D80 Replacement

[TerBear]

I was taking pictures of breakfast this morning (my sister lives 10 hours away, sometimes we share food porn), everything was running smoothly and delightfully. I took a picture and the shutter sounded 'off' a little too slow for what my shutter speed was set at. The next picture, nothing. No focusing, not shutter sound, total silence. Took the lens off & put it back on, tried a different lens, removed the lens completely - totally dead. I'm planning on sending it in to a Nikon service center to try to get it fixed, but I'm also a realist. It's an older camera with over 131,000 shutter clicks on it and it seems to be showing it's age. I bought it last year from a photographer friend who was moving from Nikon to Cannon. She used the camera for my wedding, so my husband is determined to get it fixed because he is sentimental like that. I'm all like "Woohoo, new camera for me!"

What would you replace a D80 with? I shoot 100% for me, no plans of going pro anytime in the near future. I mainly take pictures of my dog, my nieces & nephew when I see them, my flower garden, and the occasional delicious looking meal. My lens light up is listed in my signature. I would like something with better low light capabilities and a built in autofocus. Mainly I'm eyeing the d7000 & d7100. I know that they will be a big improvement over the D80 simply because of the technology advancements between when my camera came out and when those two came out. Is the 7100 worth the major price jump over a used 7000? What about the 5300? I haven't looked at that one a lot, but my sister has the 5100 and seems to like it a lot.




If you're going to go out with a bang, you might as well capture delicious food while you're at it.

20140913-DSC_0443 by terristahl, on Flickr

 

[Solarflare]

Whoa > 100,000 pictures ? I hope you didnt pay much for that one !

Well the direct successor list is: D80 - D90 - D7000 - D7100. I would recomment the D7000 from that line specifically, if price is an issue. The D7100 was more of a small-ish upgrade, really. If you can get a good deal on a D90 that might also be a good deal.

There might be even a D7200 at photokina in the next days, who knows ? Its Photokina, maybe they have another announcement after the D750. A D7200 will most likely get WiFi, which IMHO is actually a pretty useful thing to have (even if I dont have it yet myself, but I have seen example of people doing pretty awesome things with it, such as holding their camera far over their head with a monopod and then snapping the picture through WiFi with an iPad or iPhone, doing the framing and the shutter release over WiFi. Awesome!).

Ah, but I disgress.

But yeah, the more you progress in that line, the more expensive it gets, of course. Then again, I would recomment against getting cameras from other lines - you are used to the luxurious controls of a semipro camera now, you might not like the controls of entry level cameras that much. Those require a LOT more menu surfing.

And basically the improvements of each generation have been smaller, while the price changes will be increasingly bigger. I havent checked but the price difference between D7000 and D90s will probably be pretty small by now, which is why the D7000 is the sweeter deal. Just make sure you either dont get that many pictures taken or at least a really good price.

 

[TerBear]

Whoa > 100,000 pictures ? I hope you didnt pay much for that one !

Well the direct successor list is: D80 - D90 - D7000 - D7100. I would recomment the D7000 from that line specifically, if price is an issue. The D7100 was more of a small-ish upgrade, really. If you can get a good deal on a D90 that might also be a good deal.

There might be even a D7200 at photokina in the next days, who knows ? Its Photokina, maybe they have another announcement after the D750. A D7200 will most likely get WiFi, which IMHO is actually a pretty useful thing to have (even if I dont have it yet myself, but I have seen example of people doing pretty awesome things with it, such as holding their camera far over their head with a monopod and then snapping the picture through WiFi with an iPad or iPhone, doing the framing and the shutter release over WiFi. Awesome!).

But yeah, the more you progress in that line, the more expensive it gets, of course. Then again, I would recomment against getting cameras from other lines - you are used to the luxurious controls of a semipro camera now, you might not like the controls of entry level cameras that much. Those require a LOT more menu surfing.

Ah, but I disgress.

Basically the improvements of each generation have been smaller, while the price changes will be increasingly bigger. I havent checked but the price difference between D7000 and D90s will probably be pretty small by now, which is why the D7000 is the sweeter deal. Just make sure you either dont get that many pictures taken or at least a really good price.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I didn't pay all that much for it and I know I've put a lot of pictures on it in the last year since I was playing around with the settings and learning to use manual mode, etc. It was my first dSLR and a great one to learn on. I definitely don't regret getting the camera, or the amount of money I spent on it. It has been a great learning experience and I feel that I've captured a lot of good pictures with it. It sounds like I really need to start researching the d7000 & d7100. I have seen my sister sort through her menus to change the ISO and that is just not something I want to screw around with.

