Digital SLR

Nikon's D700 is positioned between the 'pro-sumer' D300 and the professional D3 models and is the second Nikon DSLR with an FX-format (35mm sized) CMOS sensor. Like the D3 it can use lenses designed for both FX and DX formats and will automatically recognise a DX lens when it is fitted. However, while the D3 includes a 5:4 aspect ratio crop measuring 30 x 24mm, the D700 offers two image area selections: FX format (36 x 24mm) and DX format (24 x 16 mm).

Front view with the AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED VR lens fitted.

Back view.

Top view with the AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED VR lens.

Base plate showing the battery compartment and tripod socket, which is centrally positioned on the optical axis.

Physically, the D700 is very similar to the D300, although it's slightly taller and has a 3 mm deeper body to accommodate the larger sensor and related electronics. Its body weight is also 170 grams heavier and its viewfinder is significantly brighter and easier to use with glasses. However, magnesium alloy has been used for the external cladding, rear body and mirror box in both camera bodies and O-ring seals provide protection against dust and moisture.

 
The illustration above shows the location of the weatherproofing seals in the D700's body.

The iTTL pop-up flash on the D700 is similar to the one on the D300 and has a GN of approximately 17 (metres/ISO 200) and 24mm wide-angle coverage. Compatible with Nikon's Creative Lighting System, it can be used to control external flash units, such as the new SB-900.

The D700 with its pop-up flash raised.

Some relatively minor - mainly cosmetic - changes have been made to the new model's controls, the most notable being:

1. The removal of the lever lock on the memory card door;
2. Re-designed covers on the external port connections (X-synch and remote control) on the front panel to make them easier to open and re-fit;
3. A larger four-way multi-selector with a central set button (similar to the D3);
4. A dedicated 'info' button for changing information displays;
5. A much wider range of camera settings can be assigned to the Function (Fn) button on the front panel;
6. An eyepiece shutter has been provided for the viewfinder;
7. The viewfinder diopter adjustment lever has been re-positioned and has to be pulled out before it can be turned (preventing accidental re-adjustment);
8. A plastic insert in the hot shoe to protect flash contacts;
9. The camera is supplied with a clip-on plastic LCD protection screen. 
The main physical differences between the D300 and D700 models.

Although using the same image sensor as the D3 (and some commentators have claimed both cameras are identical in all but form factor), the D700 represents a scaling back in functionality in several ways.

1. The 5:4 aspect ratio crop is not supported;
2. When switched to DX mode the D700 simply outlines the imaging area in the viewfinder instead of shading the parts of the field of view that will be cropped;
3. The D700's battery is smaller with a lower capacity (although an optional MB-D10 battery grip can provide higher capacity - along with a burst rate of 8 frames/second);
4. The maximum burst rate is slower;
5. The D700's shutter is rated for 150,000 cycles - the same as the D300's;
6. The D700 has only one CF card slot;
7. Perhaps surprisingly, the D700's viewfinder is less accurate than either the D3's or D300's, with only 95% frame coverage instead of the full 100% of the frame.

However, despite its larger sensor chip, the D700 has a similar sensor cleaning system to the D300 (the D3's dust removal controls extend no further than Image Dust Off data acquisition, which requires Capture NX). In the D700, the optical low-pass filter in front of the sensor is vibrated automatically each time the camera is turned on or off to dislodge accumulated dust specks. It can also be activated on demand by selecting the Clean image sensor option in the setup menu and selecting Clean now. Mirror lockup is also provided for manual sensor cleaning.


The diagram above shows the structure of the D700's sensor dust removal system.

The review camera body was supplied with three lenses: the AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR, the AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 G ED and the PC-E Micro Nikkor 45mm f/2. The Nikon SB-900 Speedlight flash was also provided. The three lenses and flash will be reviewed separately.

The D700 is compatible with Nikon's Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10, which is available as an option and provides faster burst rates and increased shooting capacity.

