d7100 or d610?

andithegirl

hi everyone! i know it's a personal decision, but want some input, am upgrading from a D90, which i've loved, but i want more pro editorial quality and resolution, and i'd like to fine tune my large format art prints for gallery use. ideally, to clear and crisp 24x26 at 300 dpi. i shoot a lot of landscape and i shoot a lot at night and i'd like to make spectacular prints but can't afford to go to the D800's. should i be going to FX if i want to go up a big notch in my output or can i stay in DX and not sacrifice detail on blow up? i have the AF-S 50 mm f1.4 and the kit lens with the D90, so either way i think i'd get a new lens..i'm concerned about the lack of autofocus features on the D610 otherwise, it'd be a shoe-in, but for the extra money to not have that is a major problem, especially when the D7100 seems so strong and has amazing autofocus leeway. would love any thoughts!

Golf007sd

andithegirl: Welcome to NRF. Please have a look at the many topic that address those seeking to buy a D7100,, as well as, those considering a D610.

Here are some for consideration:

http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/2040/buy-d7100-or-d610-for-real-estate/p1
http://www.forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/810/d7000-and-d7100-buying-advice/p1
http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/544/d7100/p1
http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/1686/should-i-get-a-d7100-or-wait-until-end-of-month-for-d610/p1
http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/2196/is-the-d7100-nikons-best-camera/p1

Juergen

i'm concerned about the lack of autofocus features on the D610 otherwise, it'd be a shoe-in, but for the extra money to not have that is a major problem, especially when the D7100 seems so strong and has amazing autofocus leeway. would love any thoughts!

Hi andithegirl,
it is a tough call between those two body and I think there are a lot of different opinions on the forum about it.

What exactly do you see as a major problem with respect to autofocus on the D610?
Your main subjects are night and landscape photography, precisly the two applications where autofocus plays only a minor role. The D610 has a superb low light performance.

So being in your shoes, I would not have second thoughts about getting the D610.

Good luck with your decision.
Jürgen

ANTCT1

I went from a D90 to a D600 and subsequently bought a D7100 as well. If you are primarily interested in landscapes and do a lot of night shooting, then FX is likely the way to go. Most landscapes are shot with wide or even ultra-wide lenses and there is a limited range available for the crop sensor (DX) D7100 compared to the options for the FX bodies. At night, the larger pixels of the FX simply can catch more light so that you have much more latitude to play with in your conversions from RAW. To make large, dynamic prints, RAW is the way to go. Why not consider a refurbished D600? It is about as good as a D610 for what you want and you can save some money towards better glass; e.g. the new Nikon 35mm F1.8 ED FX or even the 28mm F1.8 G lens. Nikon are offering a world-wide recall to fix the dust issues (if any) on the D600 and they are selling for around USD1,500. Good luck with your choice!

sevencrossing

If you into landscapes, the focusing on the D610 should be fine, certainly better than the D90.
Landscapes are about dynamic range and here the D610 is the winner . Compared to the D90 it will blow you soaks off
Dynamic range is also a must for night photography

Lens wise
consider the following
24 -70 f 2.8
24 - 120 f 4 VR
24-85mm f2.8-4 D AF
yes all zooms, a set a F1.4 primes would nice, but just compare the price
all have been revived here

But what about the D7100 ?

Nikon's best bangs for you bucks and in a different league to your D90

what would I do ?

Buy a refurbished D600 and upgrade to a D800 when I have a few more pennies

donaldejose

Also remember you can get a free shutter mechanism replacement for a D600 in the US. So consider a used or refurbished D600 and put the money saved into lenses. Maybe a Sigma 35mm f1.4 would be a good lens to start with.

andithegirl

thanks so much! happy to be here!
already read all of these! and everything else written on the internet almost:) guess i just wanted some more input from real people in real time! also because although i shoot mostly landscape, i do also revert back to rock photography once in a while and am dying to hit the field and shoot political documentary work as well. so i need something very versatile that i won't have to upgrade in a year.

www.andistate.com

andithegirl: Welcome to NRF. Please have a look at the many topic that address those seeking to buy a D7100,, as well as, those considering a D610.

