Nikon D700 – Still Not A Review!

Saturday July 26, 2008 (10:17) | Equipment Tips

Preamble

Most professional photographers are typically equipment junkies… and yes, I believe I fall into that category.  I usually don’t post much about equipment unless I find something truly special out there.

Thanks to my friends at Nikon Canada – I’ve had my hands on a brand spanking new Nikon D700 DSLR for a few days now which was officially released worldwide on July 25, 2008.  I could ramble on and on about the specifications but you would be better off to read sites like DPReview for that.

Some History

A bit of history… Nikon last summer announced two new (fantastic) cameras – the (lower cost) DX crop Nikon D300 and the (quite expensive) full frame (FX) Nikon D3.  The D3 was long expected (and overdue as Canon had full frame cameras out for years) but the D300 was a big surprise as it exceeded the previous flagship D2xs in performance and image quality but at a third of its initial price. It was also built to professional standards.  Nikon had raised the bar with both the D300 and the D3.

Where’s The D3 Review?

I wrote a mini review on the D300 when they first arrived in Canada.  It is a great little camera and I thought I would not buy a D3 as the D300 (and my Fuji S5) were allowing me to create great images.

After “borrowing” a friend’s D3 this year, I got hooked on it.  It sucks in light, no matter how little there is.  And it is like driving a Ferrari after driving  a Camry (oddly enough, I believe that Ferrari did design the D2 and D3 series bodies for Nikon).  You could literally shoot in a dark cave at 11 frames per second and get fabulous, in focus shots once you know how to operate it.  The D3, overall, exceeds all previous standards set for cameras.

So, why did I not write a D3 review?  There was nothing I could add that wasn’t said already about the camera.  IMHO, until another “high end” camera comes out, I personally believe it is the best camera on the planet.  You can read what Phil Askey and Thom Hogan (two well respected camera reviewers) have to say about the D3.

For those of you who have handled a D3, it is quite a beast.  It is a heavy camera and quite expensive (about $5,100.00 as I write this).  Canon has the (3 year old) 5D which also uses a full frame sensor – it has excellent image quality and is in a low cost, lightweight body.  I always thought that if Nikon put the D3’s FX sensor into the D300 body, they would have an instant hit.

Nikon Must Have Read My Mind

Well guess what?  At the beginning of July 2008, Nikon announced the D700 which is basically a D300 style body with the D3 FX sensor.  I had to pinch myself.

So, now that I have my grubby hands on the D700, what do I think of it?  I could go on for hours (heaven forbid) about it, however, I will give you my initial impressions.

Impressions

What I like:

• Most of the controls are similar to the D300, so I was instantly familiar with it.
• The D700 might have a similar body to the D300 but has most of its DNA borrowed from the D3… when I shoot with it, I have to remind myself it is not a D300 but rather, a smaller D3.
• It (to me) has a better build quality than the D300, but that is purely subjective on my part.  It just seems “beefier” (is that a word?) to me.  BTW, the D300 build quality is excellent.
• Ergonomics are beautiful – I have small hands and it fits them like a glove.
• You can have D3 image quality for $1,800.00 less.
• Auto Focus (AF) is identical to the D3. This surprised me as the D300 (which also uses the same CAM3500 AF module as the D3 and D700) has a bit of a “lag” compared to the D3 in acquiring the subject (once it acquires the subject though, it is extremely accurate).  Nikon mentioned that the D3 and D700 share the same (fast) processor, hence why AF is identical.  The D300 uses a slower processor.
• When shooting 14 bit NEFs, the camera does not slow down.
• Same beautiful 3 inch (900,000 pixel) rear LCD as the D3/D300.
• Battery life is quite good… about 1,000 shots (NEF/RAW) per fully charged EN-EL3e battery – and that is with a lot of chimping and menu use.
• The “dust off” feature might be useful as the FX sensor seems to be a big dust magnet.
• It uses the MB-D10 grip… so if you have one for your D300, you can use the same grip for both cameras.

In summary, the D700 really is a mini D3 in many ways – with a price tag (in Canada) of $1,800.00 less than its bigger brother.

What I am not crazy about:

• Only one Compact Flash card slot (I am paranoid about backups).
• The viewfinder only has 95% coverage compared to 100% on the D3.
• The new door for the Compact Flash card seems “cheap” (and easily breakable) for a $3,300.00 camera.
• Menus and controls that are getting more complex.  Actually, this is becoming an issue for all of Nikon’s latest pro cameras.  There are so many features in these cameras, organizing them is becoming a tricky matter.  There are more than 20 buttons on these cameras – each of them customizable plus dozens of menus to understand.  I believe that Nikon in future generations of cameras will need to think out how to better organize menu items, etc.
• The proprietary NEF format.  Not a criticism of the D700, but of Nikon’s NEF format itself.  I know Nikon makes money selling its own conversion software, Capture NX2.  But hello… there are many other RAW converters out there and I would love to see Nikon publish the specs for their NEF format so we can ALL get the best image quality out of our Nikon cameras.  IMHO, the user interface/performance on NX and NX2 is awful compared to Lightroom, Aperture, etc.

