Repair or upgrade

Capt_Spaulding

I sent my D750 in for a sensor cleaning/tuneup and am being told the bayonet is bent and the repair will cost about $350. Now I’m torn. I have no plans to switch to mirrorless, but have lusted for a D850 for a while.

So my conundrum is fix the 750 or put the money towards buying an 850. I sent the 750 in primarily because of spots on the sensor. I hadn’t a clue anything else might be wrong. I have no clue how or when the 750 was damaged and am a little disappointed that it seems so fragile.

So. What to do? Any ideas?

mhedges

Sounds like as good of an excuse to get a D850 as you will ever get.

Capt_Spaulding

As my son tells me, you only YOLO once.

I’ll probably repair the 750. It’s a better camera than I am a photographer.

Capt_Spaulding

I'm probably going to have Nikon repair the 750, but one thing nags at me. The camera has been babied since I bought it in 2018. Never dropped, probably fewer than 4,000 shutter actuations.

Something about a bent lens mount just doesn't sit well with me. I called Nikon service and the rep said that can happen from repeated lens changes and small bumps. That doesn't feel right. The camera lives with the 24-85 on it and seldom sees a lens change. I have never even mounted my 200-500.

Has anyone ever had misgivings about Nikon's USA service operation?

Pistnbroke

I dont trust those bastards ..get them to clean the sensor and send it back.
Buy a D850 they are cheap as chips now at einfinity.com camera shop

Capt_Spaulding

Thanks. Nikon USA have an "all or nothing" / "take it or leave it" repair policy. They insist on fixing everything they claim is wrong or they won't do anything.

This only heightens my suspicions.

Are there any trustworthy independent camera repair centers around.

MrFotoFool

Capt_Spaulding said:

...Are there any trustworthy independent camera repair centers around.

I use Tucson Camera Repair. They are fantastic and they are also an authorized Nikon dealer. You can look up their phone and email online.

Capt_Spaulding

Thanks. If I end up using them at some point I’ll let them know they owe you a discount.

mhedges

Pistnbroke said:

I dont trust those bastards ..get them to clean the sensor and send it back.
Buy a D850 they are cheap as chips now at einfinity.com camera shop

Agree with this. If you want a D850 go for it; they are arguably the best value in FF ILCs out there. Last I checked there is no limit on YOLO's.

Capt_Spaulding

spraynpray

There are times (low light) when I long for my D750, but given reasonable light, the D850 is fabulous. As I've said before, if there was a D750 sensor version of the D850 I would prefer it because for me, 24mp is usually enough and if it isn't, there is usually the possibility to shoot a pano.

Capt_Spaulding

Thank S&P. That’s my thinking for now. I love the 750 in low light and 24MP works fine for me.

Nikon eventually withdrew the bent mount claim is proceeding with the clean and calibration.

NSXTypeR

I'm kind of at the same crossroads. Nikon never updated the D7500 and likely never will at this point, but I have a D7000 and a full kit of lenses I'd ever use.

I'm glad you were able to repair the D750 and get more life out of it. If my D7000 ever kicked the bucket, I'd be in a bit of a pickle. The D500 is a bit too big but would off everything I'd ever use. D7500 is still nice but a bit long in the tooth.

Capt_Spaulding

If you’re thinking about a D500 you might want to move quickly. I read they are being discontinued.

Edit: I see they are still on Nikon’s website so I stand corrected - for now.

I use my D7200 for most to all of my wildlife photography. I suspect it has a lot of life left in it, but I have thought of picking up a D500 before they get away.

mhedges

D500 has been listed as Discontinued by Nikon Japan for over a year now. Different regions announce end of product life at different times. I believe they have been hard to find for some time. If you want one, especially a new one, I would not wait.

NSXTypeR

Well I ordered a D7500. Decided to go for the 18-140 kit because my 18-135 is long in the tooth and I wanted an update with VR. Surprisingly straight from Nikon. I was debating between that and a Z5 kit with the 24-200mm and honestly, since I have a set of F mount lenses it makes more sense to stay with the D7500.

Capt_Spaulding

The D750 has come home. I haven’t tested it yet, but assuming it’s good to go I’m leaning towards picking up a D500.

I’ve considered, but rejected going mirrorless. A D850 is beckoning, but I don’t think it makes sense for me.

My wildlife body is a D7200. Given what I use the cameras for, the better AF on the D500 gets me more of what I think I need than the D850.

spraynpray

@NSXTypeR Good choice. It will be interesting to hear what you think of the D7500 after soo long with the D7000.

@Capt_Spaulding "the D500 gets me more of what I think I need than the D850."
What makes you say that? Apart from the extra weight, I can't think of any downside of the D850 over the D500.

