Another "Should I Upgrade" Thread a.k.a. Please Just Tell Me that I'm Crazy

[colnago1331]

So I'm looking at a refurb'd D600. ~50,000 shutter count. They're asking $1,350 and won't move on price. It's currently being used as a rental and they said they'd rather keep it in the fleet than drop the price. Thoughts? Is $1,350 a good price? I couldn't find any used/refurb'd ones at Adorama, KEH or B&H.

 

[shadowlands]

I say go for it. D700 or refurbished D600. DX is cool, but when you have to shoot in low light situations, the old D700 is wonderful at ISO 6400.

 

[Mike_E]

Refurbed is cool but if it's being used as a rental I'd want at least a years guarantee on it.

I'd go with a D600 Long before a D700, The 700 is a great camera but the pixel density just isn't there for landscapes.





If you have money burning a hole in your pocket and want to do landscapes look up a Toyo-Field 45cfhttp://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/257305-REG/Toyo_View_180_106_4x5_45CF_Field_Camera.html

You can usually pick up some riteway 4x5 film holders for ~$20 apiece on ebay (if you need more than 5 -two shots apiece- you probably need to slow down)

From looking at your gear list I'd say that you would probably want to start off with a 150mm lens (35mm equiv in FF digital)- KEH.com is your source there but make sure that the shutter is included as they're not always.

So anyway you should be able to get started with all of this, film and daylight developing tanks (tubes) and developer for $1500 or so.

Go for a used camera of similar nature and knock $500 off that.

Then you can start thinking about doing things like this.. Edit: Sorry, slightly NSFW

[video=vimeo;14611268]http://vimeo.com/14611268[/video]

 

[astroNikon]

for a couple hundred more you could get a refurb'd d610 from cameta camera
Nikon D610 Digital SLR Camera Body - Factory Refurbished includes Full 1 Year Warranty

ebay also has various d600's with much lower snap counts on them
i have no relation/idea about this seller .. but they seem to be downsizing
Nikon D600 24 3 MP Digital SLR Camera Body Extra Batteries 018208254880 | eBay
of course, buyer beware on ebay ...

 

[colnago1331]

So he'll come down to $1,300. He also says it hasn't been rented since he's had it (not long). Also - he never sent in the warranty card for the refurb, so he says it comes with a 90-day Nikon warranty.

 

[greybeard]

I'm thinking you would need to go with a D800 and lenses to see a really big difference. I have a d7000 and have used a d700. The d700 is better in low light but for your application I don't think it is going to give you much if any improvement in IQ.