How does D700 pair with Tokina 100 macro and Tokina 17-35

[rwa757]

Looking at purchasing a used D700 to use with above mentioned Tokina's. Any opinions out there on compatibility/performance?

[ShunCheung]

I still have a D700 but not those lenses. I would imagine that compatibility shouldn't be an issue. However, the D700 is a fairly "ancient" body without a 100% viewfinder, and the EN-EL3e battery is outdated. I am sure the D700 can still captured excellent images, but if possible, I would get a newer camera model.

[Andrew Garrard]

I once had a D700 and used it with the 90mm Tamron f/2.8 (pre-VC) macro, which was a competitor to the 100mm Tokina. It basically worked fine (and I still use the lens on a D810). The Tokina is (IIRC) perhaps slightly less sharp wide open, but has less visible chromatic aberration than the Tamron. It shouldn't really matter if you're stopping down for macro reasons, and I believe both the Tamron and Tokina were very highly regarded. However, if you want to take macro shots, you may well be better off starting with a camera that has higher pixel density (even a D3x00 series) - the D700 is about the least detailed macro camera Nikon made because its sensor sites are so large and it has such a strong AA filter. I've not looked closely at the zoom; I don't own any Tokina glass.

 

The D700 is a lovely camera to use, but I agree with Shun that technology has moved on - a D800 or D750 are better in almost every way (and 12MP with 12 stops of dynamic range that gets a bit iffy over ISO3200 sounds plenty... until it isn't). If you're getting one, I hope it'll be at a bargain - but check your needs. Despite this, I've almost been tempted to get one myself at current prices, as a backup, but the handling differences an incompatible batteries with my other camera make it a bit of a false economy.

[rodeo_joe1]

The macro lens should be fine. The D700 isn't at all demanding of lenses.

Having said that, I found a Tokina AT-X 20-35 lens to have extremely poor contrast and barely useable in flat light on my D700. In hard sunlight it was OK. I also had a Tokina ATX 28-80mm f/2.8 that was appalling in almost every way imaginable. Its bigger brother, the AT-X Pro 80-200 f/2.8 is only acceptable when stopped down to around f/5.6 as well.

 

I've no experience of their 16-35 (didn't even know they made one), but IME Tokina lenses tend to be either brilliant, or lemons. So if the 16-35 doesn't perform well on a D700, it definitely falls into the lemon category and won't perform well on anything.

[Wouter Willemse]

I have a D700 and the Tokina 100mm lens: fine combo, no issue at all. It's a very good lens, and as said above the D700 isn't too demanding anyway. If the lens is the fairly recent 17-35 f/4 AT-X Pro, that should be decent performer according to what I've read, but somehow that lens never managed to make the headlines in the same way the APS-C Tokina wide angle lenses have done. No experience with it, but if it's anything like those APS-C lenses or the 16-28 f/2.8 Tokina, you should be fine.