My Journey Into Photography: Moving To Full Frame On A Budget

In 2018 I was really enjoying using my Nikon D90, it is a very capable crop sensor camera that has given me a lot of confidence to go out and take photo's. Also the photography lessons I spoke of last week certainly helped put me on the right path to being a photographer and not just some bloke with a camera. However, the more I progressed I soon began finding the limitations of my dear mid range Nikon D90.The question was, did I want those limitations to limit my photography? In 2018 I was enjoying attending events on the Biking calendar and taking photo's of the bikes, the folks and the bands. In daylight the Nikon D90 is as capable as any camera, but at night in a dark marquee or building, its low light capability shows why it is a camera aimed at the enthusiast when it was first unleashed upon the world in 2008. My mate Owen was my first stop on my quest to find something a little better.

Owen has been a massive help on my photography journey, he helped me get started, pointed me in the direction of Mike Browne for excellent lessons and he also helped me choose my D90. He also knows I'm not exactly brimming with cash and I hate buying stuff on credit. Now it was time for the next step of my journey he once again pointed me in the direction of the Nikon D700, a 12 megapixel full frame camera he said would be ideal and within reach of my limited budget. The hunt was on.

I began my research on the D700 with everyone's first stop, Wikipedia. It gets a lot of grief for inaccuracies and falling victim to smart alec's who enjoy altering pages, but for the most part it is a decent starting point for any research project. I soon learned the Nikon D700 was one of the camera's Nikon released for sale in 2008, indeed my D90 was also one of those camera's. My interest was piqued and I read on. 2007 was a big year for Nikon, it had been falling behind it's competition who had already made the move to full frame DSLR's and the Photography world was holding it's breath for the replacement for the pro grade Nikon crop sensor toting D2. Nikon did not disappoint with the reveal of the company's first full frame behemoth, the D3 in August 2007.

Nikon always releases pro grade camera's first. It has a commitment to it's line up of professional photographers, its Ambassadors who showcase the camera's to the world and lead in to the consumer grades a few months later. It is a marketing strategy that has served Nikon well since the company gave us the legendary Nikon F 35mm film camera in 1959. The full frame D3 and it's little brother the APS-C sensor wearing D300 led the way in 2007 as Nikon made a grab for the digital market that every camera company had gone all in with in the early part of the decade. The D3 and D300 were, and still are outstanding camera's that showcased the progression of DSLR technology of the day. in 2008 Nikon gave us mere mortals a slice of the pie with 2 affordable camera's aimed at the serious enthusiast. The D90, which I own, and the D700.

The more I read about the Nikon D700, the more I liked it. The reviews it garned when new still hold up today and there are more than a few professional photographers that still carry a D700 as their reliable back up. You tube video's about the camera show enough photographers like the D700 to make it a classic DSLR and well worth investing in. In 2008 it's low light capability was second only to the D3, it shared the same sensor, shutter and auto focus and plenty of other features too. It didn't take long for me to begin researching prices and availability.

The good thing about camera's that sold well when they first went on sale is that there are a good supply of them a decade later. They also tend to get looked after by folks like myself who want a decent camera and wont be giving them a hammering doing a multitude of weddings etc. Armed with the knowledge I had learned from my previous purchase, my D90, I went looking for a decent D700 with a low shutter count and my first port of call was the retailer I bought my D90 from, Wex Photo Video here in the UK.

I decided to buy from Wex as I bought my D90 from them in 2017 and rate their service highly. Their description of used camera's and lenses is quite thorough and leaves no mark unmentioned. There are other great retailers out there so find one you like and keep doing business with them. It also helps that Wex have a store I can visit if I ever need to try stuff before I buy. I soon learned they have a regular turn over of D700's and the prices were definitely within reach. I had some saving to do.

It took most of 2018 to save enough money for a D700, I was determined to own one and went without some creature comforts to help me achieve my goal. Shortly after christmas I was in a position to go for it. I always speak to my wife about big purchases and, after patiently listening to me waffle on, she told me to stop trying to talk myself out of it and hit the buy button on a D700 that was within my budget on the Wex Photo Video website. She didn't need to tell me twice.

A few days later my D700 arrived and, as I had discovered when I bought my D90 from Wex, they had mentioned stuff in the description that I needed a magnifier to see. I was once again the owner of a camera bought from Wex that looked better in the flesh than their description suggested. They had also approximated the shutter count so I had to find out for myself and visited a shutter count website that looks at the metadata on a jpeg and gives you the exact shutter count of the camera that the photo was taken with. Wex's approximation was on the high side of what it actually was and to my delight I realised I had a camera that had not seen any serious use in the 10 years since it hit the shelves. I was looking at a camera that was almost new thanks to whoever had it before me and looked after it.

The downside of buying a used camera is it didn't have the full set of accessories it originally came with, but did have the body cap, battery, charger, strap and manual. The software is freely available online from Nikon and I also downloaded the last firmware update the D700 received in 2013. I already had some Tamron Adaptall 2 full frame lenses that I had bought for my film camera's and a Nikon mount I bought for my D90. I also have a Nikon 50mm 1.8 D that despite being over 20 years old is still sold new by Nikon. Trust me on this, a Nikon D700 with a 50mm f1.8 D is all you will ever need if you just want to take photo's of your kids. I began getting to know my new camera and learning about it's capabilities. It was definitely going to make me improve my skills.

Over the course my photography journey I have bought more accessories and lenses for my Nikon DSLR's and I was also given a Nikon F801 I spoke of in a previous blog post that uses the same lenses. I acquired a Nikkor 24-120 f3.5-5.6 that lives on my D700 and gives me most of the range I need when I am out and about with my camera, but I could happily just use my D90 and 18-55mm or my D700 and 50mm and get photo's I would be happy to print and hang on my wall. The Nikon D700 may be 12 years old as I write this, but it still holds it's own against any camera you can buy new today. It has given me confidence to take Mike Browne's 7 Building Blocks Of Photography course and push on in my quest to be a photographer.

Nikon discontinued the D700 in 2012 as the digital revolution advanced to ever higher specifications and the addition of video capability. However, there is still a place for the D700 as a pure photographers camera and is well worth investing in if you just want to take great quality images that a pro would be proud of. I knew it would inspire me to up my game and my recent images taken with it show how far I have come on my journey. When on a budget and needing to buy the best you can afford, the Nikon D700 is a great choice. Mike Browne says "camera's don't take perfect pictures, you do!" And that is true, but having the right tool for the job makes all the difference and I found the right one for me. here are some early images as I began learning to use my D700, I hope you enjoy them.