Place your bets on my new DSLR

Roll up roll up, what do you think I will get to replace the D80?
I waved goodbye to the old girl this afternoon its gone to a very happy friend of mine so I can still see her from time to time.
I will give you a clue its not the M9.

Simon,

I don't read minds very well anymore, but when I read your post I had glossed over the "DSLR" designation. My first thought was that you might be going for the Panny GF-1. However since you did say DSLR, my bet is on the E-30. Then again, it could be the K7. Or it could be...oh well.

Whatever you get, I hope you love it.

Phil

well it should have been a d300 that was the intention, but I looked through the viewfinder of a d700 and it all went downhill from there.
I now have a couple of redundant dx lenses.

Device: Nikon D700
Lens: 24mm F/2.8D
Focal Length: 24mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Auto
Aperture: F/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/160s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 6400

Hello Simon -

I think it is likely, or maybe possibly, although on the other hand almost probably to be a err - uhm - No! I didn't mean that.

What I really meant was.....Oh dash it!

You've got me stumped now especially as the "World is Your Lobster".

Having more thoughts about the poser of the century and I've got it....a racing certainty as we say in the "Can't Make A Decision Club"

The answer is...Nikon D300 in extra fine condition with only 1000 clicks, new battery and recent oil change .

Now tell us that I am wrong.

Yours...Vic

Hey Simon -

I just can't believe this. I sat and composed my response in Word, faffed around and did a bit of this and a bit of that and after posting my thoughts found that you had (in the interim) already given your conclusion.

As it happens, I wasn't too far off the conclusion was I?

Vic

Hi Vic,
You would have been spot on but a little thing happened, Leica brought out the M9,
So I checked all the Leica dealers I know for secondhand Nikon bodies, looking for a D300 but this search turned up a D700 at the same price as a new D300.
This is a top tip by the way, as soon as a new body comes out check the dealer for the previous model.

The one thing that sucks is my Tokina 11-16 only works at 16mm without any filters, and my Tamron 17-50 f2.8 is useless. Well I could shot it in the DX crop mode but thats not likely. No these lens will have to be for my D70 light weight kit. (D700 is a heavy beast)

Hello Simon

Well the D700 sounds like a real winner.....even the lower pixel count will be a blessing to your computing power in the future.....

Again love to see your 1st pic.....

I am also in the process dialing in e-bay again.......my 1sr panny the G1 does not seem to cut the grade......:-(

Siegfried

I really like the D700 but its the first gadget I owned that I needed the manual for!
I don't think the lower pixel count than say a 5D Mk II is an issue I got some enlargements made from my 2MP cameraphone those that were on the forum and they were stunning, crisp and not a hit of pixelation at 10x8inch 20x25cm.
D700 images come out of the camera at 17x11inch 45x30cm and would be fine printed at metres across with a little photoshop or "genuine fractals" help.
After all 6MP was the film benchmark.
One of the nice things about the larger sensor is the noise if you get any (and you do you just have to be at 6,400 iso) it's looks like film grain, more random than digital noise. In fact if you take the ISO up to its highest setting which is HI 2 I think thats a billion ISO well I haven't worked it out yet 2 stops over 6,400 and then convert to B/W it could be TriX pushed a stop or two, lovely just what I used to shoot at college.

The above is at 2 stops over 6,400 (iso 25,600) not great in colour but very usable in B/W.
File Size: 4.62 MB
Image Size: L (4256 x 2832), FX
Image Quality: Jpeg Normal (8-bit)
Copyright: SIMON FAIRCLOUGH
Device: Nikon D700
Lens: 35mm F/2
Focal Length: 35mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
Aperture: F/18
Shutter Speed: 1/125s
Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority
Exposure Tuning: -1/6
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: 2EV over 6400
BTW http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/gf1.shtml
Sigi, that's a shame the G1 doesn't cut it, I looked at it again yesterday and think it would be a nice present for the wife. I still think its the perfect traveling camera. (GH1 would be better as the video is nice probably better for real world use than the DSLRs that do video)
But then again better if I get a Nikon D40 for her as I think that would be a good camera nice and light and we already have lenses.