Need some advice on new camera please cc and advice

[CarlosF]

Hi guys I need some advice please I currently shoot a Nikon d7200 with the following lenses, nikon 1.8g tamron 35 1.8vc and 24-70vc and sigma 150-600... I am looking at purchasing a new camera the money at the moment is between the d500 and the d750.. now here's my question would these images have been much more different or better if they where shot with a fullframe camera or is the difference not worth it? I do also shoot a lot of wildlife but animals don't pay and have recently had a few payed gigs so I really can't decide if it's worth it upgrading to FF(will it really improve my shots) or sticking with dx and having a little beat of everything.. currently shooting wildlife,birds,weddings,events,couples and other people related stuff.. thanks please please do comment as when I wake up I have to make this decision as there are some Black Friday specials coming up.. thanks Carlos

 

[astroNikon]

Do you have issues with any indoor events/weddings with too low a light and too high an ISO to compensate thus affecting image quality? This is where a FF will help a lot, but about 2 stops faster depending up which DX vs FX.

 

[Derrel]

From the comments and tests I'e seen from real 'experts', the Nikon D500 is now the best APS-C camera ever built; the autofocusing system is now Generation FIVE...for birds in flight, football, action sports, etc.., the Nikon D500 is considered third best overall, behind the Canon 1DX Mark II, and the Nikon D5. In tests, the D500 scores ahead of the Canon 7D Mark II, Nikon D7200, and all other APS-C cameras across 100-shot strings, the D500 can hit focus far better than all earlier, or current cameras, except the Canon 1DX MkII or the Nikon D5. In terms of the way the D500 was designed and built, the body layout and controls, and the articulated screen, the buffer depth, the write-speed, the AF system.metering, light flicjer control for indoor sports, everything...the D500 is the best $1999 camera ever made. Period. For 'action work', most camera reviewers are calling the D500 the best value ever offered. Nikon has been making mass-market D-SLR cameras since late 1998. There is a real reason the Fifth Generation means something very significant. Read the reviewers who have tested the D500 (Tony Northrup, Thom Hogan, FroKnowsPhoto, The Angry Photographer,Matt Granger, etc.).

I understand what you mean about the D750: it is and always was built on a consumer-type chassis and viewfinder system; when it was introduced, it was VERY well-reviewed. it has a fine, fine sensor in it, but I know what you mean--it is a "consumer body" camera. I am used to the D1,D1h,D2x,and D3x flagship Nikons, but have also owned or used D70,D40, Fuji S1,S2,S5 body d-slrs,and Canon 5D and 20D; the D500 is a modern PRO-body type camera...witness the rounded eyepiece...the speed, etc.. The D750 is a "consumer body" with a nice feature set, and a good, full-frame sized sensor in it.

I looked at your photos. I think any modern Nikon camera would be fine for those types of portraiture and wedding shots. D5500,D610,D810, D750,D500, D800, D4,D4s, D3x, any of those cameras could do a great job on those types of shots. BUT--the D500 has become one of the world's best three cameras for action autofocus and SPEED shooting. And, the D500 offers extremely good ISO performance; it has become better than early-generation FX cameras at higher ISO levels.

Look for whatever Black Friday deal you think is the best for you!

 

[The_Traveler]

Shoot children at eye level if possible not down.
When there is a bright sky the cheeks and foreheads will be blanched.
Lots of space at the top and clipping off legs looks like a framing error.

shooting at 1.8 at base iso means less dof and sharpness

This one is badly framed and just plain OOF

And the settings you chose just make no sense to me.

shooting almost wide open at a high iso and very fast shutter speed for a stationary subject in the bright sun?
those settings make no sense to me.

 

[Derrel]

Yes. STOP shooting wide-open, immediately. The Tamron 24-70mm at f/2.8 at ISO 1,250 shot does not appear to me to be mis-focused: it's just "soft" when shot wide-open. Most wide-to-short tele zooms are nowhere near as good at f/2.8 as they are at f/5.6.

The 50mm lens, shot wide-open at f/1.8...the upper backdrop has distracting bokeh. Unpleasant to look at.

