D700 in DX mode vs. the D7000 for sports

bluenoser

Banned
I am heading to the baseball game tomorrow to see my beloved Toronto Blue Jays play the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) - 12:35pm start. I've got excellent seats - 1st row/Jays dugout - and am bringing my 8yr. old son to his first ball game! :) I'm missing work, my son's missing school, the weather is supposed to be great - life is good! What could possibly be wrong? lol!

My problem? Which camera do I bring of course!? The D700 or the D7000? I love the extra reach that DX cameras give me but I also love wider angles I get with the FX D700 and slightly improved IQ. Anyway, this post isn't about any of that stuff - I want to know about the D700 in DX mode.

I have both the D700 and D7000 but I have far more experience with the D7000 at this point. Would the D700 in DX mode fare better (or just as well) as bringing along my D7000? I haven't used my D700 in DX mode yet and wanted to get some opinions on it's usefulness.

Thanks for any feedback! :)
 
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Eye-level

Banned
Can't really say but I would guess the D700 would work faster in DX mode and at around 12 MP I really don't see how you could make a "better" shot with more MP...man the long range sniper power of the DX is so appealing in this situation...
 
How can the D700 be 12 mp in DX mode ???? its only 12 mp in FX ...its 4.8MP when used in DX ....

Has our senior member had a senior moment......
 

Rick M

Senior Member
I started a thread and postede pics about my 70-300 at a ball game with my d3100, I was at a smaller stadium than you will be and really liked the reach with dx. The thread is in the telephoto lens section, third page.
 

gqtuazon

Gear Head
Hi James. I think you'll get more money shots if you bring the DX with you with TC. The 12mp downsized to approx 6 mp resolution sometimes doesn't cut it. Bring a point and shoot type to cover the wide angle. :)
 

Eye-level

Banned
How can the D700 be 12 mp in DX mode ???? its only 12 mp in FX ...its 4.8MP when used in DX ....

Has our senior member had a senior moment......

My bad...I am not that familiar with the D700 or the 7000 for that matter... :)

One thing you might consider James is the fact that maybe some of these photos are going to be close range shots of your son or maybe a few shots of him with some of the players maybe? In that case the 700 would be nice...but I agree at 6 mp on DX mode your photos will probably not be as good as with the 7000...

Sort of off topic but does the D800 have DX mode and what kind of performance are we talking there?
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
My bad...I am not that familiar with the D700 or the 7000 for that matter... :)

Sort of off topic but does the D800 have DX mode and what kind of performance are we talking there?

From what I've read, the D800 DX is just about equivalent to the D7000, 16 or 17 mp.
 

bluenoser

Banned
Update

Thanks very much everyone for taking the time to respond! I just wanted to let you know that I ended up going with the D700 along with my 70-200, 2x TC-20E III and occasionally some DX mode! :)

Rick, given the great light I had most of the day, it would have been interesting to try out what you essentially suggested, my DX D7000 and the 70-300VR. Would have been fairly good I would think.

The sun was savagely bright, which washed out some shots and cast difficult shadows in others. However the main thing was my son and I had a great day at the ballpark (even though the Jays lost the game :() It was a day I'll always remember. Anyway, here are some shots taken with the D700 + 70-200 with the TC and/or shot in DX mode.

Oh...unless you are viewing these images in a color managed browser like Firefox (and have them set up properly too!) these images - I've come to learn - may look over saturated and downright gaudy! However I saved the JPEG files with the ICC profile embedded and I use a wide-gamut monitor (Dell U2410 calibrated with the Sypder 4) so I know how they *should* look :) Read this post about how to set up Firefox correctly to color manage both images with and without a color profile embedded. Makes a big difference!



Canon guy. by bluenoser23, on Flickr



3rd baseman Brett Lawrie by bluenoser23, on Flickr


Hitting machine Jose Bautista by bluenoser23, on Flickr



Home Run! by bluenoser23, on Flickr

(Check out that Nikon camera out in centre field! :))

Umpire by bluenoser23, on Flickr


Harper by bluenoser23, on Flickr
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Nice shots James. Glad you had a nice sunny day at the park with your son.
For this format (web), I'd say it's pretty hard to notice the FX DX quality difference. If you were to print though…
How do you feel about the DX crop mode with the D700?
 

westmill

Banned
I used to get great pin sharp 12" x 16" pics fro my Olympus E1 which was only 5 milion pixel. I cant see how or why the D700 shouldnt be just as good :D
 

bluenoser

Banned
Thank you everyone for your kind comments!

Nice shots James. Glad you had a nice sunny day at the park with your son.

Thank you Marcel. It was a lovely day indeed! :) I don't mean to sound overly-gushy but I do sincerely love being a Dad! :)

For this format (web), I'd say it's pretty hard to notice the FX DX quality difference. If you were to print though…
How do you feel about the DX crop mode with the D700?

I was quite intrigued with it really Marcel. I wasn't expecting very much from it at all but it's awfully nice to have that extra reach in a pinch. I know it only gives 5 or 6 MP of resolution but that's what my D40 gives me and I'm quite happy with the results it produces. I realize that the DX function is essentially just cropping the image but I do prefer seeing the image enlarged right in the viewfinder as opposed to cropping when you get home. Bottom line: I wouldn't hesitate to use it again when needed. :)
 

jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
Too bad you didn't take pics of the Phillies get their butts whooped over the weekend. haha

(I'm 20 min from Philly)
 

bluenoser

Banned
Too bad you didn't take pics of the Phillies get their butts whooped over the weekend. haha

(I'm 20 min from Philly)

LOL! Yup...we did MUCH better against the Phils...swept'em!!! (but then again everyone seems to be doing well against the Phils this year.)
 
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