What would you do? Opinions Please

[Vautrin]

In case you're wondering, the trick for buying a used Nikon is this.

Go into the store and ask to see the camera. Bring a compact flash or SD card with you.

Look at the serial number on the bottom. A quick googling and you can nail down the year the camera was probably made.

Take a few shots in the store with your SD card or flash card, to "test" the camera.

The EXIF data for the file will have the number of shutter actuations.

So besides seeing if the camera looks nice, you can quickly see how often it was used.

Chances are if it looks brand new and hasn't been fired too much you're looking at a "new enough" camera

 

[jhodges10]

In case you're wondering, the trick for buying a used Nikon is this.

Go into the store and ask to see the camera. Bring a compact flash or SD card with you.

Look at the serial number on the bottom. A quick googling and you can nail down the year the camera was probably made.

Take a few shots in the store with your SD card or flash card, to "test" the camera.

The EXIF data for the file will have the number of shutter actuations.

So besides seeing if the camera looks nice, you can quickly see how often it was used.

Chances are if it looks brand new and hasn't been fired too much you're looking at a "new enough" camera

Genius, genius, genius! I may be the only person on earth not to have thought of this but I still appreciate the tip.

 

[Vautrin]

In case you're wondering, the trick for buying a used Nikon is this.

Go into the store and ask to see the camera. Bring a compact flash or SD card with you.

Look at the serial number on the bottom. A quick googling and you can nail down the year the camera was probably made.

Take a few shots in the store with your SD card or flash card, to "test" the camera.

The EXIF data for the file will have the number of shutter actuations.

So besides seeing if the camera looks nice, you can quickly see how often it was used.

Chances are if it looks brand new and hasn't been fired too much you're looking at a "new enough" camera

Genius, genius, genius! I may be the only person on earth not to have thought of this but I still appreciate the tip.

haha....I just really wanted a D700 but was poor and really needed to save the money...necessity is the mother of invention...

the best part is if you go to the right store you can actually "test" one of their computers to look up the EXIF data before you buy it

 

[CheezyCheeto]

You know making great photographs doesnt require gear.... if you blow the 4 grand what will you shoot?

Might be fun to consider, depending on interest

Hiring models and getting some lights to do a fashion shoot
A photography workshop. In europe weve got plenty of ads to pay a few hundred dollars and get a pro photog to go along with you at a picturesque location. You can improve your skills and get some awesome photos
Trip somewhere photographically interesting

yes I realise that I don't have to update to achieve great results, but I think that buying the d700 will increase my creative options a little more, I didn't lash out and buy the d800 or 600 I just needed more options and took on board the thoughts expressed within the thread, and the information posted here and elsewhere, it left me with a lil more money to get some more decent glass.... for the trip around the east coast of victoria i will be taking this summer.

Well if you dont mind some more advice i actually own a d700 and can say this:

d700 + glass will probably run you 3-4k. the issue you will have with price is your old glass wont work (except in dx format), but if youre going to shoot dx why not keep the d90?
and im not talking a lot of glass here. I have a sigma 50mm f1.4 and a sigma 24-70mm f2.8. total cost : $3k and change
you might get something of a deal on the d700 body, but the used fx lenses will be harder to come by and retain their value so price wont be discouted that much
do buy the d700 used if you can. just do your homework. myd700 was 500 - 750 off the new price and it had a mere 3000 shutter actuations, an was under a year old. i recommend bhphotovideo

the d700 does not necessarily take better pictures or make it easier. i was horrified at the softness in my first few pictures (although that could be because i shoot sigma). if i could do it over again i would pay the extra money for a nikon lens

the feature set is amazing. im constantly amazed by all the features and am convinces i still dont know the camera in an out

12mp is plenty. there are some times (cropping) where i might wish for a d800 sensor but i can blow up my images till theyre bigger than my monior and theyre still sharp.

so your big drawback is going to be loss of range with your lenses. but the pictures will look sweey

these observations will apply to other full frame cameras

d700 gripped + 50 1.4g + 80-200 af-d = $3k for me too (all used)

 

[binga63]

You know making great photographs doesnt require gear.... if you blow the 4 grand what will you shoot?

Might be fun to consider, depending on interest

Hiring models and getting some lights to do a fashion shoot
A photography workshop. In europe weve got plenty of ads to pay a few hundred dollars and get a pro photog to go along with you at a picturesque location. You can improve your skills and get some awesome photos
Trip somewhere photographically interesting

yes I realise that I don't have to update to achieve great results, but I think that buying the d700 will increase my creative options a little more, I didn't lash out and buy the d800 or 600 I just needed more options and took on board the thoughts expressed within the thread, and the information posted here and elsewhere, it left me with a lil more money to get some more decent glass.... for the trip around the east coast of victoria i will be taking this summer.

