Wanting some opinions on a Nikon DSLR.

[cnutco]

Get a D90. The D5100 lacks an internal focus motor so you'll have a wider range of lenses with the D90. Not sure how video compares between the 2 but an IFM alone would make me want the D90 over the D5100.

Just my $0.02.

+1

Love my D90!

 

[djacobox372]

Unless you have a pretty hefty lens budget, most of those "wider range of lenses" amej8 is referrring to are not inexpensive. The fact is, most of the lenses likely to be in your price range all have a focus motor in them so the D5100 doesn't need a focus motor in it.

Granted there are some lenses, like the Nikon AF 80-200 mm f/2.8 (won't auto focus on a D5100) that costs half what the AF-S 70-200 mm f/.8 VR II (will auto focus on a D5100) costs. But the AF 80-200 mm f/2.8 is still a $1200 lens ( the AF-S 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII is $2400). But here the difference in cost is about way more than just the auto focus motor.

In fact the D5100 image sensor and video pretty much beat snot out of the D90.

This is a load of malarkey...

The 35-70 2.8 can be had around $300 vs the alternative around $2000. The 80-200 2.8 can be had around $600 vs the alternative around $2400 . The 50mm 1.8 can be had around $90 vs the alternative at $220. Throw in the ability to fire off camera flashes remotely while retaining TTL, and the money really starts to add up.

Then add dual control wheels, exterior controls, fp sync, etc, etc, etc and the D90 pretty much beats the snot out of the D5100.

I'd suggest a tamron 17-50mm 2.8 or 28-75mm f2.8 instead of the 35-70mm nikon which has a horrible tendency to get condensation in the lens and haze up. I've owned all three, and the older nikon was the worst performer (even without the haze problem).

As for the 80-200mm, the AF-D version is around $500, and you can get an AFS version for around $900.

The big savings with AF lenses is with short primes, which don't really benefit from AF-S.

All that said, the D5100 has noticeably better IQ then the D90, and much better video.

 

[wolfdale13]

i think you must save more money for D90, or buy the 2nd of D90. Why? because it's completely nice camera in the class and have motor on body, so you no need to spend more money to but AF-S lens, just AF is enough