So I got myself a D700

I regularly prowl the local classified ads and check for good offers on used gear, and have been looking at D600 and D700 bodies the last couple of months, thinking that I'd be happy to acquire a full frame body to use with my many lenses that aren't exclusively for DX. I'd especially love to see what my bright Sigma's could do on FF – the 20, 30 and 50 mm at f/1.8 and two times f/1.4 respectively. My expectation was that they would do quite well on a large sensor since they already perform really well on my DX bodies.

But the prices for full frame – even used – didn't tempt me. Prices in the 15-1800 USD range for used bodies made no sense for me with four Nikon bodies on the shelves already, and no immediate need for more. But you know how it is. The prices are dropping and at some point they might just meet the threshold where I could be tempted.
And that happened this past weekend.

Round midnight on Sunday I saw a D700 body listed at 825 $US, which is a really good deal. They normally go for around 1,500 $US. The seller was very honest about the reason. The camera had been cleaned in such a manner that there were scratches on the sensor – or rather on the protective filter in front of the sensor. According to the seller this didn't leave any visible traces in the images, but never the less. He provided images in the ad, and none were marred in any way.

I had him send test shots in RAW and full resolution, and was unable to provoke anything but ordinary dust no matter how I manipulated them. Not a trace of any scratches. The seller was in the other end of the country, so there was no chance to handle or test the camera in person.
Well, my experiences with used deals through this particular ad source have only been good, and since the payment was PayPal I thought that I'd take the chance, and transferred the money. The camera arrived this morning, less than 36 hours after I saw the ad for the first time.

I have shot a handful of images with the camera, and it's great. I can't see the least trace of any scratches in any pictures I have shot. I can see scratches when I lock up the mirror and look into the camera, but they are honestly not worse than what I can see on my other bodies. The camera shares batteries and grip with my D300s, so I simply moved my grip and Arca-Swiss bracket to the new camera.
So I'm now a full frame shooter and will look forward to seeing what that can do for my photography – if anything – and how big the difference actually is to DX.