Can one replace the Nikon D700?

Short answer: no. However, see below...

Nice, colorful balcony near Calle de la Chichería in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

While in Cartagena, since I didn't want to slug about all the baby stuff AND a heavy digital camera (whose rubber covers are beginning to act like coming off), I purchased a Nikon Coolpix P7000, led by the good reviews and gushing comments heard all over the place.

Somewhere on the way to the Plaza Bolívar, a street light looks wistful against a weathered wall.

Let's say it's not a bad camera... but it's no dSLR either. It's a very competent P&S with an ego, and a parallax problem that only disappears when you're shooting at a considerable distance from your subject. I insisted on using the viewfinder... only to end up with a lot of unexpectedly cropped shots. As a result, I had to chimp.

These arches support "The Bóvedas," [The Vaults], which were in the past used to billet troops and store ammunition and guns. Today, there are craft- and souvenir stores instead.

Chimping is absolutely uncool (which is to say, dumb), and nothing takes the fun of photographing faster and better than squinting and struggling to see a small screen in a place as sunny as Cartagena. Only for certain type of photographs could I act as if I had a real camera in my hands.

From what I heard, this plaza used to be the main marketplace for the sale of African slaves in the days the Spaniards ruled this part of the world. Nowadays, it's a pedestrian exit of the city (takes you to the Parque Independencia), and right behind the founder's statue one finds El portal de los dulces, a place in which candy sellers offer their (delicious) masterpieces.

Then, I should not be so thankless. Despite its quirks (sometimes it won't shoot because it cannot find a pattern to hold on and focus... and at times it simply doesn't feel like shooting), when it works, it does the trick. I read in some reviews that the high ISO photographs were terribly noisy, but the one above does not confirm it. Now, if you're shooting in A mode, and change the ISO from 400 to 3200, yes, there will be grain. The fix is to set the camera to Night Landscape mode (which has a slew of settings already preset) and voilà! Problem solved.

I initially was going to sell this little gizmo... but it kinda grows on you, especially after shooting a few sunsets, which I only managed after having figured out that one turn of the easy exposure compensation dial would prevent the camera from giving me what it thought was a blue sky (it took three stops of underexposure, without going into any menu! This digital camera has actual dials!!). I don't know if I'll use it the same way I use my Nikon D700, but at least I can say it came to save the day in Cartagena.

Just take another look at the images above... and below

Another interesting window, either in the "Calle de las Damas" [Ladies Street]or in the "Callejón de los Estribos" [Spurs Alley]

I believe this is a hotel, and its privileged location makes it a place by which I walked about a lot, right in front of Plaza Bolívar.

Finally, Bitterness Street, and the arrow that dooms you to go down it only ONE way... Fortunately, it's very short.

Thanks for bearing with me!