new toys

I don't think that you need amazing equipment to take good photos. I feel like I've learned so much more by getting to know one camera and squeezing everything out of it that I possibly could. The D200 is an amazing camera. Really, there's only two reasons that I've upgraded from it, but to me they've become a necessity (I mean as far as photos are concerned, obviously eating, drinking and paying the bills are true necessities!).

One; vastly improved ISO performance in new DSLRs. This isn't limited to Nikon, and I did consider a Canon 5d Mk2, but I have so much invested in Nikon equipment, it's more sensible to stay with Nikon. That and basically everything I've read says only to get the 5d Mk2 over the D700 if you need more pixels. I don't need more pixels.

Two; full frame sensor. This is partially a self-imposed limitation, but I've been buying FX lenses for a while now, because I assumed that I'd upgrade at some point. The difference between what you shoot and what you get shooting FX lenses on a DX body is irritating (granted, it's minimal and you can crop, but it's annoying).

In the two hours that I've actually had this thing, it's already met and exceeded my expectations. The image quality is insane. ISO performance tested up to 1250 is unbelievable. Seriously, if I was mental enough to use ISO1250 on anything but a black and white conversion on the D200, it would've been a purple, grainy mess. I feel now like I don't need fill flash for anything outside bright daylight. I'm really hoping that this will afford me the confidence to shoot more in social situations as I'll be able to blend more. Trying to be subtle, firing an SB900 on iTTL at +2ev in people's faces just doesn't happen. The SB900 is an amazing gun, but I feel like it's constantly corded to the D200, which isn't right.

With the above waffle in mind, here's the first few photos off the D700. EXIF should be retained, but if it's not, the bottom 3 are all over ISO1000 and in my eyes you just couldn't tell. They're OK, but they're for proofs more than anything else.

Like a child with a new toy