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Best Second DSLR - got 3 Nikon lenses

Because my D3100 is now broken, I am looking for other nikon bodies for under 500€.

Up to now I found out that i could get a new D3300 body for around 400€, a used D5200 for 360€ or a used D7000 for around 450€.

I can't decide which one I would choose because each of them has their advantages. 

I do not want to change to Canon firstly because i still have 3 Nikon lenses and I get a loss for every one I sell used. Secondly, the choice of canon 50mm are big, but I don't like the 50mm 1.8 II. My current 50mm 1.8G is simply sharper.

 

My second choice would be to sell all the lenses and the broken D3100 and get a smaller Camera like the RX100 III or the Panasonic LX100. Of course, given that I get about 300-400€ for my old stuff...

 

So what do you guys think, what would you do? 

Leave your comments below and thanks in advance for your answers! :D

 

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D7000 is a steal for 450€

 

I would highly recommend it, even though it's the older model of the 7XXX line from Nikon.

 

 

If you don't mind my asking, which 3 Nikon lenses do you have?

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d7000 if you can, thats a decent camera

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D7000 is a steal for 450€

 

I would highly recommend it, even though it's the older model of the 7XXX line from Nikon.

 

 

If you don't mind my asking, which 3 Nikon lenses do you have?

 

I'm guessing 18-55, 55-200, and 35 1.8

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D7000 is a steal for 450€

 

I would highly recommend it, even though it's the older model of the 7XXX line from Nikon.

 

 

If you don't mind my asking, which 3 Nikon lenses do you have?

I have the standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, a 55-200 f/4-5.6 tele and the 50mm 1.8G 

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If you can spring for the D7000, then go for that one.  I think the only reason you would go for one of the lower priced options was if you were going to save a bit more for a nicer lens.  Good luck with whatever you end up getting, and let us know what you do :)  

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Either D7000 or D5200. If those are available at around the same price as D3300, why is D3300 even on the list?

 

Go mainly for the D7000 if you can. If not then D5200. Be mindful of the shutter count of them if you're buying either of them used, though. Anything bellow 5000 is great, above that it starts to get a little skeptic, but don't be afraid to go for them if they are in a good enough condition to be used for years ahead.

Never trust my advice. Only take any and all advice from me with a grain of salt. Just a heads up.

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I'm going to have to agree with most people here. The D7000 is looking like the best choice of the bunch. I'd probably have to recommend against selling what you have, mostly cos it's a well rounded selection and your likely to get similar lenses in the future anyhow.

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Thanks for the replies. 

I need to think twice before buying that D7000.

 

The owner has 3 of those and 2 of them have a shutter count of about 12000, selling for 430€ (Bought in Summer 2011)

and the third one has 6000 and he is selling the third one for 490€ (Bought in Summer 2012)

 

For that money he is able to give me the body and a battery grip which is able to hold 6x AA batteries.

 

Also he told me that he had focus issues with those cameras and got it fixed.

 

No visible damages.

 

I know that the price is very low for a D7000 but i always need to think twice before buying it, mainly because it now has no warranty anymore, and to fix it costs mostly as much as a new camera (Fixing my D3100 would cost 300€).

Plus, Do you think that the D7000 would look overkill with what I do? (Hobby photography, portraits)

 

And: Would you guys still buy it?

 

Ps: I've heard that the D3300 takes sharper and less noisy pictures because of the newer sensor and newer image processor, D7000 has more dynamic range though. 

 

I can't find my 55-200 anymore xD

My PC: Intel Core i3-3220 | Alpenföhn Civetta | XFX HD 7770 1GB | ASRock B75-Pro3-M | Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB | beQuiet PurePower L8 430W | Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB | Kingston V200+ 60GB | NZXT Vulcan | Soundblaster Play Replaced by Notebook + eGPU

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My Phone: OnePlus One with CM12      Camera: Nikon D3200 + 50mm f/1.8G + Kit lenses

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Thanks for the replies. 

I need to think twice before buying that D7000.

 

The owner has 3 of those and 2 of them have a shutter count of about 12000, selling for 430€ (Bought in Summer 2011)

and the third one has 6000 and he is selling the third one for 490€ (Bought in Summer 2012)

 

For that money he is able to give me the body and a battery grip which is able to hold 6x AA batteries.

 

Also he told me that he had focus issues with those cameras and got it fixed.

 

No visible damages.

 

I know that the price is very low for a D7000 but i always need to think twice before buying it, mainly because it now has no warranty anymore, and to fix it costs mostly as much as a new camera (Fixing my D3100 would cost 300€).

Plus, Do you think that the D7000 would look overkill with what I do? (Hobby photography, portraits)

 

And: Would you guys still buy it?

 

Ps: I've heard that the D3300 takes sharper and less noisy pictures because of the newer sensor and newer image processor, D7000 has more dynamic range though. 

