Upgrade D3000 to D200/D80?

Squidgy Black

Gonna upgrade my camera body after christmas, just not sure which one I should choose for under 500 euro.

Which handle's noise better at high iso, I shoot a few gigs in badly lit venue's.

Which one has the better af motor?

magicbastarder

i saw a D90 b/o for €595 in a dublin camera shop recently. might be worth considering that body.

magicbastarder

btw, the D3000 is a year and a half old. the D200 is five years old. i suspect a D200 would be a step backwards in noise handling for you.

Squidgy Black

yeah i've been eyeing up a d90, that extra hundred's just not around though

magicbastarder

actually, there's not much between the 200 and the 3000 on low light:
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/en/Camera-Sensor/Sensor-rankings

Squidgy Black

I'm not too unhappy with the d3000's noise handling, I reckon if I had a prime lens like a 50mm 1.8 it wouldn't be too bad.

I'm just sick of having no Af-motor and the huge cost of lenses, for me to buy a new af-s lense is more expensive than upgrading the body and getting the normal af lenses.

Also, the d3000's quite small and I have gigantic hands.

Thecageyone

The D200 is a great camera, but it is dire at handling noise above ISO 400. You can get away with 500/640/800 at times providing you have everything else spot on.

Other than that it's a beast and I'd have a very hard time trading it for a D90. IQ-wise there's nothing between them outside of the noise factor. I tend to keep mine down to ISO 100/200 and bounce off-cam strobe light to compensate. A very cheap way to keep your images sharp in bad lighting. No good for gigs though.

I know a guy who was using a D80 and bought a D200 as back up, he's hardly used the D80 since. Some say it handles tonality and produces better contrast in images than the D90/80/60/3000/5000, but that's probably more a matter of personal taste. If you shoot RAW and process most of your shots it hardly matters at all.

It's all about control and ergonomics. I love a big, tough camera body and like having most of the controls I need on-body, instead of having to flick through menus on the LCD. I used a D40 when we were in the States recently and found it tiny and strange to hold. That's the same size as a D3000 right? Too small for my liking, but the guy who owned it loved it. He thought mine was too bulky. Again, personal preference. The D90 is somewhere in between the two. Might be the right job for you?

Squidgy Black

Yeah the D90 sounds great, but see, I'm struggling to get the extra 300 for a D200 as it is, never mind 400 for the D90, it's just too expensive for me on such a small budget. That said, if I miraculously get a buyer for my D3000 body soon, I could afford it. But Conns and Berminghams are giving me a 200 euro trade in value so that's my last resort.

The D80 seems shockingly bad in high iso settings for it's price, it really doesn't merit it's price tag.

I think if I can't sell my d3000, I might convert to the darkside (canon). A lot of their basic camera's are quite good at high iso's, the 20D's a good bit better than the D3000 and the body's only 300.

Thecageyone

Same here, cash-wise. I've been trying to sell my D200 to fund a D300, for much the same reasons as you. But at least I can use the non-motorised lenses. And since I've gotten more into off-cam strobe lighting, the noise factor is nowhere near as much of an issue.

I would skip the D80, people are trying to offload them for as much as a D200 or in some cases D90 and they're not worth it. Wishful thinking on their part.

PopeBuckfastXVI

I love my d80 but the one thing it lets me down on is noise, I couldn't recommend it if that's a concern, I consider it unusable above 400 for most purposes, and even though I have an f/1.4 50mm I still struggle with it. It's the only reason I'm currently considering a body upgrade.

Thecageyone

There's not much between the D80 and the D200 bar the Build really. Same sensor[?] and controls pretty much. neither are bad cameras, Nikon just messed up somewhere on the noise issue. Old D40 models do a better job.

pixbyjohn

Do any of you guys print your photos ? Noise isn't as big an issue in print as on the computer screen.

Thecageyone

Yup

Have done prints up for people after portrait shoots, I also have a few of my own family and some of my landscape/scenics framed and hung in the house. I've never printed anything really large though. The biggest size I've done is 15 x 12 which turned out great. Much better than it looked on screen. But I think if I was to try some of my noisier shots it would certainly show up on paper too.

Squidgy Black

I rarely print gig photo's, as they're mainly for friends or bands that want them for their websites only.

I print a few portraits or landscapes etc. but sure the iso setting's never needed that high for there to be much noise anyways.

http://kenrockwell.com/tech/iso-comparisons/2007-11/index.htm d200 seems to be a bit better than the d40 there

melekalikimaka

Thecageyone wrote: »

There's not much between the D80 and the D200 bar the Build really. Same sensor[?] and controls pretty much. neither are bad cameras, Nikon just messed up somewhere on the noise issue. Old D40 models do a better job.

the d40 came out wayyyy after the d80/d200, the whole nikon range got a boost, sure I have a d50 with better noise handling than the d200

Squidgy Black

arrrrggghhh, it's taken me so long to decide to upgrade, and now you have me questioning it and putting me in doubt

there's no chance i'll be able to afford the d90 anytime soon, i'm really scraping 300 anyways.

500's reaaaally my total budget, and that's including the trade-in on my camera body. for that I can get a d200 body, or a D80 body and a decent tripod.

I really really really really really really want an af motor in the body for much cheaper lenses. And I'd like the larger camera size. What I'm looking for is to move from a beginner's camera to an amateur camera.

NOW GIMME YOUR OPINIONS, BLUNTLY

melekalikimaka

stetyrrell wrote: »

arrrrggghhh, it's taken me so long to decide to upgrade, and now you have me questioning it and putting me in doubt

there's no chance i'll be able to afford the d90 anytime soon, i'm really scraping 300 anyways.

