I need your help

[clovishound]

I think I have more self control with this one, but it is starting to tug at me. I need ya'll to talk me out of this.

Nikon put their Z7ii on sale for $700 off. I REALLY would like to get into a high resolution sensor camera. Trouble is, I just spent a lot of money on my 105mm micro lens, and I REALLY don't need to spend this kind of money right now, not that I ever do. I just spent the better part of $2K to have a tree removed, and with my wife getting better I will likely need to start replacing some flooring, then there's the roof next year. Wow, I'm doing a pretty good job of discouraging myself.



I haven't done much shooting lately, maybe I could sell a couple guns.

No! Not the Henrys.

[CT_Shooter]

Wait. It will be half price next year and less than that the following year. You've got some enviable equipment now and you're photos are improving with each session. Be patient. Skill is more important than hardware. Your skill is unquestionable. The Z7ii isn't going anywhere without you. Keep doing what you're doing, which is fabulous.

[Sir Henry]

Don’t get caught in an equipment chase. It can be a bottomless pit. Unless you are doing photography for income I recommend spending less. I have a D7500 with a nice tele lens that I spent a couple grand on. And what do I use? A $300 camera that does everything the more expensive camera does.

[RetiredSeabee]

But it is pretty……..no you don’t need it. Or do you? Yeah I am no help at all.

[dave77]

I have Canons, currently a 70D that's at least 15 years old. I would love to get one of the new mirrorless models with a full frame sensor. They are expensive especially with one of the new RF lens, too much to justify with the amount I use my camera anymore. Maybe in a few years when there might be some good deals on a used one.

From what I see the main reason to upgrade is the greatly improved focusing speed and reliability. Really like the idea of the cameras ability to focus on a subject's eye when taking a portrait. Of course when I started it was manual focus and I was happy to get 5 good shots out of a roll of 20. I shot mostly B&W which I processed myself, color was for special occasions like shooting at a friend's wedding and then maybe shooting 5 or 6-36 exposure rolls. If all my CF's are empty I can literally take 1000's of shots and quite a bit of very good video.

[BrokenolMarine]

Geez, I'm no help. I have a high dollar camera that's smarter than I am, and I take most of my best shots with my smart phone.

[clovishound]

I have Canons, currently a 70D that's at least 15 years old. I would love to get one of the new mirrorless models with a full frame sensor. They are expensive especially with one of the new RF lens, too much to justify with the amount I use my camera anymore. Maybe in a few years when there might be some good deals on a used one.

From what I see the main reason to upgrade is the greatly improved focusing speed and reliability. Really like the idea of the cameras ability to focus on a subject's eye when taking a portrait. Of course when I started it was manual focus and I was happy to get 5 good shots out of a roll of 20. I shot mostly B&W which I processed myself, color was for special occasions like shooting at a friend's wedding and then maybe shooting 5 or 6-36 exposure rolls. If all my CF's are empty I can literally take 1000's of shots and quite a bit of very good video.

I got into my mirrorless full frame almost 2 years ago. I thought going from crop to full frame would be a big jump in resolution. It wasn't. I did find, however, that the Z5 fit my shooting style so much better than an entry level camera. Some of the features I love are tied to being mirrorless. Things like the electronic viewfinder, that gives me an exposure preview without switching to live view. The other big issue was having more controls available, without preset exposure modes I don't ever use. The other big upgrade was being able to use the new Z lenses. With a wider mount, they can utilize designs that are superior to the old mounts. The reviews I see, and my experience confirms that they are definitely sharper lenses.

If I looked it up right, I see your 70d is has a 21 MP sensor. That should be fairly close to the more common 24 MP full frame cameras out there today. Moving from there to the new higher resolution 48 MP sensor cameras would be a noticeable upgrade, although, from what I can tell from reviews, not the huge leap you would think. Without some big advances in lens technology we are approaching the point where the sensors are capable of delivering more than the lenses can provide. A good deal more than half of Nikon's lenses designed for their DSLR cameras provide less than 36 MP of resolution, and are throttling resolution in the new high resolution cameras.

As I've said before, at the end of the day it is about the photographer, and not the camera in producing good images.

Still, most of us love our shiny new gear. For a significant portion of us, the gear is part of the attraction of photography.

[dave77]

Yes, the Canon R6 which would be somewhat in my price range ($2300) is only 24.2 MP so not that much more than my 70D. The R5 is 45MP but at $4500 (body only) is going to be too much even when older and in a excellent condition used.
I'm OK with my resolution, more important to me is full frame and the improved focusing abilities over my 10 year old 70D.
I have a nice Tamron 28-75 2.8 lens, takes good photos but sometimes under certain conditions I will get a very soft focus. I've heard that using a designed for full size lens on a camera with a crop sensor can have issues so for important photos ie weddings (not a pro but have occasionally taken wedding photos for friends that couldn't afford a pro) I use my kit lenses which are OK but not the quality of the Tamron.

I agree with you about the preset exposure modes, my 70D is always set on aperture priority. Don't think I've ever taken a photo in a different mode.

[clovishound]

I've heard both ways on using a FF lens on a crop sensor camera. Some say that since the center of the image is used by the crop frame sensor, and the center is almost always sharper than the edges, you should get even better resolution on a FF lens/crop frame sensor combo. Others say the FF lenses weren't designed to be used on a crop frame and sometimes suffer. I've used my long tele FF lens on my entry level crop frame camera and gotten very sharp results. It may vary from lens to lens.

I've gotten to where I usually use manual mode with auto ISO. You have to keep an eye on the ISO so that you don't either start overexposing, if the light gets brighter, or extremely high ISOs if it gets darker. The electronic viewfinder helps with that. If the display doesn't look right, that's a clue to check your settings, although it doesn't help much with overly high ISOs. Although that is an easier thing to fix post processing than most issues.

One thing about moving to mirrorless is that since you are likely going to upgrade your lenses to the new mount, you won't necessarily feel like sticking to the manufacturer you have now, if someone else has a system you like better. Yes, you can adapt your current lenses to the mirrorless mount, and for some lenses that makes sense. However, you will find that for lenses that you use a lot, you will be wanting a native mount lens.

Shortly after getting my Z5, I purchased a Nikon 200-500 F5.6 F mount lens and adapter for the Z. At the time Nikon didn't have any affordable Z mount telephoto lens. The 200-500 is a very good lens for the money. It is one of the F mount lenses Nikon recommends for their high resolution sensor cameras. Recently Nikon came out with a 180-600 F5.6-F6.3 Z mount. I considered selling my 200-500 and adapter and then ponying up the difference to get into the newer lens. All reports are that it is sharper, and focuses faster than my old lens. Going down that road I could easily clean out my savings account in short order.

If you don't already have it, you might consider getting Topaz AI software. It can make a big difference in somewhat soft images. As well as being great at cleaning up noisy, high ISO images without losing detail.