D5100 upgrade

[benhasajeep]

Alright I hear you. From what I've seen on various sites where I live the D5100 goes for around 2000-3000 Sek (swedish currency), which honestly ins't too bad.
Besides that I can probably find a d7000 pretty easily for about 3000-3500 Sek, which IMHO can be worth it from the sounds of it.

If you can sell for close to 3,000, and buy for 3,500. Then it would be worth it. The D7000 will open up loads of older but very good Nikon AF lenses that need a body focus motor.

 

[astroNikon]

The D7000 will add 2 control wheels instead of just one. A 39pt Autofocus system that was really good back then. larger batteries, an optional grip for an additional battery, better and brighter Optical Viewfinder, MuP, and more features overall. And faster overall release response.

When I bought my D7000 I bought the older AF-D lenses.
This saved me tons of money to get certain focal ranges,
such as a AF-D 80-200/2.8 @ $800 versus the AF-S 70-200/2.8 at $1,800 USD.

Just going to a body with a focus motor can save bunches of money if you don't mind the technology. Of course the more recent AF-S lenses allow focus override whereas the AF-D does not with a flick of 2 switches, which defeats the purpose if you need it quickly.

some of my past options, approx $$
50/1.8 AF-D vs 50/1.8 AF-S - save $50
80-200 vs 70-200/2.8 - saved $1,000
24-85/2.8-4.0 vs 24-70/2.8 - saved $700
18-35 vs 18-35 AF-S - saved $400

of course in some instances you loose IQ/ gain some distortion, and not as good flare control due to not using the much better modern coatings. But the AF-S lenses can get really expensive and you can get the equivalent used AF-D version for much less and then at some point move up.

Although, some of the older glass is really good too.

 

[Derrel]

5100 plusses: compact, already OWNED and PAYED-for! Can use very old, manual focusing lenses, pre-AI Nikkors, for experiments, but ONLY in all-manual modes for both shiutter and the flash! Disadvantage: no in-body focusing motor! HAS the flippy screen!

D7000, 7100,700,600,610; have in-body focus motor, which allows use of older ADF or AF-D type Nikon autofocusing mount lenses.

700,610,600 are all full-frame cameras.

Some good advice is given above. Honestly, I would PASS on the D300s unless yuo want to shoot only in good, strong, bright lighting conditions.

 

[MVPernula]

Alright I hear you. From what I've seen on various sites where I live the D5100 goes for around 2000-3000 Sek (swedish currency), which honestly ins't too bad.
Besides that I can probably find a d7000 pretty easily for about 3000-3500 Sek, which IMHO can be worth it from the sounds of it.

If you can sell for close to 3,000, and buy for 3,500. Then it would be worth it. The D7000 will open up loads of older but very good Nikon AF lenses that need a body focus motor.

The D7000 will add 2 control wheels instead of just one. A 39pt Autofocus system that was really good back then. larger batteries, an optional grip for an additional battery, better and brighter Optical Viewfinder, MuP, and more features overall. And faster overall release response.

When I bought my D7000 I bought the older AF-D lenses.
This saved me tons of money to get certain focal ranges,
such as a AF-D 80-200/2.8 @ $800 versus the AF-S 70-200/2.8 at $1,800 USD.

Just going to a body with a focus motor can save bunches of money if you don't mind the technology. Of course the more recent AF-S lenses allow focus override whereas the AF-D does not with a flick of 2 switches, which defeats the purpose if you need it quickly.

some of my past options, approx $$
50/1.8 AF-D vs 50/1.8 AF-S - save $50
80-200 vs 70-200/2.8 - saved $1,000
24-85/2.8-4.0 vs 24-70/2.8 - saved $700
18-35 vs 18-35 AF-S - saved $400

of course in some instances you loose IQ/ gain some distortion, and not as good flare control due to not using the much better modern coatings. But the AF-S lenses can get really expensive and you can get the equivalent used AF-D version for much less and then at some point move up.

Although, some of the older glass is really good too.

5100 plusses: compact, already OWNED and PAYED-for! Can use very old, manual focusing lenses, pre-AI Nikkors, for experiments, but ONLY in all-manual modes for both shiutter and the flash! Disadvantage: no in-body focusing motor! HAS the flippy screen!

D7000, 7100,700,600,610; have in-body focus motor, which allows use of older ADF or AF-D type Nikon autofocusing mount lenses.

700,610,600 are all full-frame cameras.

Some good advice is given above. Honestly, I would PASS on the D300s unless yuo want to shoot only in good, strong, bright lighting conditions.

For those interested I ended up going for the d7100, I found one with a battery grip and extra battery for 4500 Sek which honestly is pretty nice!