500's reaaaally my total budget, and that's including the trade-in on my camera body. for that I can get a d200 body, or a D80 body and a decent tripod.

I really really really really really really want an af motor in the body for much cheaper lenses. And I'd like the larger camera size. What I'm looking for is to move from a beginner's camera to an amateur camera.

NOW GIMME YOUR OPINIONS, BLUNTLY

d200 is alot more than amateur, its semi pro, d80/d90 are consumer cameras, the insides arent hugely dfferent with cameras from same generations ( except top d3's etc), to be honest, i'd hold off til post xmas, d700 should be nearing an upgrade, so they might drop in price and then you have a decent camera to bounce up to, even the d300 might be getting an upgrade, the d300s was like the d70 upgrade... fairly pointless, so time is ripe for a few new cameras to trickle in i thinks

magicbastarder

melekalikimaka wrote: »

the d40 came out wayyyy after the d80/d200

same time as the D80, i think.

melekalikimaka

magicbastarder wrote: »

same time as the D80, i think.

a year later, but the noise jump was big i think

pixbyjohn

D80 September 2006
D40 December 2006

melekalikimaka

pixbyjohn wrote: »

D80 September 2006
D40 December 2006

I stand corrected, oops, there is a noise difference tho isnt there?

Squidgy Black

from what i've seen, the d40's nowhere near better than the d80/d200.

melekalikimaka

stetyrrell wrote: »

from what i've seen, the d40's nowhere near better than the d80/d200.

in noise is definitely is... thats bout it tho, lack of af is a killer, its close otherwise to d80 imo, d200, is a different class of camera

Squidgy Black

think i'll go with the d200, now I just can't wait till christmas

melekalikimaka

stetyrrell wrote: »

think i'll go with the d200, now I just can't wait till christmas

tis a beaut, due to age, maybe check actuations, dont want it to be near its end

Squidgy Black

melekalikimaka wrote: »

tis a beaut, due to age, maybe check actuations, dont want it to be near its end

yeah anything over 20k, I won't really be too comfortable about. although I think conns etc give a years warranty or so.

melekalikimaka

stetyrrell wrote: »

yeah anything over 20k, I won't really be too comfortable about. although I think conns etc give a years warranty or so.

yeah... conns... thats another thread

Squidgy Black

melekalikimaka wrote: »

yeah... conns... thats another thread

i've heard plenty a thing about them, but anytime i've been there they've been nice enough. expensive, but nice

didn't get a reply from gunns, i was dissapointed. and berminghams don't have anything other than a d90 and a d80.

melekalikimaka

stetyrrell wrote: »

i've heard plenty a thing about them, but anytime i've been there they've been nice enough. expensive, but nice

didn't get a reply from gunns, i was dissapointed. and berminghams don't have anything other than a d90 and a d80.

valid point, not many places stock cameras second hand, maybe even check uk or northern ireland, adverts.ie....tbh anywhere else you'll prob get better deal

Squidgy Black

yeah see I can't seem to get a solid offer for my d3000 body, so conns, berminghams, halls etc have given me a trade in quote at 200. i guess i'll have to go with that unless my camera sells before or soon after christmas

PopeBuckfastXVI

Sell body for 200 on adverts then ask for a cash discount?

Thecageyone

melekalikimaka wrote: »

the d40 came out wayyyy after the d80/d200, the whole nikon range got a boost, sure I have a d50 with better noise handling than the d200

Calm down like!

Ok, the D40 came after ... I probably read wrong that it handles noise better. Either way. I'd not swap my D200 for anything less than a D90, and that just won't happen.

magicbastarder

stetyrrell wrote: »

yeah anything over 20k, I won't really be too comfortable about.

a D200 should be good for about 100k, i think.

Squidgy Black

gonna go put a deposit down on the d200 on saturday, so excited

Thecageyone

Anywhere I've looked it up suggests 100k shutter life expectancy. That's not to say it'll die soon as it clocks over 100k, if you ever manage to get there. Though I bought mine with only 11k clocked on, and I now have it up to 28k since just before the summer!

Squidgy Black

I have my d3000 since the start of september and as of last week it had 2.5k shots, so if I get a body with 20k on it, I should get roughly 10 years out of it :P

Thecageyone

Haha. Mine shot up so quick because I did so much messing around using the 5fps, trying to capture birds in flight ... and failing miserably most times

I dump more than I keep, need to get out of that habit, shoot more keepers.

Squidgy Black

As soon as I get the D200, I want to start using Lightroom and Photoshop on ALL of the shots I take, make those 'meh' photo's keepers

Thecageyone

What I usually do when I stick the card into the pc is: View them in a RAW file viewer, go through the set and delete as I go. I prefer to have a small amount of keepers than a large bunch of so-so shots. I only take the ones I think will benefit from processing into Lightroom, and I'll mostly keep the RAWs of those in another folder. Save the processed images as large Jpegs to another an sometimes they might see Photoshop for further processing. [There's tools I don't like in either program, and others I prefer in each]

You will love the D200, apart from the noise issue. It handles superbly, once you use it for a while you'll never want to return to the smaller bodies. You'll be eying D300s models soon :P

Squidgy Black

I'll always be eyeing up other models, I have GAS syndrome, there is no cure

I've been offered a d90 with 375 from me, but I really can't stretch to it (struggling to get the 300 or so for the D200) but it's almost hurting me to say ni

Squidgy Black

I got a buyer for the body and kit lense 340, I'm over the moon.

I just might be able to even fit a 50mm 1.8 in now, and worry about a wider angle later