 

I can't find my 55-200 anymore xD

 

I'd say, if you can live with the shortcomings (slower max shutter speed, lack of pentaprism, etc) of the D3300 it will be a great camera for you. The differences are fairly minor for every day photography, and most photographers tend to work around any shortcomings of the cameras they have anyways. I'm always reminded of this guy when someone asks if they need a more fancy camera to take great photographs.

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I'd say, if you can live with the shortcomings (slower max shutter speed, lack of pentaprism, etc) of the D3300 it will be a great camera for you. The differences are fairly minor for every day photography, and most photographers tend to work around any shortcomings of the cameras they have anyways. I'm always reminded of this guy when someone asks if they need a more fancy camera to take great photographs.

Well yeah, it just feels not necessary to get a semipro somehow...

And wow, that guy got some sick shots...

 

Also, why no love for mirrorless cameras?

My PC: Intel Core i3-3220 | Alpenföhn Civetta | XFX HD 7770 1GB | ASRock B75-Pro3-M | Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB | beQuiet PurePower L8 430W | Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB | Kingston V200+ 60GB | NZXT Vulcan | Soundblaster Play Replaced by Notebook + eGPU

My Notebook:   Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch, Late 2013; Core i5 4258U @2.4-2.9 Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256GB PCIe SSD, Iris Graphics 5100 + GTX 960 eGPU

My Phone: OnePlus One with CM12      Camera: Nikon D3200 + 50mm f/1.8G + Kit lenses

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For your needs, the D7000 will not be the best choice. Compared to models such as even the D3300, the D7000's sensor has lower high ISO performance, and a little less dynamic range. Ignoring all other features, the sensor in the nikon D3300 is better than the sensor in the nikon D7000, and if you  are doing photography where a the auto focus of the camera will not be too much of a limiting factor, you pretty much be able to take cleaner and more detailed photos with the D3300 than with the D7000.

 

here is a quick comparison of the sensors

http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Nikon-D3300-versus-Nikon-D5200-versus-Nikon-D7000___928_850_680

 

Depending on how long a camera has been used, sometimes people will sell them if if it starting to show minor signs of an impending failure, or if they have had to repair it in the past and it is looking like they will to repair it again (e.g., some people may notice a minor issue that will likely go unnoticed for a long time beyond a return period, e.g., one of the focus points starting to drift in terms of accuracy., or a failed sensor cleaning attempt where you will see a scratch when you take a picture at f22 aperture, or simply a lot of sensor spots where a professional cleaning will cost too much in comparison to the current market value of the camera.

 

the D7000 shutter is rated for a max of 150,000 clicks before it fails, how close is the D7000 to failing?

 

The D7000 in the past was a common backup camera for many professional photographers, and usually backup cameras will take the most abuse, e.g., if a photographer has  nikon D4 and a D7000, and they are shooting a concert where fog and other random things are used as part of the show, you can bet that they will be considering swapping lenses on their D7000 before they think about pulling the lens off of their D4.

 

 

----------------------------------------------

For mirrorless, they tend to have slower autofocus, and in most cases, they have more trouble focusing at lower light levels, and while phase detect is working its way more and more into the mirrorless world, most of them are still using contrast detect auto focus which is slower and has trouble tracking subjects moving towards the camera.

 

They are also very small and limit which lenses you can use comfortably, e.g., the sony A7r is a very good camera, while it is not quite as functional as the nikon D810, the sensor quality is there. but what happens when you want to shoot with a 70-200 f2.8. The camera has almost no grip.

 

Other than that, most mirrorless cameras are micro 4/3 which have far lower high ISO performance, and as with any DSLR, even the highest end ones on the market today, anything above the lowest native ISO, causes you to lose find detail. e.g., taking a nikon D4s from ISO 100, to 200, will cause a drop in detail. With modern and larger sensor camera, the dropoff is much less and thus you can make it to much higher ISO's before too much fine detail is lost.

 

Sites like DXO mark list the max ISO that you can realistically get before losing too much fine detail. (while some cameras may look okay above those ISO's, what is tested there is what is actual detail, and what is simply noise. (when not pixel peeping, some sensor noise and grain can give the illusion of find detail

 

for example, this image was taken with a nikon D4 at ISO 4000, some noise reduction was done to the bokeh and out of focus areas, but only a slight amount (mainly focusing on color noise) was done to the person in the photo. That is because with out that noise, there would be no texture at all on the skin. The camera at that ISO lost all fine detail and the grain is the only thing giving the illusion of fine detail. (image taken by Jaren Polin, he uploaded the raw file as part of a raw edit challenge for the forums) https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8534/8650367635_2dc482cf7a_o.jpg

 

With smaller sensors, you reach the point of losing fine detail much sooner (many micro 4/3 sensors reach this point ad around 800 ISO)

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Also, why no love for mirrorless cameras?

