Upgrading from Nikon p900 (1 Viewer)

I have had a p900 for Nearly a year now and I want to upgrade. I am thinking about getting a Nikon d7000 with a sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM second hand (hopefully get the pair for £550-£600) and see how it get on, I have seen some post saying that this pairing can be dodgy with autofocus but some said it would be be fine, any information on how this would perform would be appreciated, or any advice on gear for the same price or slightly higher, thanks. Callum.

One thing you need to be aware of: the bigger sensor means less depth of field. Where you may have been used to focusing on the bird, you will now need to focus on the right part of the bird.

Niels

The d7200 is a good upgrade from the d7000. If you can swing it, do that.

The dlsr crop sensor world will be much different than the P900. The advantages are better overall IQ, faster handing, much better for birds in flight. The downside it is much heavier, more expensive, and has much less reach than the P900. The d7xxx + 150-600mm will give you 900mm effective focal length, or just under half the P900 (2000mm optical). With cropping, you can get very good images at maybe 1200 - 1500mm. The d7200 actually has a 1.3x crop mode (so effectively 2x with the 1.5x it already has) and shoot at a faster FPS in that 1.3x mode.

As Niels points out, you will get less depth of field. With a f/6.3 lens, if you shoot f/6.3 - f/8, you should be OK for most birds unless they are large and close. If you search for "dof calculator" you can find various on-line ones to check out the theoretical DoF for a given sensor side, lens focal length, and distance to subject.

You should also get a good sling strap. I used the Black Rapids sling. It attaches to the len's tripod thread and makes carrying the weight much more tolerable.

Marc

I also have a P900 for 4 years now and took some good pictures with it. But, the light conditions must be perfect and the distance not to far. The longer the distance, even in good light conditions, the light reaching the lens is to scrambled for a good picture and the small sensor don't handle it well. A bigger censor and lens handle it much better. The best time for photographing is the "golden hours". During that time there is not enough light for the P900 to perform well. So, just after in the morning of before in the afternoon, I call it the "silver hour", is better for the P900, so not the optimum for picture taking.

If they say "dodgy with autofocus" I am sure they mean to say compared to the top systems. That "dodgy" will still be far better than what you get with the P900 now. I don't badmouth the P900, it is good for what it is and I love it, but I used the combination of the D7000 and 150-600 of some other birders and there is no comparison. Obvious the newer upgrades will be better. And more expensive.

As for dof, with f-stop set to say f11 it will be quite deep, but you will quickly learn to work with and love the shallow depth of field.

Thanks for replying. The p900 has served me well but I am looking to get into it a bit more, plus the p900 is pretty much useless for birds in flight. I think I will be going with the d7000 to keep the cost down and the sigma 150-500 os. When I mentioned the ‘dodgy’ comments, what I meant was people saying that the auto focus has stopped working between the d7000 and the sigma 150-500 os?? I’m not worried about having to learn how to use a proper dslr regarding f numbers and dof because that’s all part of the fun of learning. My main question is, is the d7000 still worth it today being as old as it is, and will the sigma 150-500 os do it justice??

Callumbhoy said:

Thanks for replying. The p900 has served me well but I am looking to get into it a bit more, plus the p900 is pretty much useless for birds in flight. I think I will be going with the d7000 to keep the cost down and the sigma 150-500 os. When I mentioned the ‘dodgy’ comments, what I meant was people saying that the auto focus has stopped working between the d7000 and the sigma 150-500 os?? I’m not worried about having to learn how to use a proper dslr regarding f numbers and dof because that’s all part of the fun of learning. My main question is, is the d7000 still worth it today being as old as it is, and will the sigma 150-500 os do it justice??

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Seriously push the boat out and get the D7100 or D7200, the 7000 is a good camera but the others handle higher iso better.

Yes, the d7200 will have much better high ISO (and that's like 1600-3200 or above for the d7000). It is also a 24MP camera vs the 16MP of the d7000. That's an extra 1.2x crop right there! It also has a newer 51 point AF system.

The d7100 is closer to the d7200 than the d7000. If you can't swing the d7200, try for the d7100.

Marc