[paulsoucy]

I thought I should update this thread with my decision....

after I posted originally and I was still on the fence Canon announced the 7d and I seriously looked at that camera, I also thought about harnessing my Pentax glass and just taking a risk on the K7 but in the end... I decided to go with the D700 and still retain my Pentax system as my backup and I am glad I did...

There is like a 400 percent difference in performance / quality between the two and how well everything works....

I still have my Pentax system and will continue to use it for the right situations....

Here is some samples with the D700 and the new Nikon 50g... at this point my camera had not been calibrated yet so I did not find out till later the lens was backfocusing slightly....

Not a shot here under ISO 6400....( a few are 8000 ) I Printed these out to a few 5 by 7's and even 8 by 10's and was astounded..... jpgs straight from the camera, I cannot even imagine what I could have done with a RAW file..... I would say if you expose right an ISO 8000 jpg from a D700 looks like a pushed ISO 800 shot from a K10... that is friggin nuts!!

I still love Pentax though just for the kind of work I do I needed the beast.... Pentax is still my first love and I will keep it till it croaks.... : )


ISO 6400


ISO 6400


ISO 8000


ISO 8000


ISO 8000 made for a pretty drop dead gorgeous 5 by 7 print, the girl was in love with it!!

Paul

[jacksonpritt]

Daaaaaamn...

If I didn't have so much money invested in Pentax lenses I'd think about switching...

What lens were you using for those club shots?


EDIT: As a side note, the low-aperture & lens flare look in video is a fad, and if you guys don't realize that you're dolts. EVERYBODY is doing it right now, which means that it's going to look cheezy as hell in a couple years. I like the way it looks right now, but when EVERYONE is doing something it's going to start looking dated pretty quickly.

[Pentaxor]

Daaaaaamn...

If I didn't have so much money invested in Pentax lenses I'd think about switching...

What lens were you using for those club shots?


EDIT: As a side note, the low-aperture & lens flare look in video is a fad, and if you guys don't realize that you're dolts. EVERYBODY is doing it right now, which means that it's going to look cheezy as hell in a couple years. I like the way it looks right now, but when EVERYONE is doing something it's going to start looking dated pretty quickly.

what for? next year we would see tons of new FF dslrs offered and the D700 would only be a thing of the past. you don't want to experience buyers' remorse afterwards, don't you?

[tarsus]

Quote: "I would say if you expose right an ISO 8000 jpg from a D700 looks like a pushed ISO 800 shot from a K10... that is friggin nuts!"

What is "friggin nuts" is that you are comparing a $2,000 camera to a $400 camera. How about this: "If you expose to the right an ISO 102,400 jpg from a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV it looks like a pushed ISO 800 from a D700." Duh.

[kittykat46]

Wow....at USD $2,000 it better be good (which it is) ....otherwise its mighty a waste of money...

[Rondec]

Glad you feel comfortable with your switch. Looks like a pretty amazing camera. I have to agree, though that comparing the K10 (the worst high iso performance of any Pentax camera I have shot) with the D700 is kind of worthless. Any of the other cameras out there has significant gains on the D700 -- the kx is actually pretty close noise wise at 6400, just not as good dynamic range.

I am sure you will be happy with your equipment, but I still think that Pentax offers good value and features for a lot of photographers (even pros) out there.

[paulsoucy]

I thought I might get flamed a little.... I guess noone ready where I said: Pentax was my first love and I was still keeping the system around..... its right here next to me on my desk....

Tarsus/Rondec - I was not comparing to make a fair comparison but to say this is what I had and now what I jumped to I was not trying to put the camera's on an equal playing field.... because there isn't one and I payed 800 for my K10. over 2-3 years ago..... its probably worth only 100 now or even less than that... I went back and forth with this in my head too... about Crop versus full frame.... seriously until you actually shoot one in real situations... you can't make any kind of qualified statement about the noise.... test files and downloadable images from websites are completely worthless..... as soon as I opened up the camera I took it to the hardest place where I kniew the camera would have to work.... there is no comparison.... to be able to just sit at ISO 1600 as a standard mode of operation changes the game for the kind of shots you can pick off....... to also have a camera and lens setup that can pick off shots fast ( not saying Pentax can't its just not fast about it ) in almost total darkness is also a game changer as well.......

For example take the shot of the group in a row guys and girls...Im using a 50mm lens at 1/25th a second which is 2/3rd a stop under exposed according to the camera meter.... and in order to pick this shot off I still had to sit the camera at ISO 8000....... the IS / low ISO deal the Pentax offers is very useful for still shots where you do not need to make them fast but it prevents its own problems......

THe Nikon has a few tweaks that bug the hell out of me, this is why I said in certain situations I will use my Pentax.... the Nikon is mainly my event / wedding / party camera and my Pentax is my outdoor walk around general camera.... on the other hand one of the great things about the Nikon is those two custom function buttons that strut the front of the camera, highly useful in fast situations....

