Upgrading from a D3000... help?

B.Bass

B.Bass

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Bobbie
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Hi, Ive had my D3000 for more than a few years now, and while i love the camera i am looking to upgrade to something a little better. ive been reading some old posts and many have suggested to others about upgrading to a D90. my main subjects are animals, Ferrets mainly who are especially quick and do not stay still. i use a Nikkor DX AF-S 35mm 1:1.8 G lens, ive never gone back to using the AF-s Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G ED lens which i used prior to that purchase. I am Looking for a Body only, second hand, but well looked after. I like the look of the D90, but really would like to keep the cost down to £150 max.. and by having a quick look about im thinking that im not going to find a good D90 for that kind of money. So Any suggestions as to what other models i could look at..??

Huge thankyou! Bobbie
 
d70? d5000?

im not interested video or live view..
 
Just save up and get the d90. I bought a D80 and after a year upgrade to a D90 and am happy with with it. There are a few used ones on mbp photography but are around £270 + delivery.
 
I wouldn't really bother with the D70 as it'd probably be a step down fro the D3000 tbh. It'd an older model and the only 'improvement' is a built in AF motor for use with older lenses (which you won't care about if you're planning to stick with your 35mm prime). The D80/D200 would be within your budget but I doubt you'd see any real difference in image qualtiy (think they have similar sensors).

Personally I'd suggest saving your pennies for a bit longer and either go for a D3200, obvious the same series as your current camera but with a much newer/better sensor. The D90/D300 would come in around £250-300 and have better build quality and more control options for accessing different functions quicker.
 
ok, so d3200 or d90, what would be the benifits of each, whats better with one over the other ?
 
D3200: will be very similar in size/weight/controls to your current camera, if you like having a relatively small/light SLR then it's a good choice, for the price I've heard excellent things about the image quality.

D90: 'Semi-pro' body so higher build quality and around 200g heavier than the D3200, 'only' a 12MP sensor however 99% of the time 12MP is way more than enough, heck even 6MP is enough a lot of the time unless you often find yourself needing to crop your images a lot. Includes inbuilt AF motor for use with first generation AF lenses. Just guessing but I can see the D90 holding it's value pretty well as the semi-pro bodies which are already a few years old don't tend to depreciate too quickly.

I'd probably missed a few things but a quick google will tell you anything else you need to know about them.
 
Hi

Any used camera shops fairly close to you?
If so pop to one (or all) of them and handle the bodies.

D5x00 should be an upgrade, but perhaps not enough
New D3200 or d3300... Same as you got, but better sensor etc... minor tweaks
d90 - nice upgrade, but I used and found it lacking
d300 (semi pro) - heavier.. a lot heavier, but has a lot of options (incl 51 points of focus)
d300s was meant to be an upgrade, but when I played with one, it seemed limited in some areas
d7x00 (like the d90, better sensor - newer

And for handling only ;) D700 d800 and or a d6x0
- best to try though and see whether it would do what you want... :) plus these are full frame.


My personal view on the d7x00 and d6x0 is that the focus points are too grouped in the center... But they are capable cameras as is pretty much the whole list.

But it depends on you, so weight of the camera, len(s) attached, handling, options, menus...
The used places usually don't mind you testing in store, possibly at the front door...


/\ all x's are number 0 1 2 depending on the model
 
thankyou for all the input.. ive continued to read other posts, and it really does look like the d90 is the one..

can anyone tell me, what difference am i going to see in the picture quality?

also, will it be as quick to focus?
 
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working in very low light is also really important
 
ecniv said:
Hi

Any used camera shops fairly close to you?
If so pop to one (or all) of them and handle the bodies.

D5x00 should be an upgrade, but perhaps not enough
New D3200 or d3300... Same as you got, but better sensor etc... minor tweaks
d90 - nice upgrade, but I used and found it lacking
d300 (semi pro) - heavier.. a lot heavier, but has a lot of options (incl 51 points of focus)
d300s was meant to be an upgrade, but when I played with one, it seemed limited in some areas
d7x00 (like the d90, better sensor - newer

And for handling only ;) D700 d800 and or a d6x0
- best to try though and see whether it would do what you want... :) plus these are full frame.


My personal view on the d7x00 and d6x0 is that the focus points are too grouped in the center... But they are capable cameras as is pretty much the whole list.

But it depends on you, so weight of the camera, len(s) attached, handling, options, menus...
The used places usually don't mind you testing in store, possibly at the front door...


/\ all x's are number 0 1 2 depending on the model
Click to expand...

Hi Ecniv, what did you feel the D90 was lacking when you used it?
 
B.Bass said:
working in very low light is also really important
Click to expand...

The reason I moved from a D80 to a D90 was the it handled the noise a lot better. I am happy with iso up to 800 on the d90 with D80 it was around 400.
 
I was in LCE in Derby the other day, they had a couple of D90's in with low shutter count for £250
 
Thankyou sponner and sep9001, i also spotted some on their site, also in wex photographic which is only 20 mins from here, and im going up there on friday, so im hoping to make a decision by then..

my contenders are D90, D5000, D5100, D300, D3200... its all well and good me looking at specs etc on the internet, but im still a complete novice when it comes to nikon camera speak, so with reguard to the important parts, working best in the dark, working the fastest, best sensor... etc... whose on top, and why?

sorry if im sorta asking the same questions again.. but finding this hard.. :D

ive also expanded my budget to about £250...:oops: :$

huge thankyou in advance!
 
