New Nikon

[TheRejector]

Ok it's time for an upgrade, my old 3100 has servered me well but now I want something new! I would like to keep it under $3000 so i'm looking at the D7100 and the D610. So DX or FX format and why?

[chipmaster]

I'd take a read of this article by Thom: http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/the-full-frame-debate.html

 

 

Unless you are hung up on going super wide and shooting with the 14-24 or 16-35 a DX camera is smaller/cheaper gives you reach and still has some good superwides to 15mm effective FX FOV.

 

I would stay far away from the D600/D610 till people get statistics of it to shot to 5000-10000 shots :D

 

Is the budget 3K for body or body and new lense? Body only get the D800, body plus lenses then better to stick with DX and go D5100 or D7100.

[TheRejector]

May go with the D800 and one lens, I have till April till I cruise again!

[AlkiRagdoll]

I am a longtime Nikon user, but a year ago bought a Sony NEX-7 mirrorless 4/3s camera that is 25mp but about 1/3rd of the weight of a FF Nikon. It takes a while to learn a new system but with primes and a couple zooms. You could get a couple lenses and a body for your budget. Your pix would be as good as a 7100 but nothing is as good as the D800. But you need the arm strength for it a good glass.

[TruckerDave]

What lenses do you have and how many? Are they FX or DX lenses? If they are DX ones they will work but a new FX body (D800,610,600) will switch to crop mode, thus why bother to upgrade to FX. What do you shoot that you feel the need to go full frame for? If it is wide angle you want, the Tokina 11-16 gets great reviews. (plus the sigma 10-20's and Tamaron 10-24 get good reviews as well. )

 

If it was me (and it will be after the first of the year) instead of dropping 2-3k on a body only (d800,d600) I would get the d7100 and take the extra 1500 or so and get some good glass to go with it. Camera bodies come and go every couple years..good glass lasts a loooooong time.

[TheRejector]

I'm giving the old 3100 to my daughter, so i'll be starting from scratch! Maybe I need to look at some quality glass and then decide on a body.

[snowbird1]

Another 7100 vote if you have many DX lens. I just switched to FX but my most expensive lens was for FX and I had an older film lens that works great. I had the 7000, was a good camera, the 7100 is supposed to be even better. The lens are really the long pole in the tent as far as money goes.

 

 

Sent from my iPad

[Nole0202]

I'm giving the old 3100 to my daughter, so i'll be starting from scratch! Maybe I need to look at some quality glass and then decide on a body.

 

When it was time to replace the D300 last year (due to no new quality construction DX body from Nikon), went with mirror-less. Bought a Fuji X100 and a Sony NEX 5. Both a great size with high quality images up to ISO3200.

 

The X100 has become my take all the time camera and the Sony uses my old Nikon glass.

 

Finally, ended up selling the D300 body.

[disneydave]

Love my 7100. But as others have said the money is in the glass.

[pierces]

I'm giving the old 3100 to my daughter, so i'll be starting from scratch! Maybe I need to look at some quality glass and then decide on a body.

 

With a $300 budget and starting from scratch, you may want to look at the A7/A7R full-frame compacts from Sony:

 

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-alpha-7-7r

 

Hands-on video:

 

Seriously worth a look.

 

Dave

[TexasCPA]

May go with the D800 and one lens, I have till April till I cruise again!

This is what I have...if you have any D800 specific questions, I'd be glad to take a shot at them. I have about 10,000 actuations on mine.

 

I must echo what others have said here. While I love my D800 if I had to decide where to devote funds to take the best pictures, the glass is where I'd place at least 60% of my funds if not more. There are features of the bigger FX cameras that you will not get in the smaller, more inexpensive DX format -- and YES I do use many of them. But do I use them all on every trip? No. Many of them are intended for situational shooting.

 

Hope this helps.

 

P. S. When I compare camera vs. lens (including my wife's D5200 and my D800), I have spent about 80% of my investment in lenses.

[awboater]

Both the D7100 and D610 deserve premium lenses. It does no good to buy one of these cameras and put consumer grade lenses on them.

 

So consider the total cost of ownership. I have about $8.5k invested in lenses and $1,200 in the camera. You will spend far more money on lenses. You might also want to consider keeping the D3100 and buying premium lenses - in the long run, it might be a better solution. Only upgrade the body when you have the lenses.

 

When I upgraded from my D90, I went with the D7100 due do the investment in DX lenses I had. I have been adding a few FX lense, as I plan on possibly going to a FX body (in addition to a Dx camera).

 

One thing about DX lenses; Nikon (and for that matter Canon) do not support high-end DX lenses very well. Other than the 17-55mm f/2.8, they don't have a lot of high-end DX lenses. So for DX, you have to look to TST (Tokina-Sigma-Tamron) for premium DX lenses.