Here are some for consideration:

http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/2040/buy-d7100-or-d610-for-real-estate/p1
http://www.forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/810/d7000-and-d7100-buying-advice/p1
http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/544/d7100/p1
http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/1686/should-i-get-a-d7100-or-wait-until-end-of-month-for-d610/p1
http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/2196/is-the-d7100-nikons-best-camera/p1

andithegirl

Thanks Jurgen,

i know, it's a tough one..been reading everything i can and i still can't make up my mind about it.
my concern is that although i shoot a lot of landscape, i also shoot rock photography once in a while and would like to shoot more documentary photography, as in war documentary, so the broad autofocus in uncertain field conditions would matter!
why didn't they just broaden that autofocus on the 610, it would have made it the best selling camera out there!

www.andistate.com

i'm concerned about the lack of autofocus features on the D610 otherwise, it'd be a shoe-in, but for the extra money to not have that is a major problem, especially when the D7100 seems so strong and has amazing autofocus leeway. would love any thoughts!

Hi andithegirl,
it is a tough call between those two body and I think there are a lot of different opinions on the forum about it.

What exactly do you see as a major problem with respect to autofocus on the D610?
Your main subjects are night and landscape photography, precisly the two applications where autofocus plays only a minor role. The D610 has a superb low light performance.

So being in your shoes, I would not have second thoughts about getting the D610.

Good luck with your decision.
Jürgen

andithegirl

thank you!!!

I went from a D90 to a D600 and subsequently bought a D7100 as well. If you are primarily interested in landscapes and do a lot of night shooting, then FX is likely the way to go. Most landscapes are shot with wide or even ultra-wide lenses and there is a limited range available for the crop sensor (DX) D7100 compared to the options for the FX bodies. At night, the larger pixels of the FX simply can catch more light so that you have much more latitude to play with in your conversions from RAW. To make large, dynamic prints, RAW is the way to go. Why not consider a refurbished D600? It is about as good as a D610 for what you want and you can save some money towards better glass; e.g. the new Nikon 35mm F1.8 ED FX or even the 28mm F1.8 G lens. Nikon are offering a world-wide recall to fix the dust issues (if any) on the D600 and they are selling for around USD1,500. Good luck with your choice!

andithegirl

thank you! you're right, either way, huge upgrade from my D90 and i'm excited about it. thank you for taking the time to give me some suggestions!

If you into landscapes, the focusing on the D610 should be fine, certainly better than the D90.
Landscapes are about dynamic range and here the D610 is the winner . Compared to the D90 it will blow you soaks off
Dynamic range is also a must for night photography

Lens wise
consider the following
24 -70 f 2.8
24 - 120 f 4 VR
24-85mm f2.8-4 D AF
yes all zooms, a set a F1.4 primes would nice, but just compare the price
all have been revived here

But what about the D7100 ?

Nikon's best bangs for you bucks and in a different league to your D90

what would I do ?

Buy a refurbished D600 and upgrade to a D800 when I have a few more pennies

donaldejose

I looked at your work Andi and I don't think you need the reach of a DX D7100 but I see you do a lot of low light photography so I would suggest you make the leap to an FX D600 or D610. The 24-85 f3.5-4.5 VR zoom for $600 is a good lens to start with. See what focal length you use most and then look for a very high quality prime in that focal length. The 85mm f1.8 G for $500 has been particularly impressive to me.

Post some of your work on PAD

andithegirl

thanks Donald! i will post on PAD

manhattanboy

i shoot a lot of landscape and i shoot a lot at night

For these two things -> FX (fullframe)

why didn't they just broaden that autofocus on the 610, it would have made it the best selling camera out there!

The better autofocus is not needed for your type of shooting. Use infrared assist at night or manual focus.

Regarding lenses, zooms are easy, but if you want the best IQ for large prints stick with a prime and crop in post. 24mp is plenty. The only down side to Nikon primes is most don't have VR so become difficult in low light. I wish Nikon would produce at least one VR prime; Canon has a 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm all with image stabilization and all around $500.

sevencrossing

< Regarding lenses, zooms are easy, but if you want the best IQ for large prints stick with a prime and crop in post. 24mp is plenty. The only down side to Nikon primes is most don't have VR .

