Nikon D700 Digital Camera Review

Nikon D700

Digital Camera Review

4.3 Is it rational to call a $3000 camera a bargain? It is when it delivers nearly all the features of the company’s revered $5000 pro model, which is precisely the case with the Nikon D700. Basically the D700 takes the best parts of two established cameras and blends them seamlessly. The $5000 Nikon D3 contributes a full-frame 12.1-megapixel image sensor with low-noise performance that makes previously impossible photos as simple as pressing the shutter. From the Nikon D300 comes a nearly unchanged body that’s hefty but nicely balanced, tightly sealed against the elements and nearly 20% lighter than the D3. For the full rundown on one of the year’s most important cameras, read on.
Advertisement
Recently Viewed Products
$549
$353
$379
$550
Top DSLR Cameras
Max Price: $7700
$0 $1925 $3850 $5775 $7700
Filters
All
Canon
Fuji
Nikon
Olympus
Panasonic
Pentax
All
Consumer
Professional
Prosumer
1.Olympus E-P1
Consumer
$800
2.Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Prosumer
$2,680
3.Nikon D5000
Consumer
$719
4.Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Consumer
$795
5.Panasonic DMC-GF1
Consumer
$900
D700 Prices
Latest Camera Reviews
DSLR Point & Shoot
Panasonic
DMC-GF1
Samsung
TL225
Pentax
K10D
Canon
PowerShot S90
Olympus
E-P1
Canon
G11
Canon
EOS 5D
Panasonic
DMC-ZS3
Nikon
D3000
Canon
PowerShot A650 IS
External Reviews
CNET - Cameras
Nikon D700
Photography Blog
Nikon D700 Review
DCResource
Nikon D700
Dev Hardware
Nikon D700

Is it rational to call a $3000 camera a bargain? It is when it delivers nearly all the features of the company’s revered $5000 pro model, which is precisely the case with the Nikon D700. Basically the D700 takes the best parts of two established cameras and blends them seamlessly. The $5000 Nikon D3 contributes a full-frame image sensor with low-noise performance that makes previously impossible photos as simple as pressing the shutter. From the Nikon D300 comes a nearly unchanged body that’s hefty but nicely balanced, tightly sealed against the elements and nearly 20% lighter than the D3.

What exactly is a full-frame sensor, and why do you care if your camera has one? Back in the days when men were men and cameras used film, lenses and bodies were designed to take pictures on 35mm film. Most lenses (though admittedly not all) are still built in a shape and size to illuminate a 35mm film frame but, on most digital cameras, the actual sensor that’s capturing the light is much smaller. The result is the apparent magnification effect (ordinarily 1.5x) you see when mounting a lens on a digital SLR. In other words, a 100mm lens on most digital SLRs is going to produce an image similar to a 150mm lens on a 35mm camera. Sometimes that’s great – more telephoto lens with less bulk to carry. Sometimes it’s a pain – that 28mm lens that produces lovely wide-angle shots on a 35mm camera is suddenly shooting like a 42mm lens, producing photos that look roughly like what you'd see with the naked eye instead of breathtaking panoramas. What’s happening is that only the middle of the lens is actually being used – the light captured by the remaining glass falls outside the sensor area and is lost. With a full-frame sensor, though, the camera behaves optically like a 35mm film camera, squeezing all the goodness out of the lenses you carry.

In the case of the Nikon D3 and D700, the larger sensor also means larger light receptors on the sensor surface. Sure, you'll find tiny cameras that shoot at 12 megapixels, but the light receptors on the sensor surface are very small and crammed together very closely. The result? Lower light sensitivity (the receptors just don’t have enough surface area to see very many photons) and higher image noise caused by electronic crosstalk among components. Take that same 12-megapixel specification, spread it across a 24mm x 36mm chip and you have a camera that loves the dark and laughs at grainy photographs – in short, the Nikon D700.

Section
The Good
The Bad
Tour
Clear, clean layout with easily accessible controls
Size and shape will discourage the forearm-impaired
Testing/Performance
Exemplary low-noise images, good color and resolution
Subpar white balance and auto noise score
Components
Beautiful LCD, well-placed flash Live View still slow and clumsy to use
Design/Layout
Big but well balanced, menus nicely organized and customizable
Lots of buttons to learn before you can shoot fluidly
Modes
Fast burst rate, effective image review system
Limited in-camera editing, no image presets
Control Options
Full manual control available for all aspects of shooting
Takes a 400-plus-page manual to explain it all
Image Parameters
Shoots JPEG, RAW and TIFF
Image effects preview limited
Connectivity/Extras
High-def video output, long battery life
Mediocre software bundle
Value
Most of the oomph of the $5000 Nikon D3 at 60% of the price
But that's still 3 grand plus lens
 

Advertisement