Would this move be stupid?

bobiscuit

bobiscuit

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I'm planning on being very generous to myself (:lol:) due to getting a new job, was going to spend £500-600 on a new lens or some-such thing.

But, what if...

I sold both my camera bodies (Sony A300 and A350), Sony flash and all lenses - that would give me about enough for either a Nikon D300, which has the features I'm after (decent ISO performance, micro focus adjust, fast frame rate, lens hire availability)

That would leave me the £500-£600 for lenses and a flash. Not much :thinking:.
It would probably be enough to cover the same range I have now though, if I buy s/h - Sigma 10-20mm, Tamron 28-75mm, Sigma 70-300mm APO, and Jessops 360AFD flash.

So.... What do others think? Reasonable idea? The only thing I really don't want to lose from the Sony is the image stabilisation, which is fantastic, but I'm guessing the high ISO performance of the D300s will make up for that, until I can afford stabilised lenses.

Yay or nay?
 
i'd buy a Canon ;)

seriously its up to you

But if you are serious in the longer term I suspect you'll have a lot more options if you move to Nikon or Canon.

whether that is a good use of money is something only you could say

But if you do buy a D700 just think one day you might get a D3, so once you make the move it might never stop
 
You could get A550/A700 or even A900 if you get rid of both A3**. (You may need to top up for A900.) You could nicely afford Sony 100mm macro and put some leftovers for 50mm. Other lenses to think about would be 85mm f/1.4, 135mm f/1.8 or 70-200mm f/2.8. The choice is yours and Sony is not a bad brand to have.
 
I would stick to Sony, hang onto your current camera bodies until the A700 replacement is released, and in the meantime get some new glass. Forget the Sigma 70-300mm and get the Sony 70-300 G instead. It is very sharp wide open throughout the zoom range.
But I already have Sony so I'm biased. :)
 
Well see, I'd like to stick with Sony, the built in stabilisation is a huge plus for me. But none of the options really do what I want (apart from the over-budget A850/A900).
The A550 is almost there, but as a pixel peeper I'd really like micro focus adjust and I don't think it really competes with the D300/7D for high ISO noise. In fact as an overall package I don't see it as a big move up from the A350.

Maybe the A700 replacement will be perfect, maybe not, if there are specs and a release date within the next month I'll consider it :shrug:
 
Not sure if my input will do much but - All I keep reading is that the len's is the investment & not the body....

Now wheres that cat, as those pidgeons are about again....
 
Upgrading is always a good plan :)

But whatever you do it's maybe time for some commitment. You can't go changing an entire system just to get a new body.

Think long term, and don't skimp on lenses as it will probably be a long time before you want to replace them.

And while I hate to say this as Sony have plenty of fine gems in their jewelry box, Nikon and especially Canon just have more choice.
 
As much as I despise Sony and would recommend ditching the brand ASAP, I would not want to appear disingenuous;)

So, why not buy a secondhand D300 rather than the D300s?:lol:

Some people do jump from system to system but that can be an expensive business.
There is no perfect camera (although I can email you my requirements Nikon:lol:) so chances are the A700 replacement wont fit the bill for you either.

Surely the most important questions are what is actually limiting your photography at the moment, where are you going to take it and will Sony have that covered in the future? Perhaps the answer isn't a different brand...
 
Dr_O said:
Surely the most important questions are what is actually limiting your photography at the moment, where are you going to take it and will Sony have that covered in the future? Perhaps the answer isn't a different brand...
Click to expand...
The only thing really limiting my photography is a lack of time. I don't think Sony will fix that any time soon :lol:

Other than that, the things I'd like to upgrade from my current setup are:
1) ISO performance (Sony A350 is only usable up to ISO 800 in perfect light. In tricky light, even ISO 200 produces more noise than I'm happy with)
2) Micro focus adjust
3) Frame rate

Obviously I have lens lust just like anyone else, but overall I can usually get what I want out of my lenses. If I start doing paid work, I will definitely need to upgrade them. But for now I'm happy.
 
If you're down at your folks' house any tie soon and want to try a D300 before making the choice drop me a pm and you can have a shot of mine.
 
A700 firmware version 4 takes care of most high iso noise problems. The sensor is *very* similar to the Nikon D300. It's not surprising that the firmware upgrade makes the A700 raw output similar to the D300 as well. The A700 is a very well built camera with a superb user interface, but it does lack the AF micro-adjust of the D300 and the Nikon lens range.
But Nikon is a bit short on VR primes, whereas last year I picked up a beautiful 20 year old Minolta 200mm F2.8 HS G, arguably the best 200mm prime ever built for 35mm format, and it's stabilised on my A700.
Having said that, I still wonder about the D300. It's good....
Difficult isn't it? :D
 
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