Next upgrade from Nikon D3000

EvanK · May 12, 2016

Been shooting with a Stock lens kit D3000. have an offer on a NikonD7100 is this a good choice to move up. Shooting kids soccer, family vacations and just for fun. Background is years ago in HS, was pretty decent amateur then and now. Using the D3000 has been fine, but feel like i miss some action shots and others cant process in lower light etc. Guess i feel the D3000 was purely for beginners, those wanting out of the point an shoot hand held cheapo's. the offer was $600 for camera, 70-210zoon, 2 sd cards and 1 wireless, 3 batteries and 2 chargers, strap, tripod, bag, etc.

goodguy · May 12, 2016

The D7100 is a good upgrade, much better AF system and better low light performance.
Body also will be a nice upgrade, the D7100 is loaded with options compared to the very basic D3000
600$ isnt an amazing price for the D7100 but its not outrages either.
The 70-210 is not mistaking is a push/pull old lens, worth maybe 50$-80$, not a bad lens.
Overall if the D7100 has low click numbers with all the stuff you getting with it then I would say its a reasonable deal but again be sure it hasn't been working too hard.
You will love the D7100, great camera, owned it for almost 2 years and was very pleased with it.

Good luck

robbins.photo · May 12, 2016

Not a bad price on a D7100. It is a very worthy upgrade, I think you'll find that the addition of the second command dial is worth it's weight in gold.

I shot the D7100 for quite a while, it's a great camera.

Wildcats160 · May 12, 2016

I jumped from a D40 to a D7100 two months ago. I can't believe I didn't upgrade sooner. Like robbins said, the second command dial alone is worth it. Factor in the better AF system, faster shooting, etc. I think you'll be very happy. I waited and found a good deal. I paid $535 for the body (16k clicks), two batteries, charger, USB cables, wireless and wired remote shutter release, and a few other extras I can't think of.

jaomul · May 12, 2016

If you are using the original d3000 stock lens you are not using a lens that will get the best from your d3000, especially if you are shooting fast moving stuff etc. Kit lenses are generally good image quality, but slow in aperture and focus.

Back to original question, d7100 is great, but good fast cards for it as the buffer isn't huge

EvanK · May 12, 2016

Thank you for all the opinions and advice. Probably could have spent the same amount of $ on a better lens or two i am guessing. I do a lot of cropping in on the soccer pics and have found them to be grainy an i chalk that up to having to go higher in ISO for the shutter speeds in daylight.

dannylightning · May 13, 2016

that is about what you would expect to pay for a used D7100, those old 70-210mm lenses usually go for around 60-200 bucks for a nice one.. depending on what version of the lens it is.. i think there are 3 versions.. plus you get extra batterys, cards and some other stuff. not a bad deal.. those old lenses often take really nice photos. newere lenses usually have focus motors and image stabilization and what not.. but optically allot of the old lenses are just as good as the new ones. they just do not have the bells and whistles. and having a body with a built in focus motor means you can use those older lenses with out needing to manual focus..

the 7100 will be a nice upgrade from what you have now.. i went from a d60 to a d5300 to a d7200 and each one was a very nice upgrade from the next.. the 7100 will probably keep you quite happy for a long time..