717 v 707

I wanted to ask the list's opinion of the 717 v 707. I am about to purchase one model or the other and plan to use the camera mainly for macro work and the odd holiday shot. Is the 717 worth the extra 300 dollars (US) for these parameters?

Many thanks in advance for any advice,

WD Baker

If you are a digifan and have the money, a clear yes.
You will become a digifan if you are not.

717

focus problem possible if you buy before end of november. (first units)
better color than 707 (red)
70 percent more sensitive at same official ISO 100. You need less light.
cool zoomring.
better films in same resolution.
some less important things.

WD Baker said:

I wanted to ask the list's opinion of the 717 v 707. I am about to
purchase one model or the other and plan to use the camera mainly
for macro work and the odd holiday shot. Is the 717 worth the
extra 300 dollars (US) for these parameters?

Many thanks in advance for any advice,

WD Baker

Click to expand...

From what you are saying you're not going to be using the camera all that much. That being the case I would go with the 707, you should be able to get a good price on one now.

If you're going to be doing a lot of macro shots you might want to considera Nikon because I've read that Nikons really shine on macro shots.

Harry

http://www.pbase.com/hpb

It all comes down to image quality and the 717 made some big steps in that area, especially when it comes to the greens and reds. Wish I could find the side-by-side comparisons that were posted a while ago, but quite an improvement.

I was considering the 707 but couldn't get my head around some of the fake looking greens and reds I was seeing and general over-saturation... much better now from the 717.

the 2 cm near is only possible in wide angel.

The D7 is better for that.

wide angel 28 mm on normal pictures of the D7 is more art than photo. read about the normal lens (normal focal lenth) as newbie (if you are)
The 717 is the best cam if you like to make pictures of people and city reality.

WD Baker said:

I wanted to ask the list's opinion of the 717 v 707. I am about to
purchase one model or the other and plan to use the camera mainly
for macro work and the odd holiday shot. Is the 717 worth the
extra 300 dollars (US) for these parameters?

Many thanks in advance for any advice,

WD Baker

Click to expand...

Would someone kindly post a SIDE BY SIDE comparison of actual photos.

Not sure what your conclusions are given your later reply:

Your first reply was thus:

netguru717 said:

If you are a digifan and have the money, a clear yes.
You will become a digifan if you are not.

717

focus problem possible if you buy before end of november. (first
units)
better color than 707 (red)
70 percent more sensitive at same official ISO 100. You need less
light.
cool zoomring.
better films in same resolution.
some less important things.

Click to expand...

Second reply was this:

netguru717 said:

netguru717 said:

the 2 cm near is only possible in wide angel.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The D7 is better for that.

wide angel 28 mm on normal pictures of the D7 is more art than photo. read about the normal lens (normal focal lenth) as newbie (if you are)
The 717 is the best cam if you like to make pictures of people and city reality.

Your input, nonetheless, greatly appreciated. Yes, I am a newbie's newbie and need every iota of help you can throw my way!!

Kindly,

WD Baker

Here's some side-by-side comparisons.

http://www.pbase.com/slo2k/717_707
http://www.pbase.com/slo2k/717_707comp2

Here's an IR comparison.

http://www.pbase.com/slo2k/717_707ir_samples

Here's some ISO 400 and 800 indoor action shots, from the 717. You don't want to see my 707 high ISO action shots :-(

http://www.pbase.com/slo2k/high_iso

Here's some "Real" images, taken with the 717.

http://www.pbase.com/slo2k/717_pics

Steve

hammer said:

Would someone kindly post a SIDE BY SIDE comparison of actual photos.

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/slo2k

The D7 can not go so near like the sony in macromode. But the D7 can do it at zoom. So the D7 gives the little things bigger.

But I dot not use macromode often, nearly never, so I have no specific experience, I only know it from another forum that the D7 is better for macros. Macrozoom is necessary for insects.

In normal mode (not macro) the advantage of the D7 is its wide angle (not angel, I am no native English speaker, sometimes funny).

Wide angle is the opposite of tele. The normal human sight is an angle (focal lenghth) of 50 mm, the focal lenghth value made similar to small analogue film cameras.

