I have recently become the owner of a Nikon D800 and some new lenses. Yes, I know, its not a big deal really, but in the process of making the upgrade (I have been shooting on a Nikon D80 for 7 years now) I gave myself some hurdles to jump over before jumping in and spending the big bucks. Camera manufacturers want you to believe that you NEED (important word…NEED) the latest camera body. Every year they will bring out a new model, with some new features or upgrade in the specs and then tell you that the old model is still good, but to get the best images, you NEED the latest model. Well, thats a half truth. As you know, my first recommendation is always, master your camera, get to know it inside and out. Once you have that down, then your images will begin to improve. Once you are getting a good amount of images that are working for you, then work hard at getting more and more great images. Once you feel you have pushed your camera to the limits of its capabilities, then it might be worthwhile looking for a new camera. This process can be a few years long!
For me, it was 7 years. The reasons that caused me to upgrade my camera were numerous, but in no particular order…I had worn the back cover off my D80, I had shot almost 100 000 images through it and it was still going, but it was ageing. The shutter release button was only working on every second or third press of the button and lastly, any ISO setting above 400 became tricky to work with because of the noise (Photoshop helped me a lot in this regard, but it took a lot of time to get the noise to acceptable levels) You will notice that Pixels were never really an issue. My D80 was a 10 megapixel camera and it served me well and helped to get some really good commercial clients. I also shot some amazing landscape images on that camera, in places that I may never return to, in short, it was a fantastic camera. I realised about a year ago that I needed to upgrade. In a nutshell, this was the process I went through.
1. How much did I want to spend?
I knew that I wanted to go full frame, so I factored in the cost of that. Most of my lenses are full frame lenses and so it was pretty easy to do that. I knew it was going to be expensive, so I waited and saved so that I didn’t need to go into debt for this kit. Thats my first piece of advice, be careful not to go into debt for your camera equipment, buy as much of it with cash as you can! So figure out your budget and keep it within a 10% range of what you want to spend.
2. Don’t believe all the marketing hype
Yes, the camera companies are going to push their solution. The new camera body is the most incredible piece of equipment until….next years new model. So really, buy the best that you can afford and use it to its utmost. Do the reading, try the camera out, see how it feels in your hands, but don’t be fooled by the marketing hype, be realistic.
3. Buy the best lenses you can afford
I say this often to photographers. Invest in the lenses. In 5 years, that shiny new camera body will be old and clunky, but your lenses (if you buy good ones) will be in good condition and able to make great images still. Buy pro spec lenses as far as possible. Yes, they are MUCH more expensive, but the price is worth it. They are well made, often they are weatherproof and they give amazing image quality. Also, you can use them on your new camera in 5 years from now and if you don’t like a lens, you can sell it, second hand, for a little less than you paid (if its in good condition of course) Lenses are the eye to your camera’s soul, if you don’t invest in lenses, the images from the best camera body will look soft and average.
4. Buy to your ability and usage
Be careful not to by the top of the range camera just because you think it is worth it or that you will get better images. My reason for choosing the Nikon D800 was that I wanted a full frame camera that I could use for landscape photography. I don’t do action or sports photography, so I didn’t need to buy the Nikon D4S which is aimed at that market. The D800 is aimed at studio photographers and landscape photographers, so thats why I chose it. Choose according to your ability and your subject matter. If you do specialised photography, make sure your camera choice and lenses reflect that.
5. Learn your new camera
It took me a few days to get used to the way the Nikon D800 works. Some of the functions and buttons are in a different place to my previous camera, it feels different and the images are different. This takes getting used to. Its like buying a new pair of shoes, for the first few times you wear them, they dig into your feet, you can FEEL them and for a few days you think that you may have made a mistake. After two or three weeks with the new shoes, you feel relaxed and comfortable, the same is true with a new camera. You have to give it time though and work through the “discomfort” of your new addition.
I have had my camera for just over a month now and I am feeling that I am enjoying working with it. I have gotten used to the layout and buttons, sometimes I instinctively do something and its wrong but thats becoming less and less frequent. I am excited about the results I am seeing though, the new camera is helping me capture things differently and the image quality is amazing. Still, I have a very sentimental spot for my D80, it served me well and enabled me to enter the world of full-time photography. Maybe I will put that camera in a glass case one day as the camera that made me fall in love with photography!
