Thread: Camera Upgrade

The time has come (again) to consider upgrading our camera(s). Usually when I get to this stage I vacillate between various offerings and either end up doing nothing or updating a lens instead.

The recent purchase of a Nikkor AF-S 200-500mm zoom f5.6E ED VR lens bought this to a head as our existing D70, 80, 90 cameras are not compatible with the electronic shutter in this lens. I ended up buying a second hand D300 to overcome this issue.

Whilst it may seem extravagant to have 4 Nikon SLR's we travel extensively in the outback and these cameras take quite a beating from the elements, dust and vibration mainly. To help avoid dust ingress we very rarely change lenses so basically have one camera per lens.

The D70 was my favourite before buying the D300 and was originally bought second hand as a sacrificial or canoe camera to go with the D80 kit lens for use in hazardous situations. The term canoe camera came after a particularly close shave (camera wise) in Lawn Hill NP. It is now 13 years old and has racked up approx 10K shots.

The D80 was Kayes 2006 Christmas present and has now racked up 60K plus shots and many dusty outback miles. It is an excellent camera and until now lived on the back of our AF Nikkor 80-400 VR (traded on the new 200-500mm).

The D90 replaced the D80 a couple of years ago and coupled with a 18-200 VR is Kayes primary camera with a shutter count of just over 20K.

Fortunately all of these cameras use the same battery.

I propose to replace the D300 and use it as my primary camera in lieu of the D70 which will be retired.

So the big question is what camera to replace it with ? The primary use will be on the back of the 200-500mm zoom.

I'm down to two choices.

A D600 as I've always wanted to go FF or a D7100/7200 ?

On the D600 I can have 24Mp of info at 500mm of zoom and with the D7xxx I can have 24Mp of info at 750mm (effective) zoom to play with and I'm using the centre of the lens only so should be a better result ?

It seems to me that the DX format will give me better effective zoom and pixel density so that in a high cropping situation such as bird photography I'd be better off though the FF format should give me a better 'quality' picture but I find this hard to put a measure on. I'm also thinking that the D600 with a 50mm F1.4 would be great for general purpose photography especially indoors and would make a good portrait lens for the D300.

As usual, all advice gratefully received.


Deano

Where do you get second hand cameras? any address that you recommend?