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B.Bass said:
Hi, Ive had my D3000 for more than a few years now, and while i love the camera i am looking to upgrade to something a little better.
Click to expand...

What is it that the D3000 is missing that you feel you need something 'better'?

Right, I'm going to offer a slightly different opinion to everyone else so far in this thread.

I would personally argue that none of the cameras you've mentioned (D90, D5000, D5100, D300, D3200) are really offering that much more than your D3000. Yeah, a couple have better build quality (but not all), some have better lowlight capability (but not all and not by much), yada, yada, yada... None of these features in these cameras necessarily result in better photos though.

Until you know that your D3000 is definitely holding you back in some way, I wouldn't recommend 'upgrading' to any camera.

Lenses or a holiday where you can use your camera seem like far better uses of your money to me. :)
 
I think I'd go for the d90 or d300 from your list. The d3200 is super appealing with the current apec, but it is still an entry level dslr. The 90 and 300 are aimed at the more enthusiast photographer and just make the user experience more enjoyable with better controls.
 
i like my d3000, but i find when taking photos, that its struggling to focus esp in low light, and i find it very frustrating as most of what i do with the ferrets is out in my shed with some natural light but no artificial light, and i end up with a bunch of crap shots an 1 good one.. if this is my fault, and my focal length/distance is the issue then fair enough i just need to get better. i also want a clearer sharper image too..

example 1 - pants..

View attachment 3781 ...

example 2 - good, in my eyes..

View attachment 3784
 
Keep in mind focus issues can often be down to the lens as well as the camera, a lot lenses (particularly cheaper/'consumer') grade lenses don't perform amazingly well in low light...
 
Uxon said:
Keep in mind focus issues can often be down to the lens as well as the camera, a lot lenses (particularly cheaper/'consumer') grade lenses don't perform amazingly well in low light...
Click to expand...

i only use a nikkor 35mm prime, bought brand new, only done about 1000 photos with it..



ive also got to use the flash, without the flash the photos are hopeless and camera/lens will refuse to focus and take a photo..
 
this photo i hoped would have been a lot better i think its awful, grainy and the colours are dull, is this just me being an amater or is it that the camera is not giving me what i want, if that makes sense?.

View attachment 3794
 
B.Bass said:
this photo i hoped would have been a lot better i think its awful, grainy and the colours are dull, is this just me being an amater or is it that the camera is not giving me what i want, if that makes sense?.

View attachment 3794
Click to expand...

In your example, you've taken a photo in flat light with a very busy composition. There is simply no camera that is going to instantly and magically improve this shot and none of the aforementioned cameras are going to produce anything better than what you've already achieved with your D3000.

Reading up on the exposure triangle (i.e., ISO, shutter speed, and aperture), learning about composition, and enhancing your understanding of light, however, will enable you to take better photos with the camera and lenses that you already own.

The responsibility lies with you, not your equipment, if your aim is to truly improve on photos such as this.
 
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I sort of agree with shyshark.

I have gone from entry level (Olympus e system) to mid level to their best then ran out of options so switched to Nikon and now have the d800 which has meant spending £2k or so on lenses (some budget and second hand options notwithstanding).

The improvements I noticed most were not in image quality but in the ability to nail a shot more often, I think this boils down to viewfinder, focus speed etc.

Why I agree is that the D3000 is certainly capable of great shots, I just find that the more "pro" bodies make it easier to get them, hence I would look for a D90 or D300 in your shoes.

The biggest difference IQ wise that I have found has been moving from kit lenses to "pro" grade lenses.

Where I do not agree is if you can afford it I think you should get the best kit you can. It may not make the best sense value for money wise but I don't like to feel hampered by my equipment (and this, I accept, may be mainly psychological).
 
There is a lot to learn about editing photos too, a quick (2 minute) play with the cow and dog shot can make it pop more, composition etc cannot be fixed.

megblue%20%2815%20of%201%29.jpg
 
sponner said:
Where I do not agree is if you can afford it I think you should get the best kit you can. It may not make the best sense value for money wise but I don't like to feel hampered by my equipment (and this, I accept, may be mainly psychological).
Click to expand...

I personally can't understand why everyone is recommending that the OP spend hundreds of pounds on a new camera when he's likely to end up with photos that are no better than those from his D3000. :thinking:

What about the OP's D3000 is holding him back or hampering him? There are times when a camera can actually limit one's photography, but I"m not convinced that this is one of those cases yet.
 
B.Bass said:
Hi Ecniv, what did you feel the D90 was lacking when you used it?
Click to expand...
Hi

After the d300's focus points... there aren't that many. And the short time I used it doesn't really qualify me to comment :)
The d300 is well built, solid and a bit heavy, the d90 was much lighter.
didn't have enough time to play with the settings, so can't say compared to the d300, but with the d300 you can use simple settings or go fully manual. The flexibility of the 51 points of focus I have just gotten used to.

But its the feel. I didn't like it that much. However, that is not to say that other people won't. Reall y the op and anyone who is thinking of getting a camera should go and handle them, preferably with a charged battery so you can see menus etc...
 
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