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Nikon D700 vs Nikon D4

I guess anyone can read the specification sheet for both the Nikon D700 and the Nikon D4 and come up with a list of differences. But another thing is working with both cameras side by side for an extended period of time. Then you get to know the differences from a real world experience. In this blog I want to share how it is to live and work with these two cameras, based on a few areas that I have selected that are important to me.

Introduction

The Nikon D4 is in the single digit line of Nikon cameras, meaning that Nikon calls this a flagship camera. It is a good as it gets basically. However, the camera is more than 10 years old and the original ask for 6000 USD is not dropped to a more manageable 1000 EUR on the used market. So you can get your hands on a pro level camera for a fraction of what a new one would set you back.

The D700 was made between 2008 and 2012, so it is older than the D4. It shows in many ways: the pixel count is lower, no video, etc. But the D700 is a legend, and many consider the combination of sensor and processing logic to be unique, actually so unique that Nikon never since has made a camera with color rendition and micro contrast as good as the D700. Also, the D700 can be had for a lot less than 1000 EUR, but the challenge is more to find a copy that is not too beaten up / has too many clicks on the clock, than to find an affordable copy.

Many consider the D700 a baby version of the D3, and believe that Nikon with the D700 made a mistake and produced a camera in the enthusiast lineup that came too close to their flagship cameras. Nikon learned their lesson, and subsequently made sure to have good distance between their flagship, pro-level and enthusiast level lineup.

Image quality

Especially skin tones are known to be unrivalled and unique for the D700. I leave it up to you to decide if you want to believe the magic and hype related to the D700. I have seen it periodically shine and give a 3D pop never seen with other cameras, and many of my landscape pictures look more like paintings than pictures. So yes, I can confirm there is something about the D700, but I am skeptical if all of the hype is justified.

I will say though that when it comes to B&W images, the D700 in my humble opinion has something special – the images are very clean and rich in contrast, far better than any other camera I have had the pleasure to use.

On the other side I find that the D4 makes mincemeat of the D700 when it comes to colors and color rendition – the D4 in my opinion is simply some of the best with rich saturated colors, where I find the D700 to be more pale or less saturated. This is up to personal preference and taste, but for me the D4 shines when it comes to colors.

In terms of the more technical or specs related differences, the D4 has both more pixel count and more dynamic range. I have produced large prints (100 cm times 70 cm) with the Nikon D700 with no problems, so I am a strong believer that 12MP is more than plenty also for large prints, when we are talking natural viewing distances. If you need to crop, then the D4 clearly has an advantage with its 16MP relative to the 12MP of the D700, and for wildlife I often find that I need to crop, and then the D700 clearly has an disadvantage. However, for many applications (landscape, street, products, candid), I find that 12 MP is more than plenty.

Many shy away from the D700 when they understand it “only” has 12MP. But I say: fear not, it is plenty! Unless you want to make very big prints that needs to be viewed very close up, or you want to crop your pictures heavily. If not, then 12MP is more than enough. And when you load your pictures into Lightroom or wherever you do your post processing, you will enjoy the smaller file size. And storage wise you will find that the D700 files take up less space on your hard-drive and backup storage facilities. So I will claim that the smaller pixel count makes living with the D700 somewhat easier than the D4.

Ergonomics and build quality

The D700 and D4 have significant differences in build quality. Even though the D700 is built very solid, the D4 takes it up a notch, and comes with what I call a built in battery grip. The D4 is also a very heavy camera body weighing almost 1.5 kilo, which paired with a heavy lens is a very heavy combo. If you don’t like a heavy and bulky camera, then you probably want to stay clear of both the D4 and the D700, but especially the D4.

Both cameras have great ergonomics and I am in general a fan of Nikons way to design their cameras and button layout so you do not get tired working with them for extended periods of time. One area where you will notice that these are older cameras is the rear screen, where both of them are fixed. No tilt of flip-out or anything. Fixed:

Nikon D4 and Nikon D700 — Nikon D700 to the left with a battery grip. Nikon D4 to the right. Notice the extra LCD screen on the D4 + the 2 joysticks, one top right next to the large rear LCD, another bottom right to the same LCD.

