For the last few months , we ’ve been shooting with the two hottest cameras on the market . Lucky us . If you ’ve been eye either one of these for purchase , here ’s everything you require to know .
Camera makers love to invent new categories . And while that can often moderate to dateless bloat , theCanon 5D Mark IIand theNikon D700represent a angelic spotlight that had never been hit before — the semi - pro body with a full - framing detector . And it ’s the category with the most bang for buck we ’ve get a line to engagement .
Yes , let ’s just get this out of the way : Both the D700 and the5D Mark IIgive you more for your dollar in terms of features , image quality and overall excellency than anything else we ’ve used . Period . We have it away not everyone is inclined to drop $ 2,000 to $ 3,000 on a camera physical structure these days , but if you ’re thinking of investing for the long haul and , more importantly , have a well assemblage of either Nikon or Canon lenses , these are the two cameras you want to seem at .
Why ? Because they give you almost everything from Nikon and Canon ’s uber - pro top closing for a whole mint less , most significantly the full - frame sensing element ( FX in Nikon parlance ) . With a sensor the same size as a piece of 35 millimeter film , your old Nikon or Canon glass will produce beautiful result on these new bodies ( assuming they ’re new enough to autofocus and couple to the cameras ’ metre ) . And if you do n’t have a collection build up already , your pick for raw crystalline lens will be importantly more exciting without the APS - C ( DX , again , in Nikon ’s world ) sensor ’s 1.6x crop factor changing their in effect focal lengths .
The sensors in these two camera are also responsible for their absolutely stunning high - ISO sensitivity carrying into action — if you would have told me a few old age ago that I could get 100 percentage usable and almost noise - liberal shot in the darkness at ISO 4000 with hired hand - holdable shutter focal ratio , I would have express joy in your Nostradamus - expect typeface . But that ’s the realism here , and it ’s awe-inspiring .
But of the two , which to choose ? Now that ’s the question , is n’t it . Here we ’ll partake in what we ’ve learn from shoot with the 5D Mark II and D700 , for workplace and for manoeuvre , and hopefully you ’ll be able to make your own call .
Image Quality / Sensor Sensitivity
Again , both of these cameras will blow your mind with their high - ISO functioning . Both go up to a ridiculous 25,600 ISO valuation . The magic does not lie in their gaudy top - range though , which as you may see in our picture gallery below is still prit - tay , prit - tay noisy . No , the unhinged matter here is that with both of these DSLRs , you’re able to film at 3200 , 4000 , even 6400 in the correct light and still have pic that bet practically noise - free on blind . That ’s just wild , and you ca n’t accurately key what this means to you as a photographer until you ’ve shoot your friends — handheld at quick enough shutter speed — around a candle - lit tabular array , and get photo that attend utterly gorgeous . Before , it took a mad expensive lens to even come closely to this , and even then , sensor ( or even mellow - ISO celluloid ) could n’t keep up .
With the 5D Mark II and the D700 , you ’re basically shooting with dark vision . Like I was doing here at Snowscrapers a few week back . As you may see , there are floodlights , but it ’s gloomy . These guys are moving fast . But I can crank up the ISO luxuriously enough to pan with them without blurring them out , and snaffle stuff like this , without the sky grow into a snowstorm of dissonance .
lease ’s compare the high - ISO cooking stove of both cameras head - to - chief , shall we :
As you may see from these unprocessed ( save for JPEG conversion and re - sizing with Aperture ) birthday suit shots filing cabinet from each camera with high - ISO noise reduction at its gamey background on both , the D700 has a thin edge . The 5D Mark II ’s eminent resolving pass on lots of way for chroma noise , the burst of mostly red and light-green you see in the full crops .
But still , unless you look at them at full - res , both photographic camera grow almost noiseless range up to ISO 3200 . I exposed each scene at f/5.6 so the shutter speeds for the ISO 1600 and 3200 jibe were upwards of a few arcsecond each , which makes the fact that they ’re almost stochasticity - free at any decent print or display size a phenomenal sign of both cameras ’ noise - busting might .
One big difference head to steer in the imaging department is resolution . At 21 megapixels , the 5D Mark II has almost double the pixels of the 12.1 megapixel D700.As you well know by now , megapixels are not as important as sensor size / timbre , but here , we ’re deal with two equally match , high - functioning sensors , both of them full - frame . So in this case , an surplus 9 million pixel does give you something : The added power to heavily crop down nip without losing detail , like I did here with Mr. Shaun White .
https://gizmodo.com/giz-explains-why-more-megapixels-isnt-always-more-bett-5155942
Folks photograph in RAW will also notice the surplus resolving power with tot up RAW headroom ( substance , more detail can be salvaged in post - processing from highlights that would be blown out to savourless white in a JPG ) . But on the other hand , a 21 - megapixel RAW file from the 5D Mark II weighs in at around 30 megabit give or take , so unless you ’re ready to buy a huge RAID campaign to go along with it , the in high spirits resolution may not be your alternative in most spot . In all honesty , for 800 - pixel - wide shot mean for Gizmodo pages , I never fool away above the small JPG sizing , which is still a monumental 2784×1856 .
vantage : Draw The D700 does more or less better at high-pitched ISO , but the 5D Mark II has a significant upper hand in resolution .