The Verdict?

Nikon has succeeded in making “mini-D3″ and a viable competitor to Canon’s future 5D successor (unless Canon does something really radical – who knows, they might).  It ain’t cheap though… at $3,300.00 (in Canada), it is about a $1,500.00 premium over the very capable D300.  Then again, that is the price you will have to pay if you want to get into Nikon’s FX format.

Do I regret buying my D3?  In a word, “NO”.  I love my D3.  As capable as the D700 is, it isn’t a D3 and I am glad I spent the extra money to have it in my bag for its extra features.

What’s In My Bag Now?

So, as a wedding photographer, I now have the best of the best – a D3 and a D700 in my bag – arguably, two of the world’s best cameras at my disposal.  I know equipment does not make the photographer – having said that, my clients will get images created by the best cameras (and lenses) money can buy.  The only thing limiting me now is my imagination and creativity.

And what becomes of the D300 in my bag?  Needless to say, I will be finding it a good home.  It is a fantastic camera (especially for the price) and for this photographer, the Nikon FX format best suits my needs.  If I were doing more wildlife work (where the Field Of View Crop and pixel density are extremely useful), I would probably have two D300’s!

Should You Get A D700?

If you are considering the D700 (or D3), ask yourself exactly what it will give you over current Nikon (or Canon) DX offerings and is it worth the price premium for you?  Only you can answer that.

Well Done, Nikon!

You’ve hit another home run (IMHO) with the D700.  They are expensive and you will probably sell a lot of them.  Thank you for the opportunity to have some “quiet time” with this great camera.

Happy shooting!

The Nikon D300 – My Thoughts

Tuesday December 4, 2007 (23:23) | Equipment Tips

As I mentioned in a previous post, I got my hot little hands on a Nikon D300… it has been out in Canada for the past week and there is a lot of talk about what this camera can/cannot do.

Some people might be disappointed that I will not give a full review of this camera – there are people such as Phil Askey (of DP Review) who do an excellent (and very thorough) job of reviewing cameras. Instead, I will give you my initial impressions.

Before I start, I would like to state that it takes a long time to master a piece of photographic equipment – especially something as sophisticated as the Nikon D300. I cannot begin to imagine the years of R&D that must go into something like this. And I suspect it will take most photographers (including yours truly) years to master this camera. We are at a point now in photography where we are constrained only by our imagination, not our equipment.

Some people call the D300 an upgrade to the Nikon D200 (another excellent camera). Some people even call the D300 the “little brother” to the excellent Nikon D3. Call it what you want, the D300 is no slouch and Nikon means business with this camera – from both a feature and price perspective.

You can read the D300’s feature list here.

What I Like

• Nice big viewfinder – 100% coverage
• 6 FPS is plenty fast, 8 FPS if you use the external grip
• Auto Focus (AF) is lightning fast – the CAM3500 module is nothing but superb and accurate. I am still figuring out all of the AF modes (and will be for some time). It is as accurate, or even more so than the CAM2000 AF on my D2 bodies. I honestly believe I could AF on anything in a dark cave with this camera.
• 3D AF tracking is simply amazing.
• Colour acuity is excellent
• 12 Megapixels is a lot of data and the CMOS sensor does a great job capturing images
• High ISO is not an issue anymore. I can comfortably shoot at ISO 1600 and get an excellent image. ISO 3200 is perfectly useable. This is about 1 stop better than the D200 and about 2 stops better than the D2X. I must admit that I was surprised how well high ISO images turned out from the D300 and how much detail was retained.
• Nikon’s iTTL and CLS are superb, as always.
• The 3 inch rear LCD is gorgeous. Clear, crisp and really easy to read.
• Nikon got rid of those pesky little caps for the 10 pin remote and PC sync connector. I was always losing them on previous Nikon bodies.
• Well built – like a tank.
• The JPEG engine using the XSPEED processor appears to do a really good job.
• Auto White Balance (AWB) is better than on previous Nikon cameras.
• Battery life is greatly improved over the D200 – about twice the battery life.
• The menu system is child’s play. It is so easy to use and understand.
• Using UDMA Compact Flash cards, write times are wickedly fast. I have yet to fill the buffer while shooting. It may never happen with this camera.
• Love, love, love the ability to “fine tune” the AF with up to 12 lenses. You can adjust for back/front focus really easily now.

