D700 - top tips

<p>Hi,<br>

I'm just about to move on up from a D80 to a D700 (arrives tomorrow!) so have spent the past few days since ordering mugging up on the manual, digitutor, posts here etc. Cripes - I feel like I need a few days off work to head back to school and study! This is a serious upgrade. I've done it because of the features that it brings - shooting banks, better ISO performance, increased flash sync speed, increased dynamic range etc. I'm doing a studio shoot in a couple of weeks so that gives me time to get that angle sorted, but it looks like there are so many options now to set up for CLS and general photography.<br>

I'd be grateful for any top tips (particularly for setup) from folks that have had one of these. <br>

Tomorrow's Wednesday pic could be the last with the D80 (for a while!).<br>

Thanks in advance<br>

andyc</p>

<p>about options with the CLS, i had a d90 before my d700 and it had one more group available in the CLS. just a strange caveat that seems incongruous with the rest of the camera.</p>

<p>the way ive got her set up is i'm using two custom settings banks right now:<br>

bank A is for shooting natural light, DOF preview is set to its namesake, function button goes to top of my menu which is picture control. and AE/L does its namesake as well. bank b sets the function button to hold the flash off, DOF preview is set to that but will probably change to FV lock, and AE/L is set to top of my menu, which must be the same across all the banks. be nice to be able to rearrange my menu for each bank and have flash control for built in flash on top here.</p>

<p>i don't use the shooting banks, as these options are either easily changed or never changed by me. so i don't build them into a preset. </p>

<p>anyways, enjoy the camera. one thing that the manual does not spell out well and will confuse you and make you think that your camera is broken is that most options set for the three programmable buttons will cancel the options set for that button and a jog wheel. this is under an asterik and a footnote, but it was incomprehensible for a long while to me.</p>

<p>Auto-ISO. I set the AE-L/AF-L button on the back to bring up the Auto ISO menu, so that I can change the shutter speed limit to 1/ƒ every time I change lenses when shooting handheld and/or in uncontrolled light. I just let it roam up to 6400 if it needs it. I wasn't comfortable letting the D200 roam.</p>

<p>Sure wish you could literally set it to 1/ƒ. It knows the focal length, why can't it do this itself?</p>

<p>Look here: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uL%2BVbEuQL._SL500_AA240_.jpg</p>

<p>I have the one in German, and it's a real asset. I've changed from Canon to Nikon (even more to learn!) and the approach is heavily pragmatic, guiding you through all the extras. In principle it's plug and play - I've spent a weekend with the book on the table and the camera in my hands... quite good, and very useful!</p>

<p>Andy it is a highly sophisticated camera. The good news is that you can set it to manual and get familiar with the results. The big danger is you might like it ^^.</p>

<p>Next step is to use aperture priority mode. Of course today a camera is advertised as a major computer than can also do your shooting.</p>

<p>Except for sports you may keep shooting in these two modes. The sensor is just so good you may not need all the bells and electronic sound machines^^. Have fun.<br>

Hope you can sleep ^^.</p>

<p>I agree with Mark, I love Auto ISO. I have mine set up to 3200, which is considerably higher than I would have ever considered shooting with my D200. Image quaility aside (which is amazing), the camera was worth the upgrade for the ISO performance. It has changed how I shoot indoor photography. I rarely even need a flash.</p>

<p>Andy, what lenses will you be using?</p>

<p>Tips?<br>

Picture Control - Standard for people, Vivid for Scenics. I boost the sharpening and saturation controls in "Vivid" by one notch each (+1 out of a potential +3). CAVEAT: When shooting in Vivid, the red channel will tend to overexpose. Adjust accordingly.<br>

Noise Reduction: Long Exposure NR off for exposures under 2 seconds; High ISO NR off until I approach 6400.<br>

ISO: What can I say? Stick it on 1600, 3200, or 6400 and go out and shoot handheld shots tonight.<br>

ISO, a caveat: High ISO performance is great, but you still get better clarity and sharpness at lower values. ISO 1600 is beautiful, but it does NOT look as good as ISO 200.<br>

Lenses: Use the best glass that you can afford. Images from the D700 do NOT look like 12MP images (more like 16MP at the lowest ISO values). If you want to enjoy that resolution, don't limit the glass.<br>

Metering: The internal meter is "off" a little bit from my other Nikons and meters, but it works perfectly with the built-in FX sensor. When my D200 and F100 read 1/250, the D700 reads 1/160, i.e. it routinely overexposes by 2/3 stop. Again, this is not a problem with the built-in sensor, but if you use these meter readings for other cameras you'll get over-exposed images. (I suspect that the boost toward overexposure is an attempt at engineering ETTR into the camera. No problem, it works in most cases.)<br>

Shoot shoot shoot! Enjoy enjoy enjoy!</p>

 

<p>All,<br>

thanks for the tips so far. I should say that I'll be mainly using the 24-70 2.8 (which has pretty much stayed on my D80 since I bought it). I will be looking for a lens in the 105-180 range now that I'm losing the 1.5 factor, but that will have to wait. I am so looking forward to wides being wide (28 2.8 & 35 2 etc) and for giving my 85 1.8 a better test.<br>

One of my first run throughs will be with higher iso. I shoot studio at iso 100 1/60-1/80 with my D80 and am looking forward to upping this to iso 400 1/125-1/200-ish with the D700. I am not planning on any fast-frame sports stuff (just yet) - mostly studio and landscapes.<br>

andyc</p>

<p>Andy, the 24-70 is a great companion to your D700! You can do just about everything with this duo except capture distant wildlife.</p>

<p>I would agree the 24-70 is a perfect range lens. I have the Sigma EX 24-60 2.8 that I use and it is a nice focal length. I wish I had about 10mm more like a 24-70. The 24 wide end is perfect. If I could afford it I would be getting the Nikkor 24-70, I might settle for a 24-70 Sigma EX HSM.</p>

<p> A footnote on the higher iso, per Stafford's Magic Lantern Guide, the trade off is a decrease in dynamic range at the the rate of one stop for each stop of iso increase also with a loss of saturation (with my heavy p/s saturation hand, probably not too bad)and tonal separation. I believe he indicates the d 700 has about a 9 stop range but I havent tested it. I think the d200 I had tested at about 6. In addition, reducing below 200 to 100 , the highlight end becomes overexposed more quickly. He recommends shooting at iso 200 for best quality. It is amazing to have that kind of useable iso available though. Some of us remember 100 speed film as being really fast. </p>

<p>I just got my MB-D10 battery grip today, it is really nice. Definitely the nicest grip I have ever owned. Huge improvement over the D200 battery grip.</p>