So I Bought A dSLR That Defies All That I Was Advised Upon

It is probably one of the most breathtaking decisions I have made lately when I got myself an early Christmas present for the next 5 years combined: an entry level full frame camera.  To my dear friends whom I have been bugging for months asking the same set of questions in 101 different ways, thank you for your patience.  I really appreciate it.  Though my final decision is probably not what you would have imagined, your consistent answers have lent me much clarification.  Or so it seems.  I am certainly not as rational as what some friends of mine would think.

OK.  I am most definitely not the smartest dude in town.  I got a shock when I saw the 70-liter dry cabinet delivered to my office.  It is bloody huge!  Big enough to fit a baby inside!  I swear I thought I’ve ordered a 60-liter.  And I got a shock when I held my camera.  So bloody heavy!  Unlike my friend Mark who has also got himself a Nikon camera on the same day (how excited and productive he was!), my accomplishment for day 1 was as follows.

1. Fully charged the battery!
2. Took me a long time to tie the stripe.  Really, Nikon should just attach these stripes for us.
3. Took me a long time to figure out how to attach the bloody heavy lens to the rather heavy body.  I swear I saw virtual dust going into the body while I was holding my breath throughout the nerve-racking process.
4. Spent a long time staring at that heavy beast pondering: What shall I do next?
5. Took a picture of Cynthia while she was sleeping.  Then decided against keeping that photo.

This morning I woke up and made some progress.  I managed to set the time zone, date, and time and … time to go to work.

So, why a Nikon D700?  Here is the secret dream world of a simple guy.  The irrational bits first.

• I love a bigger size, a hand full.  One friend of mine suggested that I should try these bodies before putting down my hard earned cash.  I would agree with her.  Not sure why I trusted my visual instinct so much.
• Somehow the point-and-shoot picture control dial bugs me.  The one that comes with the landscape, portrait, night scene, and etc. icons.  So I picked D700 as it doesn’t have that dial.  To me, I want the hard way.  Except, now it is so darn hard that I don’t even know how to take a picture.

I know I know … what can I say?!  OK.  Now comes the less irrational bits.

• I know wise man says “invest in the lenses and not the body”.  I am certainly investing on lenses (got myself a decent Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8) but I am also very hung up on one obscure and basic requirement of mine ever since the day one I started to research on which camera to get: full frame. 
• This is a baseline requirement for me because I can safely say that I will keep this body for quite some time.  I am not into the mega pixel race.  That is silly to me because it is highly unlikely that I want my photographs to be printed in an exhibition size.  Not now, not for the next decade.  And since I am happy with the mega pixel and the full frame sensor size, what else would I want from the future upgrades?  Perhaps a video function?  Perhaps a better frame-per-second?  Perhaps a Wi-fi connectivity?  Nah, not for me.
• I don’t see camera sensors can be larger than the 35mm full frame ones that I have.  Lenses will have to be much bigger than what they already are today.  Nor do I see that sub-frame will be the de facto standard for the professionals.  Hence, I prefer to collect lenses that are made for full frame cameras and not to think of the crop ratio that keeps screwing up my brain.
• I am aware that sub-frame camera has a perceived farther reach due to the crop ratio.  But I am also aware the advantages of a full-frame that I am happy with.

I am so glad that the days of debat is over.  Next step, figure out how to take pictures!  Stay tuned.