Yes the 24mm f/2.8 is lightly sharper at the edges than the 16 -35 f 4 vr

But the 16 -24 f4 vr wins
It does have VR so most of the time you can leave the tripod at home
you can "open up" to 16mm for the "big picture"
you can "tighten up" to 35 mm and avoid too much cropping
If you are used to a D90 and a Kit lens, you are going to be a very happy bunny with the D600/ D610 and the 16 -35

Pyrat

FWIW, I agonized over the D7100 vs. D610 for exactly the same reason (why Nikon didn't put the better focus on the 610 still perplexes me) but ultimately pulled the trigger on the 610. No looking back for me, the focus is more than fine, the DR and low light is so much better than my much loved D7000. I picked up a Sigma 35 1.4 with it, and together we are all going to be very happy getting to know each other for years to come Shot some sports today and in crummy gym light it handled itself magnificently. Go ahead and jump in, the water's fine!

Photobug

The IQ of the D7100 is excellent. Both the D610 and D7100 are excellent, you need to determine which format to shoot, DX or FX. Good luck with your decision.

Just remember, don't buy cheap lens. The glass is so important and often over looked by amateurs.

Ironheart

Andi, why not rent both for a week with an appropriate lens and see? From your bio you are either in NY or LA where there are about 1million rental places.

WestEndBoy

If I was in your shoes and was interested in landscape and lowlight photography, I would buy a D610, 24mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.4G and a good tripod. VR will be useless with a tripod, so I would not worry about that.

Is this perfect? No. The 24mm 1.4G is very expensive but it is a fabulous lens, wide enough for most landscapes and the ultimate low light lens. I would not bother with zooms, as you don't really need a zoom (you can crop in post) and you are giving up a lot on IQ. Even the $500 1.4G is better than any zoom at 50mm, especially if you stop down a bit.

If I needed to save money, I would buy a refurbished D600.

And when you have more money, I would buy the 14-24 2.8, only because it is a rare animal, a zoom that is better (at 14mm) than the corresponding prime.

Definitely a different strategy than is being offered above, but that would be mine so I am adding it as an option.

Pistnbroke

One thing to consider is that the D600 will be much noisier than the D7100 ..the shutter / mirror thump is bad. The auto focus on the D7100 is not as good as the D7000 and we have had to stop using single point as it just wont lock on in many cirumstances..Never a problem with the D7000...Your choice of glass much better with the FX the Samyang 14mm is superb

manhattanboy

The auto focus on the D7100 is not as good as the D7000 and we have had to stop using single point as it just wont lock on in many cirumstances..Never a problem with the D7000...

That's strange. The autofocus on the 7100 is better IMHO than the 7000.

Pistnbroke

Well we have lots of problems with the AF-s refusing to lock even if it is given an edge to focus on ..using 18-140 nikon lens ..both bodies just as bad.

WestEndBoy

Well we have lots of problems with the AF-s refusing to lock even if it is given an edge to focus on ..using 18-140 nikon lens ..both bodies just as bad.

Is you auto-focus on your D3200 better than the D7100? If so, maybe you should take it to Nikon. If you are used to the D800, maybe your expectations are too high for the D7100.

manhattanboy

Well we have lots of problems with the AF-s refusing to lock even if it is given an edge to focus on ..using 18-140 nikon lens ..both bodies just as bad.

Is you auto-focus on your D3200 better than the D7100? If so, maybe you should take it to Nikon. If you are used to the D800, maybe your expectations are too high for the D7100.

I find the Iens makes a huge difference. Does the same lens on the 800 cause problems?
I have to admit that I do not shoot with a lock, only continuous but focus on the 7100 has been better than the 7000

spraynpray

One thing to consider is that the D600 will be much noisier than the D7100 ..the shutter / mirror thump is bad. The auto focus on the D7100 is not as good as the D7000 and we have had to stop using single point as it just wont lock on in many cirumstances..Never a problem with the D7000...Your choice of glass much better with the FX the Samyang 14mm is superb

WOW! I found the exact opposite - my D7000 hunts for focus in the dark, but my D7100 snaps to it without hesitation. 500 f1.4G used for test.

donaldejose

Wow, Wow a 500mm f1.4G lens!

Ironheart

A 500mm f/1.4 Would be 357mm (14 Inches) in diameter!