I lost my D300 in a house fire. Nixon's current replacements seem to be D600 (FX) and D7100 (DX). Most of my images are daytime landscapes (some flowers). Also considering Lowepro 22L payback. Any preferences, suggestions, comments?
Sadly, lost all my 5000+ images. Only images left are reduced size on this website.
Sorry to hear about your loss. I hope no one was injured in the fire.
I like my D-7100 a lot. I have been using it since February of this year. It's fairly light for a DSLR, has excellent low noise performance, great dynamic range, and was not a huge hit to the wallet. I find it's performance for landscapes to be excellent, and it is easy to use in the field. Autofocus is fast and accurate, although I use mostly manual focus with live view. DpReview gave it their Gold Award. You can read the entire, in depth, review here. All in all, the camera is a bargain at it's price point.
If you're looking at FX, the D-610 is reputed to be a nice camera, without the shutter issues that plagued the D-600. I actually considered the 610, but the 7100 was more budget-friendly and gets the job done for me.
For the life of me, I can't figure out why people are so enthusiastic about FX. Cards are getting hard to find and use more battery. Everyone safe after fire (including cat), but we lost everything. I will be using cloud storage in the future.
Very sorry to hear about the loss of your images (the camera, too, but that is replaceable).
I have both the Nikon D7100 and D600. D610 has replaced the D600 in the Nikon line-up, but you can probably find a great deal on a used D600. If you go for a used D600, make sure you get one that has recently been serviced and had the shutter replaced by Nikon.
The D7100 was an upgrade for my D300 and D300S. Those are great workhorse cameras, but the D7100, even though not considered by Nikon to be a pro-grade camera, has much newer technology, and that 24MP sensor with excellent high ISO capabilities is wonderful. I recently sold a 36"x48" canvas print that was made with the D7100 and Nikon 12-24mm lens, and the sharpness plus the camera's ability to capture a huge dynamic range was amazing.
I also think that the D7100 makes an excellent travel camera. That camera plus the 12-24 and 28-200 give you a lightweight combo that is great for carrying around all day through cities, marketplaces, museums and parks.
If you have a good set of quality lenses for your D300, getting the D7100 might make the most sense for you.
As happy as I am with the D7100, when an opportunity came along to buy a D600 kit that included several excellent FX lenses at a bargain price, I jumped at it. Were it not for the spots-on-the-sensor problem that the D600 had, and which Nikon has only recently owned up to, I think this would be one of the most popular cameras on the market. DXO Mark, a website that is considered to be one of the top experts on testing camera and lens quality, rates the D600/610 as just a slight notch lower than the Nikon D800, which surpasses anything in the current Canon line.
The D600/610 would be an excellent upgrade for you from the D300, but you would also probably need to purchase new lenses in the FX line to go with it. If you lost your lenses in the fire, and they were covered by insurance, maybe that's not so much of an issue, but the cost difference between D7100 and D600/610 and the better quality FX/DX lenses might be a consideration.
I just looked at B&H. A D7100 w/ 18-140 DX lens, plus other goodies for $1396. Not a bad deal at all. Body only is going for $1096. The kit and the body have free US shipping.
Purchased D7100 body yesterday. Still checking it out. Was able to recover Nikon 18-200 lens which seems to work fine but smells smoky. Glad I went with D7100. Though DX format it seems to have many advanced features. Thanks for all comments and suggestions.
Patrick, you will like the D7100. It's very versatile and for landscape work it will get the job done.
You might consider sending that 18-200 off to Nikon for inspection and cleaning. If smoke got inside, the tars could seriously hamper it's performance.
Discussion
6 repliesSadly, lost all my 5000+ images. Only images left are reduced size on this website.
Patrick Nixon
Sorry to hear about your loss. I hope no one was injured in the fire.
I like my D-7100 a lot. I have been using it since February of this year. It's fairly light for a DSLR, has excellent low noise performance, great dynamic range, and was not a huge hit to the wallet. I find it's performance for landscapes to be excellent, and it is easy to use in the field. Autofocus is fast and accurate, although I use mostly manual focus with live view. DpReview gave it their Gold Award. You can read the entire, in depth, review here. All in all, the camera is a bargain at it's price point.
If you're looking at FX, the D-610 is reputed to be a nice camera, without the shutter issues that plagued the D-600. I actually considered the 610, but the 7100 was more budget-friendly and gets the job done for me.
--P
Patrick Nixon
Very sorry to hear about the loss of your images (the camera, too, but that is replaceable).
I have both the Nikon D7100 and D600. D610 has replaced the D600 in the Nikon line-up, but you can probably find a great deal on a used D600. If you go for a used D600, make sure you get one that has recently been serviced and had the shutter replaced by Nikon.
The D7100 was an upgrade for my D300 and D300S. Those are great workhorse cameras, but the D7100, even though not considered by Nikon to be a pro-grade camera, has much newer technology, and that 24MP sensor with excellent high ISO capabilities is wonderful. I recently sold a 36"x48" canvas print that was made with the D7100 and Nikon 12-24mm lens, and the sharpness plus the camera's ability to capture a huge dynamic range was amazing.
I also think that the D7100 makes an excellent travel camera. That camera plus the 12-24 and 28-200 give you a lightweight combo that is great for carrying around all day through cities, marketplaces, museums and parks.
If you have a good set of quality lenses for your D300, getting the D7100 might make the most sense for you.
As happy as I am with the D7100, when an opportunity came along to buy a D600 kit that included several excellent FX lenses at a bargain price, I jumped at it. Were it not for the spots-on-the-sensor problem that the D600 had, and which Nikon has only recently owned up to, I think this would be one of the most popular cameras on the market. DXO Mark, a website that is considered to be one of the top experts on testing camera and lens quality, rates the D600/610 as just a slight notch lower than the Nikon D800, which surpasses anything in the current Canon line.
The D600/610 would be an excellent upgrade for you from the D300, but you would also probably need to purchase new lenses in the FX line to go with it. If you lost your lenses in the fire, and they were covered by insurance, maybe that's not so much of an issue, but the cost difference between D7100 and D600/610 and the better quality FX/DX lenses might be a consideration.
Big decision for you!
I just looked at B&H. A D7100 w/ 18-140 DX lens, plus other goodies for $1396. Not a bad deal at all. Body only is going for $1096. The kit and the body have free US shipping.
The 18-140 is a nice lens.
--P
You might consider sending that 18-200 off to Nikon for inspection and cleaning. If smoke got inside, the tars could seriously hamper it's performance.
--P