Nikon D700 Unveiled
Image courtesy of DPREVIEW.COM
I see that Nikon has unveiled their newest pro DSLR body. The D700. I haven’t yet quite figured out or read how they arrived at the designation “700″. In following the standard Nikonian nomenclature, one might expect that the new body be called the D400, followed by the updated D3 body, which would be called the D3x etc etc.
I have to admit that I was a little irritated by this news. I don’t for one second try to kid myself into thinking that just because I invest in the latest and greatest gear, that it won’t one day be outdated and improved upon, but I really didn’t expect this new body to come along so quickly. Now for $3000, I can buy almost the EXACT same camera that I spent $5000 on a few months ago. There appear to be very few differences between the D3 and D700 other than FPS capability, the obvious body size (the D700 lacks a built in vertical grip) and the fact that the D700 has a built in flash. I’m of course not a huge fan of the pop up flash, but I’m not going to gripe about it being there. I suppose it could come in handy once in a while. My biggest issue is that the D700 has a self-cleaning sensor, which is a feature that for some unknown reason, didn’t appear in the D3. Even the D300 (I may have to double check this) has a self-cleaning sensor. It just seems insane to me that this relatively old-ish technology is absent in Nikon’s flagship body.
Complaining aside, I expect the D700 to be a spectacular camera that will open up a lot of possibilities for newbie professionals and prosumers. The D3 is still the current winner body for photo journalists and sports photographers, hands down and I don’t expect that that will change for some time. The D3, for me, is an excellent all-rounder that gets every job done right and to me, that makes it worth every penny. When you consider the feature set, $3000 for a D700 is a steal. Slap on a vertical grip with a pro battery and you will virtually have a D3 for two thousands dollars less than what the rest of us chumps paid.
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