Similiar made to little film:

The sony has 38 mm to 190 mm angles. (5*zoom)
The D7 has 28 mm to 200 mm (7*)

But the sony does it also in less light (more lightful lensglass). The 28 mm at D7show a lot from near, you can get more to picture in small room, but such wide angle looks very unreal and is only to handle for very experienced users. It makes background small, you have depth in picture, but never a natural look at such wide angle. tele over 50 mm does not make so unreal like wide angle does.

WD Baker said:

Your first reply was thus:

netguru717 said:

If you are a digifan and have the money, a clear yes.
You will become a digifan if you are not.

717

focus problem possible if you buy before end of november. (first
units)
better color than 707 (red)
70 percent more sensitive at same official ISO 100. You need less
light.
cool zoomring.
better films in same resolution.
some less important things.

Click to expand...

Second reply was this:

WD Baker said:

WD Baker said:

the 2 cm near is only possible in wide angel.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The D7 is better for that.

wide angel 28 mm on normal pictures of the D7 is more art than
photo. read about the normal lens (normal focal lenth) as newbie
(if you are)
The 717 is the best cam if you like to make pictures of people and
city reality.

Your input, nonetheless, greatly appreciated. Yes, I am a newbie's
newbie and need every iota of help you can throw my way!!

Kindly,

WD Baker

Click to expand...

Steve,

Your comparisons and photos are helpful and lovely. Could you weigh in on the topic of the thread? 717 or 707 for macro work and the occasional snap?

The reds in the 707 shots look terribly suspect.

Thank you for the help,

WD Baker

WD,

Thanks for the kind words I was/am perfectly happy with my 707. I had one major problem area. Low light indoor action shots. I will be shooting some in about an hour and we'll see if the 717 can deliver where the 707 can't. The cameras are very similar, other than the addition of ISO 800, and a few other minor up-grades. As you noticed, the biggest difference is in the images. Yes the 707 will over-saturate certain reds and greens. But out of maybe 4600, F-707, shots, I've had to de-saturate maybe 50 during post-processing. The sharpness (IMO, better than the 717) and color (not as "real" or accurate as the 717) are outstanding. Properly exposed images right from the camera are awesome. I've shot in macro mode or used close-up filters, quite a bit with the 707. It's not the 707's stong suit, but it does a very nice job. If you see any posts by mxcat, check out some of his macro work (he uses a teleconverter and close-up filters). They both work the same in macro mode. I've been very satisfied with the results.

Which DC would I recommend? If you're not going to be using the camera at least weekly, then save the $ and get the 707. If you plan to really "get into" digital shooting, then I'd recommend the 717. It's easier to amp up images than to tone them down. The 717's features make it even more fun to shoot with and the image color is just too accurate to pass up.

Just my opinion,
Steve

WD Baker said:

Steve,

Your comparisons and photos are helpful and lovely. Could you
weigh in on the topic of the thread? 717 or 707 for macro work and
the occasional snap?

The reds in the 707 shots look terribly suspect.

Thank you for the help,

WD Baker

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/slo2k

Dear Steve,

Thank you kindly for taking the time to respond with the helpful advice. I going to get the 717 and hope that the additional costs will spur me on to taking a few more pics. than usual!

Kindly,

Wes Baker

Steve Cavigliano said:

Which DC would I recommend? If you're not going to be using the
camera at least weekly, then save the $ and get the 707. If you
plan to really "get into" digital shooting, then I'd recommend the
717. It's easier to amp up images than to tone them down. The
717's features make it even more fun to shoot with and the image
color is just too accurate to pass up.

Just my opinion,
Steve

WD Baker said:

Steve,

Your comparisons and photos are helpful and lovely. Could you
weigh in on the topic of the thread? 717 or 707 for macro work and
the occasional snap?

The reds in the 707 shots look terribly suspect.

Thank you for the help,

WD Baker

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/slo2k

Click to expand...

thanks for those comp. photos. I have decided to keep my 707 and not upgrade....can't really tell the diff...henceforth why pay more.