Looking to get new gear/2nd body....

[Xander]

I am looking to upgrade and get more into portraits & weddings (small scale). I currently have D90, SB-600, 17-50 (f2.8), Kit lens (18-105mm & 70-300mm).

My budget is around $2500. Requirements: Nikon body, lens, flash

I was thinkin...
D7000
Battery Grip
2nd Battery (L-ion)
SB-700
Lightsphere
Sigma 18-200mm (f3.5-5.6)? Or another lense?

all for $2225


What would you do/change?

Thanks,
X

 

[Blairg]

Give me your D90

 

[Robin Usagani]

If you race a car, you want a fast light car. You dont care about leather seat, DVD player, blue tooth.. etc....

Get a D700 + lens.

Lightsphere? No way
Battery grip.. yeah it is nice.. does it make your photo better? I like my camera light
Sigma 18-200mm? When a lens can have 10X zoom, more than likely the IQ will not be very good.
2nd battery? Just buy generic brand from amazon.com cheap.

 

[jaomul]

From my limited use of Nikon, I love the d700 but its full frame so 2 of your lenses will only work in crop mode. The d7000 is nice but I recommend you ditch any idea of an 18-200 lens, its to slow for wedding work. I would keep the tamron and sell tour 18-105 and purchase something fast with a longer focal length. I have a Tokina 50-135mm f2.8 and it is a fab lens as an example, there are many others

 

[Xander]

If you race a car, you want a fast light car. You dont care about leather seat, DVD player, blue tooth.. etc....

Get a D700 + lens.

Lightsphere? No way
Battery grip.. yeah it is nice.. does it make your photo better? I like my camera light
Sigma 18-200mm? When a lens can have 10X zoom, more than likely the IQ will not be very good.
2nd battery? Just buy generic brand from amazon.com cheap.

Since we are new to this, the intentions were to get the D7000, then down the road ditch the D90 and go full frame. Currently, our budget is around $2500. If we got a D700+lens, a flash would be necessary for wedding receptions or even just portraits, no?

From my limited use of Nikon, I love the d700 but its full frame so 2 of your lenses will only work in crop mode. The d7000 is nice but I recommend you ditch any idea of an 18-200 lens, its to slow for wedding work. I would keep the tamron and sell tour 18-105 and purchase something fast with a longer focal length. I have a Tokina 50-135mm f2.8 and it is a fab lens as an example, there are many others

I like the tamron 70-200mm f2.8, but there is not VR to it. I was thinking about going with the 85mm f1.8 and having the sigma 17-50 f2.8von the other body. I'm just not sure if I will have enough reach for weddings. Portraits, the 85mm (and will be picking up a 50mm f1.8) would be fine. But just not sure about the reach with those lenses.


Remember, this is for small scale weddings. We are just getting on our feet for this....

 

[jaomul]

VR wont make that much difference here. You will want fast shutter speeds to stop people movement. VR is for camera shake so may not do the job you want as well as you want. The 85mm is nice but as for reach, i did a christening shoot in a church recently and found myself wanting more than the 135 on a 7d, which is equiv to about 200mm fov on a full frame. Now this is definetely down to my lack of ability but I would imagine unless your very talented the 85mm will limit you.

 

[Mach0]

Keep your current gear. With that money, I would grab a used d700, sb800/900, and a 85 1.8. That would give you two bodies, two flashes, one wide lens, one long lens for portraits.