2008/9/18 Bruce Dayton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Well, the camera certainly is not holding you back. There are some > nice images in there.
Thanks Bruce. > From your indications, you are using a Sigma, > Voigtlander and Nikkor lenses. I would be curious to know your > thoughts so far of the camera and lenses. The lenses. So far I have: Nikkor AF-D 35mm f2 Nikkor AF-D 50mm f1.4 Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 EX DG Macro Voigtlander 125mm f2.5 Macro APO Lanthar The Nikon 50 & 35mm are handy focal lengths & make for a relatively compact lens/body combination. I've no experience with the FA 35mm f2, so I can't compare, but the Nikkor is pretty soft @ f2 and distorts a bit. but for what I use that lens for it's performance is acceptable. Same with the 50, not as nice as the FA 50 f1.4, but usable. Stopped down a bit, both lenses are fine. I have for a long time steered away from Sigma due to previous bad experiences. But I couldn't afford to start out buying both the new body & the Nikon equivalent 24-70mm f2.8. This forced me to consider the Sigma. I gave it a good workout in the store & was convinced that i had a good copy. Sharp, nice contrast etc. So I got it & haven't regretted that purchase. The only thing I wished was that it had the flare resistance of my Pentax glass. I have to pay extra attention when shooting near bright light sources. The Voigtlander 125mm f2.5 Macro I also have in Pentax mount & was the one lens I really wanted to have access to on the Nikon. As it's out of production & highly sort after, when one came up on eBay & was going for a reasonable price I pounced on it. I recommend to anyone, if you can find a copy & it won't cost you your first born or both kidneys, get it. It is beautifully sharp & the bokeh is delicious. I love this lens. The camera: It's solid, well built, big & relativity heavy. However I have carried it around all day without any ill effects :-) It's nice to shoot looking through a decent VF again. On occasion I have both the K20D & D700 with me when I'm out shooting & switching from the D700 to the K20D, I really notice how small the K20D's VF really is. The D700 UI is very nice. This is why I went with Nikon over Canon. I just really like how Nikon's bodies handle & coming from Pentax the re-learning curve isn't very steep. AF is snappy & I haven't noticed the "Penatx 2 step" style of focusing (ie quick & dirty, then a final adjustment). Either it doesn't do it, or I'm not noticing it because the Nikon screw drive AF is lower pitched & less obvious. Metering is spot on in most situations. I'm finding it more accurate than the K20D at any rate. Live view implementation is much better than the K20D. So much so that I actually use it (the macro of the Viola was focused using LV). You can zoom in without the image quality falling apart almost instantly. Also the virtual horizon in live view (and in the VF) is a neat feature. When I shoot at night I can't always see the horizon so this is a useful feature. ISO & low noise performance live up to the hype & are my main reasons for the purchase. With the K20D I always hesitated to shoot over ISO 800, I would if I had no other choice, but preferred not to. With the D700 I don't even think twice about going up to ISO 3200. Also as mentioned previously for long exposure night shots, none of my Pentax DSLR's have been able to come close to the low noise performance. Buying the D700 wasn't easy or frivolous decision. I didn't really want to do it, but I'm starting to find a direction to my photography and it's low light & long exposures. Unfortunately the current Pentax technology just isn't up to satisfying my requirements. I'm also not convinced that Samsung have enough experience in sensor design yet to produce what I'm after. I hope I am proven wrong, and that Hoya Pentax will do something special soon. Cheers, Dave > Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 9:14:55 AM, you wrote: > > DS> G'day All, > > DS> So I stated the other day that I bought a Nikon D700. I've had it now > DS> for a few weeks & thought I'd share 10 of my better shots for those > DS> who are so inclined to look. > > DS> If you can handle Flickr's slideshows: > > DS> <http://flickr.com/photos/disavage/sets/72157607344500355/show/> -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