Shooting Features
Here ’s one domain where there is a classical leader , and it ’s the D700 . Its Multi - Cam 3500 auto - focus processor has 51 AF pointedness , liken the the 5D Mark II ’s nine ( it inherit the same autofocus system from the original 5D , which was itself a bit outdated ) . It is by all odds better at track moving aim with all of these direction points , and also run to lock in to the right centering well faster .
Even without inject , it ’s easy enough to spot the difference by looking through the viewfinders . The 5D Mark II ’s focus points are concentrated mostly in the center of the physique in a rhombus form , whereas the D700 ’s central points cover far more ground , and geographical zone points report the outer areas of the frame . So with autofocus , this is abbreviate and dry : Although the 5D Mark II ’s AF is quite competent , the D700 succeed if you often shoot fast - moving fry , animals ( same thing ? ) or mutation . The D700 does have a nidus - help lamp ( the 5D Mark II does n’t ) to help get this level of particular in low - light source , but you may close it off .
As far as metering and double processing goes , I also lean toward the D700 . As most Nikons do , the D700 tends to impregnate color more in its default options ( which of course can be vary ) . I ’m a lover of this spirit , but that ’s all about options , which should most likely be done on the computer . So a throw away - up there , for the most part .
More authoritative is my completely unscientific but still famous feeling that the D700 be given to meter scenes with more skill than the 5D. Here the difference is subtle , but I feel like I had to rack up the pic compensation knob a bit more frequently on the Canon to keep it from blowing out highlighting , where the D700 would expose the physical body more course .
Here are some D700 blastoff that Matt and I took :
Advantage : D700
Interface / Handfeel / Menus
Here ’s where the Nikon vs. Canon fire start to get intense — both cameras take a decidedly different approaching to menus and basic shot control . For me , I like a consecrated button wherever possible , even if this mean the eubstance is littered with switches and knobs of all sorts . This is the Nikon access , more or less ; ISO , filing cabinet sizing , white balance , autofocus point selection , metering fashion and even mirror lock - up get their own consecrated switches on the D700 , which make switching all of these things easier . On the 5D Mark II , all of these major options portion out a button — push it , then turn out the thumb roulette wheel to change one mise en scene , and the indicator - finger bicycle on the front for the other . I almost never remember which dial changes which setting , so that can be pesky .
On the other hand , I am a huge fan of Canon ’s jumbo thumb wheel in general — something no Nikon has . Being able to always change EV with the thumbwheel is immense , and in manual mode , you ca n’t beat have that big knob down there . It ’s also great for quickly scrolling through your persona . I also much prefer the traditional Canon shot - modal value selector wheel ; on the Nikon , you have to press down a button and change state a wheel at the same meter . But these all come down mostly to personal taste . And in the on - screen menus , again , taste : canyon tends to break open their fare out into multiple screens with every selection on the silver screen at once without scrolling , where Nikon gives you long scrolling leaning . canyon did provide a prissy quick - approach carte to most major configurations via the LCD , which is an betterment for them .
And even though the D700 is a good 300 grams heavier than the 5D Mark II with lens , it feels a bit more balanced ( almost gyroscopic ) in your manus , so that ’s good , if you do n’t beware the special weighting .
Advantage : D700 Another knotty call , but I ’m giving it to D700 by a nose for all the dedicated switches , even though I care several of Canon ’s choices better .
Extras
have ’s not ignore the elephant in the room : The 5D Mark II is thefirst DSLR in the human beings to shoot 1080p ( 30fps ) HD videothrough its live view mode ( see here for more on how this works ) . By now you ’ve thoroughlyogled Vincent La Foret ’s amazing demonstration film — let me tell you , nothing I shot can come nigh to that . But what even the least video - inclined mortal will observe is that videos depend utterly incredible pellet with the limited depth of field of an SLR lense feeding a with child full - frame sensor .
https://gizmodo.com/canon-5d-mark-ii-officially-awesome-21mp-dslr-first-to-5050899
There are some drawbacks though , which will check your HD camcorder still has some time left : Autofocus is non - existent . When you press the autofocus button during television capture — and that ’s the only way to activate it — you’ll need to be prepared to blue-pencil out the part in your video where either the mirror slaps up to disclose the AF sensor or the contrast detection system cranks the photo agency up ( accompanied by the audio of your lens squeaking into post after a good 4 to 5 secondment of hunting ) . If you ’re nerveless with that , then you ’ll be o.k. , because the autofocus does workplace , after mangling your video for a few seconds . Thankfully , manual focus works just hunky-dory . you may zoom in with the LCD to ensure you ’ve nailed the focussing , although this can be kind of tricky to hoodwink while twist the centering ring and taste to keep the dig framed at the same clip .
