whoops what was i thinking, i need to go to bed.
I got the d50 first, the d40 as a back up secondary/lease/other.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How often do you upgrade you camera body?
- Thread starter 0007776
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
whoops what was i thinking, i need to go to bed.
I got the d50 first, the d40 as a back up secondary/lease/other.
Definitely, although I thought the main difference between the D200 and D80 was build/seals/etc.
To me, I'd rather spend money on lenses or other equipment than on a new body. Until I have a sort of "complete" set up, I think getting a macro lens or a decent zoom lens (or upgrades to the lenses I have already bought: Tokina 19-35 and Canon 50mm f/1.8) or a flash would be far more important than any marginal difference in camera bodies. (There is no reason at this point, with my income and skill level, for me to have a 5D or and EOS-1.)
Why on earth would you upgrade from an XT to a 30d? If you're going to do that, might as well go on up to a 5D...
Same reasons as why I bought a 20D instead of the 350D (aka Rebel XT): it's a better quality camera body. Specs are very similar, but the body is much more robust.
I will agree, though, that going from the XT to the 30D and then the 5D seems a little bit ... extreme.
it seemed as though every time I went out shooting with that camera, the D200 was whispering in my ear: "buy me this lens! Buy me that lens!" The thing was insatiable! ..... The D200 continually demanded that I stick all these wonderful "pro" quality lenses on it, but that wasn't ever enough. Seemed as though the D200 always wanted more, more, MORE! But then one day some of those "pro" lenses started chiming in, too: they wanted to experience the joy of being mounted on a D2X or D2Xs..... I eventually gave in....
You're lucky! You should see what the 5D does to you- the FF sensor alone. It's staring you right in the eye, saying "come on, I dare you to get that 24mm 2.8 instead of the 1.4L.... or the 24-85 3.5-4.5 instead of the 24-70L...." I swear, sometimes it brings me to tears.
Where is that 12-step program you mentioned?
I have already outgrown my D50, but the difference between the D50 and D80 isn't enough to justify purchasing a new camera. Both cameras are capable of taking the same photos, and quite honestly, if you're really that hung up on small improvements/differences, you're more of a gadget freak than a photographer.
I'd love a D80, but only because some settings on my D50 are difficult to change because I need to go through the menu system. However, I can still change them. It's not like the D50 lacks the ability to do so entirely. If it did, maybe I'd get the s**ts and buy a new camera, but the settings that I want to change on the camera body can be changed through the menu system. It just takes 5-10 seconds longer, that's all. It's rarely crucial to change the type of metering quickly. I can spend 7 seconds changing it in the menu.
I'd love a D80, but only because some settings on my D50 are difficult to change because I need to go through the menu system. However, I can still change them. It's not like the D50 lacks the ability to do so entirely. If it did, maybe I'd get the s**ts and buy a new camera, but the settings that I want to change on the camera body can be changed through the menu system. It just takes 5-10 seconds longer, that's all. It's rarely crucial to change the type of metering quickly. I can spend 7 seconds changing it in the menu.
No, actually the D80 is a sort of hybrid cross between the D50, D70(s) and the D200. Like the D50, it also uses SD memory cards. Like the D70(s) it is still primarily menu-driven as opposed to having many functions readily accessible on the body. It is not as quick and responsive as the D200. The D80 is smaller and lighter in weight than the robust D200, which indeed does have weather sealing and such.
If I were a D40, D50 or D70 user looking to purchase a new camera body, I would not move up to the D80, because there really aren't that many differences; I would instead jump right up to the D200. Prior to that, though, I'd continue to use whatever body I had and concentrate on developing a good, strong lens collection. In the end that will be more beneficial.
I'm curious, how many extra buttons / functions does the D200 give you access to?
The thing that struck me most when I got the D80 was how much was accessible, and how little I have to go to the menu -- the only time I can think of that I have to go into the menus for setting is to change the focus lock button to flash exposure. But coming from a much lower-end camera originally just about anything would have been a step up.
