Nikon- new D5100 or s/h D300?

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Ray
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Confused.me, I`m moving from canon to nikon because a friend has a few pro spec lenses that i am able to use.

would i be better with the 16meg 5100 or the 12meg d300? as they are about the same price?

what would i lose by going for the newer 5100?

I do occasional weddings and some studio stuff as well as daily pics of my family

Ta
Ray
 
the d300 af motor is built into the body . the 5100 requires lens with af motors in the lens., this can limit your future choice of lens particularly second hand.

if you want the video option the the d300 has not got it.

Cheers Steve
 
The AF-S should be ok as the AF motor is in the Body. The other lenses *should* work however if they are dependent on the camera having an AF screw they wont AF and will be manual focus only.
 
16 m/pixels is probably more than most poeple need , and the d300 has a good track record. i would still go with the d300 depends on the condition.


Cheers Steve
 
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D300= semi pro body
D5100= budget consumer body

I'd take the d300 without a thought, but it depends entirely on your experience and what you want from a camera. To me, build quality, robustness and on camera controls are way more important that the latest gimick or product.

MP means nothing unless you are printing huge posters or doing massive crops. 10MP will get you an A2 sized print, so 16 is unnessecary.
 
D300 for all of the above but most importantly the far superior AF. The D300 has the 51 point AF from the Nikon FX bodies.

The AF alone makes it a no brainer for me
 
The D5100 has much better image quality, lower noise at Higher ISO, comes with a 2 year warranty and will only use AFS lenses.

The D300 is more rugged and most of the features you need are available via buttons. It can also use non AFS auto focus lenses.

I have a D300 as a back up camera but would rather have a D5100 due to the better image quality.
 
I love my D300 but for weddings the high ISO capabilities of the D5100 would be pretty handy. It also does video. For just about everything else, I would say the D300.
 
ah5168 said:
The D5100 has much better image quality, lower noise at Higher ISO, comes with a 2 year warranty and will only use AFS lenses.

The D300 is more rugged and most of the features you need are available via buttons. It can also use non AFS auto focus lenses.

I have a D300 as a back up camera but would rather have a D5100 due to the better image quality.
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where does it have much better image quality.
 
ah5168 said:
The D5100 has much better image quality, lower noise at Higher ISO, comes with a 2 year warranty and will only use AFS lenses.

The D300 is more rugged and most of the features you need are available via buttons. It can also use non AFS auto focus lenses.

I have a D300 as a back up camera but would rather have a D5100 due to the better image quality.
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I am not sure that it has? Is it much better at higher ISO??? The AF is far better on the D300, build quality and buttons also make this a no brainer for me. D300 every time, unless you need smaller camera or video.
 
If you want something a bit cheaper 2nd hand but still a good camera you could throw a D90 in the ring?
 
If you want video stick to Canon

If you want good fingertip control, better AF, faster shutter speed, better build, ability to AF with AF-D lenses buy the D300.

It depends what you want- I couldn't use any entry camera as I find them functionally castrated but for some that doesn't matter- the D5100 does have a flip out screen which many find extremely useful but again it depends what you shoot. I've spent some time with a D7000 (with the same sensor) but I'm not sure I could say image quality was so much better compared to a D300:shrug:. It may be but it wasn't immediately obvious so I wouldn't be worried by only having a D300.
 
I have discounted the 5100, loking at a d300 and sigma lens or maybe d90 and a nikon 24-70 2.8 and upgrade the body after christmas
Cheers
Ray
 
Narrowed it down to a D90 and a sigma etc 24-70 f2.8.
are there any compatability issues with sigma and nikon like there are with sigma and canon?
Cheers
Ray
 
Thought I had scored a d7000+18-105vr at a bargain price on amazon, paid now cancelled -not in stock- any body else have this problem? never bought an expensive thing from there so googled it first, refund should come from amazon shortly.
Ray
 
scottthehat said:
where does it have much better image quality.
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The noise floor is very low, so you can underexpose your images for the highlights and pull up the shadows quite effectively.

I like the feel of the Nikon D200+ bodies. The buttons are in the right places and it feels very solid. For the 80-200 f2.8 a case-anchored metal mounts is a nice to have.

A used D90 would be another cheaper option.
 
D5100 has the same sensor as the D7000, but looking at the body and the controls it has less direct access controls than the D3100. I would only go for the D5100 if you are going to use the camera on auto.

D90 is an older camera, my parents have them and I prefer my D3100 by a long way.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
D5100 has the same sensor as the D7000, but looking at the body and the controls it has less direct access controls than the D3100. I would only go for the D5100 if you are going to use the camera on auto.

D90 is an older camera, my parents have them and I prefer my D3100 by a long way.
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I think the D3100 and D5100 are more or less the same in terms of control systems. At least I can't see any difference. It is true though that the lack of controls on these bodies can be frustrating when you like to work manually.

I'm surprised you prefer the D3100 to the D90. The D90's external control would always sway it for me and, other than better video, I can't really see what the D3100 offers over the D90.
 
The D3100 has a nice dial under the main control knob for selecting between single, multiple, timer or quiet, I use this quite a bit for switching between modes, but it is missing on the D5100. It is on the D7000 though.

The D3100 has everything displayed on the main screen. On the D90 I had to look at the top screen for some info and the main screen for other. The display on the main screen is much clearer on the D3100 than on the D90 (better contrast between text and background, nicer layout etc.).

The controls I would like on a button are focus mode and metering mode and also the bracketing (for creating HDRs). These are on the D90, but the D90 just doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Ken Rockwell said:
The Nikon D90 is a fantastic camera. It's Nikon's newest and best DX format DSLR. I prefer it to the old D300, which costs almost twice as much. That's the way it goes with digital cameras: new is almost always better, even for much less cost. The D90 has identical, or slightly better technical image quality than the D300, the exact same rear LCD, and adds several very useful ergonomic features for faster handling compared to the D300. These handling improvements will let you react faster to conditions, meaning you're more likely to get better pictures by being better prepared.
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I have the D3100 and looking at the D5100 I'm not classing it as an upgrade as it adds no real features that I would use, the D90 seems a sidestop to me, so the D7000 is the only upgrade choice.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
The D3100 has a nice dial under the main control knob for selecting between single, multiple, timer or quiet, I use this quite a bit for switching between modes, but it is missing on the D5100. It is on the D7000 though.
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Yeah, that is quite handy I must admit. Surprised it's on the D3100 but not D5100.

Dale_d3100 said:
The D3100 has everything displayed on the main screen. On the D90 I had to look at the top screen for some info and the main screen for other. The display on the main screen is much clearer on the D3100 than on the D90 (better contrast between text and background, nicer layout etc.).
Click to expand...

I don't know if the D90 is the same but on the D300 you have the option of displaying all of that info on the back screen as well. I personally don't find it that useful unless the camera is in a position where I can't see the top screen.
 
I'm just so used to have a look at the back screen to preview an image, zoom in and then need to change something, I am already looking at the backscreen, so it would be odd to look at the top screen. I'm not sure all info is displayed on the backscreen.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
I'm just so used to have a look at the back screen to preview an image, zoom in and then need to change something, I am already looking at the backscreen, so it would be odd to look at the top screen. I'm not sure all info is displayed on the backscreen.
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My D5000 was the same in that all the info was on the back. When I first got the D300 with its top LCD I thought that it almost seemed a backward step but you do get used to it very fast. One thing that is handy is that if you ever use live view (I use it a bit for macro among other things), then you can still view all of the camera setting on the upper LCD and see Live View on the main screen.
 
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