I arranged a few assignments specially to coincide with the D700 review and give it a shot in real-life conditions. Here are some of the things I love about the D700 compared to D300.

- camera buffer is extremely generous! It allows you to shoot at 5fps regardless of the image processing setting you have. 14-bit lossless RAW+JPEG Fine and Active D-lighting enabled, and you still can shoot at full 5fps. Not for D300, it drops to 2.5fps. Take note however that D700 is more sensitive to CF card performance than the predecessors. A slow CF card will slow down the review speed of the D700.

- focus lock indicator has 2 arrows next to it to indicate over or under focus. So, if you see the arrows, that means the focus is not locked yet.

- D700 now increases the list of customisable functions to the Preview, Fn and AE-L buttons. For instance, you can activate the live-view with the AE-L button, or activate virtual horizon without switching the hardware buttons.

- deceivingly sharper images. Why deceivingly? Because of the full-frame design, the subject captured on the same lens contains less pixels on FX than a DX DSLR. In fact, the D700 covers only 5.1 megapixels what D300 covers in 12.1 megapixels.

If only things are perfect. Here's some nick picks on D700:
- maximum 5fps: that's even slower than the D300's 6fps
- the multi-selector is harder to use than D300 because you need to press deeper to hit the contact
- the shutter button also requires a deeper press to trigger compared to D300. It's probably better in preventing accidental presses.
- the CF door opens by sliding: not very child-proof. I tend to accidentally open the CF door whenever I try to remove the D700 from my top-load camera bag.
- 95% viewfinder coverage
- the AF sensor outside the 15 cross-type doesn't work well under low light. This could be a major handicap since the D700 and D3 is supposed to be capable of shooting in virtual darkness. Switch on the AF illuminator although it is totally irritating. I would prefer Nikon to use an IR illuminator that is less intrusive.
- 51-area not spread across entire FX frame. I cannot use that to frame subjects outside the DX coverage. This handicap may force me to go back to the traditional focus-and-reframe method.

The Nikon full-frame format has much to improve. Even after one year since D3 announcement, there is no major improvements to the sensor nor the AF system. Nikon chooses to enhance the firmware and a few hardware tweaks to make D700 a more affordable full-frame DSLR.