 

[KmH]

Since the D80 was doing the job until the shutter failed I would look for a well cared for, low shutter count, used D300 or D300s ( the D300s if you want to shoot video).

 

[goodguy]

First Terri I must warn you you will get a lot of good advice but some of them will be exact the oposite of each other.
Read all comments and then you should decide what is good for you and what works for you.

D7000 vs D7100

Get the D7100 without thinking!!!

I had the D7000 and now own the D7100, some stuff these cameras are equal and some the D7100 has the advantage.

Dymanic range and low light performance they are very close to a point that its pretty negligble.
The D7100 has much more resolution, 24mp vs 16mp is a big jump, when I had the D7000 I thought 16mp is already an overkill but once I got the 24mp I saw what a HUGE difference it makes, it really is a big advantage, I crop many of my pics and I need to crop a lot more to loose quality on the D7100 compared to the D7000
Also with the right glass you can see the D7100 is sharper, its not a huge improvement but its there, the lack of AA filter on D7100 sensor does makes a small difference and when talking about such 2 capable cameras improvements dont come in leaps and bounces.
One more improvement is the AF system the one on the D7000 is the 39 AF points while the D7100 has the 51 AF points, its a big improvement, its not that the one on the D7000 is bad, not at all but the D7100 is better.
Think about it this way, you are probably going to love and own the next camera you will buy for a long time so why buy a camera from yesterday, buy the more modern one and you will fall in love with it just as I am totally is in love with mine.
I know you will not be sorry you paid the extra cash and got the D7100

 

[Solarflare]

Err ...


I find the notion that 24 instead of 16 Megapixels is a "big issue" extremely hilarious.

Frankly, 12 Megapixel is enough to print on house walls. Because people usually dont check the details of the picture - they view the picture as a whole. And for that, 12 Megapixels is plenty.

My old D5100 has 16 Megapixels, too, and I frankly I dont care about the difference; I would have gotten the D600 with a 16 Megapixel sensor and frankly I would get the D750 if it had a 12 Megapixel sensor. You'll have to print at the very limits of either resolution to make this matter. So all you get is a bit more headspace for cropping, and I only crop maximum (i.e. change the aspect ratio).



Also, I never said the D7100 wasnt better than the D7000 ... just that the D7000 is a bigger step from the D90 than the D7100 is from the D90, and the D90 is a bigger step from the D80 than the D7000 is from the D90.

They obviously ran out of real issues to fix, thus they gave the D7100 the better sensor (24 instead of 16 Megapixels, and slightly better performance overall), the better AF system, the better metering, and some rather silly features like the crop mode.

So yeah, if money is no issue - sure, get the D7100. In fact, wait for Photokina next week and get the D7200 or the D9300, if they release either camera (The 9300 is the rumored name for the successor to the D300s. The D300s was the "pro level DX" camera, i.e. a bit better than the D80, back in the day. However, Nikon hasnt upgraded the D300s for over half a decade now, which means its hilariously outdated now. Same did Canon with their 7D, the equivalent camera. However, Canon finally has now released the 7D2, so hopefully Nikon will finally release their D600s successor as well).



Oh, and one more thing. Yes, the images from my D600 are better than the images from my D7100. But thats because I get the better glas on the D600. I also have more shallow depth of field, thus I have more fails on my D600 - pictures that are out of focus. I hope the D750 with the better AF system and the OK button that zooms into the 100% vie of the focus point will help with that in future.

Changing to a camera like the D750 by the way means you have to get new glas, since this is a 36x24mm "full frame" camera, Nikon calls this "FX", not a 24x16mm "half format" / "APS-C" camera like the D80 / D90 / D7000 / D7100, Nikon calls this "DX" - your DX glas simply wont have enough image circle to fully illuminate the FX sensor.



Oh, and yes, I forgot about the D300(s). That would also be an option. As I already mentioned, thats the "pro" grade DX camera from Nikon, while the D80 is only considered "semi-pro". It will have even a bit more direct access buttons and more rugged built than the D80/D90/D7000/D7100 line.

