This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I’m very very seriously considering switching to Nikon cameras. 

The new Nikon D700.

The image above is a little test that I made while at a camera shop the other day (click the image, or click here, to view the full size image (3.4mb). No adjustments—other than what Photoshop Camera Raw does by default, I guess.

Shot from clear across the room at 300mm towards a fairly dark shelf, indoors, no flash. Check out the specs. (6400 ISO!!) Zoom in to 100% and look how clean it is. My Canon doesn’t always look that clean at 800 ISO. I mean, there is some minor “grain”/noise. But frankly, it’s pretty nice looking noise. No ugly color noise and almost filmic in texture.

And I was obviously pushing the envelope on purpose — 1/400th, f7.1 — silly really. I gained probably 6 or 7 stops over what I can normally do with my camera in those lighting conditions, and got results that I wouldn’t hesitate to print.

Amazing.

Also, very pleasantly surprised at the sharpness of the Nikon glass. This isn’t even one of their better lenses. Pretty darn sharp at 300mm in low light. I’m really curious to try out their high-end lenses now.

I think I’m sold.