Nikon D700 has a perfect hand-fit
The Nikon D700 has a perfect hand-fit. You can also purchase an additional grip that is beneficial when taking standing pictures. You can also easily do without which it since it keeps the camera more compact. One more advantage of the grip is the fact it can hold a D3 battery. Quite ideal for when you use a D3(x) beside the Nikon D700. The D700 is not the most light-weight camera in the world; however, this is not a problem to me. It offers a great balance with the lens while improving the stability at the same time. Buttons and other setting features are all well-positioned and most of them can be easily operated with gloves on, too.
Shooting photos via the Live View function
The viewfinder is beautiful and offers a lot of information. Unfortunately it does not display 100% coverage. As for information, there is nothing lacking. Everything you should know while photographing can be found in the viewfinder. Even the selected light metering system and ISO value. If you use DX lenses, the crop including the lines will be displayed in the viewfinder. If you want to view everything being captured in the picture or if the viewfinder is inconvenient in a particular moment (for example when on a high position), you can use Live View. This works well in combination with the beautiful LCD screen. Although it does seem weird to have to press the shutter release halfway down before Live View is activated. You have to press the shutter release halfway down again even for the second and subsequent picture. This is rather tedious. There are two ways to focus automatically. The first one is focusing on the image sensor. It doesn't work as fast but the advantage is that the image is visible on the screen at all times. If you use the faster AF sensor, you have to fold in the mirror first which makes the screen turn black for a second. Focus can be checked by zooming in in Live View which is really convenient. Naturally this is ideal when focusing manually.
Nikon D700 equipped with 51-points AF system
The fast Multi -CAM 3500FX 51 point AF system is always at your disposal when using the viewfinder during shooting. It is a joy to work with. The 51 points are neatly divided on the image. The multi control button allows you to quickly select the points, to group them or to leave it all up to the camera. As for me, I always keep the dynamic auto focus area activated. I select a point and if the object is moving, the AF will track it automatically.
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You can follow this action with 3D tracking activating; you can just watch the focus points change which also ensures it's done correctly. The performance of the focus system of the Nikon D700 is really superb. It's also very smart of Nikon to use colors for calculations of the metering. A system this fast, precise and well-tracking is currently only offered by Nikon.
Shoot up to 8 frames per second with the Nikon D700
You can work quite quickly with the Nikon D700. In my opinion, the buffer storage is more than enough since it can hold 23 RAW images or 100 JPEG pictures. And the capture speed of 5 frames per second is fine too. If you want to shoot faster, you can place the optional grip. The speed will then reach 8 frames per second. And if you're still not satisfied, I suggest you buy the Nikon D3! Well, who wouldn't be satisfied with this speed? The main settings can be adjusted on the camera with buttons, of which some can be programmed. Nonetheless, the need to dive into the menu every so often is inevitable. The menu is well-structured but it does contain many options. Reading the manual is a wise thing to do, although many options offer a help function on the camera. That said, it is always that one option that you which does not have the help function. Frequently used menu options can be stored on a personal menu tab which is quite convenient. It saves a lot of hassle searching for them.
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