 
The D700 fitted with the MB-D10 Multi-Power Battery Pack.

Shared Features
The most noticeable similarity between the D700 and its siblings is the excellent 3-inch low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD, which supports VGA resolution and boasts a 170-degree wide-viewing angle and 100% frame coverage. As a monitor, it's far superior to the 233,000-pixel displays provided by most other brands and displays much finer tonal gradations. It's superb for shooting in live view mode and makes focus and exposure checking in playback very straightforward.

The top panel data display is essentially the same in all three models. Another obvious similarity is the release dial left of the viewfinder housing, which carries settings for single and continuous shooting modes, live view shooting, the self-timer and the mirror-up mode. However, while the buttons above this dial on the D3 link to bracketing, exposure lock and flash settings, on the D700 (and the D300) they access the quality, ISO and white balance settings.

The 51-point Multi-CAM 3500FX autofocus sensor is also provided and TTL phase-difference AF using all 51 AF points is automatically activated with the Handheld mode in Live View. Details of Nikon's AF system can be found in our review of the D3.

Menu design is essentially the same in all three cameras and they all include the same playback and output options, including support for HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) Version 1.3a, which enables transfer of video and audio signals and display of images on HD TV screens. A standard Type A connector is provided.  Active D-Lighting correction for highlights and shadows is also included, along with Nikon's Scene Recognition System.

Picture Control pre-sets are also identical and comprise four pre-set profiles: Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome. Within each profile, users can adjust hue, saturation, brightness, contrast and sharpening and a Quick Adjust function provides simultaneous adjustment of sharpness, contrast and saturation. Adjusted profiles can be saved in the camera or transferred to other camera bodies that support the Picture Control system, which integrates with Nikon's Capture NX and Camera Control Pro 2 software.

In-camera 'retouching' facilities are the same in all three cameras, allowing users to apply D-Lighting and red-eye corrections, trim shots, adjust colour balance and apply monochrome or filter effects. Image overlay allows users to combine two NEF.RAW images to create a single image that is saved separately. It's handy for subjects with a high dynamic range. Side-by-side comparison of two shots is also possible. 

Image Noise
The D700's 36 x 23.9mm CMOS sensor is the same as the D3's and the new camera supports the same ISO sensitivity settings. Whereas the D300's sensitivity tops out at ISO 3200 (with the HI 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 settings going up to ISO 6400), the D700's normal sensitivity range is ISO 200 to ISO 6400 and it includes Lo 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 settings, which reach down to and equivalent of ISO 100. At the top end of the sensitivity scale the HI 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 settings take you up to an equivalent ISO of 12,800 and there's a HI 2, which is equivalent to ISO 25,600.

Sensitivity is adjustable in 1/3 steps (the default), ½ steps and one steps, with one step being equivalent to one EV in aperture or shutter speed. Noise reduction processing is selectable in the shooting menu, with two settings separately covering long exposures and high ISO settings. The former has only two options: on or off but with the latter you can choose between three levels; high, normal or low or switch processing off. The default setting is normal, which applies automatic noise reduction to images at ISO 2000 and above.

One feature that has consistently amazed both reviewers and owners of the Nikon D3 is its superior performance at high sensitivity settings. The D700 turned in an equally impressive performance in our shooting tests. Below are some sample images showing the camera's performance at typical ISO settings - with and without noise reduction and for long exposures and flash shots. Each sample represents approximately 1/8 of the full frame.

 
ISO set at Hi-2 (equivalent to ISO 25,600); High ISO NR on High; Long exposure NR on. 15 seconds at f/32.

ISO set at Hi-2; High ISO NR on High; Long exposure NR off. 15 seconds at f/32.

 
ISO set at Hi-2; High ISO NR on Normal; Long exposure NR off. 15 seconds at f/32.

 
ISO set at Hi-2; High ISO NR on Low; Long exposure NR off. 15 seconds at f/32.

