Spec me an upgrade

AdamGTi

AdamGTi

AdamGTi

Associate
Joined
30 Sep 2008
Posts
7
Location
Wotton-under-Edge
Hi all,

Long time lurker and I have finally decided to post!

Recently I thought I'd look in a local camera shop and have a browse. I saw what I felt was a reasonably priced Tokina 11-16 and thought about purchasing it but after thinking things over I have only made things worse.

I currently have an old Nikon D3000 with the kit lens, a 35mm f1.8 and a Tamron 70-300 (non vr).
Is it worth me purchasing just a lens or should I upgrade my D3000 body instead?

I am by no means a good photographer but take the odd picture at Castle Combe and plenty of walk about stuff of my dog and partner. I'm also interested in taking some decent starscapes but the noise from high iso shots on my camera is a little too bad for me to bother, hence my thinking.

Apologies for any poor spelling etc, it appears posting on my phone is more awkward than expected!

Thanks!
 
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As above what do you want to do that your D3000 doesn't allow you to do or are you just wanting something new & shiny (thats fine too! :D). Additionally while the Tokina you looked at is an excellent lens make sure you get the DX2 version (with the red ring around it) otherwise it wont autofocus on your D3000.
 
Thank you for your replies D.P. and Columbo!

I'll admit, I mainly want something new and shiny :D.
I do feel that the body is a little slow at 'processing' if that's the correct term? Only if I do burst shots at track events. It obviously doesn't help that my Tamron is a little slow to focus but I find that the camera can't keep up at times because of it's low FPS.

My other concern is the noise I get in low light with a higher ISO, that may be down to me but after playing with a D3300 that a friend owns it doesn't seem as though his has as much of an issue with it. I can only assume that it's because of newer sensor tech and whatnot in the newer body?

Thanks for the tip on the lens too! I'll double check that it's a DX2, IIRC the woman that served me did mention it was a DX lens but I didn't have my camera to test it on so had a play with it on a D7000.
 
I'll be looking at a couple tomorrow I think. A shiny (:D) new D5200 which seems to be capable enough for me and a pre-owned D7000 which is probably overkill but I can learn a little more I guess.

I have access to Lightroom 5 through work luckily :).
 
Just an update as I don't want to just ignore the thread now that I'm sorted.

I ended up going to Jessops to look at a few different cameras last night after my local place had sold their last D5200. I looked at a D5200, D5300 and even considered waiting for the D5500 to be released but after handling the 5200 and 5300 I decided on the 5200.

It's more than enough for me right now and I managed to stay relatively happy with my D3000 for 6 years before even thinking of an upgrade so this will keep me happy for quite some time.

Obviously coming from a D3000 the IQ on this new body is light years ahead, continuous release mode is twice as fast as my old body so I won't get so annoyed at Castle Combe when taking pictures. Live view... Why didn't I look at this feature before!

The D3000 has been donated to my other half, hopefully she'll stick some money towards that Tokina I was after anyway :D.
 
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