Which Nikon body?

redfan · 13 Jul 2016

A friend has asked for my advice. She owns a Nikon film body and multiple Nikon lenses, but wants to upgrade to a digital body whilst still making use of her old lenses. Being a Canon user, the Nikon range is a bit of an unknown but I do know that some of the cheaper bodies dont support all lenses due to not having an autofocus motor on the body. A bit of quick googling suggested the D7000; although it is 6 years old and has been discontinued, may be able to pick up a good used one for a reasonable price. Any suggestions welcome.

Stephen

DoctorJ · 13 Jul 2016

I am no real expert but I have owned a D90 and currently have a D300S, both of which I would recommend; the question everyone will ask though is what does she photograph and what is the budget?

gramps · 13 Jul 2016

Budget aside the D7200 would be the best of the D7xxx bodies.

dizidav · 13 Jul 2016

Depending on budget a D90 or any of the D7xxx bodies will let her use her lenses, if they are all 35mm lenses and the budget permits perhaps a D700 or one of the other FX Bodies.

davek · 13 Jul 2016

The D7000 may be 6 years old but it's still an excellent camera - as is the the D90. If you can get one with a low shutter count that's been well looked after you'll be delighted with either of those.
And having just bought a (low count) D700 this week, I suggest you'd be delighted with that as well!(-:
Good luck with the search!

redfan · 15 Jul 2016

Thanks for the input. No idea on budget, and she is more of a general photographer rather than specializing in one area (although she hasnt actually done more photography over the last few years). Food for thought on whether to go for new or used - I know where I am leaning

Mrbaker · 17 Jul 2016

Nothing wrong with the d90 d300 or d7100 all can be found fairly easy and cheap.

jonbeeza · 18 Jul 2016

Best for her to join this forum, and have a read up on what others are using. She will get a better idea of what is what.

realspeed · 18 Jul 2016

Nikon D810 would be my ideal camera but depending on budget the D800 is a really good option.

snerkler · 18 Jul 2016

One thing to note (can't see that anyone else has mentioned it already) is that if she's been shooting on 35mm film and moves to digital she needs to go full frame if she wants her lenses to give the same field of view. If she's happy in the knowledge of crop factor then the D500 is the number one crop body at the moment, followed by the D7200 then D7100.

If she wants to go FF there's the pro sports cameras such as the D5 and D4s which cost a small fortune, the D810 which is considerably cheaper (although still not cheap) and arguably has the best overall IQ out of all the Nikons (D800e might pip it), the D750 which is arguably the best all round FF Nikon and cheaper still, and then we get into the D610 and D600 which are cheaper still yet still excellent cameras. You can then of course go second hand and if you want to go really cheap (relatively speaking) and happy with 12MP the D700 is a cracking camera and wasn't too long ago the choice of professionals (and probably still is).

martsharm · 20 Jul 2016

snerkler said:
One thing to note (can't see that anyone else has mentioned it already) is that if she's been shooting on 35mm film and moves to digital she needs to go full frame if she wants her lenses to give the same field of view. If she's happy in the knowledge of crop factor then the D500 is the number one crop body at the moment, followed by the D7200 then D7100.

If she wants to go FF there's the pro sports cameras such as the D5 and D4s which cost a small fortune, the D810 which is considerably cheaper (although still not cheap) and arguably has the best overall IQ out of all the Nikons (D800e might pip it), the D750 which is arguably the best all round FF Nikon and cheaper still, and then we get into the D610 and D600 which are cheaper still yet still excellent cameras. You can then of course go second hand and if you want to go really cheap (relatively speaking) and happy with 12MP the D700 is a cracking camera and wasn't too long ago the choice of professionals (and probably still is).

This says it all. I first thought D700 - coming from film, a full-frame sensor seems to me a necessity. Conversely, perhaps very high resolution isn't, even 12MP is quite a sufficient upgrade. Basically - D700.