 
ISO 6400; no noise reduction. 20 seconds at f/20.

 
ISO 400; no noise reduction. 30 seconds at f/6.3.

 
Flash exposure of 1/60 second at f/11; ISO Hi-2 High ISO NR on Low.

 
Flash exposure of 1/60 second at f/8; ISO 6400 No NR

Image Processing
The D700, like the D3 and D300, comes with Nikon's EXPEED image processor chip which supports 14-bit A/D conversion with 12 channel readout.  Like its siblings, the D700 supports three file formats: JPEG, NEF.RAW and TIFF. TIFF files are uncompressed, while NEF.RAW files can be compressed (losslessly or with lossy compression) or uncompressed. RAW+JPEG capture is supported.

Three JPEG compression ratios are offered: 1:4, 1:8 and 1:16. As in the D3, two JPEG compression options are provided: size priority and optimal quality. The first compresses images to produce files that are relatively uniform in size, without regard for the effect of compression on image quality. The second prioritises picture quality but delivers files that may be of widely different sizes.

Like its siblings, the D700 has two continuous shooting modes, CH and CL. In CH (continuous high speed) mode, images are recorded at five frames/second, regardless of whether you shoot raw or JPEG files and the frame rate is the same in 12-bit and 14-bit raw modes. In CL (continuous low speed) mode, you can use the Custom Function menu to pre-set the frame rate to between one and seven frames/second. The default setting is three frames/second.

Interestingly, Nikon appears to have improved image processing speeds (or enlarged the buffer memory) since the release of the D3 because the number of images that can fit into the D700's buffer is slightly greater (see below). Image files move through the buffer as they are shot with the only indicators being a change in the exposures remaining data on the viewfinder display to show the number of frames remaining until the buffer fills and a flashing memory card access lamp.

Typical file sizes and buffer memory capacities for FX format (full frame) images are shown in the table below.

DX format (24 x 16 mm area) images are roughly half the size of FX files but the buffer limit of 100 shots still applies. Typical DX file sizes and buffer capacities are shown in the table below. 

Note: The figures above are approximate and based on figures provided by Nikon. File sizes will vary with the amount of detail recorded in a subject. For JPEG files, the figures assume JPEG compression is set to Size Priority. Choosing the Optimal Quality setting increases file sizes and reduces the buffer capacity.

Live View
Live viewing is selected via the release mode dial on the left side of the top panel, although it can also be assigned to the FUNC, AE-L or Preview buttons, which allows photographers to combine live view with different drive modes. The supported functions are essentially the same as in the D300. Two modes are provided: Hand-held (the default) and Tripod.

In the Hand-held mode, the camera focuses normally using the same phase-detection system as it uses for normal shooting. AF area brackets are overlaid on the view and focus is adjusted on the basis of data from the AF sensor. With the Tripod mode, the camera focuses using contrast-detect AF, which is slightly slower. This system analyses data from the image sensor and adjusts focus to provide maximum contrast.

In the Tripod mode, focusing is done by selecting a focus point and then pressing the AF-ON button. The AF point turns green when focus is achieved or blinks red if the camera is unable to focus and the camera sets both focus and exposure at this point. You can magnify a section of the subject up to 13 times to check focus, using the magnify button on the left side of the monitor. The multi-selector is used to move the magnified area around the image frame.

You can overlay a virtual horizon on the live view in Tripod mode or superimpose a framing guide grid on the displayed scene to assist with shot composition. With both modes, pressing the shutter release half way down raises the reflex mirror and blocks off the viewfinder. To return to normal shooting without taking a picture, simply rotate the release mode dial to a different setting or press the Menu button.

Although the tripod mode was useful for our Imatest evaluations because it showed the full field of view of the image sensor and allowed use to frame our test target accurately, we found the same problems with the hand-held setting as we had with the D300. Even though the camera uses phase-detection autofocusing (which is faster than contrast detection), because the mirror has to be raised and lowered before each shot can be taken, the delay this causes can lead to missed shots, especially with moving subjects.

