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I have been waiting for the D800 for over three years, having purchased a D300 on release I could not justify purchasing a D700 when it arrived. Now that the D800/D800E have been announced and I have been lucky enough to get my hands on a D800E I am not certain that I want a D800, nor does it fit my needs/desires (yes Rooz you are not alone).

Please note that:
-I have handled a pre-production D800E
-I have seen and shot sample images (none that I have been able to keep though)
-I view neither the D800/D800E nor the D700 to be perfect

My wishlist:
-Pop Up flash (both)
-High ISO (D700 appears to be better still)
-Dual card Slots (D800/D800E)
-100% Viewfinder (D800/D800E)
-16-18MP (neither, but the D700's 12MP feels better to me)
-FPS (D700)

As you can see, neither camera really meets my desires perfectly, however the D700 is a known workhorse that I already have batteries, battery grip for as well as ergonomics that feel right to me (I didnt like some of the changes that they did to the D800) and video has no bearing on my decision.

So do I:
-Buy a New D700
-Snipe a good 2nd hand D700
-Buy a New D800E (the extra "sharpness" of the AA-less D800E wins over the standard D800 for me)

I will be using the camera as a utility as I do not do much "work" and am still exploring all areas of photography.

My suggestion would be look at a good SH D700 for the time being, and I think we might see a mid-range D800 come out in the next 12 months or so ...

one thing, everyone keeps harping on the fact that the D800 doesn't have a great frame rate ... the D700 is 5 per second, the D800 is 4 .. not a huge difference really!

Always remember that the only people who are not crazy are those with their release certificates from the asylum

tommyg wrote:My suggestion would be look at a good SH D700 for the time being, and I think we might see a mid-range D800 come out in the next 12 months or so ...

That is the train of thought, but I may end up shunning the D800 line altogether, it simply didnt feel right in my hands. I am not sure if we will see a mini-D4-type D800 variant either (that would make 3 D800 variants)

tommyg wrote:one thing, everyone keeps harping on the fact that the D800 doesn't have a great frame rate ... the D700 is 5 per second, the D800 is 4 .. not a huge difference really!

I have the MB-D10 which will allow me to unlock 8fps in full frame 12mp 14-bit RAW files, but I guess the D800 would give me 6fps @ 15MP DX.

aim54x wrote:

tommyg wrote:My suggestion would be look at a good SH D700 for the time being, and I think we might see a mid-range D800 come out in the next 12 months or so ...

That is the train of thought, but I may end up shunning the D800 line altogether, it simply didnt feel right in my hands. I am not sure if we will see a mini-D4-type D800 variant either (that would make 3 D800 variants)

tommyg wrote:one thing, everyone keeps harping on the fact that the D800 doesn't have a great frame rate ... the D700 is 5 per second, the D800 is 4 .. not a huge difference really!

I have the MB-D10 which will allow me to unlock 8fps in full frame 12mp 14-bit RAW files, but I guess the D800 would give me 6fps @ 15MP DX.

I am too lazy for effective quoting.

For me, the faster frame rate in DX mode would mitigate the benefit of going to FX for me, so it is not a benefit to me over the D700.

2 card slots: only you can tell the priority to place on that on your wish list.
100% viewfinder: this is not a deal breaker for me despite how nice it would be. Again, you need to work out how often the lack of 100% viewfinder in the D700 would mean a need to crop out extraneous objects.
16-18MP: how big will you print or how much do you need to crop?

My leaning towards the D700 is based on the expected price difference of $500-1,000 between current new D700 prices and expected AUD pricing of the D800.

Reschsmooth wrote:2 card slots: only you can tell the priority to place on that on your wish list.
100% viewfinder: this is not a deal breaker for me despite how nice it would be. Again, you need to work out how often the lack of 100% viewfinder in the D700 would mean a need to crop out extraneous objects.
16-18MP: how big will you print or how much do you need to crop?

Dual card slots are not a deal breaker for me...nice to have...but not critical
100% viewfinder - more important to me, I have been spoiled by the D300, but once again I can adjust
16-18mp - having used the D3/D700 I found that I missed the pixel density (ie fine level detail), I dont crop heavily, nor print large often (Genuine Fractuals/Perfect Resize - will fix that anyway)

I think that there are currently 11 used D700 bodies on eBay.