Upgrade from Nikon D50? (1 Viewer)

Touchwood

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I have just been offered a month's work, so to compensate me for coming out of retirement I'm wondering about upgrading my camera.

I've owned my Nikon D50 for a few years now, and get decent results with it. I'm a semi-serious amateur, and have long planned to do more photography in my retirement. Fairly obviously I'm looking to stay with Nikon to utilise my existing lenses, and I'm thinking a D-SLR is still the best choice - but which one? Budget will be around £500 - £600 for body only. Any recommendations?
 

hilldweller

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If you want a crappy answer, go to Demand 5 and look at this week's gadget show. Nikon/Sony/Something else on test.

Sony won but the Nikon had the best sensor and processor.

Personally I think the time has come where the "bridge" camera does all most people need in one easy to carry sealed unit. Let's face it they are all better than the kit the early masters used to stunning effect.
 

jhorsf

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You should get some good replies on here as we have some serious snappers as Funsters

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JeanLuc

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In my opinion, the best Nikon dealer in the country is Grays of Westminster
http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/

If you look in their specials listing (it's in the equipment tab) you will see they are offering the D7000 body new, for £649 - an incredibly low price for the top of the amateur range.

Alternatively, they have 2nd hand pro/am-spec D300 / D300s in the range £600 - £850.
 

656

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I have a D300 but am changing up to a D800 in the New Year. Best body I have ever had, never let me down and great battery life. Go on, you know you want too!:thumb::thumb::thumb:

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Jan 11, 2010
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Well that`s our 13th year & still loving it.
Have to say I am very much a Canon guy, have used them since my Olympus OM 2 days, hjave used a couple of Nikons just prefer the Canon systems.:thumb:
 
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Touchwood

Touchwood

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Thanks to all - especially Jeanluc for the tip regarding the D7000, that looks like a prime contender at the moment.

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Allanm

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My first dslr was a D50 too. Great camera. I can recommend a D300s, but don't know anything about the later models. My Dad has a couple of Nikons, his latest one, a D5200 is really nice and won't break the bank.
I use a Fuji X-T1 and a couple other X series cameras. After all the advances in cameras over the years, the shots I took with my D50 still look excellent, sharp as a tack and full of life.
Allan
 

Andy

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I use to shoot film with Nikon, but then moved to digital and pentax. Now I shoot Fuji X series.

Find it worrying how quickly Nikon, in particular bring out 'new' models.........although I guess it does make for some good bargins.

Mate has a D300s and swears by it........
 

magicsurfbus

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If you're planning on doing more with your photography in retirement, especially as a possible money earner, you should give some thought to image resolution. Imagine you took a cracking photo and thought "Hmm, I might be able to earn some cash from that by submitting it to an agency". There are many agencies who won't even consider images below 10 Mpixel resolution and they must be shot in RAW format. They'll spit on .jpegs of any size. For that reason alone, just in case you were at the funeral of Marxist revolutionary and took the modern equivalent of Korda's Che Guevara picture, I'd say don't scrimp on resolution and make sure RAW is an option (it usually is).

If you're planning to re-sell the D50 to subsidise the new body could I (as a seller of second-hand camera kit) offer a few eBay tips?

Don't piddle around listing it for auction at a 99p start price and crossing your fingers for a good result. Do your research and use the 'Sold Listings' filter for 'Buy It Now' sales of the used camera body over the last two months. A cursory glance tells me you could easily get £100+ for it, especially if you've got all the packaging and paperwork. I realise you paid a lot more when you bought it, but the relentless march of image resolution is the killer there. List it for eBay auction and you'll struggle to make 3 figures. There are many camera kit buyers who simply can't be arsed waiting 10 days for an auction to end, and will pay a fair Buy It Now price for it. Make sure you take good crisp pictures of it, preferably against a plain background - not as easy as it sounds when it's your good camera that's the subject of the pictures.

Around about October there'll be hordes of new students, flush with loan money (and clueless about sensible spending) looking to buy camera kit for their art/media/photography courses - I'd suggest you wait until then to sell it.

Make sure your listing doesn't end at some obscure time like 3.15pm on a Wednesday. Schedule it to end around 7pm on a Sunday evening when more people are about the house. Offer free UK postage - it'll only cost you about a fiver 2nd class recorded.

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