is amazing and the 70-200 VRII which will be a las vegas purchase when I go there in April.

Ah well, it's only money !!!
 
Simonhi said:
You're a right one to talk !!! I'm now seriously considering the 105mm Macro, which before you shots above was only a maybe !!!

That's on top of the 24-70 which somebody on here said is amazing and the 70-200 VRII which will be a las vegas purchase when I go there in April.

Ah well, it's only money !!!
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It's funny you should say that, I'd talked myself out of needing the 105mm as I already had the 85mm 1.4. But having the facility to focus closer would be useful, (85mm doesn't focus very close at all) just not sure if I'd get a shallow enough DOF at 2.8 :shrug:
 
James Pardon said:
My eyecup's very hard to remove, you almost need to snap it round before it will release. Was yours not 'locked in' or reckon it just came loose?
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I don't think it was locked in.
I had an almost identical eyecup on a FM2 ages ago and it never came loose so was not expecting a problem. I'll be wary now.
 
i dont no why but those pictures of all those golden yellow boxes made my heartbeat faster must ne nikonitis :love:
 
Simonhi said:
Exposure meter ... Menu F12 . reverse indicators !!! I'm such a geek !!!

Edited to say D90 does allow reversible exposure indicator, doesn't matter I think it may now gather dust until i sell it !!!
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Sorry if I missed it but is there a way to change how the command dials alter the Exp or Flash Comp? At the moment click left increase and click right decreases. For some reason I'd expect it to be the other way round! maybe I'm simple!
 
arclight said:
I don't think it was locked in.
I had an almost identical eyecup on a FM2 ages ago and it never came loose so was not expecting a problem. I'll be wary now.
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The eyepiece on the newer Pro Nikons (D3, D3x, D3s) locks into place with the eyepiece shutter lever - you cannot install or remove it with that shutter open - try to do so and you'll break it.

On older Nikons D2x/H etc we were forever losing the eyepeices, so much so that I carried two with me in my camera bag.
 
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