Nikon D7000 owner considering upgrade to a D700, need advice please!

johncook

johncook

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Hi guys,

I'm new here, I've had a D7000 for 18 months and love it. I really cant fault it at all.

I've got a nice 50mm nikkor 1.4G which gives great results, also the 18-200 is a versatile lens. I've also got a more compact 24-85 AF-S which is more compact, lighter and pretty good. I believe this and the 50mm 1.4G will work on FF.

I had a play in Jessops with a D600 with a nikkor 24-70 f2.8 and was blown away by the images it produced, sharp, detailed, just amazing. (I know this helps having such a quality lens attached)

That really got the FF itch going inside me. I've had a look around and prefer the D700 for its better noise handling at higher ISO so have been thinking about getting a D700. I've never used a D700 tho.

I shoot a lot indoors and low light hence lower MP and good noise control / higher ISO is a priority for me.


I've had a good offer on my D7000 and am looking at a D700 tomorrow (used, 11k activations, very good condition).

I just want some honest opinions (hopefully from those on here that own / use both cameras) as to the improvements in noise / IQ from the D700 over the D7000. I dont care about losing video, a memory card slot, heavier body etc. just interested in the photo / image performance.

there seems to be a wide variety of opinions, some say the D700 is vastly better in IQ / sharpness etc... others say its marginally better.

Please help, am looking at the D700 tomorrow and am seriously thinking about getting it. part of me feels guilty tho because the D7000 has been faultless and has delivered me really good results.

I know if I kept the D7000, I think I wouldnt use it knowing its the "lesser" camera.
 
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I've never used a D7000, but the image quality of my D700 is significantly better than my D300 at anything over ISO 400.

d700's are such good value second hand now that you can't really go wrong.
 
thanks dan

are your flikr photos taken with the D700? they are very good, some of them absolutely outstanding!

what lenses have you got?
 
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I have both. The D700 does 99% of all that I do with ease, it just inspires confidence. When I realised it was up to 125k shutter actuations I bought the D7000 as a back up but, to be honest, I have hardly used it. I don't think I would like to take it much above 800 iso or use it in bad weather (although don't believe all that Nikon say about the D700 being weather sealed!)You don't say how much you would have to fork out to upgrade but with a decent trade in on the 7000 and a good condition 700 - I would'nt hesitate.(y)
 
I went from a d300s to a d700. It is an amazing upgrade, like everyone has said, but you really do need the glass to go with it. The 50mm f1.4 will be great on it. Ive not used the 24-85 but it should be ok. But as you said with the d600, the 24-70 is just amazing. Glass will (probably!) make a bigger difference, would it be better to look at buying the 24-70 or the 17-55 (i had one, still miss it now i'm on FF)? Maybe hire one for a weekend? I'm using a 24-70 sigma and it just doesnt do FF justice. Not that there is anything wrong with the lens, its just not as good as the nikon. I think the new HSM one is better though. Im considering selling 3 or four of my lenses to fund the nikon 24-70! You wont be disapointed with the d700, but you might feel your not getting the most out of it.

Ramble mode off, this might just be how i feel and not necessarily the group decision!
 
this thread is definitely starting to make me feel better!

if i was being sensible, I would hire the D700 and do some back to back tests with my lenses.

But I think I really want to get the D700.

I've been looking at a lot of full res D700 photos online and comparing them to my D7000 photos. definitely looks better IQ and higher ISO is cleaner

I've known I wanted to move to FX eventually. the 24-85 is sharp when stopped down a little, i can manage with that for a little while.

If I do go for the camera tomorrow I'll get the nikkor 24-70 f2.8 next year. its an incredible lens.
 
I went from a D7k to a D3 and there was a marked difference in image quality. However, the one thing I do miss is the extra length of the crop sensor for some of the stuff I shoot. (I realise you can crop more, but I like to fill the frame SOOC)

When you go and have a play with the D700 take your camera and a lens along too if you can and compare like for like images.
 
johncook said:
thanks dan

are your flikr photos taken with the D700? they are very good, some of them absolutely outstanding!

what lenses have you got?
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Most of them were on the D700. The D300 only really gets used for macro and with a 85mm1.4. A few of the were with a little Oly E-pl3

I tend to use primes more at the moment - 50 and 85 1.4's, with a 24-70 for the wider stuff. Cheers
 
johncook said:
this thread is definitely starting to make me feel better!

if i was being sensible, I would hire the D700 and do some back to back tests with my lenses.
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There's loads of direct comparisons to be found on the web.

D700

D7000

D700 ISO100

D7000 ISO100

D700 ISO3200

D7000 ISO3200

These are full res images... click them once they've loaded, or download them and view in Photoshop.

The image resource are a reliable source for this as they have dedicated sets with identical lighting and conditions for a range of tests, so these are completely like for like.

If it's image quality alone that matters, I can't help but think the D7000 has the edge and I'd be thinking of the D700 as a downgrade. The D700 handles noise slightly better past 3200, but for me there's a clear difference between image quality, with the D7000 having a very visible advantage.

