Thinking of getting a Nikon FF DSLR

**tonyzoc** · 07-29-2022, 12:08 PM

While I have 3 Pentax DSLRs I've been wanting to try a Nikon DSLR, because over the past 2 years I've been building a little Nikon collection of film cameras. Starting with a Nikon N50 I got as a throw in on a Pentax body, I added some early Nikkormat bodies, followed by F, F2, FM, FE, EL2, N90s and most recently the F4. Along the way I've added a fair number of lenses including some AF-D lenses. So, I'm thinking of getting a decent cheaper FF digital body to use the AF-Ds with... I think the D700 might be the right choice. I can get a low count body for around $400 and 12mp is enough as I have the Pentax DSLRs (10, 24 and 26mp) and I don't plan to leave Pentax. I just want to add a digital option for my Nikon lenses. Is the D700 a good choice? Any others... And only FF.

**Mbaez** · 07-29-2022, 12:14 PM - **1 Like**

I would go for the D750. It's light and small, perfect for primes, SD cards instead of CF, and 24MP of resolution is plenty.
Those AF-Ds have enough resolving power, 12MP is too low.

zapp · 07-29-2022, 12:45 PM

What do you find in Nikon that you do not find in a Pentax. This will help answering your question. D700 is a solid camera with ff sensor.

**TwoUptons** · 07-29-2022, 01:29 PM

Will all of the full frame Nikon bodies work with the pre-AI lenses?

I know most of the APS-C bodies have issues with them.

-Eric

hayavuk · 07-29-2022, 01:32 PM

Originally posted by tonyzoc

Is the D700 a good choice?

D700 is amazing. Just looking at pictures I shot with it a few years ago makes me want to go out and buy it again. Great color rendering in Jpegs and the raw files are a pleasure to work with, too. Dynamic range is pretty good. I had a moment of insanity and sold it. Now the prices are about 20% up since then. It's bordering on overpriced but still acceptable if you want one. If you decide to go for it, be sure to check the rubbers on it, as those quite commonly come off after a while, even on otherwise fairly mint copies. My copy had 22k clicks when the rubber started coming off. It's not just the glue. The rubber kind of expands to the point where it can no longer sit where they're supposed to, so once that happens, you can't just glue it back on. I used some duct tape and didn't really care. There's replacement rubber from China, but those are not OEM parts, so I'm sure it's not the same quality as the original (which may actually be a good thing given how easily they come off in the first place, haha).

If you can spend a bit more, D4 and Df are also great choices, probably better than D700. D4 is a workhorse, heavy, and fast. It's rare to see copies with less than 100k clicks, but there are some, and it is tested up to 400k so 100k is not exactly bad. I've seen 20k and less pop up (and get snatched immediately). Df can be had in mint condition with small amount of clicks, usually with a box.

All three Nikon bodies will take DK-17M (the "M" is important, because there's also a DK-17 which has no superpowers), magnifying eyepiece, which is a must for focusing with MF lenses if you have anything but perfect eyesight. I've seen Df bundles that include that, which is around $100 value.

---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 01:34 PM ----------

Originally posted by TwoUptons

Will all of the full frame Nikon bodies work with the pre-AI lenses?

Forget pre-AI lenses. Use them on film cameras and be happy.

EDIT: I think Df actually has a retractable aperture feeler, come to think of it.

ChristianRock · 07-29-2022, 02:55 PM - **1 Like**

You will miss IBIS....

Fenwoodian · 07-29-2022, 02:59 PM

.
I had a nice D700 and sold it last week. Mint, less than 2,000 shutter clicks, with box, RRS L-bracket etc for just $350.

Why did I sell it? It's horrible at focusing manual focus lenses. Rather than bore you with the details, don't buy this body if you intend to use manual focus lenses.