You can tolerate the slower contrast detection autofocusing in tripod mode because most subjects are relatively static. Furthermore, the ability to enlarge sections of the live view for focus checking makes it easier to focus precisely with the live view in this mode. 

Software
Nikon's software bundle is more miserly than the software provided with other manufacturers' DSLRs. It consists of Nikon Transfer for downloading images to a computer and ViewNX a browser application with very basic raw file conversion capabilities plus links to Nikon's my Picturetown online photo management service. A copy of Apple's QuickTime is also provided.

We've already covered this software in our review of the Nikon D60.

Performance
The test camera powered-up ready for shooting in about 0.1 seconds and there appeared to be no delay between when the shutter was pressed and shots were taken. (Nikon claims a 40 millisecond shutter release time lag for this camera, which is credible.) Capture lag was negligible and shot-to-shot times too brief to measure with the 4GB Lexar Professional UDMA card supplied for this review.

Continuous shooting was to specifications, with the high-speed mode recording FX JPEGs at five frames/second. File writing speeds appear to be able to capitalise on the speed of the new UDMA cards. A burst of 10 large/fine JPEGs took 8.1 seconds to process, while 10 TIFF files took only 12.3 seconds to process and store. Nine uncompressed NEF.RAW files were stored in only 9.5 seconds.

Subjective assessment of shots showed them to be similar to our test shots from the D3 with an almost film-like quality, smooth tonal gradations, natural-looking colours and an abundance of fine detail. Skin tones were nicely rendered in a variety of lighting conditions. Performance with the Picture Control and Active D-Lighting modes was similar to the D3. We found no evidence of coloured fringing in any test shots.

Imatest evaluation showed the test camera's performance to be in line with our expectations. Resolution was generally high right up to ISO 6400, with only a slight falling-off at higher and lower ISO settings. The graph below shows the results of our tests, based on JPEG files.

Resolution was significantly higher with raw files than JPEGs, although we found both types of files produced similar colour accuracy graphs. Lateral chromatic aberration was consistently in the 'insignificant' range with the AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm 1:3.5-5.6G ED lens that was supplied with the camera for this review. More results from our Imatest tests can be found in the separate review of this lens.

The test camera's auto white balance performance was slightly better than the D3's but it still failed to totally remove the inherent orange cast of incandescent lighting. Both manual pre-sets delivered neutral colours and it was easy to tune out colour casts with the in-camera controls before taking shots - as it was to correct colour casts with editing software.

The performance of the built-in flash was excellent, with consistent exposures from ISO 200 right up to ISO 6400 and only slight under- and over-exposure outside of the normal sensitivity range. Noise became apparent at ISO 3200 and shots taken at ISO 6400 without noise reduction had noticeable colour noise and blotchiness.

Conclusion
Thoughtfully designed and a pleasure to shoot with, the D700 is currently the best DSLR camera in its class and provides excellent value for money for photographers who want the advantages of the 36 x 24 mm sized sensor in a smaller, lighter and more affordable body than the D3. An ideal second body for a working professional, it provides top-level performance and excellent versatility for serious enthusiasts.

Comparisons will inevitably be made with Canon's almost three-year-old EOS 5D, although an upgrade for the 5D is expected soon. The 5D is currently $500 cheaper but it's very much yesterday's model because it lacks the sensor dust removal system most DSLR buyers now demand.

Physically, the D700 is taller than the 5D but not quite as wide. It's also 185 grams heavier, although this doesn't make a lot of difference as both cameras' batteries are similar in size and weight and both cameras use CompactFlash cards. The table below shows the most critical differences between the two cameras.

IMATEST GRAPHS
Note: the graphs below relate to NEF.RAW files that were converted into 16-bit TIFF format using Adobe Camera Raw.

SAMPLE IMAGES
Additional sample images can be found in the reviews of the AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED lens,  AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2 lens and the PC-E Micro-Nikkor 45mm f/2 lens.

