Really Enjoying my new Nikon D400

[PhotoEcosse]

Not so fast! That's like shooting them with a wide-angle! Try with a .22 and see what you hit - apart from the steeple in the next village. I was having a brief Internet chat with a cousin who lived in Perthshire, and we were complaining about eyesight. He mentioned being able to bring down a hare with a shot to the throat at a hundred paces, but now he needs three different specs, one even so he can see to paint his pictures...

Rob C

Rob,

I have just done the maths.

Shooting a typical shotgun cartridge from a half-choke barrel gives a pellet spread roughly equivalent to the angle of view from a 2500mm lens on an FX camera! Not exactly wide angle.

However, No.6 shot does take longer to reach the target than photons do - so less forward allowance required with a camera!

2 1/2 inch chambered 100 year old side-by-side?  London or Birmingham?

David,

Edinburgh. Dickson Round Action.

.

[Colorado David]

Very nice.  Dickson is the equal of almost any London gun.

[NancyP]

All the potential 7D customers with the wherewithal to buy a new body are holding out for the mythical 7D2. Most of the bargain hunting potential 7D customers have found their camera used, refurbished, whatever, for a thousand bucks or less. Some bargain hunters are waiting for the 7D2 announcement to snatch up a new 7D for peanuts.

[PhotoEcosse]

All the potential 7D customers with the wherewithal to buy a new body are holding out for the mythical 7D2. Most of the bargain hunting potential 7D customers have found their camera used, refurbished, whatever, for a thousand bucks or less. Some bargain hunters are waiting for the 7D2 announcement to snatch up a new 7D for peanuts.

That's the way of the world, Nancy.

You pays your money and you takes your chance.

I would expect that if a D400 ever does appear, it will be £1400+, so to get a D7100 for half of that keeps me satisfied meantime.

[NancyP]

I am feeling cheerful for the time being (and for the last 4 years) with my 60D, which has an OK frame rate of 5.3 fps and decent but not stellar buffer of 15 to 16 RAWs, which is fine because most of the time I shoot a shortish burst, pause a few seconds or more, shoot another burst. Like all other wildlife photographers, I watch the subject's body language to anticipate the subject's next interesting movement, and then fire a short burst. Really, aren't the modern cameras great? I need better fieldcraft more than anything else (well, a long lens faster than f/5.6 might be nice...)

[sfphotoman]

So, is it game over? I was waiting with baited breath for Jan 17th Dubai, and to see if it was going to be a D400, or the D4X. Well, no D400. I am so sad. I have a D300 camera still (my main camera). I've been waiting for a camera with better low ISO (6400?), improved sensor, etc, and hey I do like the idea of being able to shoot video with my camera at 1080P.

So sad... I thought this was the closest to that pipe dream becoming a reality. I really don't want to go the 7100 route.

 

[Isoruku]

Hi Silver Halide. Are you saying that your D7100 will shoot all 99 exposures without overwhelming the buffer? If so, that is rather impressive. My old D90's buffer filled up pretty quickly.

There is a lot of comment here about the buffer and continius shooting rate of the D7100.

bearing in mind that the best quality jpegs from the D7100 will give you better image quality than Raws from the D300, at that setting the D7100 will machine gun 99 exposures at 6 frames per second.

Not up to D4 performance, but hey!

[PhotoEcosse]

Hi Silver Halide. Are you saying that your D7100 will shoot all 99 exposures without overwhelming the buffer? If so, that is rather impressive. My old D90's buffer filled up pretty quickly.

I, too, was somewhat surprised by that claim. So I tried it out.

Switched my D7100 to large fine Jpeg (somewhere it had never been before!!), put the release mode on fast continous (somewhere it had never been before either), formatted the SanDisc ExtremePro card and then held down the shutter button. Can't think why I would ever want to do it in real life, but the buffer did seem to cope.

[JonathanRimmel]

So, is it game over? I was waiting with baited breath for Jan 17th Dubai, and to see if it was going to be a D400, or the D4X. Well, no D400. I am so sad. I have a D300 camera still (my main camera). I've been waiting for a camera with better low ISO (6400?), improved sensor, etc, and hey I do like the idea of being able to shoot video with my camera at 1080P.

So sad... I thought this was the closest to that pipe dream becoming a reality. I really don't want to go the 7100 route.

 

I feel your pain. I really do. NOTHING suits my needs right now as well as my D300. But the low light capability is not good enough for much of my work. Really only a "D400" would suffice. The D7100 gives, what, 1 stop of improvement? I don't think that is worth what I would lose.

But since Nikon as of late seems to be ignoring it's customers, (except the D4 and <D5300 crowd) I will have no choice but to compromise. That new Fuji sure looks tempting. But I am a photographer that shoots a wide variety of things. So I don't think I can stick with one manufacturer. It seems if Nikon doesn't bring the D400, I may need two or three camera systems to do the job of one...

[Lee Roberts]

I agree on Nikon getting away from the D400 line. Why would they at this point? Aren't there PLENTY of DX cameras available as is? I don't have sales figures...but much has changed in technology and trends since 2007/2008. More FFs have been introduced, more FX glass has been invented (I'm fairly certain), and mirrorless -- unfortunately --is making some noise.

I think Nikon has too many DSLRs in the pipeline as is. As a side note, Canon dropped the 1.3X format a few years back, correct? I don't see them bringing that back, and Canon continues to put their efforts in other sensor/body design technology. Never say never, but the dream D400 (along with a "true blue" predecessor to the much fabled D700) will, frankly, probably NEVER HAPPEN.

At least the noise levels, DR, and video has improved since the D300s -- at TWICE the resolution. Coupled with a lower price (by several hundred) and an excellent AF system, what is left to implement? A "pro body" build in a DX format? 12FPS? ISO capabilities to 512K? Enjoy your very-capable D7100.

[Isoruku]

Not that I want to get flamed, but I'm about to jump from Nikon (D90 plus lenses, SB600, not to mention two film bodies...) to Pentax. Can't wait any longer for the D400, alas. Need a solid, tough DX body and don't want to put up with limited buffer and green tint on the D7100. It's a great camera otherwise, but I think a K-3 or even a K-5 II fit my needs better than DX Nikon.

[JonathanRimmel]

The K3 is the closest thing to a D400 now. Though there is this ember of hope, the rumored D9300.