I wish the Nikon D700 was a Canon

dinners

dinners

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I really like the idea of the Nikon 700 in fact if it was a Canon (becase of the lenses I own) I'd have bought it a while back.

Whilst I'm lucky that I get to use loads of 'better'' cameras I've stuck with my own 40D as I could never decide between the 5DII or 7D - so didn't get either.

Image quality is obviously the aim with full frame and I feel (in this £ group) the 5DII rules over the 7D

The Nikon D700 however handles noise so well having less MP crammed in and (gripped) can also give you 8fps compared to the 5DII's 3.9. The Canon 7D can match the 700 for speed but with 19MP on a crop sensor things get cramped for image quality.
 
I was in the same boat. Had both 5D and 7D. Swallowed hard, sold all and moved to Nikon. Expensive but I couldn't be happier. I think there are several who have made the switch.
 
I looked at the D700 when it came out as well as a couple of mates bought them. Good AF and that sensor seemed like the best of both worlds.

After I tried using one though, I decided to invest further in my Canon gear. I just don't have enough joints in my fingers to work a Nikon. I assume it won't be too long before they bring out the next incarnation of it though...
 
I didn't like the layout either James but like Trevor I swallowed very hard and bought two of the blighters.

For me, they are not quite intuitive yet (nearly 4 months in) but not far off. I didn't realise how much I had got tuned into them when I had to adjust someones 5D the other day and I had forgotten where the focus modes were! I could have done that in my sleep just a few months ago.

The basic difference I find is that Canon are more menu based and more button and screen based while Nikon just have switches everywhere. Once you get used to where the switches are and which does what they are quite easy to use.

Having a "My menu" on the menu system also means that any deeper changes I want to make on a regular basis are right at hand. Which reminds me, I must work on some 2nd curtain synch setting..........
 
AliB said:
I didn't like the layout either James but like Trevor I swallowed very hard and bought two of the blighters.

For me, they are not quite intuitive yet (nearly 4 months in) but not far off. I didn't realise how much I had got tuned into them when I had to adjust someones 5D the other day and I had forgotten where the focus modes were! I could have done that in my sleep just a few months ago.

The basic difference I find is that Canon are more menu based and more button and screen based while Nikon just have switches everywhere. Once you get used to where the switches are and which does what they are quite easy to use.

Having a "My menu" on the menu system also means that any deeper changes I want to make on a regular basis are right at hand. Which reminds me, I must work on some 2nd curtain synch setting..........
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True, I'm sure I'd be fine once I got used to it. Main thing is the front dial, are you suppose to use your middle finger to adjust it? and leave your index finger on the shutter. Breaks my brain, I can't get it to fit. :D Happy enough with the new 1D though for now.
 
Jayst84 said:
True, I'm sure I'd be fine once I got used to it. Main thing is the front dial, are you suppose to use your middle finger to adjust it? and leave your index finger on the shutter. Breaks my brain, I can't get it to fit. :D Happy enough with the new 1D though for now.
Click to expand...

I just use my index finger...I shoot manual, so seldom need to actually alter the aperture in the middle of a sequence...
 
Jayst84 said:
Fair enough. I find it hard to get my index finger there comfortably. Forgot that's aperture on a Nikon, so yeah, would be using it a lot less I suppose.

Anyway. Back to the topic...
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It can be either! You can assign the controls to how you like them.

Shutter or aperture? not a problem Sir/Madam
Left or right rotation? Have it how you like Sir/Madam
Meter to the left or right? Swap it round if you like.

Makes life very easy especially to those used to using another brand because you can set them up just how you like :)

b****r when you pick your mates up though! :thinking:
 
AliB said:
It can be either! You can assign the controls to how you like them.

Shutter or aperture? not a problem Sir/Madam
Left or right rotation? Have it how you like Sir/Madam
Meter to the left or right? Swap it round if you like.
...
Click to expand...

Aye, just like with the Canons. I'd leave it as is on the Nikon if I was forced to use one. Even though it's 'backwards' coming from Canon's default setup. Like Rob says, it would mean using that tricky b****r of a front dial less often.
 
AliB said:
It can be either! You can assign the controls to how you like them.

Shutter or aperture? not a problem Sir/Madam
Left or right rotation? Have it how you like Sir/Madam
Meter to the left or right? Swap it round if you like.

Makes life very easy especially to those used to using another brand because you can set them up just how you like :)

b****r when you pick your mates up though! :thinking:
Click to expand...

With three bodies on the go and the necessity to use other togs kit from time to time, we just leave everything at it's default setting, controls-wise...
You soon get used to it - especially if you've been using Nikons for the past 30 years...
 
It is funny how we are so atuned to our own machine, as it were. I have quite small hands but find the nikon buttons an absolute doddle, not having to move camera from face to adjust most things. I have picked up canons several times and whilst some stuff was obvious, I was totally confused by not being able to change something easy [cant recall now whether it was shutter or aperture] :lol:
 
dinners said:
The Nikon D700 however handles noise so well having less MP crammed in and (gripped) can also give you 8fps compared to the 5DII's 3.9. The Canon 7D can match the 700 for speed but with 19MP on a crop sensor things get cramped for image quality.
Click to expand...

I'm confused about this bit - how does having 19mp make things 'cramped for image quality'. I can see that there might not be as much advantage to more pixels on the same size sensor, but it's not going to be any worse surely?
 
It's called pixel density Graham, the more pixels you cram on a sensor the higer the signal to noise ratio so you get more noise. That's how Nikon worked the D3, kept the pixel density down and you got those lovely clean files :)
 
grum said:
I'm confused about this bit - how does having 19mp make things 'cramped for image quality'. I can see that there might not be as much advantage to more pixels on the same size sensor, but it's not going to be any worse surely?
Click to expand...

there is a maxium pixel density before image quality starts to degrade again and as I recall 19 mp on a crop sensor is passed that point - you also start to get issues with sharpness of individual pixels.

Lastly electronic noise has a far bigger affect on a smaller pixel and phyisical variation across the picture will also be amplified by the smaller pixel.

H
 
I have to agree that the D700 is the pick of the crop in the "mid range" price point at the moment. It's a cracking camera and I have thought a number of times about moving but the ownership of 2 big primes for Canon scuppered that for me.

I'm still not convinced about the higher pixel density leading to higher noise if you look at the whole image rather than pixel peeping. It is true that at 100% this is the case but if you use the same amount of silicon to capture the same amount of light, then I think results are pretty comparable.

People knock the 7D and it certainly isn't as good as a 1Ds/1D/5D with a bigger sensor but if you compare prints of the same size from a 40D and a 7D then I can't tell which is which. The process of downsampling the 18Mpx image to around 6 Mpx for printing means that the noise is reduced anyway, due to the averaging algorithms used in resizing.

What this does mean is that the huge numbers of Mpx are not that useful (unless you want to crop heavily and then you will face a noise penalty) but it isn't a reason to avoid them in my opinion.

Having said that, if there was a D700 direct equivalent in Canon fit, I would have one in a shot, not have a 1DIV and have about £2500 extra in my bank account!
 
For the overall selection of lenses then yes, someimes I wish the D700 was a Canon.. But then again, the lenses I'd want would be 'money-no-object' buys and realisticlly, they're well out of my reach. Plus, the handling on Canons just seems so wrong

I just wish Nikon had continued with a D2 variant - i.e. a pro body with built-in grip but with a crop sensor.
 
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