Should I Go Full Frame??

[sm4him]

No, no, not for good! That might be a topic for another day, though, if I ever get my insurance money. ;-)

This is just renting for a specific situation. This requires some 'splainin', so bear with me.
For those who don't already know, I do the photography for my employer, which is a public transit system. I did it with my own equipment for the past few years, then last year, I was told they were going to buy me a DSLR and give me a raise, after I did a particularly successful ad campaign for them. Well, I got the raise, but not the DSLR, not so far anyway. It will likely be nearly another year before I get it, IF I get it.

In the meantime, they've decided that it really IS a bad idea for me to use my own equipment. At some point, they're going to be either a bridge camera or a point-and-shoot, but right now, we have nothing at all to take pictures with, other than our cell phones. I know the bridge camera I want, but we can't get it right now for reasons that have nothing to do with this.

In early November, we'll be hosting the state transit association conference. BIG, BIG conference. They want me to shoot it--Opening reception in a sometimes light, sometimes dark convention center, Roadeo bus competition outdoors, vendors lunch at unknown location (but probably the convention center as well), a green screen shot with attendees at the convention center, and the closing Banquet, almost certain to be very poorly lit. Some other stuff too--but the point here is, I'll be shooting some outdoors, some indoors in decent lighting, some indoors in crappy lighting, and then the whole green screen thing.

They still don't want me to use my own gear, so we're looking at possibly renting.

But here's another problem: We *probably* won't be able to rent from one of the many online places, where I could get anything. I'm checking on that, but we tend to not be able to do that just because of city restrictions on what can and can't be purchased on a card, as well as red flags that get raised when you buy stuff like cameras. Had a lot of high-up political figures playing funny crap with our money a few years ago, and it's made things really tough on the rest of us who actually NEED something for our jobs.

We will PROBABLY have to rent from the ONE store in town that does camera/lens rentals. Okay, fine.

Except today I discovered that they no longer offer most of the Nikon DX cameras for rental; they have ONE DX camera, the rest are all FF.
I currently "drive" a D7000.

So, here's my questions/thoughts:
1. I'm concerned about the learning curve I'd have if I rented a FF, having never used one. We'll need it for 3 days; let's say my employer will let me rent it for 7 days (I don't know if they will or not, but that will be my minimum). That would give me probably about 3 full days to learn how to use the camera. Is that just a BAD. PLAN?

2. If FF is even an option--they have a D3, a D3s, a D800 and a D700? I'm guessing the D800 would be the best in terms of overall performance, considering the lowlight venues for some of the events, but would one of the others be easier for me to learn in a short period of time, yet still produce decent results?

3. If FF is a bad plan, the ONLY DX body they offer is a D300s. Would I be able to expect results as good as I'd get with my D7000 out of that body?

Obviously, the lenses will come into play too, but let's assume I'll be using pretty decently fast glass (maybe a 70-200 f/2.8 and something like a 24-70 f/2.8; wouldn't mind a fixed prime that would get me to f/1.4 or f/1.8, but I'm guessing I'll only be able to rent two lenses, at best).
I also already have speedlights, softboxes, etc, and those I think I can go ahead and use even though they are my equipment.

Thoughts?

 

[oldhippy]

Sharon my gut feeling is rent what you own a D7000 for the event. Why try to master new equipment. Go with what you know. Then you give them your best. Ed

 

[sm4him]

Sharon my gut feeling is rent what you own a D7000 for the event. Why try to master new equipment. Go with what you know. Then you give them your best. Ed

Yeah, I'd agree with that. The problem is, I don't think I'll have that option. IF we aren't able to rent from somewhere online, as I suspect, I will HAVE to pick one of the options from the local store that rents equipment, and a D7000 would simply not be one of the options.

I'm certainly going to present to my boss the fact that I believe we will get better results if I shoot with what I know--or maybe moving to a D7100 since that's not much change in terms of functionality. But if history tells me anything, we will have to pick something that the local store has.

 

[tirediron]

It really won't be all that bad. The control layout isn't too horribly dis-similar to your current [camera] body, and all of the controls you need are easily to hand (Mode, ISO, Quality). In fact, you probably won't even need to into the menu for anything. If you don't need the pop-up flash then I would rent the D3s for it's low-light performance, smaller file-size and much better buffer. The D800 is a great camera, but it only shoots usable to ISO 6400 at best. The buffer fills up very quickly and those files are HUGE, but, if you need the pop-up flash, then it's your only option. I would think a day 'to play' will be sufficient in order to get the hang of it. I would NOT rent the D3200, the FX/DX question is really a non-issue in my mind, but it's low-light performance is... well... lacking to say the least, it's AF system, especially in dim light, is the same... If you can get them to spring for the D3s & 24-70 and say a 16-35 (I'm not really convinced of the usefulness of the 70-200 for that sort of event, but you I'm just speculating) I think you will be just fine.

 

[hopdaddy]

Let your boss rent from you . Win win !

 

[Gary A.]

It all depends on your level of expertise and ability to adapt. I think you should rent a similar camera that you have (either FF or cropped) and shoot with two cameras.

 

[astroNikon]

Oh boy .. don't forget memory cards if not a d800, and if you get a d800, then ALOT more memory cards.

