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Hello all, I am brand new to this forum so I hope I am posting these questions in the correct category. I am a college graduate who had put aside her photography to focus on school. I was originally a photo major at Arizona State but I'm sure everyone here is aware of their lack in the arts. So, I completed my Bachelor's Degree in psychology and haven't been seriously shooting or researching the technology that's been out there for the past two years. When I just recently looked at Nikonusa's website, I became a little overwhelmed since the last camera I purchased was a D50.

I apologize for being verbose but I thought a little background info was necessary to let you in on how out of it all I am. Since I'm done with college I want to bring back my photo business again (which was great until I switched majors). Before the switch, I dealt primarily with bands and models. My greatest aspiration is to be a full-time band photographer, shooting live and promotional shots. The D50 was ok for what I was doing at the time, which was basically shooting all of my friends' bands but now I'm looking to get serious.

I was considering the D3s, D700, or the D300s. I'm really leaning towards the D700 but I'm wondering if I should wait for its upgrade, if/when they decide to do that. What would be the best camera for the money, long term use, and for the subject matter I intend to shoot? Is the video capture feature really worth waiting for if I decide to get the D700 since I could use it as an extra feature for clients? Where would be the best place to purchase the camera (i.e. who has the best financing plan)? Has anyone used the high ISO on the D3(s) and are you pleased with the clarity? What new technologies or additions should I be aware of on the new cameras that make them noticeably better than their predecessors?

Again, I apologize if this was too much info. I hope to get some feedback since I was looking forward to getting started as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

First of all, out of the d3s, d700 and d300s, the D3s and the D700 are both full frame cameras that will fill in the category of long term use and that they will give you the best ISO results compared to the D300s. I haven't used any of the cameras mentioned here, so I'm only going by what I've seen on the internet forums hehe.

If I was in your position I would personally go for the D700 for the size and that it's cheaper than the D3s. Again, I haven't owned either of them, so we'll let the people that have tell you all about them. Hope this helped =D and as you probably already know, good glass would be the most important thing.

if you want to be a band/live photographer, and can afford the cameras you listed above , i would only suggest either D3(s) or D700.
D300(s) is a great camera too but the low light performance from the D3/700 is just miles ahead of it which is quite important for the type of photos you want to take..

I use a D700 as my main camera these days and really love it.
I normally shoot between ISO200 to ISO3200 and sometime i go up to ISO6400 or even slightly higher as well. ISO6400+ image quality starting to drop bur at least it allows me to take a shot that was simply impossible with my previous DSLRs.

And even if you are shooting at daytime and don't need the high ISO, one thing i really like is how much highlight headroom you got when you are converting from RAW to JPG. With my previous DSLRs, if you have overexposed a bit, you simply can't rescue the blown highlight area. With the D700, sometime if i have overexposed 2EV, i can still recover most of the highlight. It's similar when i have underexposed the original photo, i can push +1/2EV easily and get a reasonably good photo. It gives me much better chance of getting good photo when shooting live events as you just don't have time to make sure all your photos are exposed correctly.

And another good thing i like about the D700 is, when i go out with my family and don't want to carry a lot of camera gear, i just detached the grip and put on a prime lens (50 f/1.4 or 85 f/1.4) and i have a relatively small camera. And when i shooting for clients, then i'll install the grip which give me longer battery life, more frame per second, and more comfortable grip especially when shooting in portrait position.

oh and welcome!!

(10-26-2009 08:10 AM)SRRoberts Wrote: [ -> ]the last camera I purchased was a D50.
... leaning towards the D700 but I'm wondering if I should wait for its upgrade, i

Buy the D700 now that it's cheaper than when it first came out and spend the extra money on lenses that don't lose value over time [ like bodies do ] - or you will spend the rest of your life waiting for the next expensive upgrade and losing money on depreciation .
I have two D90's but still use my old D50 as a back-up - it's still a good camera .