Aurora Hunting - Time To Replace My Trusty Nikon D90??

Atomic UK

Atomic UK

Messages
34
Edit My Images
Yes
I purchased my trusty Nikon D90 new on release in 2009 and as a very amateur / hobbyist photography albeit perhaps with a keen eye, I have never spent a great deal of time (or money) since on improving what I have.

However, I have recently moved to the beautiful Scottish Highlands and ever day I am shooting more and more with a particular interest in the Aurora.
The 'season' started this week and I finally had my first chase last night with mixed results.

I am using a Tokina ATR-X Pro 11-20mm F2.8 DX lens for the night shots and on the D90, the ISO goes to H1 / 6400.

Naturally there have been many other improvements since 2009 when I bought the D90, bluetooth / wifi, 2 SD slots etc.

I cannot justify anything top end like D5 and while a used D3 is in budget, it is older technology than the D90, albeit it far superior.

My budget is max £1000 / $1300 and naturally I need my two lone lenses to work with it.
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Tokina ATR-X Pro 11-20mm F2.8 DX

Some older posts suggest the D7100 or the newer D7200.

Could anyone else who has moved from a D90 suggest anything else to consider?

Thank you in advance.
 
Hi

As you want to use your lens then d7200, if you had a higher budget I would say D750.

That is what I have upgraded to from my d90 and love it.
 
sep9001 said:
Hi

As you want to use your lens then d7200, if you had a higher budget I would say D750.

That is what I have upgraded to from my d90 and love it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, the D750 seems an excellent choice.
Presumably though you then had to buy all new lenses for it which adds to the budget massively?
Do you do much night sky photography?
Thanks again.
 
Sorry don't do any night photography, once I had decided to go FF I sold all the dx lenses and bought FF lenses. The only dx lens I have is the Tamron 17-50f2.8 as I still have the d90 which I hope to pass on to the kids.

I have not bought expensive lenses, the most expensive one was about £180, but had to send it off to get it fixed as I was not happy with the focus.

All others have been below £150ish.
 
sep9001 said:
Hi

As you want to use your lens then d7200, if you had a higher budget I would say D750.

That is what I have upgraded to from my d90 and love it.
Click to expand...

seconded on the D750, i upgraded to mine from a D90 and am glad i did. In terms of the lenses you can still use your old lenses while you save for new ones in crop mode, i still occasionally use my tokina 11-16mm on the d750 if i need to go wider than 24mm since i haven't been able to save for a wide angle yet. Don't get me wrong crop mode isn't a permanent solution as you lose a lot of resolution using it but for things like the aurora where you will be wanting as much of the sky in shot as possible i don't think you would have too many issues
 
keeweeman said:
seconded on the D750, i upgraded to mine from a D90 and am glad i did. In terms of the lenses you can still use your old lenses while you save for new ones in crop mode, i still occasionally use my tokina 11-16mm on the d750 if i need to go wider than 24mm since i haven't been able to save for a wide angle yet. Don't get me wrong crop mode isn't a permanent solution as you lose a lot of resolution using it but for things like the aurora where you will be wanting as much of the sky in shot as possible i don't think you would have too many issues
Click to expand...

Many thanks for the reply, I could possibly stretch the budget to the D750 (especially having looked at an excellent comparison review between that and the D7200.)

I guess at it is a new possible option, i'm nervous though about the crop and lose of resolution if I used the Tokina with it.
Would you have any examples of the impact?

Thanks again.
 
I shoot a d750 for a lot of night photography and before I got fx lenses I used my tokina 11-16 but not in crop mode. At 16mm there is only a hint of vignetting on the fx sensor. I tested it with other lenses and found out that in all circumstances I could get a larger image cropping manually than using dx crop mode.
 
Thank you for the replies.
Interestingly, I happened upon the N PHOTO magazine, summer edition today reviewing the D7500.

It stacked it up against the D7200, D500 and the FX D750.

I naturally assumed the D750 would win, but for low light (my main subject), it recommended the new D7500, I assume partly for the better ISO ability?

Anyone using the new D7500 doing night images?
 
I think you are venturing into gilding the lily territory as all cameras mentions are miiiiiles better than the D90 and assuming you like your current lenses then either the D7200 or D7500 will more than suffice, sensor tech has moved on a long way since the D90, and even the D3.

The D7500 is new and I'm not aware of anyone on this form who has one, people seem to have taken it only having a single SD slot as an offence which immediately cripples a camera. I don't really understand that as I've had a few dual card cameras and never really bothered to use the extra one and never lost an image.
 
MartinCornwall said:
I shoot a d750 for a lot of night photography and before I got fx lenses I used my tokina 11-16 but not in crop mode. At 16mm there is only a hint of vignetting on the fx sensor. I tested it with other lenses and found out that in all circumstances I could get a larger image cropping manually than using dx crop mode.
Click to expand...
I have the Tokina 11-20 ... its usable from around 15-16mm in FX mode and you can crop nicer than DX mode would automatically for wider angles.
 
