D300 upgrade choices?

[kcharters]

Hi Everyone, I'm considering upgrading my D300 to an FX format body. My choices are D700, D800 or wait until the rumoured D400 and D600 are released (if they ever are!!). Two of my lenses (Sigma 10 - 20mm and Nikkor 16 - 85 mm) are DX format so if I went for a D700 I would also look to upgrade them. If I went D800, then I could retain these lenses and still get a resolution of 15Mp in DX crop mode (I know they will work with the D700 in DX crop mode but reduced to around 5Mp).

I also have the MB-D10 grip so could continue to use that on the D700. Does anyone have any real world experience of the D300, D700 and D800 and could give me some advice please. My bias at the moment is towards the D700 as I cannot see any advantage (to me anyway) of 36Mp! But the cost of a D800 vs D700 and two new lenses is going to be pretty much the same if I trade in the D300 + grip for the D800. Everything I've read about the D800 is that it is an awesome camera BUT it requires top quality glass and technique to get the best from it.

Any practical advice to help me make a decsion would be very welcome.

Keith.

[jet_kit]

Hi Keith,

I have a D300s and a D700. To all intents and purposes they are the same camera except they've shoe-horned a FX sensor into the D700.
Ken Rockwell said (a few years ago) that old (pre-1977) glass could be used on the D700 which made it quite attractive to me. However, he's now changed his mind and said you cannot use old glass on it. Unfortunately, I'd been using all my old lenses for several years when he had his change of heart. All I can say is that I have had no problems at all with pre-77 f2.8/24mm, f1.4/50mm, f2.5/105mm & f4/200mm.
That said, you cannot use these on the D300s. The mount is very slightly different and it will cause mirror fouling.
You can use all the early AF lenses on either camera and, because they were made for film they're fine for the D700, and they're very cheap second hand.
If my Premium Bonds come up I'll give you a report on the D800 (or maybe the D4).

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by jet_kit

Hi Keith,

All I can say is that I have had no problems at all with pre-77 f2.8/24mm, f1.4/50mm, f2.5/105mm & f4/200mm.
That said, you cannot use these on the D300s. The mount is very slightly different and it will cause mirror fouling.

That's odd, Chris. I haven't got any manual focus Nikkors, but the list of lenses that cannot be used on D300s and D700 is identical in the user manuals, as is the table of Non-CPU lenses. I always understood that pre-1977 (Pre-AI) lenses had to be modified to work on almost all modern cameras - the F3, F4 and F6 being the exceptions. I'd guess that if your pre-1977 lenses work on the D700, they've been modified & will be fine on the D300s too. Either that, or you've broken something on the D700 without realising it.

Sorry, way off topic.

Chris

[jet_kit]

Originally Posted by greenwing

That's odd, Chris. I haven't got any manual focus Nikkors, but the list of lenses that cannot be used on D300s and D700 is identical in the user manuals, as is the table of Non-CPU lenses. I always understood that pre-1977 (Pre-AI) lenses had to be modified to work on almost all modern cameras - the F3, F4 and F6 being the exceptions. I'd guess that if your pre-1977 lenses work on the D700, they've been modified & will be fine on the D300s too. Either that, or you've broken something on the D700 without realising it.

Sorry, way off topic.

Chris

The glass has not left my hands since it was purchased between 1968 - 1972 and certainly haven't been modified. As for something breaking in my D700 - I think it's unlikely as I would have spotted it by now after 3 years of use. I do, on occasion use my DX lenses on the D700 and they work fine on metering and AF so, if somethings busted it's quite insignificant.
I know Ken Rockwell has changed his tune (and so too have Nikon, because MY manual doesn't exclude old lenses). I don't know how old your D700 is but, bearing in mind that mine is 3+ years old and one of the originals, is it possible that something has changed on later D700's? There are subtle cosmetic differences between my D700 and the D300s which is only 2 years old, so they could have made changes to the insides as well.

The point I was trying to make was that I didn't have any problem with old lenses, but that's a personal view and I wasn't recommending it to anyone else. The main issue is that any AF lens made for film would be fine on a D700, D800 or any other FX body.

[Rod Lawton]

Originally Posted by kcharters

Hi Everyone, I'm considering upgrading my D300 to an FX format body. My choices are D700, D800 or wait until the rumoured D400 and D600 are released (if they ever are!!). Two of my lenses (Sigma 10 - 20mm and Nikkor 16 - 85 mm) are DX format so if I went for a D700 I would also look to upgrade them. If I went D800, then I could retain these lenses and still get a resolution of 15Mp in DX crop mode (I know they will work with the D700 in DX crop mode but reduced to around 5Mp).

I also have the MB-D10 grip so could continue to use that on the D700. Does anyone have any real world experience of the D300, D700 and D800 and could give me some advice please. My bias at the moment is towards the D700 as I cannot see any advantage (to me anyway) of 36Mp! But the cost of a D800 vs D700 and two new lenses is going to be pretty much the same if I trade in the D300 + grip for the D800. Everything I've read about the D800 is that it is an awesome camera BUT it requires top quality glass and technique to get the best from it.

Any practical advice to help me make a decsion would be very welcome.

Keith.

Can I just make a point about your last remark, that the D800 requires top quality glass and technique?

I think reviewers have said these things without realising how they sound when taken out of context. The D800 does need the best lenses and technique in order to achieve its MAXIMUM potential, but even if you don't make any changes to your technique and your lenses, and as long as your basic technique is sound, the results are still going to be a lot sharper than a D700's.

We were probably having the same discussions about the D2x versus the D3 when it first came out, but now it seems obvious the D3 was a massive step forward.

RL