Eric - I'd be curious your results at 6400. I'd especially be interested in comparison shots of a few shots at 6400 and a few shots at 6400 run through NoiseWare or Noise Ninja.

Mike.

Eric--Certainly I've already heard some good things about the D300 at high ISO, so I'll be very curious to see how it measures up when you use it.

I really enjoyed the ability to set the D3 to 6400 ISO for the trips on which I used one, so having that capability (even if only 3200) in a smaller form factor for 2/3 the cost would be quite tempting!--David

Although I am a confessed Canon shooter, the high ISO performance of the D3/D300/D700 has me sorely tempted to jump ship. I frequently in fall/winter/early spring am shooting at 1600 with my current Canon gear and would LOVE to be able to get higher ISO with better noise supression that the D300/D700 seem to reproduce.
Not sure it is worth the cost it would take to replicate my Canon gear with Nikon gear. But I'm sorely tempted given what I've seen of the D300/D3 ISO performance.

Mike Strock

Mike--You might want to search the forums for the post Weldon wrote after he compared (as I recall) his 1D Mark III with a D3 at high ISO. I think he actually concluded he was happy with the results from the 1D--although for sure in the general press & "buzz" the D3 seems to be getting the raves.

I've never actually shot with a Mark III to have any personal basis to compare.--David

That comparison was between only the 1D MkIII and the D2x - I had not yet had the opportunity to shoot with a D3 (and still have not). Having worked now with the D300 for awhile, I will say that it's performance is very good but the 1D MkIII is better still.

The 1D MkIII has the best high ISO image quality performance of any camera I've used to date - although the D300 is very good and, again, I've not used the D3 or D700. I suspect that the 1d Mk III is as good as, or at least not far off from, the performance of the D3 and I certai9nly wouldn't switch systems for only that reason.

I just returned from a two week trip to Boston and Cape Cod where i shot exclusively with the D300. My D2x stayed home largely to save wieght and bulk.

It was nice to be able to remove the grip to save weight for some excursions, such as while scootering around Martha's Vinyard. I also appreciated the D300's power flexibility. I traveled only with the EN-EL3 and the 8-AA battery tray. I never exhausted the AA batteries and only recharged the EN-EL3 a few times.

Although I had tripod with me, most of my work was done hand-held (esp3ecially in Boston where space as often tight and crowded). On top of that, we had cloudy, overcast, rainy, weather a few days so light was sometimes low. It was nice to be able to crank the ISO up to 800, or so, and I am very pleased with the results in terms of noise/image quality.

This has me really thinking hard about the D700 which promises similar versatility and potentially better image quality. The few quirks present in the D300 appear to be worked out (at least on paper) with the D700 and I like both the virtual horizon feature (the D300 doesn't have and that would have been very useful) and the sensor cleaning function that the D3 doesn't have (and which works extremely well on the D300).

Thanks David and Weldon. I'm not currently shooting with a Mark III. Wish I was, but my shooting doesn't yet pay (any) bills yet, so I'm hard pressed to afford that kind of equipment at this time. I've investigated a bit more and the 700, while looking like a great camera, isn't really my cup of tea, although I still would like to see real world shots at those ISOs. I'm probably going to stick with Canon and get a 40D later this year, if finances allow.

Thanks.

Mike.

I just received my D700 from B&H this evening. After signing for it (luckily I was home), I quickly slapped my MB-D10 and a 17-35 on it. The camera feels great and I especially appreciate the improvements in the viewfinder (over the D300). Besides being bigger and brighter, the diopter adjustment is much easier to use and I can use the same eyepiece and eyecup as my D2X. I was a bit worried about the sliding CF compartment door, based on what has been said by others and my own experience with lesser cameras, but this one feels good, solid, and is faster to operate than the D300 with it's little door switch. We'll see how well it continues to fuction over the long haul. Not much time to shoot with it yet but I did do a few dumb shots just to make sure it works. At ISO 2000 (it was getting dark out) the images look incredible. I look forward to further testing/shooting over the weekend and beyond.

Weldon--Great that the D700 is looking awesome. Glad they switched the eyepiece so you can use the "standard" ones instead of needing a geeky conversion kit like on the D300.--David

Weldon,
I would be very interested to hear how you got on with the D700 and the 17 - 35 plus a sample image if possible. I own a 17 - 35 and I am in the initial stages of persuading my wife we need to upgrade from the D200 to a D700 therefore need all the help I can get :-)
Thanks