Advice nikon camera have old slr lenses

Birchrun

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I am totally new to dslr. I have an old nikon N70 with a Sigma zoom 28-80 mm lens and a Nikkor AF 70-300 lens. I am looking for a camera that will take good action shots as well as good portraits and will be good for my trip to Africa in a couple of months. I am not very experienced but learn quickly so I am not scared off by a more advanced camera.

I bought a d3200 on a whim that came with two kit lenses--Nikon DX afs 55-200 ED VR and 18-55. Since then I was looking at the d5200 for faster action shots and then the d7000 or d7100 since they will autofocus my old lenses.

So I guess my question is what should I buy? I want something that I will be happy to use in 10 years. I like to shop with my wallet in mind but also like to take cost vs. benefit into consideration. My thoughts at this point are either go for the D5200 (close in cost to the d3200) or get a refurbished d7000 body for around the same as the D3200 with two kit lenses that I have but can return.

Are my old lenses worth using? Should they influence what I buy?

Thanks for any help!
 
10 years? I would forget the D5200 and D7000, and go for a new D7100. As for the older lenses, the 28-80 Sigma...worth on that is probably $50. You do not specify which 70-300 Nikkor you have; it could be the 70-300 G, the original, screw-driver focusing G, which is not worth migrating forward. If you want a camera to last 10 years, and you want to be happy with it at the end of that time, I think the D5200 and D7000 are both poor choices.I have shot the 55-200 VR,and do not think especially highly of it. It's an economy DX zoom. I shot one for about one week, and was disappointed by its AF performance in many situations....too slow, and tended to back-focus on odd occasions. But then, that is just one guy's opinion.
 
If you have a 10 year plan... i would go with a Full Frame camera.

If you want to save some money (and get rid of the 10 year plan idea) the D7000 is the best choice.

If you want the current best DX 'action' camera the D7100 (best AF in DX right now).
 
Why not? Cameras don't suddenly stop working when new models come out. Expecting a well taken care of camera to last at least a decade is not that strange. I do.

Maybe for a more expensive model but the 5200 and 7000 may be very out of date by then.

As stated above, maybe a full frame would be good in 2023.
 
DSLR bodies are a lot like cell phones, they go out of date pretty fast. With that said, you need to decide between full and crop frame. The d7100 is Nikon's current top of the line crop frame model and the d600 is there entry level full frame. Lenses on the other hand don't go obsolete near as quick. So, I think that I had it all to do over I'd get a d600 and the best lenses I could afford. I'd then upgrade bodies every 3 or 4 years. (Jmho)
 
Thanks for the replies. Maybe ten years is too long but I guess what I am shooting for, being the miser i am, is to buy a good enough camera that I won't need to buy another for a good long while or that would still be useful to my kids or something.

I am very new to all of this and down the road could see getting more involved in photography but at this point need a good something for documentation purposes--family shots, vacations etc.

In researching a camera I learned about full frame versus cropped but have a long way to go with understanding the benefits. It is very good food for thought. I would not be opposed to buying a full frame body. And, I agree with you greybeard,in theory, about buying good lenses to keep for the long haul and upgrading bodies as the need arises.

My trip to Africa sparked this purchase. I think I'd need a general type of lens for regular everyday stuff and a zoom for safari stuff which would also come in handy when I take pictures of my kids playing sports. I am CHEAP! So, the cheaper the better but I like quality too.

I hadn't looked into anything but the cropped frame cameras--d3200, d5200, and d7000 (thinking the d7100 may be pricy for what I need and the D7000 would be plenty, though I do like the idea of wireless transfer of photos).

I love buying used or refurbished so if that gets me into a better camera that's great. And I probably don't want to spend no more than $1000 if I can.

Off to check out the d600.

Thanks for the advice everyone!
 
Birchrun - unless photography is going to be your profession or all consuming hobby, which it is for many on this forum, a cropped sensor (DX) camera will be more than enough. True, these days cameras go out of fashion every 2-3 years, mostly because chips and digital processing are progressing rather fast ( and pure marketing of course). But the thing is: even if cameras, that are already giving us stuuning IQ, are getting better nd better, our eyesight and our abilities to see the color palettes and details and gradiens etc. are not improving at all. If anything it is getting worse with age. So if you are not get bitten by a pernanent upgrade bug (which basically mean - regularly read photo forums) you will be just fine with current camera in 10 years, methinks. But you will need a well made, wheather sealed, robust one, with a reliant shutter, and both D7000 and D7100 fit in this category. Long term it is a much better investment than 3xxx or 5xxx even though the image quality is not that different. D7100 will be easier for you to use in Africa due to its faster and more precise AF and also because you could crop more heavily during post pduction, because of higher pixel count. But D700 is not a slouch by any stretch of imagination, some professionals shoot with it and they are happy. Both are good cameras, both will be equially antiquated in 10 years time. But with care both will be still capabale of producing some stunning results and will exceed the skills and capabilities of any casual amateur.
 
There's no problem at all with holding a camera for ten years. There will be pressure on you to upgrade as new models with ever more whizzy features come out, but that's a psychological problem, not a technological one. Anything you buy now will still take excellent pictures in ten years.

With digital one DOES tend to take more pictures, so especially with the lower end models it is conceivable that you'll simply wear the thing out. I've only owned on DSLR and I haven't worn it out, but 100,000 shutter actuations is definitely doable in 10 years and it is my understanding that this is more than the entry-level models will typically survive.
 

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