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Best used Full Frame camera for $600 or less?


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18 hours ago, Johnhoward28 said:

The reason I want to go full frame is that I had an entry level Pentax DSLR years ago, and none of the pictures I took with it qualify here on Alamy.  I don't want her to take a really nice picture and want me to upload it to my account and have it rejected, because of the camera she is shooting with.  

 

 

You don't need a full frame camera to create photographs meeting alamy's standards.    All of my images have been shot with Nikon crop sensor cameras (D5100 and D7100) or the sony rx100 (original).  I've stuck with dx models because of the weight of full frame models.

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12 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

If she wants a FF or (FX NIKON) the D700's are now pretty cheap,  I still use mine and just

shot a large event for Live News mostly with my D700 at 3200 ISO , no flash allowed .  I was

surprised at the quality.  The other advantage to NIKON or F mount bodies is that there is 

so much used glass available.

+1.  I love my (girlfriend's!)  D700 and use it all the time, with the battery grip attached, of course.  I wouldn't go down the D3xxx route simply because your wife will outgrow it very quickly.  As for the 18-55 kit lens, well it's rubbish.  Buy a 50mm f1.8 lens to go with the D700 and that's a great beginner set up.

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2 hours ago, CAROL SAUNDERS said:

;)   It also might be an idea to take her into a shop if there's one close to you, so she can play with a couple and see what she feels comfortable with.  I always do this when buying new kit.  Even with the little Sony RX.

 

Carol

 

…of course, you could end up with loads of cameras all out of their boxes all over the shop and the wife asking… “does my bum look big with this one ?”  :)!

 

 

18 hours ago, Johnhoward28 said:

 I had an entry level Pentax DSLR years ago, and none of the pictures I took with it qualify here on Alamy. 

 

P.S:  I have Canon and Pentax cameras;  Pentax are ok.
 I've had some good sales from shots taken with a Pentax K10D.

 

GD

 

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It looks like a bad experience with an early Pentax has coloured your approach. I've been using a Pentax K-5 for several years. Neat little crop sensor DSLR with great range of compact lenses. Battery lasts for ages. Very quiet shooting. Any Pentax from that model onwards will be fine. There are always people upgrading to the latest model to feed the secondhand market

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1 hour ago, Starsphinx said:

...uploading your wife's photos to your account would be in breach of Alamy terms.

I believe that all you need is written permission from the photographer to upload their photos, like is done by agencies. It's in the contract, but terms aren't always clear to me.

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If you really want full frame but want a "cheap" used camera, I would consider a Nikon D700.   They were my workhorses for about 8 years and still working but have switched to the D850 for my assignment work.  I use a mirrorless Sony for my walk around stock shooting.  

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3 hours ago, Colblimp said:

+1.  I love my (girlfriend's!)  D700 and use it all the time, with the battery grip attached, of course.  I wouldn't go down the D3xxx route simply because your wife will outgrow it very quickly.  As for the 18-55 kit lens, well it's rubbish.  Buy a 50mm f1.8 lens to go with the D700 and that's a great beginner set up.

Colin,

 

Have two almost new battery grips for the 700's and they are both in the box.  The added weight is not worth the trouble.

Just shot over 300 images with one of my 700's and the battery was only 1/4 down.

 

Michael,

 

I do most of my work with 800's at 7360 in NEF, and the files are just over kill, even for commercial clients.  I currently have

a dozen external hard drives sitting on my desk.......

 

As per NIKON FX v.s. DX, I would never recommend the lower end DX NIKON DSLR's.  From my experience the D700 was one

of the best NIKON DSLR's built besides the D2, 3, 4, etc...  The used D2's can be had for almost nothing and they are great bodies,

but really heavy and the sensor is not as good at high ISO's as the 700's.  One more note from personal experience:  The older NIKKOR's

are just not as good, optically, as the newer NIKKOR's.  I've been disappointed with my older, high end, MF NIKKOR's on D800's.

 

For the record,  I do 300 pushups almost every day and when I can ride my old TREK 770 bicycle over 50 miles on a day......

but on commercial shoots I travel with over 500lbs of lighting equipment.

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27 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Colin,

 

Have two almost new battery grips for the 700's and they are both in the box.  The added weight is not worth the trouble.

Just shot over 300 images with one of my 700's and the battery was only 1/4 down.

 

BTW, my name's Andy - the Col stands for colonel...

 

I love the chunk of a full sized pro body, the grip never comes off the D700, plus the 9fps over the 7 can get you the shot.

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I wonder has anyone who is dismissing the D300x series actually tried one. Well I have and it is an exceptional camera for the price. The sensor is amazing - for a DX camera it is up there for dynamic range and high ISO noise with some of the big boys. It also has excellent AF.

 

 I think Nikon are pitching it cheap to get people into the system. I agree that the 18-55 is not the greatest lens ever made but it has very good centre sharpness and is a decent starter lens. As well there are excellent 35 and 50 used Nikkor primes to be had very cheap. It also has high quality HD video and various other things that might be attractive to a beginner. The D700 is a wonderful machine but it is dated. And a lot of women like light cameras as is evident from this forum. 

