First Dslr

[jinx703x]

I'm trying to decide between the D600/610 and D5200. I'm returning to photography from a long absence and will be photographing mostly portraits, city life and local musicians playing in bars/small clubs. I was told that for clubs/bar/low light stuff there's no point to buying a DX body as it's not going to produce decent pictures. Is that true? Obviously, if price wasn't an issue I'd run out and get a D610 tomorrow with all the lenses I need. But the reality is that, at twice the price, saving for a 610 is going to take some time (possibly as long as six months to a year).

On the flip side of the coin I really don't want to blow a bunch of money on DX gear only to have to sell it all a year or two from now if I choose to upgrade.

Does anybody here have experience shooting in low light with DX body's? Is the difference THAT big?

thanks in advance!
jinx

 

[Mr.Photo]

Here's a link to a pageant I did last year. The theater was completely dark, with just the stage lights on. I shot everything at ISO 3200 with my D7000 (a couple are with my D3100 check the EXIF data to the right of the image). which is now a few years old, and what some people would now consider antiquated. The images have only very slight noise reduction applied to them in post, but are not much different than what came out of the camera.

Picasa Web Albums - Gary Cross - Miss Vermont ...

The full frame bodies do perform noticeably better than their DX counterparts with regards to low light performance, but Nikon's DX bodies have come a long way in recent years. The D7000 was actually the start of that tremendous jump in performance for the mid level bodies, and it's replacement the D7100 is slightly better yet in many regards including low light performance.

With regard to getting a DX body and later upgrading, just make sure you purchase lenses designed for the FX full frame sensors and when you are able to make the jump to the more expensive FX bodies you'll already have all the lenses. Even if you have a couple of crop lenses, Nikon builds in a "crop mode" so that DX lenses can be used at a slightly lower resolution.

Edit: Also wanted to add, that if you decide to go with a DX body look at the D7000/D7100 over the D5300. Nikon does not equip the D5300 with a built in auto focus motor so you will be unable to use the slightly older AF type (screw drive) lenses. Another perk of the D7xxx series is that you can use the even older manual focus Ai-Ai-s series lenses with full metering capability.

The D7000 can be had used for less than $500.

 

[goodguy]

Used to own DX cameras, my last one was the D7100 which roughly has same low light performance as the D5200 has.
Considering its s crop sensor camera these cameras do very well in low light.
I sold my D7100 few month ago and moved to the new FX the D750.
There is definitely a low light improvement, its very obvious once the light starts to go down, you will get cleaner images and more detail but just like on a DX body you will need good fast glass to really use the full potential of the full frame camera.

Get the D610!