The one thing I do miss is that it doesn't display ISO in the viewfinder (my program button is set to spot meter, so no easy toggle either). I have found myself accidentally shooting too high because I forgot I had changed it to 800 for some special reason.
Around a decade ago, I went with a Canon Elan IIe. I kept my K1000 with the idea of experimenting with IR film...
...I still have the IR film in the 'Fridge. Just haven't gotten to it.
When I first saw this thread, I was thinking of the K1000 from the 1970's, the Elan from a decade ago, and my 20D that's now ~2 years old, so I was tempted to say that I upgrade bodies "once per decade".
However, I did pick up a used EOS-3 last year (before they're gone) and I'm getting tempted for a full-frame digital (EOS 5), plus I need to do something with my UW camera (hey, I forgot to think about that body), so I'm currently at 5 bodies & thinking about a 6th...which span a period of roughly 30 years.
So I'd have to say that I'm upgrading more often than every 10 years. Probably every 5 or 6.
-hh
The 30D was a much better feel (I have big hands) -- faster frame rate, better image quality, larger LCD. And, I sold my XT for $150 less than I paid for the 30D
Gotta love craigslist and eBay! Most importantly, I wasn't in a position financially to even consider a 5D (and I had 2 EF-S lenses that kept me from accidentally daydreaming about one.) I was able to get my work to pay for the 5D so I sold my 30D and actually came out money AHEAD!
I'm pretty sure I still have a couple of boxes of 5x7 Velvia in my fridge. There's a 2% chance I'll ever use it, though I'd take the view camera out in a heartbeat if I could find an acceptably priced digital back that's portable enough for field use and things slowed down enough work-wise.
Sounds like we're on the same page that lenses outweigh incremental body upgrades. (I'm just not that clear on the specifics of the Nikon line.)
Meanwhile, I'm foolishly sticking to full-frame lenses thinking that by the time I buy a new body I'll either be able to afford a 5D replacement or that the lower-end lines will be upgraded to full-frame.
I'd hazard a guess that it's more likely sensor technology will continue to improve quickly, and the lower end cameras will continue to be "crop" sensors.
Actually, in terms of controls and handling of the camera, there's a bigger difference between the D50 and D80 than there is between the D80 and D200. I'd say the difference is quite large, actually. The D50 has only one jog dial (or whatever you call that wheel), while the D80 and D200 has 2. That's enough of a difference already.
Generally, there is a lot more you can do on the D80's body than the D50, but when comparing the D200 and D80, I think the biggest difference is feel. I'd be happy with the D80 or D200, but I can't imagine paying so much money (from a student's perspective) to save time when changing certain settings, because I rarely ever need to change these settings in a hurry.
The only advantage of the D80 is a certain level of convenience. The number of MP isn't big enough to let me print to much larger sizes. I'd much rather have the high ISO performance of my D50 than a 10 MP sensor, when that sensor isn't as good as it can be. I use high ISO often enough. Maybe in a few years, Nikon will perfect the performance from the 10 MP sensor (like they did with 6 MP sensors with the D40).
I definitely upgrade a bit slower than some here. My SLR bodies were:
1. A Minolta (can't even tell you what it was -- it had the nice little "lever" light meter and screw mount lenses -- circa early 80's but the body was _much_ older than that)
2. Pentax ME Super (great little camera, the super had full manual exposure, batteries lasted years and in a pinch you could use it without batteries -- circa mid 80's)
3. Nikon D80 -- bought about a month ago
I think there was about 20 years between the last two cameras -- about 3 years ago I augmented my film with a Minolta Dimage Z1, which pulled me over to the wonders of digital photography. Now that I have the D80 I'm never leaving the SLR fold again.