Well if you dont mind some more advice i actually own a d700 and can say this:

d700 + glass will probably run you 3-4k. the issue you will have with price is your old glass wont work (except in dx format), but if youre going to shoot dx why not keep the d90?
and im not talking a lot of glass here. I have a sigma 50mm f1.4 and a sigma 24-70mm f2.8. total cost : $3k and change
you might get something of a deal on the d700 body, but the used fx lenses will be harder to come by and retain their value so price wont be discouted that much
do buy the d700 used if you can. just do your homework. myd700 was 500 - 750 off the new price and it had a mere 3000 shutter actuations, an was under a year old. i recommend bhphotovideo

the d700 does not necessarily take better pictures or make it easier. i was horrified at the softness in my first few pictures (although that could be because i shoot sigma). if i could do it over again i would pay the extra money for a nikon lens

the feature set is amazing. im constantly amazed by all the features and am convinces i still dont know the camera in an out

12mp is plenty. there are some times (cropping) where i might wish for a d800 sensor but i can blow up my images till theyre bigger than my monior and theyre still sharp.

so your big drawback is going to be loss of range with your lenses. but the pictures will look sweey

these observations will apply to other full frame cameras

Thanks for the thoughts

Well I got the d700, 6435 shutter actuations...Nikon ED AF Nikkor 80-200 F2.8....Nikon Nikkor AF 35-70 F2.8... cost me $2500....They may not be top of the range glass but I think that i did ok... I own an 85mm 1.8d and a 50mm 1.8 d neither of them were dx,....btw I have been offered a mint (2 months old) NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR LENS - NANO CRYSTAL COAT for $1000 should I jump on it? is it a good deal?
[h=1][/h]

 

[eric1971]

yes I realise that I don't have to update to achieve great results, but I think that buying the d700 will increase my creative options a little more, I didn't lash out and buy the d800 or 600 I just needed more options and took on board the thoughts expressed within the thread, and the information posted here and elsewhere, it left me with a lil more money to get some more decent glass.... for the trip around the east coast of victoria i will be taking this summer.

Well if you dont mind some more advice i actually own a d700 and can say this:

d700 + glass will probably run you 3-4k. the issue you will have with price is your old glass wont work (except in dx format), but if youre going to shoot dx why not keep the d90?
and im not talking a lot of glass here. I have a sigma 50mm f1.4 and a sigma 24-70mm f2.8. total cost : $3k and change
you might get something of a deal on the d700 body, but the used fx lenses will be harder to come by and retain their value so price wont be discouted that much
do buy the d700 used if you can. just do your homework. myd700 was 500 - 750 off the new price and it had a mere 3000 shutter actuations, an was under a year old. i recommend bhphotovideo

the d700 does not necessarily take better pictures or make it easier. i was horrified at the softness in my first few pictures (although that could be because i shoot sigma). if i could do it over again i would pay the extra money for a nikon lens

the feature set is amazing. im constantly amazed by all the features and am convinces i still dont know the camera in an out

12mp is plenty. there are some times (cropping) where i might wish for a d800 sensor but i can blow up my images till theyre bigger than my monior and theyre still sharp.

so your big drawback is going to be loss of range with your lenses. but the pictures will look sweey

these observations will apply to other full frame cameras

Thanks for the thoughts

Well I got the d700, 6435 shutter actuations...Nikon ED AF Nikkor 80-200 F2.8....Nikon Nikkor AF 35-70 F2.8... cost me $2500....They may not be top of the range glass but I think that i did ok... I own an 85mm 1.8d and a 50mm 1.8 d neither of them were dx,....btw I have been offered a mint (2 months old) NIKON AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR LENS - NANO CRYSTAL COAT for $1000 should I jump on it? is it a good deal?

Sounds like a decent enough deal, but will you use it enough to justify dropping 1k? Another option is to pick up Nikon's 20mm 2.8 AF-D prime for less than half the price (used). BTW, I also recently purchased a D700 and already had the 35-70. Really like the combination so far.

 

[Vautrin]

I personally prefer primes as if you have a few you can zoom "with your feet" as necessary.

The downside is you carry that much more kit with you and on the d700 crops may not have sufficient resolution (crop a d800 and you can take a small piece of the frame and still be able to print an 8x10, not so with the d700)

but mostly its personal preference

 

[philipalex]

The shutter count from the photo number does not include live view presses, which are exactly the same as taking a picture. On my old 60D I have 29K pictures and 48K live view looks which equals 77K shutter acuations. Magic Lantern is how I figured this out.

 

[Vautrin]

True. However i dont think someone will hit live view than turn it off a hundred thousand times, making 6k shutter actuations really 106k

Also keep in mind shutters are engineered (esp on a pro camera like the d700) for something hundreds of thousands of clicks, so i wouldnt worry about a couple thousand.

in fact i probably shoot more than 6k shots some months. For me a camera with 6k actuations is one month old