Good news causes stress - Some advice please

[MLeeK]

Why not a refurb'd D700 & 85mm 1.8G with some more lighting gear (as suggested) above? I assume you won't be making ultra gigantic prints where 24mp would really make a difference.

Thanks for the reply. KEH has some D700's that would eat up the whole $1500, but I'll look around. I might end up making some poster-sized prints of my kids. Is 12MP enoug to get nice resolution on, say, a 24x36 print? I've never had anything printed before.

Yes. Billboards were printed with 3MP cameras.

 

[dcook22]

Yeah, for what you've stated I'd say a used D90 and used push pull 80-200 would serve you best. The ONLY con to the push pull 80-200 is its a little slow to focus (though about the same speed as the tamron) but that really only matters if you're doing live sports. As an outdoor portrait lens, it's an absurdly good value at the $400-$500 range.

D90s are just as good as D7000s if you don't plan on shooting low light and need the better high ISO performance.

Then I'd spend the leftover on the tamron 60mm f/2 which is easily my favorite dx portrait lens.

Thanks FJ. I'll take another look at the D90 but I think I want a few mmroe bells and whistles with an upgrade so I'll probably look tot he D7000.

 

[dcook22]

Thanks for he great reply MLeek. I have been looking at the Tamron 70 - 200 for a long time. I always overthink things, though. GOod to know it's as sharp as some of the reviews say.

 

[dcook22]

Yes. Billboards were printed with 3MP cameras.

Well alrighty then.

 

[KmH]

My first professional grade DSLR (Nikon D1X) had 5.1 MP.