What Camera?

[PU7E]

Need a bit of assistance choosing from people who've used them or know of them. I sold all my canon glass earlier in the year and now looking to jump ship to nikon and have come up with the below collections, will be mainly using the camera for astro although want to get back into landscapes/walkabout/gigs again.

1.
D7000 + Grip
35mm f/1.8
50mm f/1.4
17-55mm f/2.8
055XPROB
2 x memory cards

2.
D600 + Grip
50mm f/1.4
055XPROB
2 x memory cards

3.
D800
50mm f/1.4
1 x memory card

D7000 kit gives me most of what I want, well other then a gold ring 180mm ED and is the cheaper of the bundles, but thought (dangerous) if I drop one lens I can go FX, then I went and had a play with a few of them and after caressing the magnesium body of the D800 thought (dangerous when there's magnesium involved) I could cope with only a 50mm lens for a while and get a D800

In short, not sure if the D800 will be overkill, I want the camera to last a few years and not be afraid of the elements dew in particular and will just build up my lens collection as I did before (hmm 35mm f/1.4 I have my eye on you) but would have an investment in an awesome body that I shouldn't need to replace for a fair few years.

On the other side the D7000 would be more then enough for general purpose, although it doesn't quite have the feel/build quality of the D800 (I may have a magnesium fetish ) or the sensor size that makes memory card quake in their little cases. The middle ground would be a D600 which is pretty much a D7100 with an FX sensor, but is not without issues such as mirror oil an DX af point layout on a FX sensor, while the D7000 is a good all round camera.

In summary the D7000 is all I need, the D800 is what I want and the D600 is sitting in no mans land between the two, heh.

 

[PU7E]

Have you considered getting a used D700? Same build quality as the D800.

I have considered it, but I'd prefer a few more pixels (although less then the D800) and the option of cheaper SD cards.

The D700 is also a bit nosier in the higher iso range then the D800 and considering I'd be doing a fair bit of night shooting less noise is better, although it's still isn't as noisy as the D7000/600 I guess.

 

[PU7E]

Just kidding, although I would stretch to the E. Not just because it is the best, but your usage could benefit from more sharpness, and a hint less noise (ISO).

While I have nasty thoughts about a D800E being mounted by a 14-24mm f/2.8 I've had a look around and not sure I can stretch for the E as there's not many second hand ones around. While it'd be nice to sit there and cradle an E without a lens or memory card, all the while making clicking sounds, might get me committed early

*Edit* seems there are a few bodies around that go within my budget, guess it'll be a case of waiting around to snap one up if I go for a D800.

 

[PU7E]

The E is nice BUT the price gap between the 2 models is ever growing seemingly. Also only certain types of usage will see a gain (good glass stopped down a little but still not diffraction limited, shooting at f/1.4 won't show a difference, nor will shooting at f/13 etc)

The price does seem to be ever increasing and agree the difference is minimal at best, although it's visible in low light situations not sure it justifies the price difference.

Note that th D7100 has replaced the D7000. It was a pretty big upgrade, you get the autofocus assembly from the D800 and a new 24Mp sensor.

The pixels are nice but I mainly either manual focus or set it to infinity, so the price difference is hard to justify.

Also, the D610 has replaced the D600 with a new mirror without the oil spot issues that affected some D600s. Thing is if you get a D600 with oil spots you can get Nikon to replace the mirror and you effectively end up with a D610. There are some really cheap D600s about, so much so. That a d7100 and D600 combo looks quite attractive.

There is some cheap D600's around but it just feels like a slightly more solid D7100, if I hadn't picked up the D800 I'd most likely have gone with the D600. I've never really been a fan of having multiple different bodies or had a use for two bodies.

My only thing is looking at the glass I'd want to drive the D800 is going to cost considerably more then the glass I'd need to drive the D600, but I guess that's the cost of such a nice body.

 

[PU7E]

I don't really get your concern regard glass between a D600 and D800, they are both FF cameras and work well with the same lenses.

It is a mistake to think you will somehow get worse results from a higher MP camera if the glass isn't better. You will always get more detail with the higher MP sensor, even with mediocre lenses, of course you may not see all the gains but that goes for much of photography. E.g., you wont see the full potential of the 24MP D600 if you don't use a solid tripod with mirror lockup.,


The real difference is between a crop cameras and FF, especially if it comes to reach. If you shoot wildlife then the lenses change from costing the same as a laptop to costing the same as a family car.

I'm not sure I put it quite right.

If I got the D800 one of the first lenses I'd get would be the 14-24mm f/2.8 . However if I got the D600 I'd be happy to have something like the 17-55mm f/2.8 as a nice walkabout which can be had for around half the cost of the 14-24.

I'm not saying I'd be unhappy or get any worse results using the cheaper 17-55 just that in my eyes the 14-24 would be a better match to the D800 for what I'd be using it for which in turn would cost me more.

I'm sure you could get very similar results using the 14-24 on the D600 but I think the D800 would just give it that extra edge (I think I'm secretly just trying to justify buying the D800 over the D600).

 

[PU7E]

Well after a lot of thinking I'm leaning more towards the D600, Although I'd like the D800 I feel I'd be getting it more for the magnesium body rather then what it can do, heh.

Going to have a look at a couple tomorrow. If I was to get a FX camera would I be better going for the 50mm f/1.8 or the f/1.4. I've heard the f/1.8 is a little sharper wide open, does anyone have both and can recommend one or the other?

 

[PU7E]

What about a D700 ?

I've considered a D700 as it has the type of Body I like, but it's a similar price to the D600 which has much better low light performance.

 

[PU7E]

So after all that I brought a D700 with 50mm f/1.4G and have a 17-35mm f/2.8 on the way from LCE, heh

Now I just need to start saving the pennies for the legendary 14-24mm f/2.8, although I might buy myself a samyang 14mm f/2.8 to tide my self over in the meantime