I want to upgrade from my D3100, any ideas?

Alvi said:

Oh well, almost three years passed since I got my first DSLR, the D3100 and I kinda want to upgrade to something better. Over the years I got a few things, I also had a telephoto which I sold since I didn't really find much use to it and I still have a SB-910, 35mm f/1.8 lens and (obviously) the 18-55mm kit lens. Today, it's battery is failing,

I'm not sure if I should go full frame since it's very expensive plus that I need to invest in new lenses... The single reason I am considering this is because the "crop" in crop sensors is really frustrating me, the prime lens selection is just sad and I'm really looking into low f stops. So I don't know if more megapixels a higher ISO or more overall settings of a D7100 would help much.

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Forms D3200 owner here, now using a D7100. Reason I chose the D7100 was the better control layout (like two control dials for manual shooting), and its the top of the line crop sensor from Nikon. The budget wouldn't stretch to a D610 which would have been my ideal choice.
What you shoot will depend on what's important to you, but use the camera comparison tables over on dpreview.com.

Alvi said:

Thanks for the suggestion, I made a comparison between the D3100, D610 and D800 and to be honest you start getting the same features once you get in the full frame club, the D800 seems to have some nice added features but I guess I could live without them considering it costs 40% more and the ISO is the same... nice, well then my full frame idea might get cheaper than I thought

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You can also check out the D610, much cheaper than D800

aerok said:

You can also check out the D610, much cheaper than D800

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Listen to aerok!
The D610 or a used D600 is a much better bargain than the D800!

No harm in waiting a couple months to see what the rumoured new Nikon ff camera is all about: Nikon Rumors

If nothing else, it could result in some great bargain D600 and D610's on the used market.

Alvi said:

Yup, that's what I said, it seems to be a great option, I don't know why I never considered any full frames besides the D800. The single issue is that decent lenses are pricey, any suggestions?
I'm considering the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 but I'm considering something wider too...

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If price is an issue, you can also check out the Sigma equivalent. Not as good as Nikon but still an amazing lens for much cheaper.

Nikon lens selection can get quite complicated and expensive in my opinion, that's why I prefer Canon =D

What do you use your cam for?

Alvi said:

Yup, that's what I said, it seems to be a great option, I don't know why I never considered any full frames besides the D800. The single issue is that decent lenses are pricey, any suggestions?
I'm considering the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 but I'm considering something wider too...

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Again depends what you shoot.

For Landscape you can't beat the Nikon 14-24 mm 2.8.
Choose between the 35mm or 55 mm Primes for portrait.
If you need a telephoto the 70-200 mm 2.8 is great, otherwise the 70-300 4.5-5.6 is okay on a budget.
I also love my 60 mm Macro, 10.5 mm 2.8 Fish eye and 24-70 mm 2.8.
I purchased all of these used from work, otherwise I couldn't hope to own them all.
But again depends on what you shoot.

Alvi said:

Yup, that's what I said, it seems to be a great option, I don't know why I never considered any full frames besides the D800. The single issue is that decent lenses are pricey, any suggestions?
I'm considering the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 but I'm considering something wider too...

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if you spend the money to go full frame I'd not make zooms a priority.
You are after low f-stops and bokeh? Get primes!
Start with the nikkor 50mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8. The 50mm 1.8g is an absolute must with any nikon ff body. If you don't mind the manual focus look at the samyang/rokinon/walimex range. Excellent, super fast primes for a fraction of what nikon and sigma charge.

Alvi said:

What do you think about the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED? It kinda offers the flexibility of the 18-55mm DX kit lens,I'm not sure I want to pay that price tag tho...

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I would get the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art, it beats any 50mm that Nikon and Canon offers and very affordable.

Alvi said:

What do you think about the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED? It kinda offers the flexibility of the 18-55mm DX kit lens,I'm not sure I want to pay that price tag tho...

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Lots of good information here in response but also a lot of speculation because you haven't mentioned a budget.

aerok said:

I would get the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art, it beats any 50mm that Nikon and Canon offers and very affordable.

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I was under the impression the OP is on a budget.
The sigma art is almost 10x the price of the nikkor 1.8 and about the real life differences have a look here: http://text.flowtographyberlin.de/zeiss-otus-vs-sigma-art-vs-nikkor-58/7/

Alvi said:

I didn't specify a budget because prices tend to vary in my country compared to US prices, some things can be even 50% more expensive, as an example the D810 currently sells for 4600$. So what might get me a lot of stuff over there might not even be enough for a body here, gladly the other older bodies like the D610 are pretty much the same as the US (1800$-ish).

I would like to stay under 3000-3500$ in any case, I can afford to go for more than that but I just don't want to exaggerate at the beginning. I want a starter lens that can get me through a lot of situations and then I might jump into more specific stuff.
As Meister said, I could get the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G, it's really cheap and it's a must for any camera, it would basically be the equivalent to my DX 35mm f/1.8 which I just love but I would like to have something wider and also something that can get closer to the subject.

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Sounds to me like the D610 and the 50mm f/1.8 that Meister suggested would be a good choice. Both will perform well and that lens is probably one of the best bargains going in FX.

This will also leave you room for all the extras if you don't have them already.

I like the 24-70mm Nikon lens. It's very fast and sharp. A little on the heavy side but a good investment. I don't have it in my bag yet but I've rented it several times whenever I have a paying gig.


If I was you I would way the pros and cons on your next purchase. The lenses do hold their value. Remember that you can use more of the Nikon lens catalog when you step up from an entry level camera. The D-type lenses will also work. A nice 28-70mm f/2.8 D is an option. You can shoot with prime lenses on a full frame, until you save up for a zoom lens.


