It's body upgrade time!

[enigmatic]

Hey guys and gals!

Last week I sold one of my motorbikes and decided that upgrading my camera body would be a good idea. I have been using a d3000 for about 2-3 years, and feel I have made good, if not great, progress. THere is a few things that irk me about the 3000 though. Pretty bad iso performance, would like a higher fps rate, and a bit easier to change functions etc. I was advised to checl out the 7000, as well as 2nd hand 700s and even the d3. As much as I wanted to upgrade, justifying the cost was hard (in my mind only!)

Then, on Sunday, a kangaroo decided to say hello to me on my motorbike at 100km/h, and whilst I sustained a broken collarbone, my camera faired slightly ,worse!





Now it is definately time for an upograde! I am pretty tempted to use this opportunity to go to full frame, a 2nd hand 700 or maybe a 600. Thats about my budget. I finf it hard to justify spending large amounts of money though!

I like to shoot motorspotr (bikes), people, my fish, the odd landscape, and am very keen to try macro and try as much as I can! I know that isn't very specific but I like to give everything a shot!

Any advice, help, criticism, anything would be very appreciated! Please excuse any bad typing, I am limited to one hand (my bad one!)

Cheers, Ash

[Mathy]

Good God! I've never seen the innards of a Nikon before Firstly, may I congratulate you on surviving the impact (I rode a M/C up until 4 years ago), with only a broken collar bone to show for it - and numerous bruises, I suspect

To me the question would be about what lenses you have. What you like to shoot has a bit of variety, and if you go full frame, then you'll need the lenses. Unless you have some FX lenses, you'll either be limited on a FF, or have to spend some extra $$ or save some. If you stay with something like the d7000 or another DX style camera, then if you have anything left of the mess that was your d3000, you can still use it Maybe check out the d7100?

Heal well, cheers Deb

ETA: Just re-read your thoughts on budget - seriously, have a look at the d7000 and use the spare $$ for some great lenses.

[Wayne]

Get the FX while you are updating. I feel that full spec DX bodies are a thing of the past from Nikon, they have released 3 FX bodies in just over 12 months (4 if you count the D800E) which shows a huge commitment to that form factor, and the only DX release to come close to the D300s replacement is the new D7100, which isn't a pro spec body IMHO and I don't think we will likely see one. Many people are moving to FX, and I think the pro-sumer market particularly, so I am hedging Nikon can see that and feel that only the enthusiast and entry level consumer is still particularly interested in DX.

If you choose DX now, you will probably end up stuck there for the next few years if you are adverse to spending large sums of $, whilst FX progreses along. The D600 is a cheap entry to the FX realm, and a better option than a used D700 costing not much less, and without video. The D700 is a wonderful body, I loved mine and shot it more than my D3 when I had both, but it is 5 years old come July, and much has changed since it arrived and all for the better.

Stretch that budget a little further, and you are spoilt for choice with the D800 on the used market in mint condition with perhaps 1-2k clicks selling at about US$2200 and a clean used D3s could be had for about US$3k. I sold mine just before Christmas for just over $4k to move to the D4, and I am seeing them now for $3k in like new condition.
They are also getting a little older at 3.5 years, but the difference between the D3s and D4 isn't huge if you are not shooting video for professional use. The ISO performance of the D3s is astounding and I would say on par with the D4 and it shoots 9fps in full resolution which ticks all your boxes, whilst the slower fps of the D800 is still quick enough for most things with all that ISO and resolution goodness.

Tough decision to be making, but it's nice to be in that position where you are spoilt for choice.

That body in your pic is wasted, I can hardly believe it is so smashed coming off a bike, looks like it was dropped from the top of a mountain. Where was it on the bike?

[ricktas]

Glad to hear the collarbone was the only human issue. Hope your recovery goes well.

Damn you wrote off that Nikon!

