Hypothetical question about D750 successor

[kenoh]

Thank you guys, I appreciate all the feedback and suggestions + personal experience.

To me D90 worked great except few things:
a) low light - i lost ability to take pictures when my friend with D800 kept shooting.
b) focus - although this one is a bit mixed because I was told by guys here that my combo of D90 + 50mm 1.4G Nikon lens is not ideal and suffers from blurred images issues, but still - AF on D90 is good (except with the 50mm lens as that ruined my experience when I was at a photography workshop and almost half images were blurred despite me having the correct focusing point etc.) but I feel that the ability of D750 to recognise face and focus on eyes will be a major game changer for me.

I'm thinking of finally testing properly home "studio" portrait shooting so was hoping to get some suggestion for equipment.
I think I need the umbrella (softbox they call them I guess) + stand for it + trigger cable (I think its cheap compared to radio ones and more solid, right?).

I have SB700 already as I used that for a wedding few years back.

Eventually I'm waiting out to see what the Sigma art 24-70 turns out to be as I might consider getting it.

Also, should I keep the 50mm 1.4 G lens or get the 1.8 as people say its much better and sharper?
Or maybe 85mm 1.8G for portrait?

For now I think I'll play with the 50mm but wonder what are the options etc.

Thank you and see you guys soon around here

Go to http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/ for a great set of tutorials about setting up your home studio.

The softbox is different to the umbrella but they do similar things in that they help diffuse harsh light from the flash. They do it to different effects though.

 

[Freida]

Go to http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/ for a great set of tutorials about setting up your home studio.

The softbox is different to the umbrella but they do similar things in that they help diffuse harsh light from the flash. They do it to different effects though.

oh yeah, I used that website before. Thats kinda why I wanna get the basic setup they suggest. Just wanted to get it more tailored to the D750 & SB700 flash (if thats a thing)
Thank you
[doublepost=1495034309][/doublepost]This opinion got me a bit worried. What is your take on it?

1)
The D750 is a great camera. Image quality and ergonomics are on point.
My biggest problems are: AF performance of the off-center points is bad indoors, buffer is horrible, write speed to SD card tops out at about 50-70 MB/s, LCD resolution is crap, tethering is slow, WiFi is mediocre even with 3rd party software.
It takes great photos and is great to use but in some demanding conditions it may not keep up with your needs.

2)
If you are not capturing action in low light or do occasional studio shoots, then you definitely don't need to worry about what I wrote.
Just to clarify, the D750 is a spectacular camera wich made me jump the ship from the Canon 5D Mark 2. The image quality is great, the files have enough room to be post processed heavily. The images are usable up to ISO 6400 depending on the resolution / print.
I am a semi-pro wedding and event photographer, so I need all of my gear to do exactly what I need it to and after about two years I found pretty much every aspect of the D750 that I dislike. Not everything I mentioned is a deal breaker and most of the time, I get great results.
Yes, sometimes the buffer is a limitation for me because even with the fastest card, continuous shooting will drop to 2-3 fps after a burst. And sometimes the off center AF points don't acquire focus when only one individual point is selected. The LCD makes video shooting brighter than f4 a matter of luck aswell as liveview shots, manual focus and image review without looking at the 100% view. I often don't notice bad shots because of the low resolution LCD if I don't zoom in on every shot I take. But coming from a D90 it may still be an improvement for your needs.
I had some occasions where I had a kinda-studio shoot where I wanted to show the clients the shots on a laptop immediately. It took me hours to find a software wich only transfers a tiny jpg to the laptop because transferring anything else (e.g. via LR) was way too slow, tethered or via WiFi.
And video? Forget about video. Bad codec, bad autofocus.
Now you know about all the quirks and problems that *I* have with the D750. They may just be relevant to me and may be way exaggerated for most of the people using this camera.
Bottom Line / tl;dr - Buy a D750, there is nothing better on the market wich suits all round FX needs.

 

[kenoh]

oh yeah, I used that website before. Thats kinda why I wanna get the basic setup they suggest. Just wanted to get it more tailored to the D750 & SB700 flash (if thats a thing)
Thank you
[doublepost=1495034309][/doublepost]This opinion got me a bit worried. What is your take on it?

1)
The D750 is a great camera. Image quality and ergonomics are on point.
My biggest problems are: AF performance of the off-center points is bad indoors, buffer is horrible, write speed to SD card tops out at about 50-70 MB/s, LCD resolution is crap, tethering is slow, WiFi is mediocre even with 3rd party software.
It takes great photos and is great to use but in some demanding conditions it may not keep up with your needs.

