Used D5100 deal, advice please (1 Viewer)

How does a used D5100 with a 18-105 DX VR zoom and a 35mm f1.8 with a Lowepro Slingshot bag and a Sun Sniper sling for £350 sound?

Your input will be much appreciated as I need to make a decision ASAP.

In the other thread I commented on the 18-105 (inappropriate for birds), but I didn't say anything about the d5100. that's a 16 MP camera with 11 AF points from 2011. It will limit the amount of crop and action shots (think birds in flight). It is also incompatible with all AF-P lenses like that 70-300 and 18-55, which are two stellar DX lenses.

I'd probably go with a d3400 (2016) before a d5100 (2011). The d3400 is the first model that is fully compatible with AF-P lenses. Any manufactured before that (in any camera series) has limitations or incompatabilities with the AF-P lenses. amazon.co.uk has a refurbished d3400 (body only) for 250 GBP. And a "used like new" 70-300 DX AF-P for 209 GBP -- total 459. I realize that's 100 more, but it's much more current stuff and at least somewhat appropriate for bird photography. I'm not vouching for any of those particular sellers, just pointing out the possible pricing.

Marc

Apodidae49 said:

How does a used D5100 with a 18-105 DX VR zoom and a 35mm f1.8 with a Lowepro Slingshot bag and a Sun Sniper sling for £350 sound?

Your input will be much appreciated as I need to make a decision ASAP.

Click to expand...

If you want to photograph birds - I'd skip that deal. These 'kit' lens offerings are cheap and cheerful for a reason - you get what you pay for. I see from another thread that you were considering up to around ~£800 budget. If you mostly photograph birds (or want to) I don't believe the money you 'save' here will give you any comfort - rather look at it as 'losing' £350 and the time which you will never get back.

If you shoot mostly in Jpeg get the Nikon D7100 (used around ~£350 ?)
If you shoot RAW and want better BIF shots get the Nikon D7200 ~£550

As a minimum lens get:
Nikon AF-P 70-300 for ~£250 (probably your best bang for the buck on a tight budget, and very light/compact)
or,
Tamron/Sigma 100-400 for ~£550
or, serious birding kit now
Tamron 150-600 G2 for about ~£900
(the Nikon 200-500 is also very good, but a bit shorter focal length and heavier. The Tamron is about the limit for a comfortable walk around rig for me).

My rig is the D7200 + Tamron 150-600 G2, (I also have a Tokina 12-28 f4 DX Pro which sees maybe 5-10% specialist use).

No reason a rig like that wouldn't serve you well for 10 years or more without becoming obsolete. I don't think jumping in at the cheap and cheerful end is a good use of time or money.

Your minimum spend is ~£600 (2nd hand D7100 + AF-P 70-300)
Your best entry is ~£800 (D7200 + AF-P 70-300)
Much better yet is ~£1450 (D7200 + Tamron 150-600 G2)

If the budget is really tight - buy the D7200 body and sit it on a shelf in the living room where you will look at it daily until you've saved up enough to get it a decent lens :t:



Chosun :gh:

Just to reiterate a little, the lens is the most important part of the camera. A mediocre camera with a good lens is better than a good camera and a mediocre lens. I'd rather see you get a 100-400 or 150-600g2 with a d90 or d3100 than a fancier body (d7x00) plus a poor lens. Good lenses usually age well. Get the best lens you can plus whatever body you can afford (used). You can later sell the body for not much less than you paid for it and upgrade when the money is available.

There are diminishing returns on going for older and cheaper bodies. If you can get a d7100 for 350 and a d3200 for 210, well that 140 is really well spent for the upgrade. And a d90 for, say 180, is not really worth the savings from a d3200. But it's what you can afford. There look to be a few good auctions on low shutter count (under 20k) d7100s on ebay.co.uk, you might be able to get one for under 300.

A caveat to this is the AF-P lenses do not work with older bodies. Both the d7100 and d7200 will have VR on all the time.

Looking at auctions, you can get a d3400 (~240 body only) and 70-300 AF-P DX VR (~175), so 415 total.

I agree with Chosun that a d7x00 is the right camera, but I'd put a good lens first, then the right camera.

Marc

Thanks chaps, looks like the D5100 is a bit “old tech” then. The 18-105 zoom had some appeal as a good all-round lens for general snapping and was never intended for birds but gave some wriggle room for a longer lens to be purchased.