Capt_Spaulding

It’s not a downside to the 850 but the 500s AF and a few more things seem an improvement over my D7200 that would make a substantive difference to me. I have a hard time pointing to places where my D750 is holding me back.

spraynpray

Capt_Spaulding said:

It’s not a downside to the 850 but the 500s AF and a few more things seem an improvement over my D7200 that would make a substantive difference to me. I have a hard time pointing to places where my D750 is holding me back.

I think I have said this before here, but when I went from D750 tD850, things changed from looking through my BIFs for sharp ones, to looking for the best composed because they were all sharp.

Capt_Spaulding

spraynpray said:

Capt_Spaulding said:

It’s not a downside to the 850 but the 500s AF and a few more things seem an improvement over my D7200 that would make a substantive difference to me. I have a hard time pointing to places where my D750 is holding me back.

I think I have said this before here, but when I went from D750 tD850, things changed from looking through my BIFs for sharp ones, to looking for the best composed because they were all sharp.

Thanks S&P. Your point is well taken, but I have several questions. At the moment some health issues have sidelined me. Assuming I can get past them, one of my keen interests is in nightscape photography. The D750 does a very good job on night skies. Is the D850 as good, or better, do you think?

Second with regard to BIF, my longest lens is the 200-500 5.6. ATTM I'm using a D7200. In a full frame camera, though, that has the potential for limited sensor coverage. What's your BIF formula? I know the D850 has a crop mode but getting focus points on eyes and such has me a little concerned,

Finally, most of my glass is decidedly mid pack. No high dollar lenses. Does the resolution of the D850 unmask the weaker points in those lenses?

The current rebates are attractive enough that selling both the D750 and D7200 and going with a solo D850 is whispering to me.

Thanks in advance.

spraynpray

Hi Capt, My crop sensor was the D7100 so I can't comment about your D7200 but I do know that I loved my D7100.

Regarding the D850/D750, I don't have any doubts there; if you want a D850 by all means buy one because they are brilliant for landscapes, portraits, sports and wildlife but not for low light/nightscapes. Don't make the same mistake I did which was to sell my 750 when I bought the 850!

I would rather have a D850 and mid-pack lenses than an average body with great lenses. The 200-500 is a good lens, I would have one if the price was right, but my lenses for the D850 are 24-35 f2 Sigma Art which is pretty much welded to it, 60mm f2.8 micro Nikkor, 15mm f2.4 Irix, 24-70 f4 Nikkor so carefully chosen budget lenses which go well with the D850 for me. No amount of money spent on a lens will help an out of focus shot which is my concern about the D7200 for BIF, but if you have it working well, stay with it.

Personally, I think the D850, D750/D760, D500, D7200 are the best DSLR's overall so my message is DON'T SELL 'EM!

Capt_Spaulding

Many thanks, Amigo. You've been a great help in crystalizing my thinking. To swing a D850 would require me to sell both my D750 and D7200. The 7200 is a trooper on BIF. Not perfect. It will sometimes lose focus lock during a continuous set. But, it hits many more than it misses. So, absent a sudden bequest from someone I never met, I'll use a Texas colloquialism and "dance with the one(s) that brung me."

Thanks again.

NSXTypeR

spraynpray said:

@NSXTypeR Good choice. It will be interesting to hear what you think of the D7500 after soo long with the D7000.

@Capt_Spaulding "the D500 gets me more of what I think I need than the D850."
What makes you say that? Apart from the extra weight, I can't think of any downside of the D850 over the D500.

Finally gave the D7500 a test. Wow, the autofocus is way more surefooted. I haven't gotten the hang of the button layout but it's nice to know it's way snappier. I really haven't even scratched the surface of the AF system but with the 70-300 AF-P focus is definitely nicer because it wasn't really fully compatible with the D7000. If I read it correctly, the D7000 wouldn't leave the meter on when you quit half pressing the focus so focus acquisition is slower because each time you need to meter and focus too.

The flippy screen is very useful for high and low compositions. The one card slot is definitely not a dealbreaker, I never fill my cards anyway. I will say the build quality is solid but I enjoyed the cool metal touch of the D7000, in a way I feel like I'm holding a very beefed up D40. I never bought the bottom grip on the D7000 so that's also an nonstarter. the AI-S metering tab would have been nice, but the only AI-S lens I have is the 50mm 1.2 and I never use it really.

ISO performance is pretty incredible as expected though, as it's 3 generations ahead of the D7000.

I'm happy with the purchase because now I've modernized my camera body and I have room to grow with the autofocus. I tried to do some bird photography and I haven't even scratched the surface with the predictive single point AF, I have to look into all that.