Camera choice help needed please!

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DragonPhoto

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Hello all. After years of procrastinating I am setting up a small photography business with an aim to work mainly in Commercial (food/product/location), Portrait and some event photography. A few years back I had to sell my Nikon kit so will be starting again from scratch.

I have a limited budget and am currently looking at a choice between Nikon D300, D90 or D3200. What I really would find very helpful is any thoughts you have on which would be best suited for my needs. I don’t really need HD video but I do need the image quality to be good enough to be able to look good on an advertising banner of A1 size or bigger as well as high quality A4/A3 prints.
I was going to go for the D3200 body and get decent glass on the front of the body, but I held one in a local photo shop yesterday and it felt tiny in my hands compared to the D90.

A bit of a waffle but any thoughts would be fantastic!
 
My wife tells me size doesn't matter... :/
 
Hi, Not a Nikon user but!! when I bought the Canon 600D it felt small also but I added the battery grip and it does IMO make a big difference not only to the amount of shots you can do but also the feel of the camera in your hands. I looked on good old Ebay for the grip to fit the D3200 and third party are around the £30 mark may I suggest go back to the shop and try one with the grip attached if they have one.
Russ
 
russellsnr said:
Hi, Not a Nikon user but!! when I bought the Canon 600D it felt small also but I added the battery grip and it does IMO make a big difference not only to the amount of shots you can do but also the feel of the camera in your hands. I looked on good old Ebay for the grip to fit the D3200 and third party are around the £30 mark may I suggest go back to the shop and try one with the grip attached if they have one.
Russ
Click to expand...

Thanks Russell, very good point. Looking at the D3200 again I'm wondering if it's too 'consumer' to be taken seriously by potential clients. Hmmm... nice spec though.
 
IMO I would go for a D300 or D300S over a D90 or D3200. The only advantage of the D3200 would be slightly better high ISO performance is its a few years newer.
The benefits of a the D300 are numerous:
More durable body which is weather sealed
Internal focus motor, so it can be used in AF mode with older (therefore cheaper) pro glass.
Longer battery life
that's just a few of the top of my head
There are plenty of pro togs out there still using the D300 for the above reasons.

If you're looking to get pro results, its mostly about the glass, with the D300 you can use the famous back catalog of Nikon glass, which is the biggest plus for the D300 over the D3200.

Hope this helps
 
lucian said:
IMO I would go for a D300 or D300S over a D90 or D3200. The only advantage of the D3200 would be slightly better high ISO performance is its a few years newer.
The benefits of a the D300 are numerous:
More durable body which is weather sealed
Internal focus motor, so it can be used in AF mode with older (therefore cheaper) pro glass.
Longer battery life
that's just a few of the top of my head
There are plenty of pro togs out there still using the D300 for the above reasons.

If you're looking to get pro results, its mostly about the glass, with the D300 you can use the famous back catalog of Nikon glass, which is the biggest plus for the D300 over the D3200.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Good points Lucian, thank you. Swaying towards the D300 in a major way!
 
DragonPhoto said:
Thanks Russell, very good point. Looking at the D3200 again I'm wondering if it's too 'consumer' to be taken seriously by potential clients. Hmmm... nice spec though.
Click to expand...

be careful as some 3rd party grips are lovely and cheep but they stink!! do some through research, my good friend bought a grip for his 600d which came with two batteries and remote, bargain he thought! it basically rinsed one battery and died :(
 
Why don't you post this in the business forum, you may get a more informed opinion from commercial photographers.

IMHO I think for commercial photography, particularly product shots, you really need a full frame camera, if not medium format. If I booked a pro tog and he turned up with anything less I think I would be very worried. Also for product shots you need to have some good lighting.
Tbh I do not see how you can start a commercial photography business with a little budget, unless you aim purely at on-line businesses.

BTW I am coming at this from the client point of view as someone who has been involved in the commissioning of professional work.
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