With the D700 you have the option to add a battery grip, which makes it – in terms of height and ergonomics – very similar to the D4. However, the D4 comes with 2 joysticks for moving the focus point around, with the D700 that only comes with the battery grip, in landscape mode you have to do with the command wheel. Some complaint that the joysticks on the D4 easily fall of, but I am so lucky to not have had this issue.

One area that buggers me senseless with the D700 is the lack of 100% viewfinder coverage. The D4 has 100%, but the D700 only has 95%. You may think that this is a small thing, but if you like me try to crop your images precisely when shooting only to learn that the camera added 5% more, then I think you will feel the annoyance of the additional 5%. Switching between the D4 and the D700, it always strikes me how much this little difference means to me in real life.

Auto ISO

I know it is a small thing, but with the D4 I can switch between setting the ISO myself and asking the camera to do it for me very easily. I hit the ISO button bottom left on the rear of the D4 while turning the front command dial. Then it flicks between auto-ISO and “manual” ISO. Not so on the D700 – here I have to go into the menu system to change this. I know it is a small thing and I know you can configure “my menu” to have the ISO on top of the list and have it assigned to a dedicated button, but I find that the D4 implementation is so much easier to work with and also here – like the viewfinder coverage – it always strikes me how much this little difference means to me in real life.

Card slots

One area that always causes a lot of debate is one or two card slots. The D700 to the left comes with one CF card and the D4 to the right has both a CF card slot and an XQD slot. Especially for wedding photographers but basically anybody that appreciates the philosophy of “no single point of failure”, the value of having 2 card slots cannot be exaggerated. You may be of the “I have never had a card failing on me”, but Murphy is alive and kicking and it is only a matter of time. There have been days when I came home from a shoot thinking that the content of the cards was far more valuable than the camera holding them. But of course up to you how important 2 card slots is!

Live view

You may not use Live View much, but if you do, then this is one of the areas where the D4 shines relative to the D700. I think the Live View implementation on the D700 was one of the first implementations Nikon did, and it is a bit quirky. There is no dedicated Live View button and you have to select between two different Live View modes. A0nd the autofocus is slow when you opt for the “Tripod” mode, as it is called. You will quickly enjoy the Live View implementation on the D4 with a dedicated button.

What to choose?

If you are about to choose between the D4 and the D700, then you are in for a tough choice. Boiled down to one sentence? You choose the D700 with your heart and the D4 with your head. The D4 is a more modern camera, and although heavier, it is easier to work with. Personally I find that I shoot a lot more with the D4 than the D700, simply because it is a camera I find a lot easier to work with (100% view finder coverage, dedicated live-view button, easy AUTO ISO switch etc).

If you are in doubt, buying a good copy of a D700 will not set you back much – you can always get a very good price for a D700 due to its legend status, and then the price of owning it is only the difference between what you bought it for and what you sold it for. And even without being a top negotiator, I think you will find the gap to be small.

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Is mirrorless cameras better than DSLRs?

I shoot both mirrorless and DSLRs and enjoy both of them. But there are differences, and in this post I want to share how I see them, and give you advantages of both types of cameras. My DSLRs are the Nikon D750, D700 and D5600, whereas my mirrorless are the Sony A7Rii, Fuji X-T3 and X-T20.

Nikon D700 in the background, Fuji X-T3 in front

Where mirrorless is better

Viewfinder options. The electronic viewfinder (EVF) gives some options for combining camera metrics and the traditional viewfinder in one screen, where the DSLR primarily gives the view through the lens, and allows a bit of data to be displayed beneath. The EVF can show you what hits the sensor alongside with vital metrics like the histogram , just to give one example, and the DSLR has no chance to do so, other than in live view mode.

Autofocus. The autofocus capabilities of a modern mirrorless are nothing but astonishing. It is probably debatable if the software in the camera is artificial intelligence or just very powerful software, but the result it delivers cannot be disputed. With continuous software updates the manufacturers can push new and better software to do face recognition and eye detection, and the recent Fuji X-T3 software update is a brilliant example of the progress made. Also, there is typically no limitation to where you can put the focus point for single point focus – on a DSLR that is more or less limited to the center of the frame.

