Nikon D700 ISO 200 through 6400

Several have asked me to do a quick compare of the various ISO speeds in low light situations.  So, I took the camera out to the lake last night, poped it onto a tripod and shot 3 exposures at about 7:30pm – about 30 minutes after sunset.  As you can see from the spliced images, I first shot at ISO 200 (left), ISO 3200 (center) and then ISO 6400 (right).

The noise increases as expected from shot to shot.  But a lesser camera could not have pulled this off.  This thing is amazing at ISO 6400.  Imagine if I turned on the noise reduction?

Yes, note that I did not use any on camera or off camera ISO noise reduction.  There is zero post work to this shot other than splicing the three shots together and sticking a frame on it.  No sharpening, no curves, no color adjustments.

Hell, not even a white balance.

D700x

FYI – This was posted as an April Fools joke!

It’s what you have been waiting for.  And the cost is right where we expected it to be.  24MP FX, 3 FPS (5 FPS DX): $3,299

Quick Overview

The new Nikon D700x has been the want and desire of every Nikon user out there, amateur to professional.  The rumors have been bounding about for well over a year, with them increasing constantly over the past few months as the D700 began to vanish from inventory around the globe.  Nikon finally announced this beast in all it’s glory.  As suspected, here are some of the juicy details:

Finder

• 95% coverage (of full FX frame, not the tiny DX frame).
• 0.72x with 50mm lens. (D3 is 0.7x and 100% coverage).
• 18mm eyepoint.
• Inferior finder for DX lenses; the D700x doesn’t crop the finder as does the D3.

Auto Focus

• 51 points.
• CAM3500FX sensor array (same as D3X).
• Fine-tuning, if you have slight errors with certain lenses.

Shutter

• 1/8,000 ~ 30 sec, bulb.
• Carbon fiber and Kevlar.
• Tested to 150,000 cycles.

Sensor

• 24MP CMOS, same as D3X.
• 14-bit linear ADC, 16-bit data pipelines, as the D3X.
• 12-channel parallel readout.
• FX (23.9 x 36mm) and cropped DX, just like D3X.
• No professional 5:4 mode.

Resolution

• 24MP in FX, 10MP in DX.
• FX (24 x 36mm): 6,048 x 4,032 (L), 4,544 x 3,024 (M) and 3,024 x 2,016 (S).
• DX (16 x 24mm): 3,968 x 2,640 (L), 2,976 x 1,976 (M), 1,984 x 1,320 (S)

Other Tech

• Two slots: CF card and SD card.
• USB.
• Optional WT-4 wireless and ethernet.

Imagine, all this announced on April 1st…. yes… imagine. (Queue the hate mail…)

Nikon D700

My quest for the Nikon D700 12.1MP is at an end!!

I know Nikon is stopping production of the 2008 model of the D700 in favor of the D700s or D700x.  Knowing Nikon’s pricing game, it will be a good chuck of change more for the upgraded model.  I don’t want the upgraded toys (video) at all.

Rather than wait to see what Nikon is going to do – which will cause people to scramble for the 700 to save a grand, I want to beat the rush.  I knew I was upgrading by summer, but the chances of finding a D700 by then may be slim.  I am not willing to take that chance!

So, I pulled the trigger and ordered my D700.  Got it with 4, SanDisk Extreme III 4 GB CompactFlash Memory Cards, an extra Nikon EN-EL3e Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery4 and theNikon MB-D10 Multi Power Battery Pack.  I am so freaking pumped right now!

Now, a new wait beings – for the UPS guy to get here with the goods!

Nikon D700

Well… rumors are abound today.  In my quest for the D700, it appears that the D700′s are no longer being stocked anywhere – people are selling what they have, making room for… well, for what?  Oh, how the mighty Nikon likes to toy with our emotions.

So, it’s really anyone’s guess right now, but according to Nikon Rumors website, Google has indexed a hit for the D700x (and D800 – though that’s a typo in my book) cameras.

Well crap.  What do I save for now?  These guys are killing me.

Continuing my quest for the D700 – I decided I need to start peddling my photos.  A photo-friend of mine suggested I try a pro account on SmugMug.com, which I am now doing.  As I said before, a camera isn’t going to just fall onto my lap, so I need to be proactive.  It’s not a huge step, but it is a step in the right direction.  Every little dime I can make will really help with this quest.

I have not personalized the domain yet, but will most likely come up with something canned, like Raymond Larose Photography.  I may jump back on my URL of lenscrack – though I don’t know if that is very commercial.

So, time to do your part and check out the new smug mug page I set up and give me any and all feedback that you can!