2)
If you are not capturing action in low light or do occasional studio shoots, then you definitely don't need to worry about what I wrote.
Just to clarify, the D750 is a spectacular camera wich made me jump the ship from the Canon 5D Mark 2. The image quality is great, the files have enough room to be post processed heavily. The images are usable up to ISO 6400 depending on the resolution / print.
I am a semi-pro wedding and event photographer, so I need all of my gear to do exactly what I need it to and after about two years I found pretty much every aspect of the D750 that I dislike. Not everything I mentioned is a deal breaker and most of the time, I get great results.
Yes, sometimes the buffer is a limitation for me because even with the fastest card, continuous shooting will drop to 2-3 fps after a burst. And sometimes the off center AF points don't acquire focus when only one individual point is selected. The LCD makes video shooting brighter than f4 a matter of luck aswell as liveview shots, manual focus and image review without looking at the 100% view. I often don't notice bad shots because of the low resolution LCD if I don't zoom in on every shot I take. But coming from a D90 it may still be an improvement for your needs.
I had some occasions where I had a kinda-studio shoot where I wanted to show the clients the shots on a laptop immediately. It took me hours to find a software wich only transfers a tiny jpg to the laptop because transferring anything else (e.g. via LR) was way too slow, tethered or via WiFi.
And video? Forget about video. Bad codec, bad autofocus.
Now you know about all the quirks and problems that *I* have with the D750. They may just be relevant to me and may be way exaggerated for most of the people using this camera.
Bottom Line / tl;dr - Buy a D750, there is nothing better on the market wich suits all round FX needs.

Hiya,

OK, really don't want to be rude or offend you so genuinely apologise if this sounds like I am but... You aren't this person. You are learning, you are exploring. Being very careful with my words, you are not there yet. Frankly a Sony RX10 is probably good enough for your needs and then some right now so a top end DSLR is going to be light years ahead of where you are or where you are going to be any time soon. Focus on this comment "the D750 is a spectacular camera" and try to stop worrying.

I have the joy of shooting a Sony A7Rii. Universally slated for poor battery life and overly complex menus. In real life? brilliant camera. Does it have limitations? you bet. Does the battery die too quickly? god yes! but I just carry spares. Takes seconds to swap so is it really an issue? christ we had to change rolls of film every 36 frames previously so it pales into comparison. You know what? you learn your tool, you work round these things. There is so much headroom for you to grow into, that this stuff is just noise. What is not written here is what has the person got now and are they having the same issues? In which case it isnt really the D750, rather just the nature of the market today. Take it on board and just know, like the person said "the D750 is a spectacular camera" not "a perfect camera".

I also have the chance to have an M9. Again, rotten specs, ZERO AF points, AF doesnt work EVER, it is crap after ISO 1000, the screen resolution is tragically bad, it is 1 frame per second, needs a rest after a few pictures burst and you dont even focus through the lens but.... it is spectacular! you learn to use the tool.

I guess I am trying to say have your own mind. People on here that shoot the D750 love it. The person who wrote this is likely very finely tuned and knows their kit inside out. They have very specific needs and have found some shortfalls. That is because maybe they are in the 5% the top 5% who push it to the limit. You are not there yet so focus on the last comment...

"Bottom Line / tl;dr - Buy a D750, there is nothing better on the market which suits all round FX needs."

Dont over analyse and dont put too much weight on the negatives versus the positives. Search for AF problems on D750. There arent any threads of scandalous failed Nikon D750 AF issues. You dont know if this person shoots weddings in cellars...

Just be cool.... relax and trust your instincts.

 

[mollyc]

Anything is better than the Canon 5DII. That camera was horrible and caused me to switch to the Nikon platform.

I shoot with a D700 and a D800. I have no need for a new camera but wouldn't hesitate to keep a D750 if one fell in my lap. I wish it had been out when I bought my D800.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Hiya,

OK, really don't want to be rude or offend you so genuinely apologise if this sounds like I am but... You aren't this person. You are learning, you are exploring. Being very careful with my words, you are not there yet. Frankly a Sony RX10 is probably good enough for your needs and then some right now so a top end DSLR is going to be light years ahead of where you are or where you are going to be any time soon. Focus on this comment "the D750 is a spectacular camera" and try to stop worrying.

I have the joy of shooting a Sony A7Rii. Universally slated for poor battery life and overly complex menus. In real life? brilliant camera. Does it have limitations? you bet. Does the battery die too quickly? god yes! but I just carry spares. Takes seconds to swap so is it really an issue? christ we had to change rolls of film every 36 frames previously so it pales into comparison. You know what? you learn your tool, you work round these things. There is so much headroom for you to grow into, that this stuff is just noise. What is not written here is what has the person got now and are they having the same issues? In which case it isnt really the D750, rather just the nature of the market today. Take it on board and just know, like the person said "the D750 is a spectacular camera" not "a perfect camera".

