Upgrade of D700 to D800 - Handheld Question

moving_comfort wrote:

It's not an issue.

The misconception that the D700 is 'easier' comes from this:

Many people incorporate 100% views into their workflow/shot checkout (I do as well,) and if they notice motion blur they may get the idea that the D700 seemed 'more forgiving', because they don't remember seeing motion blur in those same situations with the D700 at 100%. But if they were able to shoot both side by side, same scene, same settings, they would see that the D700 in those shutter-speed-constrained situations simply had no detail where the D800 may have showed slightly blurred detail. (And of course at regular display sizes, that blur/lack-of-detail evens out and you wouldn't really detect either more than the other.)

In situations where you have adequate shutter speed (usually about 1/FL or greater,) the D800 will always show more detail, lens + settings being the same. Even handheld, and even when the D800 shot is downsampled to 12MP, or even less. I can see differences in output down to about 1600 pixel-width downsamples. It's especially apparent in high-ISO shots - downsampling is not really technically noise reduction, but it has the effect of creating a crisper, cleaner shot aesthetically.