D-700 or D-800

I have a d-700 still in the box. Never used or even opened. I also purchased the nikon MB D10 grip alos still in the box unused. I paid 2699.00 for the d-700 and 249.99 for the grip. My photographer buddy told me to think about selling the D700 with grip and get into the D-800. I basically shoot wildlife and landscape photos. Now, I see B and H photo has the D-700 for about 600.00 or so less. I cant believe that camera dropped that much in price in such a short time. Do you guys think I shopuld upgrade. I was thinking about waiting a couple years till all the kinks are worked out of the D-800 then mabey making a purchase. If I upgraded now I would not be able to get waht I paid for the new camera and grip. What are your thoughts?

Unless you plan on making ginourmous prints or you need huge file sizes I would stick with the D700.
Its a great camera !!!!!

If I had that kind of money I'd sell the D700 and buy a Leica M9! *ducking waiting on the rocks to fly* LOL

A D700 with three top shelf AF primes would be more than enough for me...in fact that is my dream kit. I am going to try real hard to get there by this time next year...

You haven't let us know what camera you are using now. How unhappy are you with your present camera? What lenses do you have? Are most of them FX lenses?

I'm afraid I have more questions than answers for you with the information I have about your present gear. Let's say you open the box and try out the camera, how much less could you sell it for then? I don't think the fact that the box was opened would depreciate the camera that much. Now if you put 20,000 actuations, then it might (notice I said might) depreciate a little more.

What would you have to loose just to unpack it and give it a trial week or month? What if you like it so much that it satisfies your needs? Then you just saved a lot of money and be forever happy. And then, if you really want (notice the word "want" does not equal "need") the D800, just go out and get it. Since you probably would have to wait to get one, my suggestion is just to go out and use the D700.

But you're the Boss.

Buy what you need now. I am not say that you don't need your D700 now, just because it is still new in the box. It may be a backup camera. You have to decide on the purpose for the purchase. Given the cost of financing, cameras are only going to depreciate, even Leica lenses.

Well, Right now I have the nikon D-300, nikon 80-200mm 2.8, 13-68 kit lens,50mm 1.4 and a nikon 80-400 that spends more time at nikon repair then in my bag. This is the third repair for the same problem.. I also shoot with F5.I have a list of 4 lenses to purchase over the next two years. Two this summer and two the next summer. This year I will purchase the nikon 24-70 2.8 and the nikon 300mm f4 with TC. Next summer God willing, I will purchase the nikon 14-24mm and the 70-200 2.8 vr II. I was just saying to someone on saturday I would like to make some larger prints mabey 2x5ft. Would that size with the D-300 be ok?

My mistake could I make that size photos with the D-700 rather then the D-300

The D800 would be miles better with prints that huge.
If your shooting landscape you could stitch two pics together. At the end of the day though, If your needing
5ft prints, you need the D800 and a bloody sharp lens and use steadfast methods of picture taking.

I kind of thought the same thing, I will tone the size of the printes down a little for now. I would lose to much money seeling my D-700 right now and I certainly dont want to layout 3000.00 at this time.I will wait a couple of years till have all my lenses in place then consider upgrading. As usual thank you for all the help

Are you sure the D800 is "miles better" than the D700 with 5' prints??? I'm sure it is maybe an "improvement" but miles better??? Really???

My humble opinion - you couldn't give me a D800 right now - I will buy one in 2-3 years when the "kinks" are worked out and computers come down some more in price. Because I wil need a faster computer as well.

salvatore said:

My humble opinion - you couldn't give me a D800 right now - I will buy one in 2-3 years when the "kinks" are worked out and computers come down some more in price. Because I wil need a faster computer as well.

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So true. The D800 is just over the top for my liking, so I have zero intrest in it. 16 milion pixels I find just about perfect.
I would need to fill my office with external hard drives lol. Mind you, Im talking 16 for APSC I think 24 is perfect for full frame.
Due respect to the D800 though, its a fair bit of kit.