Pixeltrove · 07-29-2022, 02:59 PM

I have a D750, and other than the fact it's not nearly as intuitive to use as any of my Pentax bodies, it's an awesome camera. Like you, I was looking at the 700, perhaps the 610, but after considerable research, the one thing that kept coming up was shutter failure on nearly every model OTHER than the 750, which seemed to be universally praised by comparison. Compliments like "work horse" and "dependable" were the only things I found related to the 750. I was seriously thinking of the 850 as well, but once again, I seemed to find a higher than normal amount of shutter failure reports, and even given an appropriate amount of skepticism when getting info from the net, the pattern was consistent enough to make me nervous.

I just noticed a 750 with battery grip, 3 batteries and other sundry add-ons going around $600. For the extra performance, durability, and pixels, my money would definitely be on that. Also, previous poster made a great point, dual SD cards is the way to go. It's an incredible body for Nikonians. And pervious poster is right - forget pre-ai lenses. I have an assortment of ai and newer lenses, and they're terrific. Metering with older stuff is a pain.

Fenwoodian · 07-29-2022, 03:03 PM

Get the Df if you'll be shooting non-Ai lenses.

**tonyzoc** · 07-29-2022, 06:00 PM

Originally posted by zapp

What do you find in Nikon that you do not find in a Pentax. This will help answering your question. D700 is a solid camera with ff sensor.

What i find with Nikon that I can't with Pentax is low priced quality optics. For example... 20-35mm f/2.8 AF-D for $300, 35-70mm f/2.8 AF-D for $165, 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D for $90 and the 85mm f/1.8 AF for $165. Because Nikon has so many version of pro lenses, the early AFs are cheap. With Pentax you're lucky to see 2 versions and the cheaper one is $600...

---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 06:16 PM ----------

Originally posted by ChristianRock

You will miss IBIS....

I won't miss IBIS because I don't plan on leaving pentax. Besides I also shoot film with 100-400 iso range and I'm fine without IBIS there.

Why I'm look for the best cheap Nikon FF DSLR is because I don't plan to switch to Nikon. I'm just looking for a dslr to mount the 20-35/2.8 or 80-200/2.8 on and I don't find 12mp to be too little. I still shoot with the K10D and I'm fine with 10mp CCD. If I want more pixels I'll use my K70 or K3iii.

I've looked at the D750 and sure its better...but its about 40% more expensive. Also, I see allot of D700 bodies pushing 200K clicks. Seems pretty reliable to me. While I wouldn't buy one of those, I would definitely consider one thats under 50k clicks...

---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 06:24 PM ----------

Originally posted by Fenwoodian

.
I had a nice D700 and sold it last week. Mint, less than 2,000 shutter clicks, with box, RRS L-bracket etc for just $350.

Why did I sell it? It's horrible at focusing manual focus lenses. Rather than bore you with the details, don't buy this body if you intend to use manual focus lenses.

No I don't need it for MF lenses. I've got a fair number of MF film bodies and lenses for that...I've got 2 F's, 3 F2's, a Nikkormat FTN and EL, 2 Nikon EL2's, a FM and a FE. For AF I have 2 N90s, 1 F90x, N6006, N50 and 2 F4's. I have occasionally use a MF lens on an AF body, but usually something like the 20/3.5 or 35/2...but now I've got a 20-35/2.8 AF-D so I really don't mount the MF ones anymore.

---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 06:28 PM ----------

Originally posted by VariousThingsAndStuf

I have a D750, and other than the fact it's not nearly as intuitive to use as any of my Pentax bodies, it's an awesome camera. Like you, I was looking at the 700, perhaps the 610, but after considerable research, the one thing that kept coming up was shutter failure on nearly every model OTHER than the 750, which seemed to be universally praised by comparison. Compliments like "work horse" and "dependable" were the only things I found related to the 750. I was seriously thinking of the 850 as well, but once again, I seemed to find a higher than normal amount of shutter failure reports, and even given an appropriate amount of skepticism when getting info from the net, the pattern was consistent enough to make me nervous.

I just noticed a 750 with battery grip, 3 batteries and other sundry add-ons going around $600. For the extra performance, durability, and pixels, my money would definitely be on that. Also, previous poster made a great point, dual SD cards is the way to go. It's an incredible body for Nikonians. And pervious poster is right - forget pre-ai lenses. I have an assortment of ai and newer lenses, and they're terrific. Metering with older stuff is a pain.