Id be seriously weighing up whether full frame outweighs a higher quality image.
 
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Not used a d7000. But went from a d90 to a d700 and didn't regret it for a second. The d700 is a great camera and if I had the money would buy another as a back up to my d800, especially as the price keeps dropping.
There may not be as much of a jump going from the d7000 as I had from the d90 as the IQ will be better already and you may even notice the slight drop in MP especially if cropping,the biggest changes will be loosing the crop factor and the smaller body. Neither of which I missed at all.

I wouldn't hesitate to swap if you have the money.
 
Pookeyhead said:
If it's image quality alone that matters, I can't help but think the D7000 has the edge and I'd be thinking of the D700 as a downgrade. The D700 handles noise slightly better past 3200, but for me there's a clear difference between image quality, with the D7000 having a very visible advantage.

Id be seriously weighing up whether full frame outweighs a higher quality image.
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Wow, cant think you would beleive this for one minute David, ive owned both and still own the D700, from purely a personal POV it blows the D7000 out of the water in every respect other than megapixels for me, the dynamic range might be a tiny smidger better also on the D7000, ive also used both cameras side by side in the real world out in the street, on the sports field, shooting the Red arrows, on holiday etc, etc and thats why i still keep the D700 and sold the D7000, in the real world and not in the lab, the D700 does it everytime for me.

But like i say, purely my own POV.
 
I'd agree with most of what's been said before, the D700 is a delight to use, it's Iso performance is a different league to my D7000. I'm not interested in less megapixels etc it just takes beautiful images as does the D7000 for that matter. There are a couple of minus points however, the obvious loss of the crop factor if you're photographing wildlife etc and the shutter is much noisier than the D7000, I've just come back from Gambia and the D700 seemed to draw attention to itself more than the D7000, a little point but worth bearing in mind if you like street photography etc.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Wow, cant think you would beleive this for one minute David, ive owned both and still own the D700, from purely a personal POV it blows the D7000 out of the water in every respect other than megapixels for me, the dynamic range might be a tiny smidger better also on the D7000, ive also used both cameras side by side in the real world out in the street, on the sports field, shooting the Red arrows, on holiday etc, etc and thats why i still keep the D700 and sold the D7000, in the real world and not in the lab, the D700 does it everytime for me.

But like i say, purely my own POV.
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I did say Gary, if image quality is the main concern or words to that effect. If so, then the D7000 wins for me. It's higher resolution, higher dynamic range, pretty much as good at high ISO unless you're being picky or shooting past 12800 and the images it produces are visibly sharper.

If you're bringing other things into the equation, then no: Handling, build quality and operation etc, then the D700 is the clear winner. If you're only concern is image quality though, the D7000 visibly, and obviously produces a better image.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
If you're only concern is image quality though, the D7000 visibly, and obviously produces a better image.
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Thats pretty subjective though isn't it, to my eyes the D700 produced better skin tones straight out of the camera but you could tweak in camera settings so both produce the exact same looking image bar the slight difference in dynamic range but even then you could improve that in camera with the help of ADL

But it is a great camera all the same, would you say it was the best Nikon FX camera available?, im talking all round here and not just on image quality, i still own a D300S and although i rarely use it i would certainally choose it over the D7000 in harsh conditions if i had to choose anything over my D3S or D700, hope that makes sense.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Thats pretty subjective though isn't it, to my eyes the D700 produced better skin tones straight out of the camera but you could tweak in camera settings so both produce the exact same looking image bar the slight difference in dynamic range but even then you could improve that in camera with the help of ADL

But it is a great camera all the same, would you say it was the best Nikon FX camera available?, im talking all round here and not just on image quality, i still own a D300S and although i rarely use it i would certainally choose it over the D7000 in harsh conditions if i had to choose anything over my D3S or D700, hope that makes sense.
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Subjective? I think what I'm actually trying to be here is objective. If I was being subjective, I'd say get the D700! Better handling, better built, full frame.. the usual holistic reasons everyone else is in here. However, objectively, in a like for like scenario, if image quality if what you're measuring the camera by, the D7000's images are sharper. Skin tones are subjective, and some may prefer the 700, some the 7000... I'll leave that to the OP. I'm sure you could make the apparent sharpness of the D700 equal that of the D7000.. but then again, if you applied the same treatment to the D7000 image???

I'm not trying to negate the D700 as a wonderful camera, as it obviously is, but instead trying make people look past the "consumer" label and see what a truly great little camera the D7000 is. Far too much importance is placed on a camera's professional status. Unless you NEED full frame, professional built quality, full weather sealing and the other "pro" features I really don't quite see how going from a D700 to a D7000 is an upgrade. The only thing I missed on my D7000 was a flash PC sync socket... but a £10 hotshoe adaptor sorted that out.

Either way he'll end up with a great camera I suppose.
 