1. A Minolta (can't even tell you what it was -- it had the nice little "lever" light meter and screw mount lenses -- circa early 80's but the body was _much_ older than that)
2. Pentax ME Super (great little camera, the super had full manual exposure, batteries lasted years and in a pinch you could use it without batteries -- circa mid 80's)
3. Nikon D80 -- bought about a month ago
I think there was about 20 years between the last two cameras -- about 3 years ago I augmented my film with a Minolta Dimage Z1, which pulled me over to the wonders of digital photography. Now that I have the D80 I'm never leaving the SLR fold again.
The 30D was a much better feel (I have big hands) -- faster frame rate, better image quality, larger LCD. And, I sold my XT for $150 less than I paid for the 30D
I was able to get my work to pay for the 5D so I sold my 30D and actually came out money AHEAD!
Hmm.. I guess so.
I'm stuck with an XT at the moment, and I really want a 5D. I even sold my EFS 10-22 for the EF 17-40L, now I am EFS-free! I've just got $800 left to come up with...
Yes, my strategy has been to work towards developing my lens collection and then after that eventually (when I was ready both in terms of photographic skills and money) move on into the Nikon D2Xs..... In developing my lens collection I have been mindful of the likelihood/possibility that Nikon will eventually come out with a FF body so have made sure that while I have some DX-only lenses, I've got plenty of lenses which will work with either DX or FF....
No set time. Usually when something new comes out that is far beyond what I am using. I got rid of my Canon film gear when I wanted to go digital with the D1. Then I went back to Canon recently with a 1D for the nicer digital body. I would like to get a nicer Canon body to go with the 1D but don't quite have the cash on hand. But perhaps soon. I would like to get a 5D at least so I can have my wide angle lenses back.
I haven't had much experience with the D50, except to handle a friend's a few times, but, yes, with the D40 and the D50 the fact that there is only one command dial does make a huge difference! I'd forgotten about that. The D70, D70s, D80 and above all have the two command dials and they are quite handy. I am so used to having two that working with just the one is really frustrating. I suppose that for someone who is used to having only the one that moving on to a camera body with two would feel very different and at first a bit disconcerting. Thanks for mentioning this, Abstract, as it definitely is a key difference between the D40, D40x, D50 and the D70, D70s, D80 and beyond....
For me, moving from the D70/D70s to the D200 felt different not because of the command dials (since all had two anyway) but because I didn't have to root around in the menu system so often on the D200. To me there felt like less of a change when going from the D200 to the D2Xs than from the D70/D70s to the D200..... At the time I bought and started using the D200 I wanted to use my D70/D70s as backup, but very quickly became frustrated and gave up that idea in a hurry. Eventually wound up buying another D200 instead. When I got the D2Xs I thought, "oh, I hope the same thing doesn't happen, as I sure can't as easily buy a second D2Xs as a backup body!" So far things have worked out really well and I have been in shooting situations where I've been able to switch back-and-forth between those two bodies without problems. While a second D2Xs would be nice I don't really feel the same need for it as I did a second D200..... Now of course at this point no one knows what Nikon's next body will be like and I don't know if when it becomes available I'll want to get it and then find my D2Xs lacking in some significant way as far as acting as a backup body to it. I sure hope not!
Getting back to the here-and-now, yes, that D50 really shines at the higher ISO levels and that is significant. If I had a D50 I would cherish it for that reason. Not to mention that the D50 has many advantages over the D40/D40x....
The external controls on the D200 that the D80 lacks include:
AF sensor selection
Metering mode
Dedicated "AF-ON" button
Autofocus S/C/M selection (instead of just A/M)
Extra programmable button
Drive mode
I'm sure I'm missing something, but the basic idea is that most functions have dedicated controls or dedicated buttons that work with the control wheel on the D200, while on the D80 they're a step down to non-dedicated "press + control wheel", and on the D40 they're in the menus or non-existent. I suppose I should also mention that the big mode wheel is replaced on the D200 with a mode button + control wheel (and there are no special training-wheel modes).
Luckily the D200 doesn't lose useful features like the AF-assist and the flash as cameras such as the 5D do.