What I Don’t Like

• AWB tends to be “yellowish” in artificial (specifically, tungsten) light. You can adjust this easily.
• I still think Capture NX sucks. At least Nikon isn’t charging for this.
• Noise Reduction (NR) can get aggressive in JPEG, but you can turn this down (or even off).
• Nikon changed the button layout on the back of the camera from the D2X and D200. I liked the old layout better – why did they mess with perfection?
• Matrix metering sometimes runs a little hot at times. My guess is that Nikon did this to keep noise down in the shadows. But then again, it is matrix metering. I also suspect the high ISO values in the camera are underrated, but I have no evidence (yet) to back this up.

Final Thoughts

I’ve probably missed a few things, but overall, Nikon has done an excellent with this camera and will sell a ton of them. Many people have asked me whether the D300 will replace my Fuji S5’s (also an excellent camera) in my wedding work.

In a word, NO.

The Fuji S5 is still the undisputed Dynamic Range (DR) king and I love the colour it produces. That DR gap is getting smaller, however, with both Nikon and Canon racing to introduce new cameras into the marketplace. The D300 is no doubt a better camera from a feature perspective, but in the end, it boils down to Image Quality (IQ) for me. Both camera’s IQ is superb, but for different reasons.

The S5’s IQ best suits wedding photography as the skin tone, colour and DR are excellent. I could, however, easily photograph a whole wedding with a D300 and still have beautiful images for my clients. For now, I will use my D300 for landscapes, large groups, low light situations and images where I need maximum resolution. For portraiture and wedding work in good light (as the S5’s AF hunts a lot in low light), I will use my S5’s.

I may post more about the D300 as I gain more experience with it. I now own cameras that will challenge my creativity for years to come.

Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8G VR Micro

Friday June 2, 2006 (14:53) | Equipment Tips

When Nikon Corp. of Japan releases a new lens, one notices a number of bizarre acronyms appearing in its name. Case in point, the newly released Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8G VR Micro. The letters “VR” in the title of this post stands for Vibration Reduction – and as the name implies, it does exactly that. It is very effective technology to reduce the detrimental effect of a photographer’s hand shake/vibration on an image.

The VR implemented in this lens is actually its second incarnation and is referred to by Nikon as “VR II”. It effectly allows a photographer to shoot a static subject at a shutter speed upto 3-4 stops slower than normal. Why do I say static? VR will not help if your subject if moving.

Nikon has updated one of their most popular micro (macro for the rest of the non-Nikon world) lenses with VR and also changed the coating on the lens elements. The result? A micro lens that is handholdable and razor sharp.

Handholdable? Macro photography typically requires the use of a tripod since the large depth of field required to get your subject in focus often results in a slow shutter speed. There are times when I have gone hiking without a tripod and of course, the perfect macro shot would present itself. More often than not, I attempted the shot only to find out it was not as sharp as it could be because of the slow shutter speed that I used.

VR does help. A lot actually. For the sharpest images possible, I will of course use my tripod, but for those occasions when I do not have it with me, it is nice to know that VR is there to assist if needed.

I also use this same lens for portraits. Nikon used nine rounded aperature blades and it provides for very pleasing bokeh. And not to forget, the contrast and colour acuity is excellent.

On the downside, this lens is about the same size as the Nikon AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8G DX (man, that’s a mouthful, eh?) so it is larger than one might think. The new Silent Wave Motor and VR circuitry added to its size over the previous version.

People have asked me if this lens is worth $USD 170.00 more than its predecessor or $USD 340.00 more than the excellent Tamron Telephoto SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro (which I owned in the past).

In a word: yes.

There are several equipment reviewers that have given this lens ratings from “thumbsdown” to “good/lukewarm”. Personally, I disagree with all of the yawning going on about this lens. The incremental cost over its predecessor is worth it (to me) to have VR and AF-S. Images snap into focus on my D2 bodies and I have yet to shoot an out of focus image with VR on. This lens also doubles very nicely as a portrait lens with VR. I have even sold my Nikon 85mm f/1.4D (a Nikon classic) – the new 105mm Micro is that good so I can shoot wide open at f/2.8 and get a sharp image with great colour, contrast and bokeh.

So, all I have to say is, “Well done, Nikon! Keep those lenses coming!”

