my nikon conversion

For the past year or so, I had been toying with changing up my camera equpiment.  My main aim was at going to a full frame camera.  I figured that most of my work pretained to landscapes, stills, and portraits, so I would benefit from full frame a lot.  I also wanted really clean high ISO images.  I thought about the Canon 5d, but the autofocus just didn't seem fast enough to be as versatile as I wanted my camera to be. Even though i don't shoot sports a lot at the moment, I wanted a camera that could do everything.  The 5dmkII had the same autofocus as the original 5d, so I decided to jump ship from Canon to Nikon. Their D700, D3, and D3X cameras were exactally what I wanted.

They have fast 51-point autofocus, great high iso capabilities (up to ISO 25,600), and are full frame.  Unfortunately, they cost a bit more than I could afford at the moment.  When I got back from my trip to Nova Scotia in August, I began to look for a super good deal on a D700.  What I found was a great deal on a D300 (crop sensor body).  It was such a great deal that I couldn't pass it up.  I had to have it.  So after a few emails, I had an overnight tracking number and a lot less money in my bank account.  Luckily I was able to sell most of my Canon equipment the same night and broke even on the whole deal.

Now, I know that you're going to say that it's not full frame, so why even bother?  Well, even though it doesn't have a huge sensor, I feel the image quality it miles above my old Canon 30d.  I plan on having a D700 or D3 by the end of the school year (goodbye tax return), and wanted to have experience with Nikon before I actually got the camera I really, really wanted.

Below is an image of my current Nikon line-up. 

My intial Impressions so far have been great.  The ergonomics of the camera is much better than my 30d was.  Where I previously had menus to adjust settings, I now have switches.  The shutter makes a much different sound.  I can't say that it's better, but it definately sounds more refined.  The display is a much needed upgrade from my 30d and the grip fits the body much better.  All in all, I feel that more thought was put into the Nikon than was in my Canon.  I have been in Nikon camp now for about three weeks and couldn't be any happier (well, I guess I could be if I had a D700 or D3(x) that is).