Exposure preview. If you, like me, shoot at lot in manual mode, the exposure preview in the EVF is a huge help. What you see in the viewfinder emulates exactly the picture you will take when you hit the shutter, so if your settings underexpose the picture, your viewfinder shows a dark picture. I know that a DSLR has a metering scale that says the same, but I am often so occupied with looking at the subject, framing, etc that I forget to look at the meter. The “warning” that you get from the EVF has saved me some frustrations more than once.

Shooting with old manual focus lenses. The fact that the EVF allows you to zoom what you see in the viewfinder, is a huge benefit to manual focus, and this in combination with focus peak points makes manual focus on a mirrorless so much easier than a DSLR. In fact, these features in combination with a dumb adaptors, makes it possible to use vintage lenses from various brands on any mirrorless camera. So the huge amount of cheap but high quality vintage glass available has suddenly been brought to new life due to the features of the mirrorless camera bodies.

Silence. Maybe a specialized feature, but you can shoot absolutely silent with a mirrorless camera. No moving parts when you hit the shutter, if you switch on the electronic “curtain”. It is a very strange feeling when you try it first time, and I have my camera simulate the sound of a DSLR to give me feedback that a picture was taken. But I can see that wedding photographers taking the “I do” picture or the discrete street photographer enjoying the stealth mode of their mirrorless cameras.

Video capabilities. The mirrorless cameras get more and more computing power and this also makes it possible to process more and more resolution and frames per second. We have seen 1080p grow to 4K and 8K, the bit depth increases and the max frames per second also seems to double every second year. And this technology is primarily available in mirrorless, with the Nikon D780 being the exception to this rule. So demanding hybrid shooters probably only look towards mirrorless when choosing a camera these days.

Where DSLRs are better

The optical viewfinder (OVF). No matter how good they make the electronic viewfinder (EVF), it will never be as good and as fast as the optical one. There is no lag at all, and what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). On the EVF, you are watching TV. Modern EVFs are fast and have a lot of resolution, but it will never be as fast and as high resolution as the real deal.

The battery life. Provided you don’t shoot in live view, the advantage of the DSRL is that it doesn’t have to fire up and power a TV screen (the EVF) that drains a lot of power. So the battery life of a DSLR is much longer than the mirrorless. You probably want to get a vertical grip for your mirrorless alone for the reason that it holds one or more extra batteries to compensate for the fact that a mirrorless chews your batteries like packman chews coins.

Ergonomics. I am of the opinion that a camera should either be so small you can carry and operate it with 3 fingers (like the Sony RX100) or so big and bulky that it fills your hand and has a good grip, like the Nikon D700. Anything in between is a mistake. Both Fuji X-T20, X-T3 and Sony A7Rii are unfortunately in the “in between” zone, and for all I have had to buy battery grips, not for the sake of more battery power, but to give me just decent ergonomics. I think it is fine that the body is more slim and the weight is a bit lower than on a DSLR, but please give me ergonomics like the good old DSLRs!

Price. DSLRs have been around for many years, and a good guesstimate is that more than 95% of the cameras out there today (October 2020) are DSLRs. And many cameras produced today are still DSLRs. So if you want to buy used or make a good deal on a black Friday, you will get much more camera for your money when it comes to DSLRs than a mirrorless. I am a big advocate for the Nikon D700, and although dated and only a 12MP camera, it produces absolutely amazing pictures and can be found for 400 EUR (used of course). And with a bit of luck, your copy will not be too beaten up and has a shutter count with plenty actuations left still. Be aware that the camera manufacturers stop producing spare parts after some years (how many varies) so eventually it will be difficult to have your trusty DSLR repaired.

What should you choose?

Camera choice comes down to personal preferences. You need a shoe that fits your foot. You cannot assume that because I like a certain shoe, that it will suit you. Feet and preferences are different. And so are photographers.

That said, I think that photographers shooting things that move fast like sports and wildlife will enjoy the AF features a mirrorless provides. But on the other hand the Nikon D500 (a DSLR) still has one of the best and fastest AF systems any camera can offer.

People photographers (wedding, portrait, friends/family) may enjoy the AF capabilities of the mirrorless, especially face detection and eye detection, to maximize the number of pictures in focus. It is a big relief that you can focus on other things than obtaining focus, and once you have gotten used to this comfort, I think it is hard to turn back.

