I've recently bitten the bullet and sold all my Nikon gear and purchased a mirrorless camera and lens. I had a Nikon D800E body with the following lenses: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, Sigma 105mm Macro, Nikon 50mm f/1.8, Nikon 70-300 AF-P. I got a good price on them all through private sales to fund the mirrorless camera. My reasons for selling up the full frame kit were pretty simple, weight and bulk. This is because I love landscape photography and the fact that I hike in and out of locations. I also wild camp, so I have a rucksack containing my tent or tarp, sleeping bag or quilt, stove, water, food and spare clothes etc. Adding my D800E with my favourite lens the 24-70, plus my heavy Gitzo tripod and head meant that there was considerable extra weight and bulk. I got fed up of hiking long distances and it sapping the fun out of my photography due to the extra weight and effort. So I bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago and went mirrorless. I bought a Fuji X-T3 with 16-80mm f/4 lens. I also bought a Benro carbon fibre tripod, which packs down much smaller than the Gitzo one. I've at least halved the weight with the new camera, lens and tripod when compared to my old set up, it's much less bulky now too so I can use my 38l rucksack for a two day hike/ camp and shoot. Shooting with the X-T3 is a joy, it feels great in the hand, the buttons and dials work for me in terms of layout etc. Happy days. I did have some reservations though, would the loss in image quality be dramatic? Would the loss in dynamic range be a problem? I have to say with all honesty, the X-T3 is rocking it for me. If I was to pixel peep then yes maybe there is some difference compared to the D800E, but I'm not taking photos to pixel peep! The mirrorless has made taking photos fun again. 15 miles in and I'm not questioning my hobby choices anymore ;-) Has anyone else made the change from full frame to mirrorless? How did your transition go?
You've also gone from full frame to aps-c. I can't see digital SLRs sticking around for much longer, especially now Canon and Nikon both have pro kit in the mirrorless arena, there's just no use case.
Yeah, also took a hit in MP's going from 36 to 26. I would have liked to go full frame mirrorless instead of APS-C but in all honesty that would have been purely for vanity's sake and not much else. I shot on APS-C with my Nikon D7200 for a good few years before going full frame so it was OK for me going back to APS-C. I agree, DSLRs are definitely looking to be on their last hurrah now. I guess there are going to be the diehards who choose to stick with the format for a good few more years, but for me it was time to give up the ghost of DSLRs and to find something that worked better for me. I won't be going back but I do have an old beat up but fully functional D800 body in the cellar, just in case I do develop an itch once in a while ;-)
A few years ago, I went from the good ol' 5D mark 2 with three L zoom lenses covering 16 to 200 and a few primes, to Fujifilm X-E2, 10-24, 18-55 and 55-200 and 60 micro. The reason was exactly same as you, don't want the bulk and pixel peeping days are behind me. The switch was more seamless than I expected. I had a Fujifilm x100 on the side of 5D2, and found myself using x100 more. X100 is such a fun camera. The switch essentially gave me similar Fuji colours making post processing easier. To be honest, the lens quality is more than good enough these days to allow dense but smaller sensors to shine. The smaller sensors are also good enough in high ISO. So you wouldn't have missed much moving from older full frame to APS-C mirrorless.
I bought a mirrorless. It's good, but won't replace the SLR for high speed work, such as sports/speed events.
So it's been just under 2 years and I'm going back to full frame! I do love the Fuji X-T3 but I missed using my Nikon D800. When I sold my D800E and lenses I had an old D800 that was never getting used. I kept it as I would get next to nothing for it. It got dropped and part of the flash housing frame got bent and the plastic broken. I straightened the frame out and glued the plastic together. Functionally it all works as it should and you can't tell unless you're really looking but I knew this would impact on resale value so I kept it. I've missed the D800, something I wasn't expecting. It's heavier, bulkier and older. However I just like using it. I do like the X-T3 too, it's tactile and all the functions I need are easily visible and accessible. I do some large prints occasionally though and the full frame does win over the X-T3 in this respect. I'm playing with the idea of selling my X-T3 and putting that towards a full frame mirrorless but haven't bitten the bullet yet. I'll use both cameras for now though.
The D800 and D800E are amazing cameras still. I don't do enough proper photography these days to upgrade, but keep up with gear developments as I was in pro photo retail for years. I have a D7000 kit and added a Fuji XT1 to play with last year. The 18-55kit lens is great and I like how the camera handles. I did scratch a Nikon Z 'itch' the other week as I was near the last remaining local camera shop. The Z7 with 24-70 was a nice bit of kit, really ergonomic and seemed really capable. No need to change, but good to see where Nikon is going. The Z50 doesn't work quite the way I like, maybe a higher spec DX Z camera could replace both my cameras one day... Fuji have a great lens selection, Nikon have concentrated on FF and the DX range looks relatively poor by comparison.
Figured I'd necro this thread as I recently got a D7000 because I missed my DSLR, and I had the option to go back or go mirrorless. I was after something cheap, reliable, and capable of producing high quality images, so initially I looked at getting a Canon 5D with 24-105L (similar to the setup I used to shoot with). After reading up a bit I decided to go cheaper still and get an APS-C body with the best glass on a budget, which is why I opted for the D7000 with 16-85mm which I got together for £275 from the same seller. Not bad considering this would have cost well over £1K ten years ago. For my needs the setup is perfect. Yes, it's bulky and heavy, especially when worn around the neck, but that's the price you pay. The IQ is absolutely first class, and 16MP is adequate resolution for my needs (and probably a sweet spot for the sensor size tbh). I said in another thread that the 5D is still the winner in terms of IQ, which is to be expected because of the sensor size, but if I was using the very best Nikkor glass with the D7000 then I don't think the gap would be quite as big. The colours that can be recovered from the RAW files are just amazing. Mirrorless is still a "relatively" new thing in the camera world, and the reality is that you can very easily get the same or better gear for your money if you buy a preowned DSLR. Looking ahead, I have every intention to get the best out of the D7000 that I can, which means any further expense will be one or two lenses as required. But to be honest the 16-85mm is so versatile that I may not need another lens for landscapes.
The 16-85 DX lens is excellent, better than the older 18-70 DX that's on my D7000. I've dropped out of regular picture taking, and ought to get back into it. I have the use of a Nikon 70-200 f4 which is way better than my Sigma 75-300 Apo albeit with less reach. My tests showed the Fuji 18-55 lens to be better than the Nikon, for what it's worth. There are benefits of mirrorless over DSLR, but definite financial advantages of well chosen used kit. I'm definitely GAS susceptible, but luckily too poor to get reeled in. The better kit/image quality rabbit hole was shown up by my 12 MP drone with a phone sized sensor. It was able to get pics that really surprised me compared to what was suggested by the paper specs The gimbal allowed sharper night shots than a hand held 'big' camera and cleaner than expected for a diddy sensor. Enjoy the photography Lenny, it's great to get out and see stuff out & about especially when other folk are in bed or have gone indoors.
