IS THE D800 the best value in used Nikon gear?

[chopper]

Any thoughts on this used D3?

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/ph...74699.html

[Ombligo]

The only concern I would have with a D3 is who owned it… Those were often in the hands of photojournalists who seldom take care of equipment well.

Take a look at the camera's shutter count too -- http://www.nikonshuttercount.com. The shutter is rated for 300,000 cycles, but anything beyond 200,000 is on borrowed time.

[wowzer]

I would put a word in for the D600. It's a great camera. Shoots high ISO without difficulty...up to 25,600 ISO and the images are still usable, if you can frame properly. If you have to crop the image, then it may be more noisy, but still usable.

The great value is the price...with the 610, the D600 price has come down a lot. There are some issues with the shutter leaving oil spots on the sensor, but nikon will clean free of charge. It's no big deal for me as I live near Melville, NY and can drop off my camera for cleaning anytime I want.

The video works nicely...having used it in dark environments over the last couple of years.

Overall, the camera is great.

PS It uses SD cards, so if you have a ton of CF, be prepared to get new cards. GL

[pRICE cUBE]

Ombligo wrote:
The only concern I would have with a D3 is who owned it… Those were often in the hands of photojournalists who seldom take care of equipment well.

Take a look at the camera's shutter count too -- http://www.nikonshuttercount.com. The shutter is rated for 300,000 cycles, but anything beyond 200,000 is on borrowed time.

Yeah, try to look for lower shutter counts. The D700 has the same AF system. The vertical grip (optional) can come off unlike the D3. I still have 2 D3 and they are solid, reliable and the images still look good despite it being a dinosaur in tech age. You can get a bit more flexibility with shooting raw/nef. Now that CF card prices are down, shooting nef is not as impractical.

Look at overall condition, some people completely abuse their cameras. My newspaper colleagues had 2 tendencies, one was take care of gear, the other was abuse it because it wasn't theirs. Those abused cameras insides matched the outsides.

[pRICE cUBE]

Mr645 wrote:
The D800 is not tops when it comes to dealing with low light levels. The D610 would allow for higher ISO with cleaner footage. The new D750 should also be excellent, but I have not used that camera yet

D800 isn't the low light champ but the images look great at 3200 and 6400. A few years ago it would have been considered really good. If it came down to it for me, I would opt for the D4's AF unit over the D600/610. Both have good AF systems but D800 tracking has the edge. This will really show in sports such as basketball. If I had to do it on a D600 budget, I could do it. I am just picky about where I can get an edge.

[Kraniac]

IMO..the best "Value" points in Nikon's current lines are, for sure, the D7100 and the D600.

Don't turn your nose up at the D7100..this camera is pretty damn sweet..great video, great still files.

Chopper asked about value and Im feeling that those two cameras are the sweet spot in value/performance right now.

I wouldn't consider a used D3 to be a great value for Chopper because he wants Video and the regular D3 doesn't have video. the D3-S does..Im oretty sure this is correct.

[pRICE cUBE]

Kraniac wrote:
IMO..the best "Value" points in Nikon's current lines are, for sure, the D7100 and the D600.

Don't turn your nose up at the D7100..this camera is pretty damn sweet..great video, great still files.

Chopper asked about value and Im feeling that those two cameras are the sweet spot in value/performance right now.

I wouldn't consider a used D3 to be a great value for Chopper because he wants Video and the regular D3 doesn't have video. the D3-S does..Im oretty sure this is correct.

I think one of the reasons he asked about full frame such as D800 is the ability to use his older full frame lenses to their full capacity without the crop factor.

Otherwise, D7100 is a darn good camera. I will be replacing my D7000 with a 7100 in a few months.

[vision63]

pRICE cUBE wrote:
[quote=Kraniac]
IMO..the best "Value" points in Nikon's current lines are, for sure, the D7100 and the D600.

Don't turn your nose up at the D7100..this camera is pretty damn sweet..great video, great still files.

Chopper asked about value and Im feeling that those two cameras are the sweet spot in value/performance right now.

I wouldn't consider a used D3 to be a great value for Chopper because he wants Video and the regular D3 doesn't have video. the D3-S does..Im oretty sure this is correct.

I think one of the reasons he asked about full frame such as D800 is the ability to use his older full frame lenses to their full capacity without the crop factor.

Otherwise, D7100 is a darn good camera. I will be replacing my D7000 with a 7100 in a few months.
I was thinking of replacing a D7000 too. But shouldn't it about time for a D7200?

[chopper]

Yeah I have quite a bit of old glass so I'd need to use a body that utilizes it. So my choice is D800 or D3?

[Kraniac]

As mentioned before..the D3 does not have video capability..it's a stripped down basically, basic camera that's designed to shoot fast and efficiently with a 12 megapixel full frame sensor.