Yes, I am looking for advice to spend even more money. Hooray! I've had a Nikon D3200 for... a little over 12 years, apparently. £331.55 with 18-55mm kit lens in November 2013. I've used it for event coverage and it's been... acceptable, mostly. Not great, though. The product shots I can get out of it in the home studio are great, though, I love those. No complaints there. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm currently being drafted in to doing more event coverage including video, and I'm worried. First, I've tried the D3200's video mode and it's... not great. No stabilisation, grainy, it's not fantastic. I've just splashed five hunnert on a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 camera to fix that, though, so video's a secondary concern here. Despite the fact that I should not be spending money, I'm now wondering if there's something better out there for still shooting too. When I'm not using the speedflash I find I have to crank the ISO quite high on the D3200 for indoor shots, which makes 'em quite noisy. This is a particular problem for the 55-300mm telephoto, even though it's got in-lens vibration reduction. Even in the home studio, the D3200 can be awkward: if I need to take an overhead shot of something there's not enough ceiling height in the shed and the D3200's display is fixed in place and, thus, pointing straight at said ceiling - so I have to just guess and hope for the best. So, is it time for a replacement? I'd be looking for something that's sensitive and low-noise enough for (well-lit) handheld on-the-hoof indoor shots, preferably smaller and lighter, higher resolution would give me more wiggle-room but 24.2MP is still quite a lot even now, and compatibility with my existing gear would be great. Said gear: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G VR Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 G Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1:1.8 G Nikon DX AF-S Micro Nikkor 40mm 1:2.8 G Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 G ED VR Cheapo dual-battery grip, which I am well aware will not be usable on another camera! Of those, I mostly use the 35mm (because crop factor, which I didn't account for when I bought the nifty-fifty!), 40mm macro, and the 55-300mm for shots of people on stage. Sometimes the kit lens when I need wide angle. Based on absolutely zero research whatsoever, my eye has been caught by the Nikon Z fc. It ticks a lot of boxes: smaller, lighter, variable angle display, neato Wi-Fi connectivity, 4k video, and it looks proper hipster which is nice. It's actually lower resolution than my D3200, though (20.9MP instead of 24.2MP), and I've seen reviews warning it's susceptible to dust ingress and has no self-cleaning mechanism. It's also a lot of money, 'specially 'cos I'd quite like the 28mm pancake lens to go with it... and I'd need a £160 adapter to make my old lenses work. There's the option of picking up something newer and higher-end in the D-series, like a D7xxx instead, but that would mean an increase in size and weight. And as I have no idea what I'm actually doing when it comes to photography, would the hipster option designed for looking slick while you point-and-shoot be better for me? Or should I just save my money and stick with the D3200, which to be fair still works as well as it ever did. Thoughts welcome! EDIT: Had a quick look: D7500 is about the same price as the Z fc (twenty quid cheaper or so, in fact), very similar specs, *and* I wouldn't need the overpriced lens adapter... EDIT EDIT: Or there's the Z50 II, which is the most expensive at £700 and would need the FTZ adapter for my lenses. Looks more comfortable to use than the Z fc, tho'.
What ratio are you shooting Video to Photo's? If video is quiet a lot higher than photo's, then have you looked at Panasonic's offerings? Sam
0:1. Literally, I don't shoot video with the camera. Well, maybe I have a couple of times - usually the kids' nativities at school or whatever, where you're too far back to capture it with a phone so I strap the 55-300mm to it and go ham. I've maybe done that twice, though, because the audio's crap so there's not really much point - I just snap stills to remember them by now! But: I've literally bought a very 'spenny device purely for doing video. Sure, I'd still need to use the camera and the Big Lens for recording things that are very far away - but I don't do that often. So, yeah, effectively 0:1. I'm not massively keen on switching brands, either, because that's quite a few hundred quids' worth of glass in that there parts list, and if I moved to Panasonic (or Canon, or... is Pentax still a thing? My first DSLR was a Pentax, a whopping 4.3 megapixels...) I'd either need an adapter which would lose functionality (can you go from Nikon F to whatever Panasonic uses and still have in-lens stabilisation and autofocus?) or I'd have to buy all new lenses.