Another drawback is that , apart from shifting the EV exposure recompense , you ca n’t interchange exposure or ISO preferences while you ’re take .
But for grabbing quick 90 to 120 second clips of relatively stationary subjects , or thing far enough away to be treat by your infinity centering ( like the snowboarders here ) , then you ’re dead golden . Your cartridge clip , with their belt down coloration , low - Inner Light sensitivity and special depth of field will be far more beautiful than anything spit out by a Flip video cam or , in some cases , your dedicated camcorder .
Here ’s a quick montage of some stuff I shot around town :
On top of the video shot , the 5D Mark II also comes with a better kit lens than the D700 , a 24 - 105 mm L - series that ’s f/4 throughout the range . I would normally feel the constraint of f/4 pretty severely and foresightful for my f/1.4 50 mm , but with the 5D Mark II you almost do n’t notice , when you factor in in VR and the crazy - banana low - light sensitiveness . The D700 comes with a capable but not nearly as performance - centric 24 - 120 f/3.5 - f/5.6 soar .
Oh , and I almost forgot : The D700 has a built - in flash , and the 5D Mark II does not . Which is something I would only ever call up of using as a filling in the day meter . So that ’s not that vainglorious of a deal for me , but it might be for you . Update : As many of you guy cable have bespeak out , the D700 on - board wink can also be used to wirelessly trigger Nikon ’s CLS compatible strobes . coolheaded feature .
Advantage : 5D Mark II Easy call there .
Conclusion
Today in the DSLR world , wedged somewhere in the middle of entry - level APS - C , semi - pro APS - C , pro APS - C and pro full - frame , we now have a nice semi - pro full - frame option to look at . The categories may be stack up , but we are so happy this newfangled one came along . Now that getting a full - frame sensing element does n’t require going into hock to get the same soundbox that photojournalists are film to Iraq , we serious - but - still - recreational shooters can use these full - framer to get great shots at ISO configurations so eminent it ’s ridiculous to recall about . And on the 5D Mark II , we can film 1080p telecasting . Holy crap .
In the terminal , for me , I give the trophy to the 5D Mark II for the 1080p video . It ’s got its drawbacks , surely , but being able to shift seamlessly from distillery to beautiful movies with my awesome 35 mm DSLR lens is just too good to be unfeigned . The D700 has an edge , albeit a slight one , in some categories like high ISO , but in the new world gild , 1080p TV from your DSLR is an single that ca n’t be bushed .
thing are even more clear cutting off when both cameras were selling for MSRP : bring insult to harm after nearly match Nikon in ISO sensitivity and sum up 1080p video and almost double the closure , Canon priced the 5D $ 300 low than the D700 ( $ 2700 vs $ 3000 for consistence - only ) . The D700 ’s been on the securities industry a few calendar month longer , though , and the price are starting to come down — you may get the body for $ 2450 at B&H right on now . With the 5D Mark II still backordered just about everywhere , this disparity will probably last for a while .
So for you it may be an interesting decisiveness . The pick to save a few hundred bucks and get a smidge less noise at eminent ISO is surely attractive . Either style , you ’ve got an utterly astonishing camera . I would imagine most people deal a $ 2,000 to $ 3,000 body already have a electron lens or two of one of these two system — so in the end , you may go with the one you already have methamphetamine for . If you ’re a Nikon mortal , this may intend bind off on the D700 and wait a while for 1080p .
We found this recapitulation on veridical - world experience , and we did n’t spend any time in a lab for examination . look at add on our impressions here with the good body of work done by our Quaker at digitalcamerainfo , com ( learn their5D Mark II reviewand theirD700 review ) , as well as teh labcoated folks over at DPReview ’s read : here is theirD700 reviewand their5D Mark II review . And , while we concentre here on Canon and Nikon , theSony Alpha 900is also a contender in this terms chain of mountains for a full - frame gunman , though in our experience , it does n’t match either of these two , especially in high-pitched - ISO performance .
https://gizmodo.com/sony-a900-24-6-megapixel-full-frame-dslr-official-only-5047193
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