I'll revisit the D750...I have looked at them, but I really didn't want to spend much. I've got 3 Pentax bodies...k10d, k70 and k3iii and most of the lenses I need. If it comes down to $400 vs $600 I might go for the D750...

Neuse River Sailor · 07-29-2022, 07:01 PM - **1 Like**

Have you checked out Thom Hogan's reviews of Nikon cameras? I don't know a thing about Nikons, but they seem to have been his main interest for some years. His opinions have always seemed to me to be well-considered, reasonable, without a lot of hype.

https://bythom.com/reviews--books/dslr-camera-reviews--books.html

**UncleVanya** · 07-29-2022, 09:18 PM - **1 Like**

This may help:
https://photographylife.com/nikon-full-frame-cameras

Theov39 · 07-29-2022, 09:51 PM - **3 Likes**

Before switching over to Pentax, I used various Nikon cameras for years. The D700 has beautiful image quality and, in my books, about the closest to Pentax. And the body is as solid as a rock. Highly recommended.

D1N0 · 07-30-2022, 02:55 AM

I would balk at the low megapixel count, but the D700 was a (semi) Pro camera when introduced, so I'm sure it would work great. Personally I would dish out an extra 2 to 300 and get a used D800. three times the megapixels.

**StiffLegged** · 07-30-2022, 05:50 AM - **2 Likes**

Originally posted by Neuse River Sailor

Have you checked out Thom Hogan's reviews of Nikon cameras? I don't know a thing about Nikons, but they seem to have been his main interest for some years. His opinions have always seemed to me to be well-considered, reasonable, without a lot of hype.

Hogan is a pro who’s used and written about Nikons for decades. Some don’t like him for not praising Pentax to the skies, but he has a lot to say about Nikon, all very helpful.

www.dslrbodies.com

07-29-2022, 12:08 PM	#1
tonyzoc Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2018 Posts: 992	Thinking of getting a Nikon FF DSLR While I have 3 Pentax DSLRs I've been wanting to try a Nikon DSLR, because over the past 2 years I've been building a little Nikon collection of film cameras. Starting with a Nikon N50 I got as a throw in on a Pentax body, I added some early Nikkormat bodies, followed by F, F2, FM, FE, EL2, N90s and most recently the F4. Along the way I've added a fair number of lenses including some AF-D lenses. So, I'm thinking of getting a decent cheaper FF digital body to use the AF-Ds with... I think the D700 might be the right choice. I can get a low count body for around $400 and 12mp is enough as I have the Pentax DSLRs (10, 24 and 26mp) and I don't plan to leave Pentax. I just want to add a digital option for my Nikon lenses. Is the D700 a good choice? Any others... And only FF.

07-29-2022, 01:32 PM	#5
hayavuk Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2022 Photos: Gallery Posts: 41	Originally posted by tonyzoc Is the D700 a good choice? D700 is amazing. Just looking at pictures I shot with it a few years ago makes me want to go out and buy it again. Great color rendering in Jpegs and the raw files are a pleasure to work with, too. Dynamic range is pretty good. I had a moment of insanity and sold it. Now the prices are about 20% up since then. It's bordering on overpriced but still acceptable if you want one. If you decide to go for it, be sure to check the rubbers on it, as those quite commonly come off after a while, even on otherwise fairly mint copies. My copy had 22k clicks when the rubber started coming off. It's not just the glue. The rubber kind of expands to the point where it can no longer sit where they're supposed to, so once that happens, you can't just glue it back on. I used some duct tape and didn't really care. There's replacement rubber from China, but those are not OEM parts, so I'm sure it's not the same quality as the original (which may actually be a good thing given how easily they come off in the first place, haha). If you can spend a bit more, D4 and Df are also great choices, probably better than D700. D4 is a workhorse, heavy, and fast. It's rare to see copies with less than 100k clicks, but there are some, and it is tested up to 400k so 100k is not exactly bad. I've seen 20k and less pop up (and get snatched immediately). Df can be had in mint condition with small amount of clicks, usually with a box. All three Nikon bodies will take DK-17M (the "M" is important, because there's also a DK-17 which has no superpowers), magnifying eyepiece, which is a must for focusing with MF lenses if you have anything but perfect eyesight. I've seen Df bundles that include that, which is around $100 value. ---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 01:34 PM ---------- Originally posted by TwoUptons Will all of the full frame Nikon bodies work with the pre-AI lenses? Forget pre-AI lenses. Use them on film cameras and be happy. EDIT: I think Df actually has a retractable aperture feeler, come to think of it. Last edited by hayavuk; 07-29-2022 at 02:03 PM.