One thing we have forgot in all this is if the OP does decide to go for a D700 then he will probably need some new glass as well, you can stick some fairly ordinary glass on a DX and get away with it as you're only using the centre "sweet part" of the glass but full frame is less forgiving as it uses the whole image circle.
 
Gary Coyle said:
:thinking::thinking: gonna assume you've made a typo as you said the opposite before
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It depends what context I said it in. I've already said that if you're taking a wider view, other aspects may come into play.. handling, build etc.. I think I've said this three times now in this thread :) On image quality alone, the D7000 has the edge.

There's also the full frame factor to consider though.. shallower DOF for example. It's all down to what the OP wants from a camera and how he's going to use it.. If the sharpness of image produced is what matters only, then you need to get over the whole "pro camera" thing, as people will be looking at the images, not the camera that produced them.

Just to remind us what the OP actually wants though, it's...

I dont care about losing video, a memory card slot, heavier body etc. just interested in the photo / image performance.
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He also expressed a need for better ISO performance, and I'm not convinced the differences between the two are that great.
 
I think the OP needs to listen to overall views presented by others on this thread, all of who agree the D700 is better, even better image quality, none of them mention the pro v consumer debate

The OP himself has already said in Post #4
I've been looking at a lot of full res D700 photos online and comparing them to my D7000 photos. definitely looks better IQ and higher ISO is cleaner
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The OP knows what he wants and seemingly has done some research and his own findings back up what other posters have said
 
The D700 wasn't enough of an upgrade for me over the D700. the D800 is just about, and I can't see myself upgrading from is without significant miniaturization happening.

that said, I'd rather have a d7000 and a bag of lenses than the 700 or 800 if I had to choose.
 
Thanks everyone for all the replies!

I bought the D700 today and said goodbye to my D7000. I was sad to see the D7000 go as it has been a fantastic camera for us over the last 18 months.

Got home and had a play with the D700 + my Nikkor 50mm 1.4G...

All I can say is WOW! It's performance in the same low light in my living room where I've used my D7000 to say photograph my cats is just on another level. ISO 1600 at f/1.4 is cleaner than a brand spanking new FX sensor from the factory! It's sharp too. Can use shutter speeds of 1/100 easy so cats nice and still.

ISO 3200 is also very clean (both SO much better than the D7000 was). Took a few snaps in the day and it was sharper than expected.

My fiancé could immediately see a big difference too which is good because the upgrade is an early Xmas present and definitely a justified upgrade. We shoot 90% indoors at family functions / events etc so good low light performance is great.

SO HAPPY, I love my D700!!!! :) :) :)

here are a couple of JPEGs, they are so clean I dont think I'd even bother touching up the RAW files, but I've got it shooting in RAW and JPEG fine (noticed when you delete a photo in the camera it deletes both RAW and the JPEG)

_NIK0827.jpg


_NIK0861.jpg
 
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Congrats on the D700 John, and to think some folk (well one) would have you beleive your D7000 was better and questioned wether the D700 was in fact an upgrade, like ive said all along, its real world shooting and results what count, not some lab shots of a ginger haired manaquin.

Nice moggies by the way.
 
thanks gary, they are both ragdolls and are very Very nosy, gozo was constantly sniffing the camera box!

Looking at the jpeg (quick size down in MS paint) they don't look anywhere near as sharp as the full size versions.
 
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This is the upgrade path I took D7000 to the D700.

I am sure the o.p wont regret it, even now the D700 stands as one of the best all round camera's Nikon has produced.

Welcome to frustration free a.f not having to fine tune every bit of glass you own and superb image quality.

The only thing I regret about buying my D700 was waiting so long to buy it.
 
Soda Farl said:
This is the upgrade path I took D7000 to the D700.

I am sure the o.p wont regret it, even now the D700 stands as one of the best all round camera's Nikon has produced.

Welcome to frustration free a.f not having to fine tune every bit of glass you own and superb image quality.

The only thing I regret about buying my D700 was waiting so long to buy it.
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Yes viewfinder much bigger, brighter and AF snaps on very quickly, no messing about, much better than my D7000 and that had none of the notorious focus probs
 
I would agree the D7000 had its flaws but when I tuned my lenses properly with it the results were stunning. Skin tones definitely wasn't as good as the D700. Both great cameras all the same
 
Gary Coyle said:
One thing we have forgot in all this is if the OP does decide to go for a D700 then he will probably need some new glass as well, you can stick some fairly ordinary glass on a DX and get away with it as you're only using the centre "sweet part" of the glass but full frame is less forgiving as it uses the whole image circle.
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In this case I expect the reverse might actually be true, the D7000's pixel density is so much higher(3 times higher?) than the D700 that lenses are going to have to work alot harder.

If a lens really drops off massively at the boarders then the D7000 might look better there but my guess would be that the 50mm 1.4 would have superior center performance shot at or close to wide open which seems to be what the OP is after.
 
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