 

[sm4him]

It really won't be all that bad. The control layout isn't too horribly dis-similar to your current [camera] body, and all of the controls you need are easily to hand (Mode, ISO, Quality). In fact, you probably won't even need to into the menu for anything. If you don't need the pop-up flash then I would rent the D3s for it's low-light performance, smaller file-size and much better buffer. The D800 is a great camera, but it only shoots usable to ISO 6400 at best. The buffer fills up very quickly and those files are HUGE, but, if you need the pop-up flash, then it's your only option. I would think a day 'to play' will be sufficient in order to get the hang of it. I would NOT rent the D3200, the FX/DX question is really a non-issue in my mind, but it's low-light performance is... well... lacking to say the least, it's AF system, especially in dim light, is the same... If you can get them to spring for the D3s & 24-70 and say a 16-35 (I'm not really convinced of the usefulness of the 70-200 for that sort of event, but you I'm just speculating) I think you will be just fine.

Thanks, John; that's encouraging! I hadn't thought about how big those files on the D800 are, but that's an excellent point!

So the D3s would be pretty decent in the lowlight situations?

Oh, and the only reason I'm thinking the 70-200 is that with the outdoor event, the Roadeo bus competition, I'll be shooting on a pretty big "obstacle course" of sorts. Each bus operator maneuvers his/her vehicle through a bunch of different scenarios--backing up, pulling up to a curb straight, going through a very narrow lane marked off with cones, etc--because of the length of the course, I won't always be able to be that close to the bus that is currently competing.
But honestly, the 24-70 MIGHT work for that, and I could go sometime and do a few test shots at the location at 70mm to see before I commit to the lens rental. If I can get away with the 24-70 for the outdoor event, then yeah, something like the 16-35 as the second lens would be great!

 

[sm4him]

Let your boss rent from you . Win win !

It all depends on your level of expertise and ability to adapt. I think you should rent a similar camera that you have (either FF or cropped) and shoot with two cameras.

I wish, but not gonna happen, on both counts! Can't reimburse individuals (see OP about political idiots with hands in the cookie jar...) and NO WAY are they gonna let me rent two cameras. If I could use MY equipment, I'd have everything I need already, two cameras, plenty of adequate lenses. But that would be too easy.

 

[D-B-J]

On that list... I'd pick a D3s. It was and still is a beast of a camera. You can motor drive, the files aren't massive (like the D800), and it's a solid camera. While I love my D800, it's not so much an "event" camera, mostly because of the massive file size. My second choice would be the D800. Personally, the "learning curve" is minute going from a D7000 to a FF D800 or D3s. Very little layout difference, truly. The only worry is how much you'll LOVE the FF camera....

 

[BillM]

Another vote for the D3s, just make sure you get some CF cards to go with it and a card reader. Guess you could use a USB cable to transfer ? You are probably going to take a lot of shots and the size of those D800 files will be an issue unless you have a serious number of memory cards, as already mentioned, and a large amount of available hard drive space. And the 24-70 would be my first choice too.

 

[Derrel]

The D800 is a 36 MP FX, and about a 15 megapixel crop-body camera, all in one. It's also fairly small and easy to handle. I think the D3s is the better camera than the D3; it's two years newer and has notably better High-ISO performance. Still the D3, and the D700, are basically identical noise-wise.

I really think you could handle any of the cameras with one afternoon's getting used to the layout. Not sure why they will not let you use you own gear, but honestly, I would rather use my OWN, familiar gear than new, "better" rental gear.

For an all-day gig, a D3s and a 70-200 or 24-70 AF-S is pretty heavy, but I know you do birding, so, you can handle the non lightweight gear I guess now, post-car-accident, right? I dunno....the outdoor bus driving thing...you could shoot that with any camera.

 

[D-B-J]

Another vote for the D3s, just make sure you get some CF cards to go with it and a card reader. Guess you could use a USB cable to transfer ? You are probably going to take a lot of shots and the size of those D800 files will be an issue unless you have a serious number of memory cards, as already mentioned, and a large amount of available hard drive space. And the 24-70 would be my first choice too.

I shot an event recently with the D800, shot in 14-bit lossless compressed, took around 1200-1300 images, and it was about 60GB of data. I used 4 sets of 16gb cards -- extreme pro SD and extreme CF cards. It worked well, but that's like $220 in cards. Which is ALOT for just a rental.

Jake

 

[BillM]

And a 50MM 1.8, just in case it does get heavy as Derrel mentioned.

 

[tirediron]

...So the D3s would be pretty decent in the lowlight situations?

Yes, very good! Not D4s good, but better than a D800.

Oh, and the only reason I'm thinking the 70-200 is that with the outdoor event, the Roadeo bus competition, I'll be shooting on a pretty big "obstacle course" of sorts. Each bus operator maneuvers his/her vehicle through a bunch of different scenarios--backing up, pulling up to a curb straight, going through a very narrow lane marked off with cones, etc--because of the length of the course, I won't always be able to be that close to the bus that is currently competing.
But honestly, the 24-70 MIGHT work for that, and I could go sometime and do a few test shots at the location at 70mm to see before I commit to the lens rental. If I can get away with the 24-70 for the outdoor event, then yeah, something like the 16-35 as the second lens would be great!

Ahhh.... gotcha. Okay, in that case, I reservedly retract my statement vis. the 70-200; your scouting plan is a good one. If you have a 70-300, then take that, and just shoot, and after, take a note of what length(s) you were using mostly.

Good luck!!