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Hi everyone kinda having a bit of a struggle deciding which semi pro dslr to buy! I have a limit of£1000 but really struggling wat to choose from, tempted by the d90 but thats kinda dated now and looking for something to keep me going for quite some time, im stepping up from a nikon d50 and need a good dslr for my college course! Maybe tips on lenses would be helpfull too as the d90 comes with a kit lens with vr! Anyway all comments will be greatly recieved! If u had 1000.00 to play with wat would u do with it??
I would buy lenses and keep your existing dSLR
But first and foremost if its related to your College Studies, I would wait and see what the course demands. There is a fair chance your existing kit is more than good enough so save the money and use it to get you to good locations etc.
first questions should be
What does my existing kit not do?
What limits me?
and if you do not have a strong answer pocket the money or spend it on something else. £1,000 could get some decent location trips in.
I'd seriously consider John ( Strawmans ) words of wisdom......
What you have should be more than good enough for your college course.
Start filling a piggy bank, Then have a look around when the course is done, Or when you have truly got the very best from your current gear....!!!!!
D90 Kinda dated......LOL.... If your looking for a fashion accessory perhaps......
If your looking for a camera then it makes no odds, As a matter of fact ePHOTOzine did a head to head of cameras in the price range of the D90 ( including the D90 )
The D90 was up against newer models from Canon & Pentax ( If memory serves me etc, But look it up on this site sometime in the last 3 weeks or so ).
Upshot of the head to head, The D90 was the overall winner...... So not that dated eh!
Dated means nothing, Results do......
Ive got a 5Dmk1 and a 17-40L im considering letting go for nearly that price , and there are plenty of full frame bargains out there too for the 1000 or under mark , depends what you want out of the camera , quality or keeping up with the jones ?
whatd'ya mean keeping up with me? ROFL I have an outdated D90 
s'funny it still takes great pictures along with the cheap and narsty 18/55.
i never meant to offend anyone 
just that the nikon d90 is over 2 yrs old and was wondering if the newer cameras had better tech! sorry
Personally im wanting to buy the d90 but keeping my options open, think price will drop further once d7000 comes out later this month
Quote: I never meant to offend anyone just that the nikon d90 is over 2 yrs old and was wondering if the newer cameras had better tech! sorry
Personally im wanting to buy the d90 but keeping my options open, think price will drop further once d7000 comes out later this month
there is no newer camera than the D90 in that bracket for Nikon.... otherwise there would be a D90s or something.... my D80 was dated but was still an excellent performer.
As said above, you, and you alone can decide what you need it for,, and then you can start thinking about the limitations of each camera and why it would be the one for you.
Quote: Wow my D90 is dated? John you had better buy it
OK Peter lets see its an outdated model so £200
but its go a Nikon badge so £100 off for that,
then there is the owner to factor in, so another £100 off
Its raining tomorrow, tell you what I pop round and pick it up if you drop me £10 for fuel
To be serious the D300 and D90 struck me as good steps on in terms of performance, and I am not seeing massive improvements in the latest cameras. Yes Canon, Sony and Pentax have rolled out new equivalent/competing models and no doubt there is a new Nikon in the wings, but will it be a massive step on? It strikes me that video and other features are improving, but the basic image quality bit is static.
So in that light, my serious advice to you is look at lenses as when I had a 300D (a camera inferior to your current camera) I found getting better than kit lenses gave a performance boost, be it faster AF or better performance wide open. Mind you about F8 to f11 modern kit lenses provide very good performance for the investment. And an ultra wide opened up new activities as did a long focal length lens. But I do not know your kit so its hard to know if you have all that.
lol @ John.
For me the D90 is very much a camera of today; it is an example of "catch up" i.e. some of the lesser expensive DSLRs are getting near to the performance of their much more expensive brethren; unless you must sport the latest in camera technology newer cameras may not give you the extra performance you may expect e.g. more pixels may not give you better images in fact they could be worse.
Unless you are upgrading from a much older model almost certainly your hard earned cash could be spent learning better techniques or if you must spend your £££££s better lenses will definitely improve the quality of your images.
Perhaps and very happily the so called progress of DSLRs have slowed down to the pace that we can keep our models for a few years knowing that newer models won't give vastly improved images?
We'll see!
Although the D3100 has some pro features it is intended to be an entry level option and not a "semi pro" body.
You have not said what your college course involves - but it is likely to include "dated" techniques like pre-visualizing what your final image will look like, what you intend your images to communicate, manual exposure calculation, use of depth of field and DOF preview and possibly black and white film developing.
I presume you are on the course to learn how to become a better photographer. The camera you own has little to do with learning how to be a better photographer
I have d200 and I went new with the D90 over the D300s I purchased the Battery grip instead and im happy ..Ive done studio shoots,weddings, live rock concerts and the D90 To me was the right choice . Invest in glass, Thats whats great about Nikon I purchase a 1970s 105mm prime lens that I love but i have to manually focus but nun the less I love the cam!!!
When these ancient cameras like the D90 first came to the market, people thought they were great. They allowed skilled photographers to create some fine images.
It's generally enthusiasts rather than professionals that feel this constant need to upgrade. Don't listen to the sales propaganda!
Quote: When these ancient cameras like the D90 first came to the market, people thought they were great. They allowed skilled photographers to create some fine images.
It's generally enthusiasts rather than professionals that feel this constant need to upgrade. Don't listen to the sales propaganda!
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