 

For your budget, you could buy:

 

D7100 (body only) $1200

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5~5.6 OR Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 ($550~650)

Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 ($560)

Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5~5.6 (or Nikon AF 80-200mm f/2.8 if you can spend a bit more - or sell your D3100).

 

The Sigma 8-16 is equivalent to 12mm in full frame, which is a great focal length. On my last cruise, I exclusively used my 8-16 on my D7100, and believe it or not - a Nikon P330 for everything else.

 

That would be a good start in my view. But I like spending other people's money...

Edited November 3, 2013 by awboater

[TruckerDave]

With a $300 budget and starting from scratch, you may want to look at the A7/A7R full-frame compacts from Sony:

 

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-alpha-7-7r

 

Hands-on video:

 

Seriously worth a look.

 

Dave

 

I am a Nikon guy, but, after watching this I may have to look seriously at these. Love the fact with adaptor so can use my Nikon glass.

 

 

Sent using a small piece of fruit.

[chipmaster]

Think that thru

 

D800 plus say a 50 1.8 as nice as that setup is I think a D7100 and a few lenses will yield you much more flexible setup.

 

D800 is waseted if you don't plan on a collection of good primes and the very best zooms, or if you have a very specific need and need 36Meg and paired with one lense say a 200F2:D

May go with the D800 and one lens, I have till April till I cruise again!

[framer]

Keeping this simple...

 

D610 Has all the fixes from Nikon.

 

 

Don't buy the D600 it had issues that's why they redidit and came out with the D610 fast.

 

The D610 is basically like the 7100 but has a larger sensor.

 

 

The three lenses that I would carry with it would be the older 17-35 f2.8, AFS, 105DC f2 and the 300mm f4 AFS.

 

Have fun...

[chipmaster]

You have conclusive evidence that the oil is fixed :D

 

Given Nikon's track record with D800 and D600 I'd wait a bit longer before I'd sink 1900 bucks it.

 

Keeping this simple...

 

D610 Has all the fixes from Nikon.

 

 

Don't buy the D600 it had issues that's why they redidit and came out with the D610 fast.

 

The D610 is basically like the 7100 but has a larger sensor.

 

 

The three lenses that I would carry with it would be the older 17-35 f2.8, AFS, 105DC f2 and the 300mm f4 AFS.

 

Have fun...

[Nole0202]

Check out the new Nikon Df FF camera announced today. Under $3,000 with 50mm f1.8 lens.

[TruckerDave]

Check out the new Nikon Df FF camera announced today. Under $3,000 with 50mm f1.8 lens.

 

Looks like an expensive novelty to me. For that kind of cash just give me a d800.

 

 

Sent using a small piece of fruit.

Edited November 5, 2013 by TruckerDave

[chipmaster]

DF is for tesla and leica wanna bees :D

 

But judging by the noise on some board it might actually be a big seller as many buy from the heart not the brain.

 

Check out the new Nikon Df FF camera announced today. Under $3,000 with 50mm f1.8 lens.

[pierces]

I may have to switch brands from Sony to Nikon...

 

 

http://www.photographybay.com/2013/11/06/nikon-makes-an-awesome-lens-clock-alarm-sounds-like-d4-shutter/

 

 

I'm sticking with my cameras but who needs a Sony alarm clock with music when you can have the shutter sound from a D4?

 

 

Dave

[framer]

That could sell 10 of 1000's if offered.

 

I hope some show up on fleabay.

 

framer

[glojo]

I'm with those that say the glass is more importanat than the camera.

 

I have just bought a D800 and was really impressed with the cropping capability.

 

Note a competition winning image and nothing to be proud of but when you start of with a huge picture

 

 

 

The cropping potential offers flexibility 32mm setting of the 24-70mm

 

Taken from the same image

 

[burchan]

I'm with those that say the glass is more importanat than the camera.

 

I have just bought a D800 and was really impressed with the cropping capability.

 

 

 

Yes, I have just bought D800 and 24-120 f4 lens to start with. I am also impressed with the camera but I will continue with DX and keep my D7000 as a back up camera.

[Ebvette]

Check out the new Nikon Df FF camera announced today. Under $3,000 with 50mm f1.8 lens.

 

Even though it uses a lot of D4 CMOS, you do not have dual memory card slots, and the controls are up on top making it hard to set when you are shooting. Also no internal flash.

 

Sorry I shoot D4 and D800, am a professional Photographer, and I will stay with one of those, the Df is nothing but a novelty and an expensive one, few hundred more and you get a real Nikon the D800 or D800E, if you go to the D610 you still will get a great camera and money left over to buy a FX 2.8 lens.....

Edited November 30, 2013 by Ebvette

[PaulMCO]

You have conclusive evidence that the oil is fixed :D

 

Given Nikon's track record with D800 and D600 I'd wait a bit longer before I'd sink 1900 bucks it.

 

Given that they have a new shutter mechanism - yes.

People forget that the first batch of D7000 had same issues.