I did not post this to get flamed, or to anger anyone loyal to Pentax, I still love Pentax but I found myself very turned off by the K7's noise, and the KX well its just not the kind of camera I'd want to take into an event... sometimes you don't care about what a camera offers.... at the very least I know my Nikon will keep up with the pace I need to use it for the paid work I do....

I just wanted to update this thread because it was a well viewed discussion a few months back...

[paulsoucy]

Some asked what lens I was using.....

I was using the new Nikon 50 1.4G AF-S...

calibrated to the camera, at f 1.6 its almost sharper than my 24-70 I use at 2.8

The lens is phenomenal... Nikon should be slapped though for making it plastic and not adding in the faster AF-S there zooms have....its really slow to focus... I would have gladly payed the extra money for that

Here is a 300% crop of a shot I took while I calibrating the lens... at 1.4.....

[tarsus]

You are missing the point. Tell your tale to the Nikon forum.

[Pentaxor]

I thought I might get flamed a little.... I guess noone ready where I said: Pentax was my first love and I was still keeping the system around..... its right here next to me on my desk....

Tarsus/Rondec - I was not comparing to make a fair comparison but to say this is what I had and now what I jumped to I was not trying to put the camera's on an equal playing field.... because there isn't one and I payed 800 for my K10. over 2-3 years ago..... its probably worth only 100 now or even less than that... I went back and forth with this in my head too... about Crop versus full frame.... seriously until you actually shoot one in real situations... you can't make any kind of qualified statement about the noise.... test files and downloadable images from websites are completely worthless..... as soon as I opened up the camera I took it to the hardest place where I kniew the camera would have to work.... there is no comparison.... to be able to just sit at ISO 1600 as a standard mode of operation changes the game for the kind of shots you can pick off....... to also have a camera and lens setup that can pick off shots fast ( not saying Pentax can't its just not fast about it ) in almost total darkness is also a game changer as well.......

For example take the shot of the group in a row guys and girls...Im using a 50mm lens at 1/25th a second which is 2/3rd a stop under exposed according to the camera meter.... and in order to pick this shot off I still had to sit the camera at ISO 8000....... the IS / low ISO deal the Pentax offers is very useful for still shots where you do not need to make them fast but it prevents its own problems......

THe Nikon has a few tweaks that bug the hell out of me, this is why I said in certain situations I will use my Pentax.... the Nikon is mainly my event / wedding / party camera and my Pentax is my outdoor walk around general camera.... on the other hand one of the great things about the Nikon is those two custom function buttons that strut the front of the camera, highly useful in fast situations....

I did not post this to get flamed, or to anger anyone loyal to Pentax, I still love Pentax but I found myself very turned off by the K7's noise, and the KX well its just not the kind of camera I'd want to take into an event... sometimes you don't care about what a camera offers.... at the very least I know my Nikon will keep up with the pace I need to use it for the paid work I do....

I just wanted to update this thread because it was a well viewed discussion a few months back...

I do appreciate your inputs regarding your Nikon experience. I do agree with you that the D700 is a beast that it is and really is a champion in it's own right, I'm saying this not because I'm an ex-Nikon shooter. one of the reasons that I made the switch is financial practicality. surely I could buy a D700, cheap fast 50 1.8, and an 85 1.8 for $3300 bucks, for that amount I had owned a K-7, 50/1.7, 50/1.2, DA 12-24, FA35/2, FA100/2.8, DA 18-55WR, and a DA 55-300 (could switch this for the Rokinon 85 1.4 which is a great lens wide open btw) or I could get or build a collection of excellent primes of all the 5 DA LTD lens combo of DA15,DA21,DA 35, DA40,DA70 or all 3 AMIGOS (FA LTDS) combo. honestly, just by stating this, I'm thinking of selling my lens combo (except for the 55-300 which I would keep for the longer telephoto end) for the 5 DA LTDs. with that combo, my LBA needs for LTDs and full focal length lens collection is complete.

anyway, as I said, I got 5 premium grade glasses + 2 very good glasses as opposed to only owning 2 premium grade Nikon glass. I'm sure that those two Nikkor lenses would be tremendous on a D700, most especially for lowlight/no-light use, since the lack on SR system wouldn't matter much since you woud be shooting with faster shutter speed wide open at High-ISOs. but Pentax however have the punchy colors to contend with and SR when needed for those slow-shutter speed scenarios. shooting in low ISOs seems to be recommended but HigH-ISO noise when shooting at High ISOs isn't really a bother when adjusted during post-processing. however, this maybe an issue for the lazyboyz.

[paulsoucy]

Pentaxor you make a valid point.... but I'm already well on my way to paying off my investment via paid work...

: )

good points though..... somewhere down the road I may switch up my K10 for a K20 or a K7 just because....

Paul