First foray into full frame

A

Andy_D

New member
Hi all, I am Andy, a keen amateur photographer living in the south west of the UK.

I am looking to finally take the plunge into the full frame arena, with an opportunity to purchase a D700.

Is this still a good investment, given that the camera is 6+ years old? I am told the shutter count is around 4000.

I would also appreciate if anyone could tell me if I need a specific CF card for the 700, or will the latest cf cards be okay.
I was possibly looking at 16gb cards or maybe 2x 8gb?

Many thanks
Andy :D
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
The Nikon Knowledge Base has a list of recommended memory cards/sizes... There was also a firmware update that allowed the use of specific 64G memory cards, be sure you understand the limitations... The CF card spec is/was pretty outdated when Nikon implemented it... and it doesn't see most cards over the 8G size...
 
B

Bill16

Senior Member
Hi and Welcome to nikonites! The D700 still has a lot going for it despite it's age and I have one myself I love! I haven't had any issues with my Lexar professional 800x 32 gig CF card udma 7 if your looking for a big card! But the sanDisk extreme pro 16gig 90mb/s udma 7 is plenty big for me, and it also works very well!

The one thing you should watch out for in buying a D700 besides condition and actuation count is cost! The D700 has went down in price over here in the USA to under $1000, and I would be careful not to over spend on it! :)

The D700 has an awesome feel, slightly better than any other Nikon I've used! It's a very good Nikon, even though other Nikon's have surpassed it in some areas! Rather I recommend it for you or not would totally depend on your photo preferences and needs! Because though it is a great Nikon, it isn't the best for everyone and another model might be a better fit for you! :)

I learned this in dealing with my good buddy @Blacktop ! Lol :)
 
Bourbon Neat

Bourbon Neat

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum.

Here is a link to a pretty good evaluation of the performance of various cf cards used with the D700. Note that the firmware editions during the evaluation are (A:1.03 and B:1.02). There was another release after that, on this second hand body the firmware is (A:1.04 and B:1.03).

Also note that transfer speeds from the card to your computer could be much faster than the write speeds, another consideration when shopping.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Nikon D700
 
J

jay_dean

Senior Member
The D700 is probably the best FX body for the price. They're going for about £600 used now, whereas the problematic D600 is about £150 more. I know which i'd go for in less than a heartbeat! I used to use Sandisk Extreme Pro's in mine for the faster write/read speeds. Welcome along..
 
A

Andy_D

New member
Thank you all for your replies, and the welcome.

I will be picking up the D700 this weekend! Can't wait to take photos of my favourite places in full frame :)
 
A

Andy_D

New member
queen street view.jpg
I have the D700!! Came with an older lens (35-70mm 3.3 ), which despite unfavourable reviews, seems to work well at the sweet spot of F8.

The image above was with my new 1.8 nifty fifty.
Loving this old workhorse of a camera.

;)
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Nicely done, Andy! :) Enjoy your D700. I've only heard great things about this camera.

Love the stonework--sure wish we had more buildings around here made of stone.
 
A

Andy_D

New member
I have used entry level Nikons in the past (3100) but this is my first FF camera.

The clarity from the 50mm is astounding, I am looking forward to trying some low light shots later in the week :)
 
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