D700 or D300 upgrade from D80 for night time portraiture photography WITHOUT flash?

[Arablover]

At the moment I have a D80, 17-55 2.8 DX lens and a 70-200 2.8 VR lens.

I never use flash, as most of my photographs are taken in places where flash photography is not permitted.

I always shoot in RAW format and edit using Lightroom 2.2

I am unhappy with the ISO 1600 performance of the D80!

You can see 4 sample photos I took on this web page. They were edited using Photoshop CS2 and clearly show the problems with ISO 1600 on the D80.

http://s449.photobucket.com/albums/qq215/Arabic_Pakistani_photographer/

I need better quality at ISO 1600!

I understand that if I upgrade to the D700 I would need to replace my 17-55 DX lens with a 25-70 lens, while if I upgrade to the D300 there would be no need to change the lens.

I have not considered any other Nikon FX cameras, as they would be too large and heavy for me!

I have no problems in spending the extra money, PROVIDING that I get a clear increase in quality at ISO 1600!

Would the D300 give me a substantial increase in quality at ISO 1600, or should I go for the D700 which seems to have even better ISO 1600 performance?

Please advise!

Jeremy

 

[nico3d]

i just spent the first few hours with my new D700 and still own a D300.

Considering the High ISO coming up from the D80, you'll feel in heaven with the D300 and Nirvana with the D700.

I haven't used the D700 for even a day so i can't comment other than the few high ISO that i've just taken, amazing!

But I can tell you that I LOVE my D300, it's a superb camera and you can't go wrong with it.

Maybe you should evaluate the pro's and con's of FX vs DX.

THis is what a i wrote yesterday about WHY I DO IT

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=30681781

hope this helps

--
'there's more in each of us than we know'

 

[MAWA_73527]

I dumped my D300 for the D700. I'd enjoyed the D300.

The night performance at night is much better with the D700. This is the first DSLR that I really feel comfotable with.

The D700 is for me the only way to go!
here some images from my night work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mawas/sets/72157612074168356/
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mawas

 

[PatrickP]

I moved from a D80 to D700 5 months back.

My personal take is, for no-flash night time citiscape/portraits:

ISO1600 on D700 hais slightly less quality than ISO400 on D80.
ISO3200 on D700 is just like ISO800 on D80.
ISO6400 on D700 is quite a bit better than ISO1600 on D80.
ISO12800 on D700 is probably the ISO1600 on D80.

The evaluation was subjective, but both D80 and D700 had the very same
AF-S 24-70 f/2.8 Nano mounted for those pictures. The D700 is such a
fantastic machine!

 

[calson]

The D700 will gain you an f-stop over the D300 but your money could also be well spent on a 135mm f2 or 85mm f1.4 glass, the latter will gain you 2 full f-stops over your f2.8 zooms. For more reach the 70-200mm f2.8 with VR works well and can be shot at 200mm and 1/20 and get 50% keepers with careful bracing of the camera.

The advantage of fast glass is having faster shutter speeds and less motion blur, unless wanted for effect, in your images. The two lenses mentioned will work well with your present camera and also on either the D700 or D300. I would add the lenses first.

 

[tommiejeep]

If you have the glass both D300 and D700 are great cameras. I still use the D300 as primary for birds but do use the D700. I have great glass. For low light there is no comparision. D700 wins hands down.

Shot some portraits of my wife and friends last night in a dark restaurant(first shots with the 84 1.4 since it arrived with friends yeasterday). D700 with 85 1.4 ISO 5600 at 1.4,wow, super thin dof.

Everyone in the place were very impressed with photos. Have not PP'd yet and as I said short(head and shoulders) have dof problems but I am going to love the combo for 'Street'.
--
Tom
http://taja.smugmug.com/

 

[schaki]

I think that a D700 and the Nikkor AF 24-85mm 2.8-4.5D should be a good combo. As far as I know, that lens is not very epxensive used and performs well.

Also the Nikkor AF 28-105mm 3.5-4.5 is something of a bargain lens which i've had, but sold because it is not wide enough on DX.