 

I love the mirrorless man  :D but you'll miss out on focal length range if you swap over to the RX100 III or LX100. Personally I'd prefer the range your current lenses provide, and supplement with a nice mirrorless for when you don't want to draw as much attention to yourself or want to go light. Any APS-C mirrorless gets my thumbs up for that with my recommendations leaning towards a Sony RX100 III or a Fujifilm.

 

I own a X100S and it's a gem! It goes around with me nearly everywhere  :)

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For your needs, the D7000 will not be the best choice. Compared to models such as even the D3300, the D7000's sensor has lower high ISO performance, and a little less dynamic range. Ignoring all other features, the sensor in the nikon D3300 is better than the sensor in the nikon D7000, and if you  are doing photography where a the auto focus of the camera will not be too much of a limiting factor, you pretty much be able to take cleaner and more detailed photos with the D3300 than with the D7000.

 

here is a quick comparison of the sensors

http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Nikon-D3300-versus-Nikon-D5200-versus-Nikon-D7000___928_850_680

 

Depending on how long a camera has been used, sometimes people will sell them if if it starting to show minor signs of an impending failure, or if they have had to repair it in the past and it is looking like they will to repair it again (e.g., some people may notice a minor issue that will likely go unnoticed for a long time beyond a return period, e.g., one of the focus points starting to drift in terms of accuracy., or a failed sensor cleaning attempt where you will see a scratch when you take a picture at f22 aperture, or simply a lot of sensor spots where a professional cleaning will cost too much in comparison to the current market value of the camera.

 

the D7000 shutter is rated for a max of 150,000 clicks before it fails, how close is the D7000 to failing?

 

The D7000 in the past was a common backup camera for many professional photographers, and usually backup cameras will take the most abuse, e.g., if a photographer has  nikon D4 and a D7000, and they are shooting a concert where fog and other random things are used as part of the show, you can bet that they will be considering swapping lenses on their D7000 before they think about pulling the lens off of their D4.

 

 

----------------------------------------------

For mirrorless, they tend to have slower autofocus, and in most cases, they have more trouble focusing at lower light levels, and while phase detect is working its way more and more into the mirrorless world, most of them are still using contrast detect auto focus which is slower and has trouble tracking subjects moving towards the camera.

 

They are also very small and limit which lenses you can use comfortably, e.g., the sony A7r is a very good camera, while it is not quite as functional as the nikon D810, the sensor quality is there. but what happens when you want to shoot with a 70-200 f2.8. The camera has almost no grip.

 

Other than that, most mirrorless cameras are micro 4/3 which have far lower high ISO performance, and as with any DSLR, even the highest end ones on the market today, anything above the lowest native ISO, causes you to lose find detail. e.g., taking a nikon D4s from ISO 100, to 200, will cause a drop in detail. With modern and larger sensor camera, the dropoff is much less and thus you can make it to much higher ISO's before too much fine detail is lost.

 

Sites like DXO mark list the max ISO that you can realistically get before losing too much fine detail. (while some cameras may look okay above those ISO's, what is tested there is what is actual detail, and what is simply noise. (when not pixel peeping, some sensor noise and grain can give the illusion of find detail

 

for example, this image was taken with a nikon D4 at ISO 4000, some noise reduction was done to the bokeh and out of focus areas, but only a slight amount (mainly focusing on color noise) was done to the person in the photo. That is because with out that noise, there would be no texture at all on the skin. The camera at that ISO lost all fine detail and the grain is the only thing giving the illusion of fine detail. (image taken by Jaren Polin, he uploaded the raw file as part of a raw edit challenge for the forums) https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8534/8650367635_2dc482cf7a_o.jpg

 

With smaller sensors, you reach the point of losing fine detail much sooner (many micro 4/3 sensors reach this point ad around 800 ISO)

Regarding to your answer about mirrorless cameras. I agree that FourThirds sensors are not that good in low light, but I was talking about APS-C sensored cameras such as the a6000 from Sony. I heard it takes very good pictures with low noise (partly because i think it has the same sensor as in the D3300, not sure though) and fine detail. Plus, it focuses very quickly for a mirrorless (maybe not as fast as a D4s or a 1Dx). All that in a very small package and an EVF which i also like. Trouble is, that Sony lenses are quite expensive, for example the 50mm 1.8 from Sony costs about 230€ here whereas nikon sells a 50mm for 170€ and Canon for 90€.

 

Other than that, I think mirrorless is part of the future of photography.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wM_5nROeaw

This is a quite interesting video regarding this topic.Some of his facts may be not true but i think he has a point.