One thing I will tell you about the D3, if you decide to head that way, is you better know how to clean a sensor. It is the biggest dust bunny creator in the history of the universe. As well as myself, I know several people who have one and every one of us is constantly having to clean the sensor. We suspect the D3 sensor creates an electrical charge that attracts more dust than flies are attracted to the proverbial.

[Warren Ackary]

Glad to hear the collarbone was the only human issue. Hope your recovery goes well.

Damn you wrote off that Nikon!

One thing I will tell you about the D3, if you decide to head that way, is you better know how to clean a sensor. It is the biggest dust bunny creator in the history of the universe. As well as myself, I know several people who have one and every one of us is constantly having to clean the sensor. We suspect the D3 sensor creates an electrical charge that attracts more dust than flies are attracted to the proverbial.

Sorry to hijack your post Rick.. I was like that with my lower end camera's from D3000 to D5100.
I found out from a Nikon Ambassador "turn all power off as the sensor becomes static before changing lenses", I did that, counted to 10 each time and changed a lens (also had to body turned to me to prevent dust flyer into the body). Havent had to clean my sensor since.. heck I cant remember but it must have been 11-14 Months.

[Wayne]

One thing I will tell you about the D3, if you decide to head that way, is you better know how to clean a sensor. It is the biggest dust bunny creator in the history of the universe. As well as myself, I know several people who have one and every one of us is constantly having to clean the sensor. We suspect the D3 sensor creates an electrical charge that attracts more dust than flies are attracted to the proverbial.

I can confirm (having had both D3 and D3s) that with the self-clean function on the D3s (absent on D3) there is no real dust issue like the D3 had.

[arthurking83]

Hey Ash, hope the collarbone heals well for ya.

As to Fx/Dx and your options. If you have any nagging doubts about whether to get Fx or not, then the answer is easy!
Go Fx. D700 is as good as any .. it may be low in Mp count, but the reality it that it's not an issue unless you regularly: crop heavily, or print at A0 sizes.

Any Dx lens will work as well on the Fx camera as it does on a Dx camera .. I do it all the time.

Until I decide on which UWA lens I actually want to invest in(plus the finances allow) .. I'm still using my Sigma 10-20mm on the D800, and no one has mentioned commented on any issues on my recent set of images with respect to that combo of gear.
But if you do go Fx and slowly invest in Fx lenses, you eventually end up where you really want to be.

Lingering doubts either way never really go away. If you get a D7000 or D7100 now, for a while you will be immensely happy with it and those Dx/Fx lingering doubts will go into hibernation, but rest assured they'll surface again .. but this next time you'd have already invested in a new body.
That money could have been better invested in a nice Fx sized lens.

You haven't got a list of your current lenses anywhere.

If your interests are things like motorsports, do you have any specialist lenses to associate with this genre?
Do you have any Fx lenses already?

[MattNQ]

Good to hear you are ok.
Hope it was just the kit lens on that?
Some days I wish my D3000 looked like that...then I might be allowed to finally upgrade

Thom Hogan is convinced a D400 is likely to appear this year...but to top the D7100 in spec, it will probably be priced over the D600.

You have some great choices - my own deliberations have not resulted in a firm decision on where I will go yet.
Grey market D7000 - low $700's (eglobal)
2nd hand D700 - $1100-$1300
grey market D7100 - $1200
D600/800 still a bit expensive, but some good 2nd hand D800's around now...as Wayne mentioned
D3s ... prices dropping as also mentioned.

As mentioned lenses are a big factor in deciding to go FX. What have you got?
Eg, for me, shooting sport my 80-200 is a bit short, so my main bugbear at going full frame is losing the crop advantage, but on the plus side, my Siggy 14mm will be super wide.

WIll the D600 handle your motorsport ok, or will the lower spec focus bug you? That said, it is still much improved compared with the D3000

An exercise for you to try....think that if I bought a particular body, what is missing that would annoy me (eg D7100 buffer maybe) . What don't I need (eg video perhaps ) and what features are a must.

