Hi all. Would like to share some sentiments I've had from various experiences as a nikon user in the last 1 year. The disclaimer would be that I'm an ex-C camp user but do not bring in brand war conversations unless you really know what you're talking about.
Alot of things i'm going to share are not always scientific that's why I would like the opinions of fellow users. I'm a D700 user and have used 4 copies of D700s. Have owned a D3 as well.
1. Current Nikon AF system is "degrading" in relative quality due to the release of the new recent f1.4 lenses eg. 24G, 35G, 85G.
Previously I did not notice issues while I was using the 50 f1.4G. These lenses are all higher quality but all required micro-adjustment to achieve peak accuracy/precision. NSC told me this is the user's responsibility. Interestingly the MA value for multiple bodies are the same. This subject is more complicated than it looks because accuracy not equals precision and focus shift can affect the best MA value to get the best DOF balance for all AF distances. On average I spent 3 months on each lens to figure out that magical number. That is a heck load of time wasted. I can share some of my findings if any of you bros need help. Btw I spent a short time on a D3 and could not fix these issues. The D3S was much better (from LCD screen).
2. Maintenance pricing at NSC Singapore is simply too expensive. I don't expect angelic service and non-rhetorical warranty but estimations of $500-$600 for an average shutter change and $100+ dollars for a hot-shoe is infuriating.
3. I still do not like out of box nikon color even after shooting RAW and custom WB. First off I'm all for skintones. I've used everything from CaptureNX, Lightroom 3 (my main workhorse software) & I believe that simple PP can't solve this problem because C & N color/balance rendition is just different starting from the sensor & lens coating. JPEGs from the D700 are unusable to me. When I first migrated from 1DsII to D700 my workflow for colour became more complicated overnight, correct yet pleasing RGB/CMYK skintone is easy to achieve last time but for the nikons (D3/D700) it's abit of a chore. Btw, i'm not a photoshop expert so I might be all wrong.
4. AWB is awful or not to my taste. This applies especially for the D700 AWB (greenish cast in 60% of situations yet Magenta 1 shift destroys skintones) and sadly the D3S samples I saw were better but not by a huge margin. Could this just be a matter of taste or a real technical issue?
Needs comments from bros here as I love this system for the consistency but this has troubled in for a while!
Feel free to question my workflow and how I process my images/operate my camera etc. Whatever it takes to solve my Nikon woes... i'm out for it.