Not sure who taught you how to approach people photography, but shooting wide-open is a recipe for disaster in so,so many situations. Your zoom lens is NOT very good when shot wide-open. The 50mm prime is nowhere near as good at f/1.8 as it is at f/3.2 to f/5.6 (I know, I've owned a 50/1.8 G series for four years now.) Most older, more-experienced shooters will tell you that shooting wide-open is typically a recipe for disaster on portraiture. Can it work? Sure. But in many portraiture situations, all it does is render a LOT of things out of focus, and when the person or their clothes, come up out of focus, the overall effect is often unsatisfactory. There can easily be times when you shoot a set wide-open, and many shots are utter throw-away grade.

You are killing image quality with these odd combos of wide-open f/stop and high ISO values. As The_Traveler stated, these settings make no sense. You're following the modern YouTube trend of shooting wide-open for "bokeh", at tremendous cost to image quality on the people. I'd suggest using f/4.5 if you want shallow DOF with the zoom, and f/3.2 or f/3.5 with the 50mm for shallow DOF on single-person shots.

 

[DarkShadow]

I wouldn't even have to thing twice about this, a D750 or a D500 the baby brother to the D5 under two grand and with some specials going on. let me help you spend your money, get the D500

 

[CarlosF]

Thanks for the replays guys,

Derrel and traveler thanks for the super descriptions and checking out my pics, that what I need people telling me this is crap improve this change that... that's why I'm always asking for CC there's no such thing as negative CC as it all helps and I really appreciate it...

Yeah the shooting wide open thing is something I'm moving away from as I helped someone out which shoots all her wedding at 1.4 and that's it.. those crazy setting where back in June I think and have since then improved quite a bit I would think especially in my wildlife side of settings and also starting to change my people settings up.. so I guess I should tick those 1.4s off my list lol as I'd probably only be wide open..

Dark shadow I know I also really want the d500 I'm not really a wife shooter rather just step back a little if need be just love all the functions of the d500 and hopefully it's the right choice otherwise I'll look at getting rid of the d7200 at some stage in the future and replace that with some sort of full frame body

Thanks for being honest that I really do appreciate, I will start adding more pics up for CC

And hope I will be able to get similar results with the d500 than I would have been able to with the d750

 

[Granddad]

An interesting thread - I'm considering upgrading my D700 (relegating it to reserve). I'll check out the D500.

 

[KmH]

In stead of a different camera I recommend investing in lighting, light modifiers, and gaining the knowledge on how to use supplemental lighting if your goal is to consistently make high quality portrait photos.

Direction & Quality of Light: Your Key to Better Portrait Photography Anywhere

 

[astroNikon]

I've been checking out the D500 now for a while. I absolutely love the sport/action portion of it. When it first came out I added a D750 but fiddled with the D500. I've read the manual and have been taking trips to BestBuy and fiddling with it time and time again. And I love all the features of it from the lighted buttons, the button layout, fps, tracking etc.

One button feature I've become accustomed too (Canon has it too) is the ISO button by the release button. I use it all the time on my D750 now. On a long, heavy lens I cannot bring my left hand back to press the ISO button as the lens is too heavy to hold up, and I have to bring it back up and recalibrate the shot. The D7200, D750, D4/S let you reprogram the record button to ISO. The D500 just makes it standard.

The inbody focus motor pushed one of my AF-D lenses really fast. My D750 is faster than the D600 for inbody focus motor, but the D500 was even faster, more powerful focus motor - for those of us who use them.

The tracking, and tracking interference delay is awesome for sports or even if you like to do action horse shots. I really need the flippy screen for other things too. For video 4K I would like to test that and see how well one can extract a single image and how high quality it is though it requires the newer XD card for recording.

I've been contemplating one now for .. well, months. It's just the price is high and I just bought the D750 a few months ago.

The best deal right now is from B&H Photo $1796 for D500, grip, 64gb Extreme Pro and a backpack case or something like that, which Offer ends: Nov 26 '16 at 11:59 PM EST
Nikon D500 DSLR Camera (D500 Body) 1559 B&H Photo

If you have the cash you wouldn't regret owning one.
the one thing I keep forgetting when going to the store is the pop a SD card in the D750 and test ISO and compare to my test ISO shots with the D500.

btw if you use any of the Scene, Effects, AUTO on the D7200 keep in mind the D500 only has PASM modes.

 

[PropilotBW]

I don't think you will see a difference in your photo results from your D7200. The 7200 is still a really nice camera! Keep shooting what you have. If you're interested in improving photography to generate income, I would say spend the money on a photography class.