Hybrid shooters will enjoy the evolution of the video capabilities in the mirrorless cameras. But a Go-Pro camera can also do astonishing things if your zoom/lens requirements are not too advanced, so a better option could be a cheap DSLR with a Go-Pro on the side.

And just to round off with a bit of perspective: Many of the pictures that are classic and that you probably have seen and admired many times, were made with technology far less advanced than the camera in your smartphone! Choosing a good camera body is vital, but subject, scene, colors, light, timing and composition are even more important. So maybe your good old DSLR is not so bad after all.

Thank you for reading this far!

Nikon D750: The replacement is here! Nikon D780

Nikon the 7th of January 2020 announced the long awaited Nikon D780 to replace the Nikon D750. The D750 has hence been around for more than 5 years, and an upgrade was very much due, although I still consider the D750 a great camera for stills.

The fact that 98% or so of the Nikon camera bodies out there are DSLRs with the good old F-mount, gives the financially stressed Nikon company a great opportunity to upgrade some of the DSLR models so all of us with lots of F-mount glass with no desire for a mirror less can upgrade to a more recent camera body.

The big picture

The big change when it comes to the D780 is a merger of the Nikon Z6 and the D750, so you get all the good stuff you know from the D750 when shooting with the mirror flicking, and all the goods from the Z6 when shooting in liveview.

What stays the same?

It is still a full frame DSLR with an 25 MP sensor and 51 AF points, so the sensor seems very similar to the D750 although back-light illuminated. The AF system is still the one we know from the D810. No image stabilization in body (No IBIS).

The outstanding battery life performance when not shooting in liveview mode continues – Nikon reports up to approx. 2300 shots per battery!

And the dual card slot setup that event shooters are so dependent upon remains.

Major improvements

The video specs now cover 4K and certainly also the capabilities in liveview mode, where all the good stuff from the Z6 is inherited, like the 273 AF points, and eye detect AF.

Although many do not notice, the fact that the processor is the EXPEED6 and hence jumps several generations forward, will be a major improvement, especially for color rendition and JPGs. I really look forward to the performance boost that this will give and also suspect that the low light improvements to some extend will be rooted in the new processor generation.

Many professionals will be happy to see that the max shutter speed is now 1/8000th of a second and that FPS has been lifted from 6.5 to 7, and the continuous electronic shutter speed is 12 FPS.

Another major improvement is the LCD screen with much better resolution, but still not fully articulating – we will have to do with the flip screen. And it is touch sensitive, which is a major step forward compared to the D750.

Minor improvements

As far as I can tell from the pictures from the announcements, the D780 will have a dedicated ISO button, like the D7500. That is a minor thing, but if you missed it like me, then this is a small but important improvement.

The USB-C port and the option to charge via USB is great news. I find that as more and more vendors use USB-C connectors my life becomes more easy, as the number of chargers I have to keep track of drops significantly. This is great news IMO.

And the eye-cup seems to be deeper and stick more out from the body, a thing that shooters like me wearing glasses will appreciate.

What worries

There is no contacts for a battery grip. For many professionals this will be a major issue as a battery grip is key in terms of ergonomics when you work with the camera all day long. I will say though that the leaked pictures to me look like there is a grip available, but I cannot say with certainty.

The jury is still out when it comes to the built in AF motor. I really hope that Nikon does not save the production cost of adding the AF motor – for many enthusiasts with lots of Nikon AF glass with the screwdriver AF, this is key.

A built in flash has been removed and to me this is a big setback. I often use the built in flash to trigger other (non Nikon) flashes in optical slave mode and it is a bit of a nuisance that the flash is gone.

Price and availability

The D780 is available from February 2020.

The price is set to 2299 USD. That will then be double the price for a brand new D750. I think you will have to be a professional looking for the improved specs in order to accept the steep price – a happy enthusiast like me cannot justify doubling the price for better video quality and improved AF in liveview. Good news is that the D750, while on stock, is likely to drop further in price. During black friday sales in November 2019, the D750 was available at prices well below 1000 USD.

What do you think?

Will you invest in a Nikon D780? Or what are your thoughts. Please let me know in the comments below.

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