Camera swop

swiftflo

swiftflo

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Relatively new to the world of DSLR, so advice would be welcome.

At the moment I have a Nikon 50D with a 55-200 Nikkor lens. I am considering whether to swop my D50 for the D3100.

What do you think ?.
 
swiftflo said:
Relatively new to the world of DSLR, so advice would be welcome.

At the moment I have a Nikon 50D with a 55-200 Nikkor lens. I am considering whether to swop my D50 for the D3100.

What do you think ?.
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What can't you do with, or don't like about the 'D50'?
 
Welcome to the forum Peter. As a Canon user I can't offer much help, but having just looked at the Nikon website at the specs for both I must say I'd be very tempted to swap. 14Mp from 6Mp is quite a jump and FPS slightly better would be the swinger for me. As long as your lens is compatable I can't see why your wating.
 
redhed17 said:
What can't you do with, or don't like about the 'D50'?
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I was thinking maybe it is time to get a newer model.

I understand my lens will fit the D3100 so that is the reason for staying with Nikon.

All help will be appreciated.
 
I would say do the swap, not only is it nice to have a new toy every now and again. But considering all your old glass will work fine with it, but just on a faster camera, you'll have plenty of fun!

Then you could sell your d50 and buy even more glass! :D
 
See how much trade in offered,and if it's next to nothing keep the D50 for back-up
I have a D70s and a D300 good pictures from the D70s but when compared to the D300 you can see the difference,especially at higher ISO or pictures taken in low light.
 
IIRC the D50 has the LCD on the top and a internal auto-focus motor.

The D3100 has niether and whilst this might not be a problem it will take some getting use to the new menu layout. I guess you might not.be concerned about the lack of auto-focus motor. At work I went from a D70 to a D5000 and felt in some.ways it was a backwards step.

However, I suggest a S/H S80 or D90 might feel like more of an upgrade.
 
DrRusty said:
IIRC the D50 has the LCD on the top and a internal auto-focus motor.

The D3100 has niether and whilst this might not be a problem it will take some getting use to the new menu layout. I guess you might not.be concerned about the lack of auto-focus motor. At work I went from a D70 to a D5000 and felt in some.ways it was a backwards step.

However, I suggest a S/H S80 or D90 might feel like more of an upgrade.
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Looking at the specs of the D3100 I believe it would have AF with my present lens (AF-S).
 
swiftflo said:
Looking at the specs of the D3100 I believe it would have AF with my present lens (AF-S).
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It would, but the d50 is a much more solid camera, and as stated has the top LCD amongst others things. However the d3100 is a great camera, but does feel a lot more toy like over the d50
 
swiftflo said:
Looking at the specs of the D3100 I believe it would have AF with my present lens (AF-S).
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It would indeed, but you'd lose the ability to use older, non AFS lenses, something you might want to do at a later date... The D3100 is an entry level model therefore most settings are changed via menus instead of buttons/top LCD, the D50 is a midrange model with proper buttons and top LCD if i recall correctly. As has been suggested, the D80 or better still D90 would be more familiar to you in terms of control layout.

But the D3100 is a great camera, and brings advantages of its own, such as more autofocus points and a newer sensor. I wouldn't swap my D90 for one tho :)
 
ronnus said:
I the D50 is a midrange model with proper buttons and top LCD if i recall correctly. As has been suggested, the D80 or better still D90 would be more familiar to you in terms of control layout.
)
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The D50 at the time actually was the base model, with the D70 being the midrange and the D200 being the semi pro, but it was considerably more "midrange" in features and build than the current base models.
It was my first DSLR and was an excellent and well build camera.
 
TCR4x4 said:
The D50 at the time actually was the base model, with the D70 being the midrange and the D200 being the semi pro, but it was considerably more "midrange" in features and build than the current base models.
It was my first DSLR and was an excellent and well build camera.
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Learn something new every day... it was years ago I had a brief go with a D50, I assumed the (sort of) current formula of proper buttons plus top LCD plus AF screw equals midrange ;) It certainly felt easier to use than my D40, albeit with a tiny rear LCD... Oh, and it was silver if I remember right. Not nice! :)
 
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ronnus said:
Learn something new every day... it was years ago I had a brief go with a D50, I assumed the (sort of) current formula of proper buttons plus top LCD plus AF screw equals midrange ;) It certainly felt easier to use than my D40, albeit with a tiny rear LCD... Oh, and it was silver if I remember right. Not nice! :)
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Yeah you could get silver ones as well as black which looked vile. I remember buying mine from Jessops, not quite believing how much I just spent on a camera!
 