Good luck in your search

[knumbnutz]

Hi Ash,
Its seems that we can now make a club !
I had a Roo jump in front of me at that speed (maybe closer to 130klm/hr as I was passing a 4wd at the time) and I put a handlebar through its head and tore a leg off, gladly his and not mine on both accounts. But I had a couple of abrasions and was coughing and peeing blood for a couple of days, but otherwise ok.

Glad to hear you are ok too, either of us could be a hell of a lot worse off ! ............and most importantly, how did the bike fair ?

Go the D600 if you can, while the D700 is awesome and probably cheap the D600 is newer and better Resolution without many downsides. BUT TBH, both will be good for what you want.

Importantly either way you go, get a couple of good lenses for Motorsport if thats your thing.

I don't think i would go to D7000 or 7100 with the FF D600/D700 so cheap. If you have a decent PC, then D800 is a good option too.

Look after yourself, and hope you get back on the horse soon !

Cheers
Neil

[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/

[Cage]

from me for the D600.

I'm delighted with mine.

That D3000 sure looks in a sad state.

[Rattus79]

Ok, so the Camera's busted & You're slightly bent, and I'm going to guess the roo just bounced away... so...

Important question:
How's the Bike???!!

On the plus side, looks like you could reuse that Nikon Strap ....

[Bear Dale]

Don't you own a screw driver? Why haven't you tried a DIY repair job on that camera?

[enigmatic]

Cheers guys! The bike will probably be a write off. 2nd honda ive owned, both gone at ~2000km!

Once I can use both arms I'll have a crack at repairing :P

- - - Updated - - -

Cheers guys! The bike will probably be a write off. 2nd honda ive owned, both gone at ~2000km!

Once I can use both arms I'll have a crack at repairing :P

[Rattus79]

Cheers guys! The bike will probably be a write off. 2nd honda ive owned, both gone at ~2000km!

You're either going to have to learn to ride, or better yet, Get a Kawasaki next time

[Cage]

I did a ride around Route 1 some years back (well about 22,000K's of it ) and after two days made a hard and fast rule for outback riding.

Don't get on the road till 8am, and be off it by 4pm. Once you get outside that time-frame, the chances of hitting wildlife goes up dramatically.

[Rattus79]

I did a ride around Route 1 some years back (well about 22,000K's of it ) and after two days made a hard and fast rule for outback riding.

Don't get on the road till 8am, and be off it by 4pm. Once you get outside that time-frame, the chances of hitting wildlife goes up dramatically.

Tots agree on that!
I did a midnight run over Mt Nebo, & Mt Glorious with a mate a few months ago, Between not knowing the roads well (it's soo freaking scary when the road just seems to disappear in front of you sometimes) and seeing multiple Roos, Bandicoots & Snakes along the way only makes it scarier!

[enigmatic]

You're either going to have to learn to ride, or better yet, Get a Kawasaki next time

Haha. I consider myself a fairly decent rider, I learnt on a kawasaki, then the first honda, then spewzukies, then this honda. Who knows what is next!

Hit it at 11.50am in the morning, go figure

[Pixley]

Glad you are on the mend. I second the calls for an FF body - you cant go wrong with either a second hand D700 or a new D600. Will make a match made in heaven with the 70-200 VRII! The 50mm will also be a good walk around length on it - but not so great for portraits!

[Cage]

Tots agree on that!
I did a midnight run over Mt Nebo, & Mt Glorious with a mate a few months ago, Between not knowing the roads well (it's soo freaking scary when the road just seems to disappear in front of you sometimes) and seeing multiple Roos, Bandicoots & Snakes along the way only makes it scarier!

I've done both those rides, and they are scary enough in daylight.

What possessed you to do them at midnight, or shouldn't I ask?

- - - Updated - - -

Haha. I consider myself a fairly decent rider, I learnt on a kawasaki, then the first honda, then spewzukies, then this honda. Who knows what is next!

Hit it at 11.50am in the morning, go figure

Obviously the 'roos down your way can't tell the time.