That seems to be a large question out in the general public. I understand the price concerns. To a pro there is not question and I hope the shots show why. We are experimenting with a new way to display images by using our image gallery from another site. You can still click on the featured image to enlarge it and you can click on the like provided to bring up the gallery with the other images. They are good quality can be looked at side by side. We are also exploring other options to display multiple images for side by side comparisons.
There are a couple of things to understand. One that is very easy is the cost. I was with a person who could not understand the costs of pro equipment.
She also could not handle the weight. The cameras and lenses are very heavy compared to the p&s she was used to using. I bought a cheap consumer lens for her to use on my D300 simply because she could not hold the D700 with the battery pack and the 70-200 F/2.8. She never used the D700 because of the weight and that I used in on manual about 90 percent of the time which means you have to change the settings for almost every shot. She had no idea on how to do that. Now the cost, I bought a cheap Nikon consumer zoom lens at Walmart. Yes Walmart. It cost $ 249.99 and was plastic therefore very light weight. The pro lens, well it was right at $ 3000.00 and weighed several pounds. Now you can understand the issues. As far as quality of the image, there is no comparison. A pro can tell the difference in about 3 seconds.
The featured image is just a black and white conversion for the color image in the gallery. It was shot using a Nikon D700 and a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VRII. You can see the detail and clarity of the image. You will not get that with a consumer lens. This shot was done 06/05/2011 at 8:10.43.86.
If you can not support the weight than the pro equipment may not be what you need. It is expensive, heavy, has no consumer auto settings like landscape or sunshine, and you need good software to help the digital files come clean. That means more money and then you have to learn how to use it properly. Then you have the tripod issue. Yes you can go get a cheap 40-50 dollar POS tripod but why would you put a $5000 camera and lens combo on a tripod that is not built to hold it. That is an accident waiting to happen. I have a pro tripod from Manfrotto tripod. Expect to pay over a hundred dollars plus the ball head and better feet updates.
As I get to it I will update this article with more images using other camera and lens combinations so you can see the difference between them. A set of fountain images with running water may help as they were shot from a distance and are very clear. They also were shot with the D700 and 70-200 in a lower light situation. Again study camera work is the key without it the work suffers.
The gallery with other images is here. The reflection shot of the green trees is shot with the D700 but it is using a lens I can a Pro-Am lens. It is a DX lens, not really for the FX camera, It is lighter weight, does not have the glass quality but costs about $400-500. Not cheap, I bought it with my D300. When I sold it I kept the lens.
I will post the camera settings as I update the articles. They are all shot with the D700.
The flower shots are both the same, one is just color and the other b and white. Another thing the image has a secret built into it. I am not putting it here. To get that look took some work. I have yet to discuss it online. I will probably keep that. Another way to show ownership because it is provable.
It was shot with all manual settings. D700 70-200 F/ 2.8 The ISO was 200, the Metering was spot. Shutter speed 1/100 and exposure f/5.
The two fountain shots are as follows:
They are shot with the D700 with the 70-200 f/2.8 ISO 800 f/ 6.3 , 1/160 second hand held. The other settings ev, eb and bbs are manual set also. Notice the lack of noise in the images. With the D300 which is a very good low light camera it started showing tell tale noise in images at 800 in shadows. The 700 does not have that problem. The difference between a Pro-am camera and a pro camera. Easy for even the beginning serious hobbyist or pro to see.
The green reflection was shot with the D700 with the 18-70 DX with a variable f/stop. Exposure 1/60, f/5 ISO 400 other settings like WB are all on manual. It has a special layering technique used as do many of the images.
The D700 has some unique settings which also make it a unique camera for identifying your images. Some of the settings that show up are not available on my other camera. It was a Pro-am camera and a very good camera but not in the 700’s class.