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07-29-2022, 12:14 PM - 1 Like	#2
Mbaez Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2018 Location: NY Photos: Albums Posts: 3,774	I would go for the D750. It's light and small, perfect for primes, SD cards instead of CF, and 24MP of resolution is plenty. Those AF-Ds have enough resolving power, 12MP is too low.

07-29-2022, 12:45 PM	#3
zapp Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 2,385	What do you find in Nikon that you do not find in a Pentax. This will help answering your question. D700 is a solid camera with ff sensor.

07-29-2022, 01:29 PM	#4
TwoUptons Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2015 Photos: Albums Posts: 4,215	Will all of the full frame Nikon bodies work with the pre-AI lenses? I know most of the APS-C bodies have issues with them. -Eric

07-29-2022, 02:55 PM - 1 Like	#6
ChristianRock Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: People's Republic of America Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 9,910	You will miss IBIS....

07-29-2022, 02:59 PM	#7
Fenwoodian Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,874	. I had a nice D700 and sold it last week. Mint, less than 2,000 shutter clicks, with box, RRS L-bracket etc for just $350. Why did I sell it? It's horrible at focusing manual focus lenses. Rather than bore you with the details, don't buy this body if you intend to use manual focus lenses.

07-29-2022, 02:59 PM	#8
Pixeltrove Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2021 Posts: 39	I have a D750, and other than the fact it's not nearly as intuitive to use as any of my Pentax bodies, it's an awesome camera. Like you, I was looking at the 700, perhaps the 610, but after considerable research, the one thing that kept coming up was shutter failure on nearly every model OTHER than the 750, which seemed to be universally praised by comparison. Compliments like "work horse" and "dependable" were the only things I found related to the 750. I was seriously thinking of the 850 as well, but once again, I seemed to find a higher than normal amount of shutter failure reports, and even given an appropriate amount of skepticism when getting info from the net, the pattern was consistent enough to make me nervous. I just noticed a 750 with battery grip, 3 batteries and other sundry add-ons going around $600. For the extra performance, durability, and pixels, my money would definitely be on that. Also, previous poster made a great point, dual SD cards is the way to go. It's an incredible body for Nikonians. And pervious poster is right - forget pre-ai lenses. I have an assortment of ai and newer lenses, and they're terrific. Metering with older stuff is a pain.

07-29-2022, 03:03 PM	#9
Fenwoodian Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,874	Get the Df if you'll be shooting non-Ai lenses.