Think Tank Photo Airport Security

Thursday May 25, 2006 (10:54) | Equipment Tips

Hello. My name is Roël and I am a bagoholic…

When I first got into professional photography, one of my colleagues told me that photographers are bagoholics. You see, we are constantly in search of the perfect camera bag which unfortunately, does not exist. As a result, we end up with several and continually search for that elusive perfect bag!

I use a number of different bags for different purposes: a shoulder bag for weekend getaways; a backpack for overseas trips; and a photojournalist vest for when I want to carry a lot of equipment on me during a fast paced event. Even my long telephoto lenses come with their own backpacks!

As a wedding photographer, I often put in long days and since my back is not as strong as it used to be, my gear becomes heavier and harder to carry by the end of the night. I am also paranoid about theft: it is very easy for someone to walk off during the wedding reception with my camera gear or even steal something out of my bag when I am focussed (pardon the pun) on photographing the happy couple and their guests.

I have seen travellers dragging lockable roller bags in airports and thought that would be a great idea: a roller bag that is also camera bag. On a long day, I could just drag my equipment along…

Several manufacturers make such bags and the one that got my attention was the recently released Think Tank Airport Security roller bag. If you want to know all its features, go to Think Tank’s website and download the PDF file.

This bag is HUGE and holds practically all of my gear which is quite a feat. If you read my post on African Safari Photo Equipment, I got everything from that trip into this bag with no trouble. I was even able to put in the items my wife carried plus a few other goodies such as flash units, medium length primes – and there is still some room to spare! In terms of size, the Airport Security roller bag is the maximum legal carry on size for Canadian and US airlines.

It is very well made, sturdy and well padded. Think Tank includes a generous number of padded dividers (with velcro) of varying shapes and sizes so you will have no problem customizing the bag to your needs. This bag is essentially the same as their Airport Addicted backpack – except Think Tank removed a lot of padding and added wheels, a pull out handle, a sturdy frame, a security cable and combination locks. Once you start experimenting and use the Airport Security roller bag, you will soon discover that it is well designed for the travelling photographer.

It can covert to a backpack but it would be like strapping a refridgerator onto your back. Think Tank does have the necessary straps built in just in case you need this option, however, I would not want to carry this bag for very long this way.

Just a word of caution: when you first open and configure the Airport Security bag, do it in private. There are so many features with this bag that you actually have to read the manual to figure out and use everything!

Alas, my bag arsenal is complete… at least for now!

African Safari Photo Equipment

Sunday May 21, 2006 (09:49) | Equipment Tips

Last month (April 2006), my wife and I went to South Africa and Zambia on safari for the very first time. If you haven’t been to that part of the world – just go there, it is amazing. We spent about 8 days in South Africa at Thornybush Private Game Reserve (it borders Kruger NP) and 3 days in Zambia visiting Victoria Falls.

You may see some of the images I created in Africa here.

Many of you have asked me what worked for me on this trip and what did not. I am very grateful for all of the useful info I found on the web before I left and it is my wish that what I present here may benefit you somehow if you decide to visit this lovely continent.

Equipment List

Tamrac Expedition 7 backpack
Nikon D2X and D2Hs
Sigma 10-20mm f/4~5.6D
Nikon AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8G
Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VR
Nikon AF-S 200-400mm f/4G VR
Nikon TC-14E
Nikon SB-800 (1)
Canon 500D Closeup Lens
Better Beamer Flash Extender
spare AA & EN-EL4 batteries
Epson P-2000 & Compact Drive PD70X
16GB of Compact Flash (CF)
Arctic Butterfly & battery chargers

First Thoughts

I didn’t bring my whole kit and I had a lot of stuff with me on this trip – I don’t need to go to the gym for a while now since I got a lot of weight training in Africa carrying my gear. I actually couldn’t get everything in the Tamrac Expedition 7, so my wife put the Sigma 10-20mm, the Epson P-2000 and the chargers in her camera bag.

Airport Security (Toronto, Atlanta, Johannesburg, Hoedspruit, Livingstone) did not give me any hassles with the equipment and I was able to take everything as carry on baggage – even on the smaller aircraft within Africa. In fact, they would ask me, “Are you a professional photographer?” After I said, “yes”, they would just routinely inspect my bag and let me move on. Nice.

What Worked

The 70-200/2.8 VR and the 200-400/4 VR were my main workhorse lenses – I had each of those lenses attached to a different body depending on the light available. I used these two lenses for 75-80% of my shots. Once in a while an animal would get close enough to our Land Rover so that I would need my 17-55/2.8, but the two long zooms usually did the trick.

