NIKON D700 OUT NOW!

•  Nikon D700 Out Now! – Nikon's vigorously rumoured new DSLR, the D700, was officially launched on July 1. We haven't handled one, we haven't even seen one for real, we don't have any first hand knowledge of it, but in true PhotoWeek! spirit, here's our expert assessment anyway!

If you loved and coveted the ground-breaking available-light performance of the D3 (and you did), but the D200/D300 was more your bag (or your purse!), then D700 might be for you. It's pretty much a D300 fitted with the big full-frame sensor from the D3, and a large bright finder. It gives you the high-ISO, low-noise performance of the D3 in the smaller, lighter, (cheaper!) D300 shell. By the time you read this, printed magazines will be full of it, after which PhotoWeek! won't mention it again. [expand story >>>]

The pro world wouldn't really class this body as a full-on professional camera. But the D700 will certainly produce professional quality images, which, coupled with build quality (and this body does have build quality) must be one of the main criteria for choosing a camera for professional use. We haven't seen this kind of wide dynamic range, high resolution, high ISO and low noise in a mid-range Nikon SLR since... erm, to be honest, since the days of film. Worthy budget photographers could probably shoot weddings quite acceptably on a D700 now – and leave their film camera at home.
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