 

[Coasty]

It’s funny, I have made 20x30 prints from both the D200 (10mp) and D300 (12mp) without issue, something that would not have been recommended with a “full frame” 35mm film negative. If you wanted larger than 8x10 with good results from film, you needed medium format 2¼x2¼ or large format 4x5. Today’s 16mp, 24mp, and 36mp will produce prints large enough for anybody.

In my opinion, the D300/D300s in used condition with low shutter count will have the most bang for the buck (your old D80 batteries will work in it too). My next choice, value wise, would be the D7000.

 

[acparsons]

It’s funny, I have made 20x30 prints from both the D200 (10mp) and D300 (12mp) without issue, something that would not have been recommended with a “full frame” 35mm film negative. If you wanted larger than 8x10 with good results from film, you needed medium format 2¼x2¼ or large format 4x5. Today’s 16mp, 24mp, and 36mp will produce prints large enough for anybody.

In my opinion, the D300/D300s in used condition with low shutter count will have the most bang for the buck (your old D80 batteries will work in it too). My next choice, value wise, would be the D7000.

I upgraded from the D80 to the D300, loved the jump. One issue is that SD cards are a lot cheaper(and easier to find here) than the D300's CF cards. You can get a used D300 for about 450.

 

[TerBear]

thanks everyone for your input. I haven't ever looked at the D300 but definitely plan to do it now. The new camera will probably be an early Christmas gift to myself, so I still have some time to look into exactly what I want, even if it means going without a camera for a few weeks/months.

 

[jaomul]

All the recommendations from above are fine cameras, all should improve on your d80 which you seemed happy with. D90 very similar with video and slightly better image quality and resolution, d300/300s is bigger with more pro spec features, same 12mp as the d90.
D7000/d7100 newer gen sensor with higher res and iq, similar (but not exact)body to d80/90

 

[TerBear]

Just to update you all, my family & my in-laws got together to get me a D7000 for an early Christmas present. I had a great time using it over Thanksgiving when we were with the family for the week. Now I just need my job & the weather to cooperate so that I can see the sun again. I've forgotten what daylight looks like.

 

[cgw]

The D7000 was recently discontinued. The price should be drifting lower over the next few months, making it a huge bargain for the money relative to the D7100. Tiring of arguments made here and elsewhere that there's a 50% increase in resolution with the D7100. These miss the fact that the actual increase is from 4928 to 6000 pixels on the long side. That's looking like a bit more than a 20% that many reviewers couldn't always see. Have fun.

 

[goodguy]

The D7000 was recently discontinued. The price should be drifting lower over the next few months, making it a huge bargain for the money relative to the D7100. Tiring of arguments made here and elsewhere that there's a 50% increase in resolution with the D7100. These miss the fact that the actual increase is from 4928 to 6000 pixels on the long side. That's looking like a bit more than a 20% that many reviewers couldn't always see. Have fun.

Over year ago isn't recently.
D7100 more then just a better sensor on the D7000, but no doubt the D7000 is still a capable camera.
Personally I wouldnt get the D7000 over the D7100 but to each his/her own.

 

[greybeard]

I have a D7000 and I love it. From the sounds of things, you like to get the best and use it until it wears out. Get a (0) shutter count D7000 or D7100 and keep on doing what you do.

 

[cgw]

The D7000 was recently discontinued. The price should be drifting lower over the next few months, making it a huge bargain for the money relative to the D7100. Tiring of arguments made here and elsewhere that there's a 50% increase in resolution with the D7100. These miss the fact that the actual increase is from 4928 to 6000 pixels on the long side. That's looking like a bit more than a 20% that many reviewers couldn't always see. Have fun.

Over year ago isn't recently.
D7100 more then just a better sensor on the D7000, but no doubt the D7000 is still a capable camera.
Personally I wouldnt get the D7000 over the D7100 but to each his/her own.

Show me a date. Looks like it made the "Sayonara" list same time as the D800/800E sometime this year. Nikon.ca still lists both. The 16mp Sony Exmor sensor seems to hit a sweet spot for many. The D7100 isn't that much "more" than the D7000 given current price spreads. D7000 prices are heading to C$700 in TO, maybe lower over the New Year, while D7100s are sticking close to a grand. That's a bargain.