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Diverkeith

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Keith
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Im looking at upgrading my equiptment in the next month or so,

I have decided i want to shoot Nikon but cant decide between the crop sensor of the D300, or the Full frame sensor of the D700.

Im going to be doing a mix of photography from portraits of the kids to Aircraft, horses and Birding, and maybe the occasional wedding

I have trawled the Internet and still can't come to a decision, I'm drawn to the D300 for the Crop advantage when birding, however the High ISO capability of the D700 is extremley attractive .....


HELP!!!!!
 
Welcome to TP Diverkeith :)

If you want 'the best' for all those applications, you're not going to get it with either camera. Weddings and portraits are ideally full frame subjects, and for birds and airshows etc you'll need all the reach you can get, ie crop format. Of the two, the crop camera is probably the best compromise as it will do both, whereas you will just run out of lens trying to do birding on full frame. Unless you get a D3x and just try to crop in post processing to get the reach that way.

However, considering the total investment that you're likely to be making in lenses etc and the fact that you really need two bodies to do weddings (in case of failure) then maybe you could stretch to buying both. Another consideration might be a Canon 1DMkIII with it's semi-cropped format but that opens another can of worms.
 
well for doing wedding you need duel bodies - what about the previous generation of both, what other kit do you have, glass will also be a big factor
 
I'd go full frame if at all possible. The view through the finder is much clearer and useable. If you use manual focus at all the full frame is a bonus for its viewfinder clarity. Check out the noise properties on each model before you buy. All of these models mentioned are well above average though so you've got a very tough choice.
 
Thanks guys,

When i said weddings It is only a couple at the moment, mainly for friends, so most of my photography is going to be of my children, with the essential chasing of the local heron that i have been chasing for the last 5 years (damn that bird).

Dual bodies is way out of the question, my budget is limited to around £4000, and i'm looking for a good range of equipment, ie Camera body, Battery Grip, Spare batteries, 50mm prime (or crop equiv) 70-300mm, 150-500mm, kit lens and a 10-20mm (or 12-24mm if i go FF) and flash gun.

Current equiptment is an Olympus E500, 17-55mm kit lens and a 70-150mm tele with a FL50 flashgun. I decided after i bought the Olympus 3 years ago that i was not impressed with the camera and when finances allowed i would change to either Nikon or Canon. Therefore i decided not to invest in any further equipment for the Olympus.

Now finances have changed, it is time to change..... Now i have a massive dilemma that is going to be difficult to decide on
I have to make the right decision as SWMBO says not to think about changing the camera in the next few years.... (she took me changing me gear this time very well... only cost me a new car!!)
 
With £4000 to spend, i would personally go with the D300 as you can get alot of kit for your money, and proberly wouldn't need to spend anymore money in the future, unless you decide to upgrade the body in a couple of years or so.
 
I have a D3 and a D300 and to sum it up very briefly, the image quality of the D3 is far superior IMO and so it's always the camera I reach for first. I'll swap to the D300 if a) I need the field of view advantage of the DX sensor and b) the light levels allow me to stay as far under ISO 800 as possible.
 
I've owned both the D300 and now the D700, both are excellent cameras.
For what you want the D700 is the better camera for all but birding.
LBJ's need all the reach you can get but the D700 is very useable, I'll tell you how. I use 2 TC's on the end of my 300mm lens, this gets me to 700mm at f6.3 which means I can't use auto focus. This is actually not a problem as the viewfinder is bright enough to manual focus and the little buggers are usually in a bush where the auto focus always finds a twig to focus on :shrug: I then push the ISO to 1600 for all my shots and occasionally use 3200 and 6400. 3200 is fine, 6400 is acceptable but the exposure needs to be spot on at 6400.
The D700 has a definite edge on IQ over the D300 and the extra ISO is for me a big bonus as I do use it.

Kev
 
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