Nawty said:
people seem to have taken it only having a single SD slot as an offence which immediately cripples a camera. I don't really understand that as I've had a few dual card cameras and never really bothered to use the extra one and never lost an image.
Click to expand...
The biggest advantage (for me) of the dual card slots is never forgetting a card because it's left in the computer :) (There's always the second card left in the camera)
 
Still weighing up the options and leaning towards the D500 right now. Curious as to no recommendation for it so far?
 
Atomic UK said:
Still weighing up the options and leaning towards the D500 right now. Curious as to no recommendation for it so far?
Click to expand...

That's definitely the pick of the DX options. I guess why people are often hesitant to recommend it, is that it's a similar price to a few FX options which would do better in low light. It's worth every penny if you need a lightning fast camera but not sure that is really what you need from your description.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned a D610. Big saving over the D750 and basically the same sensor. It's ideal for night stuff. Very clean high ISO. You would need to consider your lens line up but there might have been a fair bit of change from your budget to do a little a little bit of lens swapping. A £400 Sigma 24mm 1.4 would be amazing for this stuff.

If you're sticking with DX, I'd suggest that a D7100 will serve you just fine for your intended usage and save plenty of £'s.
 
Last edited:
Atomic UK said:
Still weighing up the options and leaning towards the D500 right now. Curious as to no recommendation for it so far?
Click to expand...

Basically it is massive overkill for what you want, you'd be paying money for features it seems you don't need. It is a great camera though.
 
Last edited:
gad-westy said:
That's definitely the pick of the DX options. I guess why people are often hesitant to recommend it, is that it's a similar price to a few FX options which would do better in low light. It's worth every penny if you need a lightning fast camera but not sure that is really what you need from your description.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned a D610. Big saving over the D750 and basically the same sensor. It's ideal for night stuff. Very clean high ISO. You would need to consider your lens line up but there might have been a fair bit of change from your budget to do a little a little bit of lens swapping. A £400 Sigma 24mm 1.4 would be amazing for this stuff.

If you're sticking with DX, I'd suggest that a D7100 will serve you just fine for your intended usage and save plenty of £'s.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the replies everyone and to gad-westy and for adding another to the list of options, the D610!

I am normally really good at researching and deciding what suits my needs, but this time I feel like i'm on a merry-go-round with an excellent option at each turn.

Not being anywhere near a 'decent' new camera gear store makes this hard, but I have found what looks like an excellent used gear store, so may have to pay them a visit.
That said, the 'grey import' store I use has new gear cheaper than the used!...

The overkill for what I want would perhaps be the case if I did only just shoot the aurora, but maybe I will end up using it for everything and retire the D90 or keep it as a back up.

I do appreciate the replies and the images, it is all food for thought.
 
Atomic UK said:
Not being anywhere near a 'decent' new camera gear store makes this hard, but I have found what looks like an excellent used gear store, so may have to pay them a visit.
Click to expand...

If in northern Scotland, try ffordes just outside Inverness, they have new and used cameras, lenses, all the gear!
 
ChrisR said:
If in northern Scotland, try ffordes just outside Inverness, they have new and used cameras, lenses, all the gear!
Click to expand...
Thanks, that is where I was referring to.

Sadly I found they are not open on Saturday's so I will have to try to get down to them in the week if I can get away from work.
Some of the prices do look a bit steep on their used gear though?
 
Just to round this up, I went for a used D750 and so far could not be happier with it.
Plenty of scope to learn into and taking my old lenses for now is a major plus especially as even in cropped, they come out about the same as the FX lenses i'd be looking at.

Also, a HUGE thumbs up for Ffordes who could not have been more helpful and I am fine with what I paid (used) given the warranty and excellent service.

Thank everyone.
 
Good choice, enjoy your new camera.
 
I used to be cropped canon (30D, then 40D, then 70D). I moved to nikon d750 and the improvement in iso posibilities is incredible.
I can shoot wild life at iso 5000 with the canon 70D i would not like going up to iso 1600.
And when I shoot northern light and milky way i can shot at iso 6400 all the way with no problem, i'm sure i could go higher but i don't. I have a nikon 20mm 1.8G but i heard the sigma 20mm 1.8 ART is equally good. This couple to the D750 and you get something amazing in your hands!
 
27308037173_bd0127982e_o.jpg

This was taken on my D600/610.... same camera!

1second exposure..... ISO.......







25,600




I kid you not
 
Lemaildetom said:
I used to be cropped canon (30D, then 40D, then 70D). I moved to nikon d750 and the improvement in iso posibilities is incredible.
I can shoot wild life at iso 5000 with the canon 70D i would not like going up to iso 1600.
And when I shoot northern light and milky way i can shot at iso 6400 all the way with no problem, i'm sure i could go higher but i don't. I have a nikon 20mm 1.8G but i heard the sigma 20mm 1.8 ART is equally good. This couple to the D750 and you get something amazing in your hands!
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will check those out.
 
I had a d7000 with a 18-35 1.8 sigma art lens! Cracking set up! I upgraded to that from a d90
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top