[bbgm]

I sold all my DSLRs over the past 18 months and jumped into the deep end. The lens systems are better, the cameras are better. I love having a histogram in the viewfinder. There's very little reason and battery life has never been an issue (it is for video but that's a different story).

[hef19898]

When I went back to photography I put quite some thought into the next gear, obviously the old D70 I ahd lying around wasn't going to cut it. And I wanted full frame, so the D200 I borrowed from ky dad was at best a back up.

In the end I ended uo using, and loving, my dad's D700 I switched the D200 for (he's on a D750/200 combo now). I came to the conlusion that, regardless how good Nikon's Z cameras and lebses are, I prefer to spend the money on vacation and trips to places to shoot great pictures. So I am going to stick with the D700, with a mint, used D300 as a back-up. Some additional budget will go into a 400mm and a 20mm lense. And maybe a spare D700 body as long as those are still available with <50k shots taken. Honestly, this camera gave me the fun in ohotography back, I love using it. For my use as an artistic tool it the perfect camera.

As a pro so I would go mirroless, no doubt about that.

[neverartful]

I've been doing a lot of research recently on the D700 and from everything I've read and heard is that it's a fantastic camera. It seems that it has all the right ingredients to produce stunning images. Additionally, it seems to be highly regarded for its ergonomics. Lucky you!

[hef19898]

Ergonomics are great, picture quality has something special about even in RAW. The body is sturdy as a tank, feels a lot like a F4. Which already means I love it, back as 13 year old I was allowed to use my dad's back-up F4 to learn photography on film, slides and B&W. Another benefit is small files it creates, it makes post processing so much easier.

The one issue I see, so, is cropping. I am not talking about cutting some sides or going to portrait format, but rather cropping out e.g. birds. That's the only time the 12 MP hinder you. In a sense a D700 forces you to shoot better pictures.

Overall, if you can, get one. There are some from places like mpb.com with below 50k shutter count in very good condition for around / less than 400 Euro. You cannot do anything wrong.

Oh, a D700 doesn't do video. No problem for me, but if you want to do video that is a missing feature.