TCR4x4 said:
Yeah you could get silver ones as well as black which looked vile. I remember buying mine from Jessops, not quite believing how much I just spent on a camera!
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Go on, tell us how much!? I can sense a new thread coming from this heheh ;)
 
ronnus said:
Go on, tell us how much!? I can sense a new thread coming from this heheh ;)
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I think I paid £250 and my girlfriend paid £250 as it was a birthday present.
That was with a load of "jessops extra specials" added on as well. A load of crap I never used but was told was a necessity.
Must have been 2005/2006 ish I guess, the camera had only just been released.
 
£800 I did on a D70s....back in the day..








wish I still had it..:(
 
TCR4x4 said:
I think I paid £250 and my girlfriend paid £250 as it was a birthday present.
That was with a load of "jessops extra specials" added on as well. A load of crap I never used but was told was a necessity.
Must have been 2005/2006 ish I guess, the camera had only just been released.
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:eek:

I got suckered into a load of tat with my old trusty Fuji bridge (neoprene strap! caselogic bag! xD card reader! etc...", most of which was cack and didn't get used. Didn't make that mistake again...

This and John's D70s price make me feel better about "only" splashing £280 on my first DSLR, my D40 :D That said, it was probably close to being discontinued at that point, would have been a tad more costly on its release I assume.

Anyhoo, apologies for the thread hijack :nono:
 
pretty much all nikon lens will work on nikon camera except pre AI lens. AF-D lens on extra model will loose auto focus because the camera body does not have a AF motor.

Like someone mention, you better off looking into a used D90 and it will be a better upgrade. used D90 with low shutter count only for for around £400-450 these days but can probably get one even cheaper.
 
Have been thinking a lot about this swop now for a while. My thoughts at the moment are that I may go for the d7000. I see there are a couple on fleabay.
Anyone with an idea as to how many actuations these cameras will carry out ?.
 
swiftflo said:
Have been thinking a lot about this swop now for a while. My thoughts at the moment are that I may go for the d7000. I see there are a couple on fleabay.
Anyone with an idea as to how many actuations these cameras will carry out ?.
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They might last for 100,000, they might die after 3000 there's no real way of telling, just like any other consumer electronic product......
 
Flash In The Pan said:
They might last for 100,000, they might die after 3000 there's no real way of telling, just like any other consumer electronic product......
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How do you find out the number of actuations ?.
 
D3100 to D7000 is quite a difference! Assuming cash is no object, the D7000 is a great camera. As FITP says, Nikon don't guarantee shutter cycles, I believe the non-pro shutters are tested to 100,000 actuations, but crucially this isn't part of the guarantee.

With most cameras (certainly that I've used!) you can't read the shutter actuations from the body, you have to use specific software to extract it from the EXIF data. I've used Opanda iEXIF, but others exist, I believe there's a website where you can upload a photo and it'll tell you which shutter actuation the photo is, but I've not tried it.
 
Lol! I must be the only one to get good deals out of Jessops, try the New Oxford Street flagship store they have a couple of pros working there full time.

I recently paid £740 for a D7000 body only and got an additional £50 toward anything, I chose a black rapid strap. That's a deal in my books... :)
 
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whacko77uk said:
Lol! I must be the only one to get good deals out of Jessops, try the New Oxford Street flagship store they have a couple of pros working there full time.

I recently paid £740 for a D7000 body only and got an additional £50 toward anything, I chose a black rapid strap. That's a deal in my books... :)
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If I could get deals like that at my local branch, I'd spend more money there, but they're not interested. Last time I enquired about a D700 I was told that they hadn't seen one in a while therefore they were "probably discontinued", and asked if I'd like to look at a D300s instead. I declined politely without pointing out the obvious...
 
Decided what to do at last. I am hoping to complete a deal on a Nikon D90 body this weekend.
 
Well after taking the advice here I took the plunge and won a D90 on ebay, with only 4465 activations. Just got to wait for the "pony express" to deliver it. LOL
 
Just been informed that I should have delivery of the D90 tomorrow.
 
Okay I have now received the Nikon D90 and very impressed with it.

I have looked at the advice given on the Ken Rockwell site and have carried out some of the settings he advises for this camera. I would like to hear from any of you Nikon D90 users if there are any tweeks you also use.

Thanks
 
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