The D700 a Couple Months Later

Nikon D700, 50mm f1.8D

I've had the D700 for a little over 2 months now. Shooting hasn't been too terribly intense, due to other commitments and a lack of interesting subjects. Late fall just isn't all that photographically interesting to me and even 3 weeks into winter all we have here in Toronto is a colder late fall look.

That said, I am liking the D700 a fair bit. The ergonomics are great and the results are as well. It's a bit of a beast to carry around daily due to the size, but that is something I expected. A compact mirrorless system this is not, and I had gotten spoiled by the portability of those systems.

In terms of IQ I'm quite happy. Like the D200 I don't really miss the extra pixels of the newer bodies. For my actual uses, i.e. posting online and prints up to 16x24 in size, 10-12MP is actually just fine. Unlike the D200 I'm not losing the high ISO capabilities of the newer bodies, while the D700 does trail the current best of breed bodies, it's still better than any DX body at high ISO's and within shouting distance of the FX bodies. On the DR front it remains weaker than today's sensors, but is notably better than the D200. My D3200 is still my best body for DR, although the D700 is not really far behind it. I can still rescue more highlights with the D3200, but I can pull up more shadows with the D700, although some of that is my ability to shoot in 14 bit mode with the D700 (D3200 is 12bit only) which means I have more data in the shadows.

In terms of handling, I'm even happier. The D700 is damned near perfect for handling at that body size. The controls are well located and well chosen. It's still got a proper metering control around the AE-lock button unlike the newer bodies and the rest of the controls are well located. I'm naturally running AF on the AF-on button, and since two of the three AF lenses I use on a regular basis are AF-S, this works very well Unfortunately this works less well with screwdriver AF since there is no DMF mode in Nikon land.

On the lens side of things I have a pretty decent set of primes for everyday use. Currently I've got a 28, 100 and 135 manual focus primes, the 35/1.8DX (which covers FX for the most part) and the 50/1.8G as my regular kit. I've also got a 300/4.5 prime for long-lens work and a 19-35 and 70-300G zooms to cover the ranges outside my prime set. All do pretty well on the D700 except the 19-35 which is just not up to the demands of FX. I'll probably replace it with a 17-20mm prime since it really is just a 19mm prime as I use it. The 70-300G is somewhat of a surprise, it was a $50 insurance policy for last falls airshow, but it actually performs pretty decently if you avoid situations which generate lots of CA. I wouldn't try it on a high-MP body but on my low MP D700 and D200 it's quite acceptable for my rare usage in the 135-300mm range. For the future, I'm still undecided on whether or not to go all-in on modern Nikon AF glass or stick to classic manual focus lenses. My recent acquisitions (50G and 28/2.8 AI) split the difference. I am leaning to a mix for now, primarily MF with a couple duplications in AF land for when I want the convenience, like a 50.

Looking Forward to 2015

Nikon D200, 16-85VR

As I come to the end of 2014, I do have to ponder exactly what I've achieved in the last year.

I've owned 2.5 systems since January (the E mount stuff only counts as half a system since it was used entirely with Nikon lenses), 7 digital bodies, a bunch of lenses and taken just under 5200 exposures, the vast majority of which were shot with a single body and 3 lenses (D200 with the Sigma 10-20, Nikkor 16-85 and Nikkor 35/1.8). That's an awful lot of kit that didn't get used a whole lot. Not a huge spend, since most of the stuff was acquired through the sale of its predecessor, but it's telling that the most used kit is also the one I spent the least on (D200 and 35/1.8).

Quite clearly I need to shoot more and buy less. And that's the plan. I'd like to end the year with no more than a single body change (most likely swapping the D200 out for a D300s or D7x00) and with the D700 remaining as my primary for the year.

In lens terms, my preference is to put together a basic set for the D700 and leave it at that. I'm strongly leaning towards a more basic system than I'd previously been considering. A 20, 35 and 105 is looking solid. All the basics, nothing more. I'll also likely wind down my film kit, I enjoy it, but not enough to seriously invest in it anymore. All I'd like to do there is swap out my current 50/2 for an AI version and maybe add a 28/3.5 on the cheap. I'll probably sell the F80 as well and just shoot with the FE.

For next year, in shooting terms my goal is to get out of the city more. My interests have shifted heavily towards landscape/nature work and I want to do more of that. I'd like to average 250 shots a month if possible (that's about the same as this year), with 2/3rds of that on the D700. D3200 remains the everyday carry body, D200 the long-lens body for now.

The DX Value Proposition

Nikon D700, Nikkor 35/1.8 G DX in FX mode

Having finally found myself with an FX body that I like I find myself considering how to put together a lens kit that both fits my needs and isn't going to cost a huge amount. Which has me looking at the value proposition for DX again.

Simply put, if you don't print huge, or have a solid collection of high-performance ultra-wide to normal lenses that are FX, or shoot a large amount of the time above ISO 800-1600, you should probably skip FX bodies and just shoot DX. There's little practical difference between FX and DX for 95% of uses, aside from the extra cost of FX, and there's quite a bit of extra cost.

