should I move to ff?

jamiebonline

jamiebonline

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Jamie
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I know this is an old one but let's see what you think based on the info I give you.

What I have:

Nikon D90

Sigma 17-50 2.8

Nikon 50 1.8 AFD

What I shoot:

Mostly portraits which vary from environmental wider angle stuff to more conventional telephoto shots. I mostly do 2/3 body but I would like to try very close face shots at some point. I like nice bokeh but it is not all what I am about. I also do some street photography. Great low light performance is not important. I have been taking pictures for about 5 years and I take it quite seriously.

What I want:

A second body because the D90 is aging and I sometimes organise TFP shoots where a second body is really handy. I can't decide on crop or full frame. Is having a crop as a backup to FF not such a good idea? A D700 now is around 800 whereas a D7000, which I am considering is half that. I also thought about a D600 and D7100. All secondhand.

I would also like a lens that gets closer. An 85 on FF or crop would do the trick. I could also buy the old 35-70 2.8 FF lens and use it on the crop body sometimes. That's quite a lot cheaper.

So what do you think?
 
D7200 and a sigma art 85mm 1.4
 
What would you hope to gain by going FF and are any of your current lenses compatible?
 
For what you want to shoot and what you say is or isn't important to you I'm not convinced you'll gain anything from going full frame tbh.
 
get the nikon D800 which also can do crop (DX). you have also the advantage to be able to crop down considereably without picture loss. Spotted one just now on that auction site with a low 18,000 actuation count
for just over £1000
 
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I know a couple of people that have gone full frame. Personally, I'm very happy with crop, but that is manly due to my nature photography. I think for landscapes and the like it is key. Having said tat, as bzza said above, for a little over £1000 you can get one that does both. Worth trying them out, what is the budget?
 
realspeed said:
get the nikon D800 which also can do crop (DX). you have also the advantage to be able to crop down considereably without picture loss. Spotted one just now on that auction site with a low 18,000 actuation count
for just over £1000
Click to expand...

The cropped d800 is less a quality than a crop dx 7200! I'd buy better glass for a d7000 than a d800 with a milk bottle on front
 
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If you have the budget then FF seems like a good direction to pursue. I prefer primes for portraits myself.
 
jamiebonline said:
Mostly portraits which vary from environmental wider angle stuff to more conventional telephoto shots. I mostly do 2/3 body but I would like to try very close face shots at some point. I like nice bokeh but it is not all what I am about. I also do some street photography. Great low light performance is not important. I have been taking pictures for about 5 years and I take it quite seriously.

I would also like a lens that gets closer. An 85 on FF or crop would do the trick. I could also buy the old 35-70 2.8 FF lens and use it on the crop body sometimes. That's quite a lot cheaper.

So what do you think?
Click to expand...

A FF body may well offer better ultimate quality but you may have to look closely or push things to the limit to see it.

I mostly use primes and they do have advantages such as the wider aperture and perhaps compactness compared to a zoom but these things don't matter to everyone and I do often wonder why some people seem to insist on shooting with primes when zooms cover the focal length and aperture they'll probably be using. For example I wouldn't be shooting many portraits at 85mm plus and f1.4 as next to nothing is going to be sharp and to get decent DoF I'm going to be at apertures a quality zoom could easily match.
 
jamiebonline said:
I would also like a lens that gets closer. An 85 on FF or crop would do the trick.
Click to expand...
Given that you already have a 50mm lens on a crop body, 85mm on a full frame body doesn't get you very much closer at all.
 
Going full frame was the biggest waste of money I ever did.
 
Mark twiglet said:
The cropped d800 is less a quality than a crop dx 7200! I'd buy better glass for a d7000 than a d800 with a milk bottle on front
Click to expand...
It's less resolution, whether it's less quality is debatable (y)
 
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