It's body upgrade time!

[enigmatic]

Thanks for all the speredy responses!

It was a 35,, 1.8 on the body at the time, so a loss, but not a huge one.

My other lenses are a 50,, 1.8 I never used due to no af on the 3000, a tanmron 17-50 2.8, and a nikon 70-200 vr ii i got for my 21st

Guess I will be doing a lot of research and shopping around! I was hoping to spend <2k and am happy to go grey market. Might need a lens as well but we will see!

The 600 looks pretty good, worth the extra $600ish from a used 700?

Sorry about the short reply and typing mistakrs, one handed is hard!

Also! The camera was in a bag on the back of the bike which muist of just exploded, as my mate said all my stuff was spread all over the road!

Thanks so far!!

quick edit and i hope i can link this - theresw not many pics on here but here is my flickr thingo!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enigmash/

[arthurking83]

......

My other lenses are a 50,, 1.8 I never used due to no af on the 3000, a tanmron 17-50 2.8, and a nikon 70-200 vr ii i got for my 21st .....

I think it's a no brainer then, you have capable enough lenses for Fx now .. and the Tammy is probably good enough to 'get you by' until you either want to upgrade to a proper 24-70/2.8 type lens, or you could forgo that for a while longer and get an UWA lens if you think you need one too.


Now the question is ..... D700 + $600 for another lens, or D600 without an extra lens.

[enigmatic]

I think it's a no brainer then, you have capable enough lenses for Fx now .. and the Tammy is probably good enough to 'get you by' until you either want to upgrade to a proper 24-70/2.8 type lens, or you could forgo that for a while longer and get an UWA lens if you think you need one too.


Now the question is ..... D700 + $600 for another lens, or D600 without an extra lens.

Haha. My question exactly! 700 + $600, or the d600! If I wait i Could maybe affird the 800, but that is a lot more than I would like to spend, especially as I would like to upgrade my lenses and buy a few new ones!

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated!


Thanks for all the other advice guys, lots of research happening today

[CarlR]

I decided on the D600 over the D800 and took delivery of it about 3 weeks ago. Very happy with it. It is a definite improvement over my D5000.

The criticisms of the D600 have been published all over the web. The one that was of most concern to me was the central clustering of the AF points, but so far, this has not been an impediment. Depending on your preferred subject matter, this may or may not be an issue (or reason to go for the D800). I haven't seen any of the reported dust spots so far either.

[enigmatic]

I'd say that $1100 is at the high end for a good D700 now(now that the D800 is much lower in price than initially and that the D600 is where it is).

Some idiots seem to think that a brand new D700 is going to sell for close to $2400(nowadays!!) when a D800 can be had for a few hundred dollars more
(which is going to hold it's S/H value better in the coming three years!!)

D800 and D600 pricing really puts a brand new D700 in the $2K range maximum, and I'd even say that because the camera is now such old tech(ie. no video, etc) ... it really should be at D600 pricing levels.

1/2 that for a used version ... = $1000 as a real price level. $1100 for a good one, and maybe $1200-1300 max for a hardly used version.


A good point to keep in mind is that a D700 in about three years may only be worth about $500-600, as more and more S/H D800's and D600's appear on the market too.


The question you need to ask yourself Ash is: How much money do you think you can justify in the next 6 months to 1 year for new lens purchases.
I can almost guarantee you that the 17-50 in Dx mode on an Fx camera will be useful to you only in the very short term .. so this if this FOV range was important to you in Dx, it may be one that you might want to update quickly. But you may also want other looks to your images too(eg. wide angle, or wider/longer prime lens shallow DOF rendering too).

If those sorts of things are elements that you may find appealing or interesting to explore, they can be done on the cheap with manual lenses.

Think about where you main usage lies .. eg. if you mainly use the longer end of the 70-200 lens, you may want to look into a good quality teleconverter as a priority.
If you think you may want to explore more widescapes, then obviously a wider lens is going to be a priority.

But the real question is, no matter what you get now, how much do you think you can afford/justify in the next year or so .. during which time you will develop more GAS!!


if this helps you to make a longer term decision and I haven't really checked, but I reckon the Tammy 17-50/2.8(non VC) may sell for about $200-$150 on ebay if you're lucky.

I wouldnt worry too much about loads of lenses...ive just bought a 1.8 50m afs.and love it ....
leaving the heavy 24-70 in the camera case for now

There are a number on ebay Australia right now that range from cheapest at $1075 with 3 days to go and has 17 bids, under warranty through to one with 1500 shutter count at $1389 with almost 4 days to go and 14 bids so far, others all very close to $1100 or already in excess of that.

Looking at past recent sales (that actually sold) on eBay Aus, there are;

1) $1281; Description below-
This item is used and has light cosmetic wear. The camera is in perfect working order, and has been very well looked after. Selling as I am changing camera platforms and selling all my Nikon gear.

Included in this auction;

D700 body
body cap
2x EN-EL3a batteries
Battery charger
Shoulder strap
cables

Does not include box or manual however a PDF manual can be found here http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D700_en.pdf
Shutter count is 59489

2) $990: Description below-

Nikon D700 Body
Used camera body in perfect working order
Bundled with the following:
Screen protector
Hot shoe protector
2 batteries + charger
Neck strap (unused)
User Manual and Quick Guide
4x CF memory cards: 2gb, 8gb + 2x 16GB
All original packaging
113000 shutter actuations

Please note: The rubber hand grip is starting to come loose (please see images).
There are some minor dust spots on the sensor

This is a great camera and takes fantastic photos. I'm selling because I've upgraded to the D600.

3) $1450.02: With 34 bids Description below-


Hi Folks!
I'm selling my beloved Nikon D700 which was used as my backup body for 3 years, I've barely used it and has only approx 11K actuations.

- Perfect condition, No Dents / Scratches...See for yourself in the photos! It's basically been babied since i bought it.

- Comes in original Box with all accessories! + Extra battery + Nikon DK-19 Eye Cup! (Original Eye cup is in the box)

Let me know if you've got any questions.

Happy Bidding!

(International Bidders message me for Shipping Costs)

4) $1525: With 15 bids Description below-
BODY ONLY
SHUTTER COUNT 6551
AS NEW CONDITION
STRAP
BATTERY
FIELD GUIDE
MANUAL
CHARGER


So it seems very clear that there is still high demand for a D700, particularly a good used one, and more importantly as I noted, it's very hard to come by an excellent one for $1100 in Aus. It also seems that most are being sold via auction and running their course, only 1 or 2 using "buy now"
Based on what I have shown above, the current average price for a D700 on eBay Aus is about $1311, almost 20% more than the quoted $1100, and that should tell you it is hardly worth buying one over a D600.
Hope that helps...

Thanks you three - you've sopld me on a d600 and maybe a 50mm 1.4. ! The 700 seems very overpriced 2nd hand and I have found 600s in Aus with a warranty for ~$1800

I decided on the D600 over the D800 and took delivery of it about 3 weeks ago. Very happy with it. It is a definite improvement over my D5000.

The criticisms of the D600 have been published all over the web. The one that was of most concern to me was the central clustering of the AF points, but so far, this has not been an impediment. Depending on your preferred subject matter, this may or may not be an issue (or reason to go for the D800). I haven't seen any of the reported dust spots so far either.

Thanks, good to hear. I keep reading aboyt dust spots!!