Anyway, in terms of camera bodies I had a K1000 for about 5 years, then bought an F3 in college, kept it for about 4 years then realized that I'd enjoy digital much more and bought a D70 almost 3 years ago. I hated the plastic feel and lousy viewfinder, but as I predicted I enjoy photography much more with the convenience and versatility of digital.
I was almost swayed by the D200 with the external controls etc, but I'm quite convinced my photography wouldn't be improved by its advantages, so instead I'll wait another generation to see what improvements it brings. I'm really quite happy with 6mp despite my penchant for the occasional 20x30" print, but I think after 15mp or so my lenses won't be able to resolve much more, so ~14 wouldn't hurt in the D300 or whathaveyou. I'd much prefer some sort of self-dusting (i've had good luck with a homemade rig wrapped in pec-pads but that's useless in the field), *increased dynamic range* and improved noise levels.
My D70 has about 22,000 shutter activations and is doing great, plus the D200 is lousy for IR which I enjoy, so the D70 is also likely to stick around for ~2 years longer. The extra $ not spent on the D200 was used for a sigma 10-20mm (i liked nikon's 12-24, but it overlaps a lot with my 18-70, is $900, and the extra 2mm on the wide end is really quite useful) to complete my 10-210mm coverage range in 3 lenses, as well as some long-wanted filters, a great mini-tripod, a better ball head, some prints, plus money for gas or public transport for photo adventures...and something for the mac pro fund as well.
Ahh, that makes sense then. AF sensor selection is something I would like, I do find myself fumbling through the menu to grab that.
Metering mode I'm not as worried about -- I've set the programmable button to spot, and am very happy with that.
The rest I don't change often enough to really be concerned about at this stage, except that (as I mentioned earlier) I would really like ISO displayed in the viewfinder.
this just happened to my brother, but instead of repair he opted to switch to canon for a 5D and the 24-70 f2.8 L to go with it. the L-series sold me on canon; i'm now looking at the 400D w/ the 16-35 f2.8L II and the 50mm f1.2 for a month trip to italy in the fall. the D100 had started showing red banding through the image which seemed more of a sensor problem than a shutter problem, though. he didn't feel like messing with it and was ready for a nice upgrade. so you see, the disease is quite contagious.
I got my D50 in December, bought a D80 a few weeks ago. I plan on using the D80 for awhile and if my cash flow allows and when there is a replacement for the D200 I'll pick it up.
I hope to get until summer/fall of 2008 with my D70s... At which time I'd like to upgrade to a D200 (or its equivalent by that time) for [art] college. Anyway, my computers now can't really handle 10MP images, so until I get a newer machine (most likely a 17" MBP for college, about the same time), it would be pointless to need the extra MP's of the D80 or D200.
I'll probably sell my D70s body to help fund the purchase and keep my current lenses and accessories.
I'll probably sell my D70s body to help fund the purchase and keep my current lenses and accessories.
From the early 90's until about 2002, I had a Nikon N8008s (which got sold about four years ago and AFAIK is still producing pictures.)
In 2002, I got a Fuji FinePix S2Pro, and a second backup body in about 2004.
In 2006, I got a Nikon D200, which I kept for about a month and traded in on a Nikon D2x, which is my main body.
I'll probably get whatever comes out this fall, but likely not until sometime next year.
I think with digital my upgrade cycle will turn out to be somewhere near the film upgrade cycles I had before, where a new emulsion that gave me better results was a reason to switch (say from Velvia to Provia 100F.)
In 2002, I got a Fuji FinePix S2Pro, and a second backup body in about 2004.
In 2006, I got a Nikon D200, which I kept for about a month and traded in on a Nikon D2x, which is my main body.
I'll probably get whatever comes out this fall, but likely not until sometime next year.
I think with digital my upgrade cycle will turn out to be somewhere near the film upgrade cycles I had before, where a new emulsion that gave me better results was a reason to switch (say from Velvia to Provia 100F.)