07-29-2022, 06:00 PM	#10
tonyzoc Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2018 Posts: 992 Original Poster	Originally posted by zapp What do you find in Nikon that you do not find in a Pentax. This will help answering your question. D700 is a solid camera with ff sensor. What i find with Nikon that I can't with Pentax is low priced quality optics. For example... 20-35mm f/2.8 AF-D for $300, 35-70mm f/2.8 AF-D for $165, 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D for $90 and the 85mm f/1.8 AF for $165. Because Nikon has so many version of pro lenses, the early AFs are cheap. With Pentax you're lucky to see 2 versions and the cheaper one is $600... ---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 06:16 PM ---------- Originally posted by ChristianRock You will miss IBIS.... I won't miss IBIS because I don't plan on leaving pentax. Besides I also shoot film with 100-400 iso range and I'm fine without IBIS there. Why I'm look for the best cheap Nikon FF DSLR is because I don't plan to switch to Nikon. I'm just looking for a dslr to mount the 20-35/2.8 or 80-200/2.8 on and I don't find 12mp to be too little. I still shoot with the K10D and I'm fine with 10mp CCD. If I want more pixels I'll use my K70 or K3iii. I've looked at the D750 and sure its better...but its about 40% more expensive. Also, I see allot of D700 bodies pushing 200K clicks. Seems pretty reliable to me. While I wouldn't buy one of those, I would definitely consider one thats under 50k clicks... ---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 06:24 PM ---------- Originally posted by Fenwoodian . I had a nice D700 and sold it last week. Mint, less than 2,000 shutter clicks, with box, RRS L-bracket etc for just $350. Why did I sell it? It's horrible at focusing manual focus lenses. Rather than bore you with the details, don't buy this body if you intend to use manual focus lenses. No I don't need it for MF lenses. I've got a fair number of MF film bodies and lenses for that...I've got 2 F's, 3 F2's, a Nikkormat FTN and EL, 2 Nikon EL2's, a FM and a FE. For AF I have 2 N90s, 1 F90x, N6006, N50 and 2 F4's. I have occasionally use a MF lens on an AF body, but usually something like the 20/3.5 or 35/2...but now I've got a 20-35/2.8 AF-D so I really don't mount the MF ones anymore. ---------- Post added 07-29-22 at 06:28 PM ---------- Originally posted by VariousThingsAndStuf I have a D750, and other than the fact it's not nearly as intuitive to use as any of my Pentax bodies, it's an awesome camera. Like you, I was looking at the 700, perhaps the 610, but after considerable research, the one thing that kept coming up was shutter failure on nearly every model OTHER than the 750, which seemed to be universally praised by comparison. Compliments like "work horse" and "dependable" were the only things I found related to the 750. I was seriously thinking of the 850 as well, but once again, I seemed to find a higher than normal amount of shutter failure reports, and even given an appropriate amount of skepticism when getting info from the net, the pattern was consistent enough to make me nervous. I just noticed a 750 with battery grip, 3 batteries and other sundry add-ons going around $600. For the extra performance, durability, and pixels, my money would definitely be on that. Also, previous poster made a great point, dual SD cards is the way to go. It's an incredible body for Nikonians. And pervious poster is right - forget pre-ai lenses. I have an assortment of ai and newer lenses, and they're terrific. Metering with older stuff is a pain. I'll revisit the D750...I have looked at them, but I really didn't want to spend much. I've got 3 Pentax bodies...k10d, k70 and k3iii and most of the lenses I need. If it comes down to $400 vs $600 I might go for the D750...

07-29-2022, 07:01 PM - 1 Like	#11
Neuse River Sailor Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: North Carolina Photos: Gallery Posts: 531	Have you checked out Thom Hogan's reviews of Nikon cameras? I don't know a thing about Nikons, but they seem to have been his main interest for some years. His opinions have always seemed to me to be well-considered, reasonable, without a lot of hype. https://bythom.com/reviews--books/dslr-camera-reviews--books.html

07-29-2022, 09:18 PM - 1 Like	#12
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,409	This may help: https://photographylife.com/nikon-full-frame-cameras

07-30-2022, 02:55 AM	#14
D1N0 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Location: --- Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,802	I would balk at the low megapixel count, but the D700 was a (semi) Pro camera when introduced, so I'm sure it would work great. Personally I would dish out an extra 2 to 300 and get a used D800. three times the megapixels.

07-30-2022, 05:50 AM - 2 Likes	#15
StiffLegged Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2018 Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,620	Originally posted by Neuse River Sailor Have you checked out Thom Hogan's reviews of Nikon cameras? I don't know a thing about Nikons, but they seem to have been his main interest for some years. His opinions have always seemed to me to be well-considered, reasonable, without a lot of hype. Hogan is a pro who’s used and written about Nikons for decades. Some don’t like him for not praising Pentax to the skies, but he has a lot to say about Nikon, all very helpful. www.dslrbodies.com