I also have the chance to have an M9. Again, rotten specs, ZERO AF points, AF doesnt work EVER, it is crap after ISO 1000, the screen resolution is tragically bad, it is 1 frame per second, needs a rest after a few pictures burst and you dont even focus through the lens but.... it is spectacular! you learn to use the tool.

I guess I am trying to say have your own mind. People on here that shoot the D750 love it. The person who wrote this is likely very finely tuned and knows their kit inside out. They have very specific needs and have found some shortfalls. That is because maybe they are in the 5% the top 5% who push it to the limit. You are not there yet so focus on the last comment...

"Bottom Line / tl;dr - Buy a D750, there is nothing better on the market which suits all round FX needs."

Dont over analyse and dont put too much weight on the negatives versus the positives. Search for AF problems on D750. There arent any threads of scandalous failed Nikon D750 AF issues. You dont know if this person shoots weddings in cellars...

Just be cool.... relax and trust your instincts.

Well said!

I think we all get to worried about the gear.
Is the D750 as good as the D5? Clearly no. That being said having used a D3 (same weight as D5), they are bloody heavy to lug around. If I shot sports for a living I'm sure that would make sense.

Learn to use what you have to the best of your ability. If my pictures are not up to scratch, it's usually the monkey with his finger on the shutter at fault!

 

[Freida]

Hiya,

OK, really don't want to be rude or offend you so genuinely apologise if this sounds like I am but... You aren't this person. You are learning, you are exploring. Being very careful with my words, you are not there yet. Frankly a Sony RX10 is probably good enough for your needs and then some right now so a top end DSLR is going to be light years ahead of where you are or where you are going to be any time soon. Focus on this comment "the D750 is a spectacular camera" and try to stop worrying.

I have the joy of shooting a Sony A7Rii. Universally slated for poor battery life and overly complex menus. In real life? brilliant camera. Does it have limitations? you bet. Does the battery die too quickly? god yes! but I just carry spares. Takes seconds to swap so is it really an issue? christ we had to change rolls of film every 36 frames previously so it pales into comparison. You know what? you learn your tool, you work round these things. There is so much headroom for you to grow into, that this stuff is just noise. What is not written here is what has the person got now and are they having the same issues? In which case it isnt really the D750, rather just the nature of the market today. Take it on board and just know, like the person said "the D750 is a spectacular camera" not "a perfect camera".

I also have the chance to have an M9. Again, rotten specs, ZERO AF points, AF doesnt work EVER, it is crap after ISO 1000, the screen resolution is tragically bad, it is 1 frame per second, needs a rest after a few pictures burst and you dont even focus through the lens but.... it is spectacular! you learn to use the tool.

I guess I am trying to say have your own mind. People on here that shoot the D750 love it. The person who wrote this is likely very finely tuned and knows their kit inside out. They have very specific needs and have found some shortfalls. That is because maybe they are in the 5% the top 5% who push it to the limit. You are not there yet so focus on the last comment...

"Bottom Line / tl;dr - Buy a D750, there is nothing better on the market which suits all round FX needs."

Dont over analyse and dont put too much weight on the negatives versus the positives. Search for AF problems on D750. There arent any threads of scandalous failed Nikon D750 AF issues. You dont know if this person shoots weddings in cellars...

Just be cool.... relax and trust your instincts.

You don't offend me as I know you are right. I know I have a long road with learning etc. but when it comes to buying expensive stuff I take ages to decide (as I'm sure you've noticed) so I just wanted to hear what you guys thought about that. He did say in the end that he didn't want to discourage my but I like to hear all angles so was curious.
Regardless, I would wait for D750 successor as its around the corner but I came to realisation that with the current Nikon trend the successor will cost way more than I can get D750 for (£1250) and the new added benefits won't be that huge to justify around £500+ increase so I decided to pull the trigger on D750 and learn on that as its my first FF. I'm sure that in 7-10 years I might outgrow but that is still years away. Also D90 lasted me up until now and I'm sure it would if the limitation didn't bother me and I wasn't lusting something more powerful.

Anyway, I appreciate your patience guys as it did help me a lot to decide. I do have buyers remorse now (even though I didn't purchase it yet) as its a lot of money but I'm betting that the benefits and the new energy will let me forget that very quickly

 

[Apple fanboy]

You don't offend me as I know you are right. I know I have a long road with learning etc. but when it comes to buying expensive stuff I take ages to decide (as I'm sure you've noticed) so I just wanted to hear what you guys thought about that. He did say in the end that he didn't want to discourage my but I like to hear all angles so was curious.
Regardless, I would wait for D750 successor as its around the corner but I came to realisation that with the current Nikon trend the successor will cost way more than I can get D750 for (£1250) and the new added benefits won't be that huge to justify around £500+ increase so I decided to pull the trigger on D750 and learn on that as its my first FF. I'm sure that in 7-10 years I might outgrow but that is still years away. Also D90 lasted me up until now and I'm sure it would if the limitation didn't bother me and I wasn't lusting something more powerful.