Best Buy just had the D800 for $2300. After you decide what lens you want, wait for deal for the body D610 or D7100 or D800 or D810. Sign up with the online stores BH photo and Adorama for deals. Best Buy occasionally will run a deal too.

Working pro here with the D800. It's an amazing camera, but you have to be both VERY proficient in your technique *and* have top-quality pro glass to get the benefits of the high resolution. Otherwise, you're just dealing with large file sizes for no reason.

And I hate the 24-70. Not because it's bad glass, but because midrange zooms are uninspiring, expensive, and heavy. You'd be much better off buckling down with a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art and really learning to use your feet to zoom. One of the best things I ever did starting out was take the advice to avoid zooms for a while. I didn't own a single zoom for 3 years. To this day I only have two (14-24 and 70-200) and they don't get much use. Although I really do love that 14-24 a lot.

I here the advice of avoid zooms a lot and just buy primes. However, this only suits a certain type of photography. If you say want to shoot wildlife, a 35mm prime isn't going to give you want you want.
It's horses for courses. Our equipment is just the tools we use. As we are doing different jobs, we all need different tools.
Talking to a friend yesterday about shooting in Snowdiona. He left half his equipment in the car because it was too heavy. We all have to compromise, and I'd rather carry my 24-70 2.8 than two primes to cover the same focal length.

Yeah, zoom with your feet doesn't really work for landscapes. Example:
You get to your location, look around, find a general composition, fine tune it by stepping a bit to the left or right, up or down. You find that perfect spot where the tree on the left aligns with the mountain range and the bush on the left just clears the lake line. This is the exact spot you need to shoot from. And for this exact composition you need 21mm. You can either shoot wider and crop or use a zoom. Zooming with your feet isn't an option because your point of view changes, your composition changes, your shot is right here, not 40 meters closer ...

Alvi said:

Oh well, almost three years passed since I got my first DSLR, the D3100 and I k... The single reason I am considering this is because the "crop" in crop sensors is really frustrating me, the prime lens selection is just sad and I'm really looking into low f stops. So I don't know if more megapixels a higher ISO or more overall settings of a D7100 would help much.

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WHAT??? Nikon has an extensive selection of prime lenses that fit the D3100.

EVERY FX (full frame) lens will fit your D3100. You don't need to by the DX version of the lens.

There are a few lenses that don't fit the D3100. Those would be some very old manual focus lenses and the first version of auto focus lenses that did not have internal focus motors. but EVERY current in-production lens fits your D3100

If yu 'd like a camera that can mount and use those older manual lenses and the older AF lenses I've look at the D300s. It will accept EVERY nikon lens going back to the early 1960's

I have a D200 that I use with my 60'd vintage 58mm macro lens and doe others I used with 70's vintage film SLRs.

But I think your misunderstanding might be just that you think only DX lenses fit the DX body. No, not true. Full farm lenses work perfectly

gnd said:

Yeah, zoom with your feet doesn't really work for landscapes. Example:
You get to your location, look around, find a general composition, fine tune it by stepping a bit to the left or right, up or down. You find that perfect spot where the tree on the left aligns with the mountain range and the bush on the left just clears the lake line. This is the exact spot you need to shoot from. And for this exact composition you need 21mm. You can either shoot wider and crop or use a zoom. Zooming with your feet isn't an option because your point of view changes, your composition changes, your shot is right here, not 40 meters closer ...

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Yes. this is correct. But your feet NEVER work like a zoom lens.

Changing camera location ALWAYS changes the perspective. Even in a head and shoulders portrait. Perspective is the parallax described above but just as important perspective is the relive size of foreground and background objects. By waling backwards you make foreground objects smaller, they get bigger by walking up closer to them. The background is so far away the walking fore or back does not change it much.

AFTER you have the perspective the zoom lens (or changing primes, or cropping on the computer later) only controls the field of view or "frames" the image. The lens determines what is in and what is out but has zero control over both aspects of perspective.

The normal beginner thing is to totally ignore perspective and thing only about framing. Hence you see them never walk around. Both are needed but you can always crop later and shoot slightly wide.

What was hard was shooting slides. Anyone here shoot slides? You have zero change to edit or correct anything. I showed some projected slides a while back. The audience was completely blown away by the image quality. They have gotten used to "screen quality" or 1080 "HD" quality which is about 2 megapixels total. Few people today have ever seen a full quality image.

We bbbuy these high quality SLRs then display our images using TVsets at best. Kind of a waste. Get out the old slide projector.

Alvi said:

I just ordered the D610 and the 50mm f/1.8 AF-S, they should arrive by tomorrow! I ended up just getting the prime lens considering that your words aren't very good on zooms anyway. This way I stayed closer to 2k and not 3k, which would have been quite a stretch for me.

I am considering to get in the future the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro, I am really curious about macro photography and I guess it could work as a decent zoom too, what do you think?

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excellent choice! Enjoy!
I am also considering the sigma. Review it once you get it.

Do not get a D600. Nikon has been slow to admit (and really they never did) that their are problems with sensor dust and oil from the shutter mechanism getting on the sensor giving you dirty photos. It's very hit or miss on if you'll end up with a problem camera or not. And Nikon expects YOU to pay to ship the camera to them to get it cleaned and a few parts replaced....but then it gets dirty again a few 1000 clicks later.

They solved the problem with the D610.

EDIT: Sorry, I missed you just ordered a D610. Good choice.