Really, what does FX get you for that minimum $1k spend that a new FX body costs you over its DX equivalent (and yes, it's that much, a D7100 may only be around $800 less than a D610, but it's also a lot more body).

1. ~3db SNR. That's 1 stop better performance. You aren't going to see that stop at low ISO, and at high ISO it means you can shoot 1 stop higher ISO. Or of course you can spend that $1000 and buy a lens that's a stop or so faster.

2. 1/2 - 1 stop more DR. This matters more at mid ISO's when DR is starting to drop than it does at base ISO, and modern DX bodies already beat older FX bodies in DR (they also beat Canon bodies).

3. 1 stop less DoF. This is nice when shooting shallow-DoF stuff. It's a right pain when shooting something that needs gobs of DoF. Most people need a little of both and DX is a better tradeoff here.

4. Lens selection. At the wide end, there's just a lot more options for FX, especially if you want fast/wide. The widest DX option for faster than f2.8 is 30mm-e (20/1.8G on DX), while you get f1.4 out to 24mm and f1.8 at 20mm with FX. And nothing in DX can touch the 14-24/2.8 and currently there's no DX VR UWA

Now what do you give up?

1. Money. Not only are you paying extra for the body, but that sweet $500 17-50/2.8 OS that Sigma dominates the fast/regular zoom market with? The closest equivalent is Tamron's $1400 24-70/2.8 VC, and it's the only VR-equipped option. There's a couple steals out there if you look (Tamron's old 28-75/2.8 is remarkably good for not too much money) but in general the equivalent spec zoom is going to run twice as much, maybe 3 times if an UWA. Oh, and you need to buy a $600 1.4x TC to replace the reach you lost with your telezoom (at least the stop of light is offset by that 3db SNR advantage of FX). Primes are different, but only because there's so few DX primes (and half of them have no real reason to exist besides being cheap consumer options to go with the D3x00/D5x00 bodies)

2. Reach. Nothing puts pixels on a subject like DX. The D7000 matches the pixel density of a D810, the 24MP DX bodies all exceed it significantly. When you need reach, especially when you are already using a TC, DX wins. And nothing in F mount can combine reach and speed the way the old D300s can (12MP DX at 8fps)

3. Performance per dollar. When new the D300s was $1800. The closest equivalent FX body, the D700 was $1000 more. Today the only 8fps+ body is $6k+. There's over $1k of difference between the D750 and D7100. The D610 may be cheap for FX, but recall it's notably lower spec than a D7100 in AF, speed and shutter.

What does this mean for me? Not a lot. I'm digging the D700 and still have my pair of DX bodies. But long term? If Nikon actually ever comes out with a D300s successor it's likely I'll move back to a pure DX system. I don't see Nikon making an FX light carry camera for me to replace my current D3200 with and going dual-system is too much of a PITA.

Just a Little Update

D700, 35/1.8G DX

I've been shooting slowly but steadily over the last couple weeks. Nothing wrong, just the late fall weather limits the available subject matter and other commitments have been keeping me busy.

The D200's been semi-shelved for now. Nothing wrong with it, but most of my day-to-day shooting is before and after work and with sunset before 5pm here the D200's limited high ISO capability makes it a poor choice. The D3200 and D700 both do much better when the sun goes down, so they've taken over. Generally the D3200 stays in the bag, but I've been carrying the D700 on and off as it is simply such a good handling camera with gloves on.

One issue I've had with most mirrorless bodies is the small size and fiddly buttons & dials make for a camera that does not play well with gloves. The Fuji's are mostly an exception, as are the Panasonic GH cameras (and the new Samsung NX1 should also fall into that category) but the majority simply don't do well here. The D700 is excellent, and oddly I found the D600 better with gloves on than with gloves off. Most largish DSLR's are good with gloves on. I've not had the D3200 out with gloves on yet, but that's only a matter of time with the unusually cold November Toronto's been having.

Back to FX

Nikon D700, Nikkor 35/1.8G DX in FX mode

Well, here I am making a second attempt at going FX. This time it's with the FX body I always wanted in the first place, the D700, rather than the D600 I settled with last time.

The last time I went FX, last December, it did not end up working out well. First off I never really liked the ergonomics of the D600. The biggest issue was the grip, I found it extremely shallow and mildly uncomfortable, this is fundamentally what made me dislike carrying the D600. Initially I chalked it up to weight causing the discomfort, but 2 months carrying the similar in size & weight D200 indicates that it was ergonomics rather than weight that was the real issue. The D700 of course has very similar ergonomics to the D200 and much better ergonomics than the D600. The other issue with the D600 is my copy had weather sealing issues, I had some unusual behaviour due to a seal failure which caused an LV/WB fandago. The better sealed D700 should also not have this issue.