I love the mirrorless man  :D but you'll miss out on focal length range if you swap over to the RX100 III or LX100. Personally I'd prefer the range your current lenses provide, and supplement with a nice mirrorless for when you don't want to draw as much attention to yourself or want to go light. Any APS-C mirrorless gets my thumbs up for that with my recommendations leaning towards a Sony RX100 III or a Fujifilm.

 

I own a X100S and it's a gem! It goes around with me nearly everywhere  :)

 

I totally agree on your opinion of the compact cameras, but I was just blown away by the image quality of the RX100 which comes VERY close to a DSLR.

Also, i think 24-70 isnt the perfect choice for everyone but it does its job. And where can you find a 24-70 1.8-2.8 with image stabilization in the DSLR market? :D

 

Interesting choice on your camera though. What do you think about the user interface on that? Because I think it isnt that good in comparison to Sony, Canon and Nikon cameras. Many parts of the menus are quite confusing.

 

Also, what are your thoughts on full-frame mirrorless cameras, such as the Sony A7(R/s)?

My PC: Intel Core i3-3220 | Alpenföhn Civetta | XFX HD 7770 1GB | ASRock B75-Pro3-M | Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB | beQuiet PurePower L8 430W | Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB | Kingston V200+ 60GB | NZXT Vulcan | Soundblaster Play Replaced by Notebook + eGPU

My Notebook:   Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch, Late 2013; Core i5 4258U @2.4-2.9 Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256GB PCIe SSD, Iris Graphics 5100 + GTX 960 eGPU

My Phone: OnePlus One with CM12      Camera: Nikon D3200 + 50mm f/1.8G + Kit lenses

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Interesting choice on your camera though. What do you think about the user interface on that? Because I think it isnt that good in comparison to Sony, Canon and Nikon cameras. Many parts of the menus are quite confusing.

 

Also, what are your thoughts on full-frame mirrorless cameras, such as the Sony A7(R/s)?

 

I think the UI on the X100S is pretty good, but all interfaces have their quirks. The only thing important to me is that the most used functions are easy to access so I don't miss shots, and in that regard I've never had a problem with the X100S.

 

I've never had a chance to use an A7 but I've only heard good things about them. One of my favourite photographers, Serge Ramelli, uses and swears by them and his portfolio reflects their capability. My only quibble with it is that much of the appeal of mirrorless is the lightweightness, which unfortunately is lost when using FF lenses (damn they can get heavy) on the A7. Hard to fault the A7 range otherwise if they compliment your style of photography (landscapes/portraits/travel/maybe street).

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Currently the sony A6000 represents the best crop sensor mirrorless camera available today in terms of image quality. The auto focus is also very good especially in terms of coverage, but where it struggles is very low light focusing, e.g, if you are in an environment where you will be using 6400 ISO+, then the auto focus will lose a significant amount of accuracy and speed (extremely hard to get 100% sharp and accurate focus if there is movement involved)., while many other entry level DSLR's will also struggle, they often do not struggle as much. The dedicated phase detect units in DSLR's are often larger and more sensitive, especially on higher end cameras such as the nikon D4.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm not sure at where you live, but where I live I can find the D7000 to around $350 CAND which is about 250€, but yes I recommend the d7000, just try to bargain it cheaper

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I'm not sure at where you live, but where I live I can find the D7000 to around $350 CAND which is about 250€, but yes I recommend the d7000, just try to bargain it cheaper

Wow that is VERY cheap. 250€ is a no brainer for me but unfortunately it costs 470€ (670 $CAD) fairly heavily used here.

My PC: Intel Core i3-3220 | Alpenföhn Civetta | XFX HD 7770 1GB | ASRock B75-Pro3-M | Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB | beQuiet PurePower L8 430W | Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB | Kingston V200+ 60GB | NZXT Vulcan | Soundblaster Play Replaced by Notebook + eGPU

My Notebook:   Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch, Late 2013; Core i5 4258U @2.4-2.9 Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256GB PCIe SSD, Iris Graphics 5100 + GTX 960 eGPU

My Phone: OnePlus One with CM12      Camera: Nikon D3200 + 50mm f/1.8G + Kit lenses

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Wow that is VERY cheap. 250€ is a no brainer for me but unfortunately it costs 470€ (670 $CAD) fairly heavily used here.

Not sure if I'm lucky: I found a 300€ Nikon D7000 body from a Finnish auction site. Could be heavily used, even though the shutter count is "only" 12 519... No other information about how much it has been abused. other than the condition being labeled as "good".

Never trust my advice. Only take any and all advice from me with a grain of salt. Just a heads up.

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here is a large eastern canadian photo retailer, they sell reliable used goods and ship internationally http://www.ebay.ca/usr/henrys.com?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

 

and here is one they are autcioning out right now http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NIKON-D7000-16-2MP-DIGITAL-SLR-CAMERA-BODY-USED-1-/291309418026?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item43d364f62a

 

right now after conversion is around 300€, but just keep looking d7000 come up quite often

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