Need help choosing between a camera or a lens

[Gabriel MX]

Hello Everyone
This is my first post on the forum, I am a new member, so let me introduce myself:
I am Gabriel, 26 and living in UK (Hastings) originally from Romania;
I love and always did to take photographs, in special close-up, wildlife, landscape and portraits (in order)
I own a D3400 DX with Nikkor 50mm f1.8G, and I want now to do some investment (hopefully for more in the future) and I am really undecided what should I focus to buy first:

Nikon D750 body only (£1500) or
NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR (£1800)

I am asking here because I know you are great people with deep knowledge, I am following this forum for a while as well, but never posted before...

Some people I asked they said that I should go for the D750 because combined with the 50mm prime, the results would be stunning!

Some other people told me that I should go for the lenses, since I will basically have them forever on any camera, and I can take proper photographs of wildlife / closeup even with my D3400, and opting for new camera later.

Here I ask your opinion. What should I focus to buy first? My next "shopping " would not be less than 3 months later after this purchase (hopefully next week)

Thank you very much for your help and see you around

 

[snerkler]

This depends on a few different factors such as budget and what you intend on shooting. Do you understand the main differences between full frame and APS-C (crop) bodies? Do you also understand how they affect the focal length of your lens?

As a general rule I usually say build your lenses first and then look at bodies later. Lenses tend to hold their prices better (especially if buying used) whereas bodies tend to lose value pretty quickly as newer tech comes out. Also, lenses 'generally' make more of a difference to your photography.

Onto the main differences between full frame such as the D750 and crop sensor such as your D3400. (this assumes similar age tech)

1) FF will give you less noise at higher ISO, and so will give you cleaner sharper images in low light.
2) Crop sensor cameras 'crop' the image, so the angle of view of your lens will be different to that shown on the lens. Nikon has 1.5x crop so your D3400 your 50mm will give you the field of view of a 75mm lens (50 x 1.5 = 75).
3) FF appears to give you a shallower depth of field (more subject isolation) assuming you're framing the image the same. I say "appears" as sensor size doesn't affect the depth of field, but it's because you have to be further away with a crop body to frame the same and subject distance plays a critical role in depth of field.
4) FF traditionally gave you more dynamic range, however this gap has pretty much been bridged.
5) All things considered equal FF will give you better IQ/will be sharper but the difference is minimal these days.

What you also have to consider here is that the D750 is much more of a pro level body than your D3400 so it has a better autofocus system, more functions, is weather sealed etc etc so there are these things to consider as well. You need to consider whether the AF system will offer you more benefit for your shooting than a new lens.

Going back to previous comments of the 50mm being stunning on the D750, other than the depth of field I can't see that you'll see a big difference from what you have in terms of outright image quality, unless you're shooting in the dark all the time.

As you say that you prefer wildlife over portraits and landscape I would say a telephoto lens should be more of a priority, 50mm on a FF camera is far from an ideal wildlife setup. I would also consider looking at the Sigma C and Tamron 150-600mm lenses. Longer focal length than the Nikon with comparable image quality, and considerably cheaper. The only thing is they're about 400g heavier than the 80-400mm.

If you think that you will go FF at some point make sure you invest in FF (FX) lenses so that you can use them if you 'upgrade'.

 

[Mightyboosh]

Hi Gabriel and welcome!! If it was me with that (nice) decision I would opt for glass over the D750 - you could even probably opt for a good 2nd hand upgrade on the body and still have a decent sum left to increase/improve your selection of lenses.

 

[Gabriel MX]

Lovely. To be honest I was thinking a while about a couple of lenses on FX like 70-300 and 80-400 but I was never thinking so far as 150-600. I would need more advices about which one have better "VR" system and better overall image quality...
I am aware as well about the difference from FF and crop bodies and how affect them in term of focal length.
Very helpful to get advises from you.

 

[snerkler]

Lovely. To be honest I was thinking a while about a couple of lenses on FX like 70-300 and 80-400 but I was never thinking so far as 150-600. I would need more advices about which one have better "VR" system and better overall image quality...
I am aware as well about the difference from FF and crop bodies and how affect them in term of focal length.
Very helpful to get advises from you.

In terms of image quality there's little to choose between the 80-400mm, Tamron 150-600mm VC Gen 1 and Sigma Contemporary 150-600mm. Any difference is likely to be down to sample variation or technique. The Tamron has some level of weather sealing, but the Sigma doesn't. There is a Gen 2 Tamron just released but there's not much about this lens yet, and it's still quite pricey. The 150-600mm's are big heavy beasts though and not everyone finds them easy to handle.

As for VR systems I believe they're all pretty good, not sure which is best.

 

[realspeed]

You are just down the road from me as I am in Bexhill on sea. I work with a D800 and that new version 80-400mm VR lens, the amount one is able to crop without picture quality loss is amazing. As for how good the VR is I don't think you can better it. Remember that lens is designed to be used on an FF camera

 

[Gabriel MX]

Lovely, very nice to see someone on the forum, so close to my location

Does anyone have any details about the performance of the nikkor 200-500mm ??

 

[snerkler]

Lovely, very nice to see someone on the forum, so close to my location

Does anyone have any details about the performance of the nikkor 200-500mm ??

Again, another great lens with IQ comparable to the lenses already mentioned. It's heavier still though at 2.3kg, and more expensive than the Sigma C and Tamron Gen 1.