I also picked up the classic 28-105D at the same time, but that's gone back as it turned out to be badly decentered when shooting at 28mm and wider than f8.

Saturday the D700 got its first workout. I shot almost entirely with 2 lenses, the 28-105D and my 35/1.8G DX. The 28-105 did pretty well at the long end (the above mentioned issue caused issues with the wide end). Surprisingly the 35DX was outstanding, with very minor hard vignetting at the very outer edges and superb sharpness in Zone A and B. Sharpness does fall off a bit in Zone C (the outer area well outside the DX frame). I've long had a love/hate relationship with 35mm lenses on FX. The right lens gets me shooting constantly in that focal length where a lens that I find even just decent I tend to switch to a 28mm instead. For some reason I prefer shooting with a poor 28mm than a decent 35mm, but an outstanding 35mm beats both. After more than 150 frames on the D700 Saturday, including more than 110 frames with the 35DX, I'm definitely loving it. Not bad for one of the two lenses I expected to be dedicated to my DX bodies (the other being the 16-85VR)

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about lenses for the D700, going forward. I've only got a limited selection of FX glass right now as I am building up my system again. I still need to decide whether or not I want to buy lenses which support FM/FE bodies or not.

In terms of focal lengths, I'm considering two ranges, in primes. Either 14/20/35/105/180 or 14/20/35/85/150. I'll also likely pick up a 24-85VR for walk-around.

The core kit I'm considering is the new Nikkor 20/1.8G, the Sigma 35/1.4 and either the Sigma 105 OS Macro or the Nikkor 85/1.8G and the Sigma 150 OS Macro. unfortunately none of these lenses are compatible with an FE or FM body. The alternate would be either AI-S lenses (cheaper, not as good) or Zeiss ZF (more expensive, very good). Frankly I could live with AI-S, at least on the low-megapixel D700. I'd at least like the Macro to be VR/OS, however I'm not likely to want to use that lens on the FE or FM so that's a workable tradeoff. The 14 will likely be the Samyang/Bower/Rokinon while the 180 would be the Nikkor, probably the AF-D ED.

A Few Changes

Nikon D200, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6

The above photo is one of the last I've taken with a favourite bit of kit which has now been sold on. Not the D200 but rather the Sigma 10-20.

I bought my first Sigma 10-20 back in 2008 when I was shooting my D300 and D40. It spent a moderate amount of time on the D300 and pretty much lived on the D40 if I didn't have the 40/2 Ultron mounted. The 10-20 is one of those great values that just stands out. Not too expensive, very good (but not quite outstanding) and not too large to haul. If you shoot DX, like wide angles even a little and haven't already invested in one of the very few better options (Tokina 11-16, Sigma 10-20 f3.5) check this gem out. I picked this one up for the D200, after selling my Fuji kit. Got my money's worth and now it's passed on to a friend.

I'll miss mine, and it's better than the lens that's functionally replacing it for now, but I suspect I'll like the D700 that it funded even more (and yes, I paid the majority of the cost of my new D700 with the proceeds from the Sigma's sale. The D700 was that cheap. For good reason as well, so I'm not buying a pig in a poke).

A Little Blue

Nikon D3200, Nikkor 16-85mm f3.5-5.6 G DX VR

Life's been keeping me busy for the last month or so, so not all that much shooting has happened. I have been shooting a few frames pretty much every day, so my pace actually remains higher than before the return to Nikon.

I've now got a little over 200 shots on the D3200, while the D200 is approaching 2700 shots on the clock (since mid-August). Overall I'm digging the D3200 as a light carry camera and it also can go in the bag for getting the shots the D200 can't, like the above. That's a handheld shot with significantly more dynamic range than the D200 can capture. I still prefer shooting with the D200, but the D3200 pretty clearly comes out ahead when the conditions get challenging for the sensor.

Fall colours are finally out in force in Toronto a couple weeks later than normal. Despite the cold summer, the fall has been warm and extended which has delayed the turning of the leaves. So now in late October we're finally getting the glorious fall colours which were expected to begin at the end of September. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to do any shooting oriented road-trips, unlike last year, but I have had a couple chances to get out and shoot within the city limits. As can be seen above, that leaves some very good shooting opportunities. This was shot down behind the Don Valley Brickworks, which has a little oasis of trails and nature just off a major local road near downtown Toronto. Well worth visiting if you come to Toronto.

In terms of shooting, the above shot was handheld, with a low shutter speed and VR off (oops). I had to crunch the dynamic range to make the shot look good, there's a very wide range of tones from the clouds down to the dark shadows in the pond and it takes one of the modern high-DR sensors to capture it properly without HDR or a ND grad. I'm not one for HDR and I really don't use filters much. Really should change that as a properly applied ND, ND grad and/or polarizer can do wonders for a scene. The real issue is that my filter kit is built around my old Mamiya 645 system and my Cokin holder set is unsuited to DSLR UWA's. I really need to invest in a 100mm system like the Lee.