 
Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.

 
Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.  

Image sensor: 36.0 x 23.9 mm CMOS sensor with approx. 12.87 million photosites  (12.1 megapixels effective)
Lens mount: Nikon F bayonet mount with AF coupling and AF contacts
Focal length crop factor: 1x
Image formats: NEF (RAW): 12 or 14 bit, lossless compressed, compressed, or uncompressed; TIFF (RGB); JPEG ; RAW+JPEG
Image Sizes: FX format: 4256 x 2832, 3184 x 2120, 2128 x 1416: DX format, 2784 x 1848, 2080 x 1384,  1392 x 920
Image Stabilisation: lens-based only
Dust removal: Vibration of low-pass filter in front of sensor, Image Dust Off reference data acquisition (Capture NX 2 required)
Shutter speed range: 30 to 1/8000 sec. plus Bulb; X-synch at 1/250 sec.
Exposure Compensation: ±5 EV in increments of 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV
Self-timer: Electronically controlled timer with duration of 2, 5, 10 or 20 seconds
Focus system: L phase-detection AF, 51 focus points (15 cross-sensors) by Nikon Multi-CAM 3500FX autofocus module
Focus modes: Single-servo AF (S); Continuous-servo AF (C); Focus Tracking automatically activated according to subject status, 2) Manual focus (M) with electronic rangefinder
Exposure metering: 3D Colour Matrix Metering II (type G and D lenses); Colour Matrix Metering II (other CPU lenses); Colour Matrix Metering (non-CPU lenses if user provides lens data), Centre-weighted, Spot metering (approx. 1.5%)
Shooting modes: Program AE, Shutter-priority AE, Aperture-priority AE, Manual
Picture Style/Control settings: Four setting options: Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome; each option can be adjusted
Colour space options: sRGB, Adobe RGB
Custom functions: 50
ISO range: ISO 200 to 6400. Sensitivity can be increased to HI 0.3, HI 0.5, HI 0.7, HI 1 (ISO 12,800 equivalent), HI 2 (ISO 25,600 equivalent), or decreased to Lo 1 (ISO 100 equivalent), Lo 0.7, Lo 0.5 and Lo 0.3
White balance: TTL white balance with main image sensor and 1,005-pixel RGB sensor; Auto plus seven manual settings with fine-tuning; colour temperature setting; bracketing of 2 to 9 exposures in increments of 1, 2 or 3
Flash: Manual pop-up type; GN 17 (ISO 200, m)
Flash exposure adjustment: -3 to +1 EV in increments of 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV
Sequence shooting: With Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3e: 1-5 frames/second in [CL] mode, 5 fps in [CH] mode
Storage Media: CompactFlash (Type I, compliant with UDMA)
Viewfinder:  SLR-type with fixed eye-level pentaprism; 95% coverage; dioptric adjustment -3.0 to +1 dpt; 18mm eyepoint; Type B BriteView Clear Matte VI screen
LCD monitor: 3-inch low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD with approx. 920,000 dots (VGA), 170-degree wide-viewing angle, 100% frame coverage
Live View: Yes. 100% FOV; Handheld and Tripod modes
Data LCD: Yes; displays full photographic and digital settings
Playback functions: Full-frame and thumbnail (4 or 9 images) playback with playback zoom, slide show, histogram display, highlight display, auto image rotation, and image comment (up to 36 characters)
Interface terminals: USB 2.0 Hi-speed, Video Out (PAL/NTSC); Type C mini connector for HDMI version 1.3a; GPS: NMEA 0183 (Ver. 2.01 and 3.01) interface standard supported with 9-pin D-sub cable and GPS Cable MC-35 (optional); 10-pin remote control terminal
Power supply: EN-EL3e Li-ion battery (included)
Dimensions (wxhxd): 147 x 123 x 77 mm (body only)
Weight: 995 grams (body only)