When should I buy a D700...now that the D800 is coming out?

I think used D700's will start to be flooding the market in 2-3 months as people are getting their D800's. I would expect rather good supply in the summer. Then the prices will be down also. Wait for a little used unit in good shape ;-)

Of course, many may want to keep theirs for backup purposes and for fast action (8fps).

Jessica -

Unfortunately my crystal ball is at the repair shop today, so I can't provide a good answer...

Seriously though - I don't think any one on this or any other internet forum has a clue what D700 prices will do.

There are going to be some on the market now from people who either really need the D800 and don't have a need for a 2nd FX body or just plain can't afford the upgrade without selling their D700. I've seen 4 or 5 go up on Clist (Twin Cities) since the announcement - All priced between 1900 and 2100 (US).

The market may drop for them, may stabilize or may actually increase as people find that the D800 is too demanding of their existing lenses, and they look to down grade. Generally though, the market will see a flood of sellers right away, so prices are likely to drop in the short term, stabilize, then drop more after another period of time.

Long term - it is going to depend on how the market views the D700 - it could end up like a D40 (maintain value fairly well) or end up like a D1x or D2x ($100-200 or $500-$700 respectively).

Dave

dont think the price will drop too far below $2k for low actuation models, unfortunately. $1500 would be great but the d700 is far from obsolete for most users. i think a lot of folks who have been wanting to go FF but dont need 36mp will jump on these.

Browsed through the local C-list and saw a few d700's these past couple days. The highhest were $2275 and lowest were $1600. Most were ~$2000...

I suspect that they would average out at $1800-2000 = roughly 2/3 of a d800 for a long time...

Going on past experience, there isn't going to much of an immediate price drop. First, the D800 is likely to trickle into the market rather than flood it meaning that there is not likely going to be a whole lot of people trying to sell their cameras at once. Second, those with a D700 who are upgrading to a D800 are unlikely to sell at below whatever they feel is a fair price and will simply retain their D700 as a back-up. Third, for every person who is looking to upgrade from a D700 to a D800, there is another person looking to upgrade from some other camera to the D700 (like yourself).

Historically, a just-obsoleted camera loses maybe 10% of its resale value (say 80% of retail), depending on what the successor costs. 2 generations old is running about 50% retail and 3 generations about 25% of retail.

To make a long story short, if you want a great deal on a D700, you'll need to wait for the D900. In the meantime, you are maybe saving a hundred bucks at the cost of waiting until April. Personally, I'd rather be taking pictures sooner than later.

The D700 is a very different beast that the D800. I suspect that anyone who can afford it will hold on to the D700 and get the D800 in addition.
Christoph

There won't be a flood of D700s on the used market; more like a steady stream. It will take months for Nikon to meet demand for the D800. Plus there are a lot of DX users looking to upgrade to FX now that the D700 is dropping in price. So I agree with Leslie, clean D700s should sell in the $1,800+ range at least through 2012.
But then, when I bought my D700 in 2009 I figured it would be discontinued in 2010 and used bodies would be selling for $1,200 by the end of 2011 in case I needed to replace mine. So much for my career as a photo industry analyst!

There will certainly be a flood of used D700 hitting the market, and based on what previous cameras did I'll predict $1,500 by the end of the year. It will take until September for prices to begin their "terminal" drop, I think. No out of production (obsolete) camera is immune to gravity.

Kent in SD

You don't have to wait that long. I saw D700 in my local CL asking for $1500.