About to trade my D7000 to the Sony A7R - any opinions??

[AnnieP]

For the past 3 years I've been shooting Nikon, currently the D7000.

I am looking to upgrade to a Full frame, and have been trying to choose between the A7r and the D800 (can't afford the D810)

Interested to know if any of you have changed to the A7r and what you think of it compared to your previous camera.

Ann

[MissionMan]

Given your investment in glass and accessories, I'd be inclined to say it's worth sticking with Nikon. If I was in your position, the A7R would have to be a considerably better camera before I would consider switching.

There should be plenty of D800's going cheap due to the release of the D810 and if you wait a couple of months, the D810 will probably drop as well.

[Lance B]

I would have thought that it would be costly changing systems possibly lose more money than the cost difference of buying a D800/E new. As MissionMan suggests, there will be plenty of used D800's and D800E's on the market, including mine as I have just purchased the D810.

However, if your heart is set on a Sony A7R for some particular perceived advantage that you want, then that is different.

[MissionMan]

I would have thought that it would be costly changing systems possibly lose more money than the cost difference of buying a D800/E new. As MissionMan suggests, there will be plenty of used D800's and D800E's on the market, including mine as I have just purchased the D810.

However, if your heart is set on a Sony A7R for some particular perceived advantage that you want, then that is different.

Actually I meant run out stock of D800's that would be new but you would get some cheap second hand D800's as well

[arthurking83]

You may like the cost of the D610 a lot better.

If size and weight aren't a problem .. like MM says, wait for a good lowly priced D800(or better yet D800E) to hit the market.

D610 feels almost identical to the D7K both in terms of body size/feel and weight. I know the D800 is a lot larger, and feels a lot heftier .. more accurately solid!

I dismissed the D600(back then) based simply on the smaller overall molded size of the grip compared to the D800.
Had got used to the D300 sized grip after a couple of years with a D70s.
For personal reasons, I found that the smaller grip of the D70, and hence D7K and D600 were much less comfy when holding the camera for extended periods.
D300 and D800 are 99.9% perfectly contoured to fit my hand!

While MM is right in that you have a large investment in current lenses .. it looks like most of not all will go with the D7k with a move to Fx.
They will all still work on a D600 of course, so you won't have a desperate need for new lenses, but I suspect that you will want some more anyhow.

Sigma 10-20 and 17-70 will of course only work in crop mode .. but saying that, you'll still get a bit more image with the 10-20mm if you still shoot in Fx mode.
You can crop a 1:1 square format if you need want too, with still good IQ.
Have no experience with the 17-70 tho .. so can't comment on it's possibilities.

If you were to follow this route(of getting a D610) and you did get a single lens to go with it .. I'd recommend a Nikon 16-35/4 VR.
It will fill the wide angle void left by not having 15mm equivalent(or close to it) across the entire frame .. gets you to 35mm, which is not far from the 50mm prime you already have, and of course you have the 70-300mm lens still(that still works on Fx) .. not the ideal lens for this sort of camera, but it should be usable to a degree.

Tammy 90 should work well too.

Unless you really 'need' the 36 Mp of the A7r, and hence the D810 or D800 .. the 24Mp of the D610 will be fun to play with. Of course in some situations, more is merrier .. but don't automagically think that once you have more, you instantly have more to play with!
Your lenses have to be good to be able to use those pixels.

Quick tale of my great little Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. I used to use it on my D300 without any real thought to it's downsides. it produced nice enough looking images that I was happy with, and it seemed many others seemed to like a bit too.
But mounting it to the D800E .. !!!! .. it became a bit of a beast .. ugly, covered in all manner of aberrations. Vignetted madly into the corners to the point that even at f/11 doing a panorama stitch wasn't an option! The vignetting in the corners affected the exposure between one frame to the next frame . ie. uneven colouring in a plain blue sky as one result.
Note that this was at f/11. I've never come across any lens that caused vignetting at f/11 .. in fact by f/5.6 I don't think any lens does!
Sad tale of a favourite lens of mine was that it had to be retired. I still have it, won't sell it and it can take a good shot but not in all circumstances.

[bitsnpieces]

As everyone here says, stick to the Nikon brand you already have, unless you're willing to sell it all off to move to another brand.
And Arthur makes a good point, not all the lenses will move across, but at least it's not starting from scratch.
So if moving to full frame is what you want to do now and it's the right time for it, just be prepared to be buying new lenses either way.

Even if you wanted to start from scratch and don't have to do it now, I'd say wait a little for price drops, and because I don't trust Sony's a7/r just yet - it has problems I've yet to have a definitive answer on, so I'm personally weary of suggesting the A7/r series.

If it's a matter of having an interest to moving in with Sony, I would currently recommend the a99 over the a7 - prices are similar, and you're probably used to the bulky DSLR feel anyways.

If it is a form factor thing though, I really would wait with regards to the a7/r.

[AnnieP]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. After a long hard think I decided to go for the Sony as I mainly do landscape photography.

It came with a free adaptor which I can use with my Nikon Lenses. I have sold almost all my other Nikon kit and can say that I have no regrets making the change. The weight, image quality and dynamic range is amazing. Small things like a rear screen which pops out and up allowing you to view with out squatting down is fantastic for my low level landscape shots is just one of many things I love about this camera.

[feathers]

Glad your happy AnnieP. Absolutely love my nikon d800, and won't be parting with it, but like you l love landscapes, and when l go away taking pics and walking to fishing spots, l feel at times its just a tad too big and heavy, and have thought of saving up for the sony a7r as my second camera for these situations? Cheers.