Anyway, I appreciate your patience guys as it did help me a lot to decide. I do have buyers remorse now (even though I didn't purchase it yet) as its a lot of money but I'm betting that the benefits and the new energy will let me forget that very quickly

I still think you're making the right decision.
I doubt there is a photographer alive that could tell the difference between a photo shot on the D750 and D760 (or whatever they call it). And £500 buys some nice glass!

 

[kenoh]

You don't offend me as I know you are right. I know I have a long road with learning etc. but when it comes to buying expensive stuff I take ages to decide (as I'm sure you've noticed) so I just wanted to hear what you guys thought about that. He did say in the end that he didn't want to discourage my but I like to hear all angles so was curious.
Regardless, I would wait for D750 successor as its around the corner but I came to realisation that with the current Nikon trend the successor will cost way more than I can get D750 for (£1250) and the new added benefits won't be that huge to justify around £500+ increase so I decided to pull the trigger on D750 and learn on that as its my first FF. I'm sure that in 7-10 years I might outgrow but that is still years away. Also D90 lasted me up until now and I'm sure it would if the limitation didn't bother me and I wasn't lusting something more powerful.

Anyway, I appreciate your patience guys as it did help me a lot to decide. I do have buyers remorse now (even though I didn't purchase it yet) as its a lot of money but I'm betting that the benefits and the new energy will let me forget that very quickly

You are making a well informed decision. Just enjoy it. To the max.

Buyers remorse... Ha ha ha... Try that after shelling out for Leica 35 and 50 Summiluxes in the same purchase! That's an interesting conversation with your wife afterwards.... Nah they were a couple of hundred quid honey honest... And by a couple I mean 30 hundreds... Ish.... Oops...

I think the prices in the UK are nuts right now. That price on a 750 is ideal. The successor will be knocking on three grands door I would imagine having seen the recent spate of camera releases where 4K is not just the video capability! It's the price too!

 

[mofunk]

Any 50mm is sweet on these cameras. I was looking at getting the 85mm next because I wanted something for when I'm not using my 24-70mm lens. Plus its cheaper than getting the 70-200mm. I rarely shoot pass 100mm. Shooting 24mm is pretty wide. I snagged up a 20mm lens which I thought I needed. Shooting full frame It was really too much for portraits and I guess could be more useable for landscapes.

Before buying you really should look at the lengths that you are currently shooting at.

 

[JDDavis]

In manual focus you mean me manually rotating those circles on the camera to get focus? If thats what you mean that I will skip on that as I don't think that is an efficient thing to do. By the time I focus what I want to focus the moment is pretty much gone. I guess for landscape its probably awesome but anything with people will be major headache for me.

Yeah, I've heard that the 1.8 is superior to the 1.4 one so I'm sure you love it. If I did my research correctly before than I guess I would never get the 1.4 one. Well, lesson learnt! Now I'm extra careful

As for bokeh, can one not tweak it in post? I mean that if the main subject is nice then the bokeh can be tweaked so not that much of a problem, maybe?

Yeah, I'm debating the 85mm 1.8 lens for the portraits as its not that expensive (compared to the 85mm 1.4) and might produce better results due to being more suitable for portraits, no?

Still not sure as when i was at the workshop I was shooting 50mm od D90 whereas the photographer was using D800 + 85mm 1.4G so even though mine was kinda like 75mm (due to being DX) I still haven't noticed massive difference (except his were super sharp whereas mine was mix&match due to the issue. (Although I did get some really nice pictures)

Oh, the dilemmas

Yes, absolutely...rotating those spinny things on the lens to focus and set your own aperture! I'm not saying make a manual focus lens your primary shooter (though they are wonderful for portraits and landscapes). I'm passing on my experience of picking up a ridiculously cheap ($65) and ridiculously sharp 50mm (the Nikon 50mm 1.8 E) just to learn and experiment with. It's great on the D750 because the D750 can read most older manual lenses just fine so focus indication in the view finder, exposure, and everything else works just like you'd expect. On the D90 you'd have to shoot blind with this lens. Even if you never plan to shoot manually when it counts what you will learn will be indispensable. For me, I also learned that with the right lens (that was meant to manual focus) I can often do a better job than the camera with focusing. Also video is much, much better on the D750 (in my opinion) when you use a full manual lens.

Bokeh and/or DOF can be manipulated to a point in post, kinda but it's better to get it like you want in the camera. For me anyway, post work can be drudgery, and I'm no pro. My point was for static portraits a longer lens like the 85 is generally easier to work with when you want to blur the background behind your subject. At the same aperture they can also have a shallower DOF. 50mm works fine too. I've always thought of a 50mm on a full frame as I do everything prime lens. Personally, I think it's good to have one in your kit no matter what you do.