These lenses are superb optically and VR was a lifesaver at times. Since I could not use a tripod in the vehicle (I didn’t bother to bring one), I would rest the lens where ever I could and shoot (our guides had bean bags which I used once in a while). VR on the 200-400/4 VR really works and it works well. I have shots at 400mm, 1/15 sec @ f/4 that are sharp. Impressive!

The TC-14E came in handy – no loss of AF speed and once stopped down (by a stop), my images were very sharp. I did not use this as much I thought I would as our guides got us reasonably close to the larger game. But for birds and hippos (we were in a 17 foot metal boat on the Zambezi River and did not want to get too close to the hippos – they were very skittish and would attack us in a matter of seconds if they chose to do so), the TC provided the extra reach I needed.

The D2X and D2Hs performed flawlessly. If I had any OOF shots, etc, it was due to operator error. The AF system on the D2 bodies is amazing – especially in low light. I shot compressed NEF exclusively and backed up my data each night to the Epson P-2000 and PD70X. Also, even with a full day of shooting, the EN-EL4’s in my cameras never dropped below 45% and that is with a lot of chimping. I never had to put a spare battery in either body.

The SB-800 and the Better Beamer Flash Extender came in handy for lifting the shadows in certain shots, mostly the birds. You need to be careful with the fresnel lens as with sunny skies, you could start a fire with this thing (I’m not joking). Also, I had to dial in -2EV to -3EV flash compensation a lot of time or I would blow out the shot – even in TTL BL mode on the SB-800.

What Did Not Work

Let’s start off with what failed. My PD70X on day 5 failed. My wife’s Fuji s9000 has a video mode and she used it to make a couple videos. She filled up one of her CF cards so I decided to back it up for her. The Epson P-2000 backed everything up and worked perfectly… the PD70X stopped writing after file #177. File #177 was an AVI (video) file and it turned out to be corrupted. The PD70X would power on and I could verify the exisiting files, but I could not copy CF cards anymore even though there was over 35GB in free storage left. Upon returning home, I reset the unit by re-applying a firmware upgrade after contacting the manufacturer. They confirmed that a corrupted AVI file could re-write the contents of the firmware.

I thought dust would be a problem – it wasn’t. It was the end of rainy season so dust was minimal. I suspect that dust might be a problem at other times of the year. Rain was actually more of a concern during our safari… it would rain lightly during the day for 30 minutes or so, but that was it. Bring plastic bags (garbage and ziploc bags) with you to keep your gear dry whilst in the vehicle. I did not end up using the Arctic Butterfly to clean up dust bunnies as (1) I could not find it in my suitcase after day 5 and (2) dust was never a problem for me.

What I Learned From This Trip

Less is more – there were a few items such as the ultra wide zoom and Canon 500D that I would not have missed at all if I did not bring it. It would have been nice to have some fast primes for my low light work, but that would have added to the bulk of my kit and I got along just fine without them. There were times that I wish I had my 80-400 VR because of the convenient range and the fact that it is lightweight. I love fast glass but it gets quite heavy after a while and the 80-400 VR would perform well in strong light when stopped down. Whether it would have focussed accurately in low light with its f/5.6 aperature – well – I don’t know and probably won’t (I sold my 80-400 VR after using the 200-400/4 VR).

Backup your critical equipment – having two bodies was indispensable… rarely did I have to do lens changes. I read about people who went on safari with only one camera body only to have it fail. Having two PSD’s to backup image data was critical given that one of them failed on me in the field. Even my wife’s iPod charger failed over there… I am lucky none of my battery chargers failed too. Next time, I will bring a backup Nikon/Epson charger.

Don’t be afraid of using high ISO – I would see the perfect shot and the light was really low, so I would have to crank up the ISO really high to get a decent shot. At first, I asked myself, “Do I want a lot of noise in the image or should I just forget it?” I immediately cranked up the ISO. Some of my best images are taken at ISO 800 and 1600 – with both the D2Hs and D2X. With the D2Hs, I can comfortably shoot at ISO 1600 – there is virtually no noise, and what noise there is looks like film grain in print. I used the D2X at HI-1 (ISO 1600) a couple times (the leopard in the tree at night) and was surprised how well it printed. So, use the higher ISO’s if you have to and expose them properly. Don’t listen to the noise about noise!

Hire a private guide/vehicle – we were not informed that we could (for as little as $USD 100.00 per day) have a private game viewing vehicle and guide. That way, we could stay in one spot for as long as we wanted – viewing what we wanted. As to vehicle itself and other guests – there was ample room for my gear and in general, most of the people we met were very accomodating in letting me have the “good” seats (near the front).

I hope all of you have the opportunity to visit this amazing continent – and photograph it. I know my wife and I will definitely visit again!