 

 

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55 minutes ago, MDM said:

I wonder has anyone who is dismissing the D300x series actually tried one. Well I have and it is an exceptional camera for the price. The sensor is amazing - for a DX camera it is up there for dynamic range and high ISO noise with some of the big boys. It also has excellent AF.

 

 I think Nikon are pitching it cheap to get people into the system. I agree that the 18-55 is not the greatest lens ever made but it has very good centre sharpness and is a decent starter lens. As well there are excellent 35 and 50 used Nikkor primes to be had very cheap. It also has high quality HD video and various other things that might be attractive to a beginner. The D700 is a wonderful machine but it is dated. And a lot of women like light cameras as is evident from this forum. 

 

 

Also, I would say the 300x series are great cameras to learn with.  There were definitely times as a newbie when I was completely out of my depths but really wanted a certain shot - the D3200 (now they are on the D3500) had a series of easy automatic settings that are not on the more professional bodies I could use quickly to help me get the shots - I could go back afterwards and learn how they had set the camera so I knew in future but I would have missed shots as a beginner if I had not had a beginners camera because I would have been fiddling trying to find the right setting or more likely using totally the wrong setting.  I know most cameras have an automatic setting but these are more specific than that and a god send to newbies.

They make a perfectly good back up camera when the user is ready to move on and should provide years of service - as I said in a previous post mine is still in regular use, and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.  OK the buttons are now worn blank but I pretty much know what they do lol.   

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6 hours ago, Starsphinx said:

 

 


Secondly regards uploading to your account - I may be wrong here and would appreciate input from other more experienced contributors but I believe uploading your wife's photos to your account would be in breach of Alamy terms.  The terms are you are declaring that you are the copyright holder on all images you upload - and unless your wife is signing copyright over to you that will not be the case.   Now I would imagine that plenty of people add the odd photo taken by some other family member, possibly having borrowed the camera, but if you are considering adding good shots your wife has taken with her own camera regularly I would recommend getting her her own Alamy account. 

No.

Warranty 4.2  (i) You are the Copyright Owner of the Images or have authority from the Copyright Owner to enter into the Contract

Edited by spacecadet
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8 hours ago, Starsphinx said:

Secondly regards uploading to your account - I may be wrong here and would appreciate input from other more experienced contributors but I believe uploading your wife's photos to your account would be in breach of Alamy terms.  The terms are you are declaring that you are the copyright holder on all images you upload - and unless your wife is signing copyright over to you that will not be the case.   Now I would imagine that plenty of people add the odd photo taken by some other family member, possibly having borrowed the camera, but if you are considering adding good shots your wife has taken with her own camera regularly I would recommend getting her her own Alamy account. 

 

First, I understand your thinking, and that would apply to a lot of modern people and their opinion of marriage  as two people agreeing to live together as long as they agree.  My wife and I are different.  35 years married, and worried at how short that times seems.  We are two people acting as one and seldom apart.  I know a lot of people don;t understand what it like to be ONE with another person, but that does not effect us.  

 

Secondly; Legally speaking, if she has ASKED me to upload her photos, then she has Granted my the rights to do it.  She is going to get all the money anyways, so I am just the secretary doing all the work for her in a sense. LOL!

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4 hours ago, Colblimp said:

It may be dated but it's still relevant - lots of my Alamy images were taken with a D700.

 

No doubt it is.  And same here. A lot of my pics were taken on a D700 and it has a big place in my heart. A fine machine. 

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Why even APS-C? I've been shooting for a year and a half with two Panasonic GX85/80s, including a wedding and head shots. Plenty fine for Alamy, the images sell and my back thanks me. Even both bodies and four lenses is easier on my back than my 80D and two lenses was.

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Colblimp aka Andy,

 

Sorry was in a hurry and thanks for telling me your first name.

 

To the forum I apologize for gassing on a bit.

 

Since digital started, I do try to workout every day to make up for

the hours I now need to spend sitting at the computer.  Life was 

a lot better when you dropped your film at the lab had a martini

and then dropped the film at FEDEX......

 

I will add that as I have written, I mostly work with NIKON D800's

but when I have to work at 3200 and turn the images around 

quickly I prefer the D700, smaller files.

 

Chuck

Edited by Chuck Nacke
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On 10/17/2018 at 11:09, John Mitchell said:

I can certainly recommend the Sony a6000. I picked up a new one with a 16-50mm lens for under $600 CAN earlier this year. It's probably the best camera I've ever owned. Easy to use and ideal for Alamy. You can also use legacy manual focus lenses on the a6000 with a cheap adapter if you prefer.

 

I also shoot a lot with a Sony a6000.  The best lens I've had for it is the Sony/Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 (equivalent angle of view as a 35 on a full frame camera).  There's a very good 18-55mm lens for this system (look for the later black models made in Thailand) which will be fine for getting started.  I had a Panasonic GF1 which was a very nice camera, but trying a a3000 convinced me to go back to APSC and now I have two a7 camera and the a6000.

 

Other considerations -- she is the copyright holder of anything she shoots as Starsphinx explained.  Also, it really is useful if you and your wife have the same lens mount.

 

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I want to thank everyone for all your valuable advice.  It was very much appreciated.  After busting my brain, I decided to go with the Sony Alpha A6000 with the kit 16-50mm OSS lens.  After comparing camera specs until my brain melted and poured out my ears, dollar for dollar, I could not get into a better camera for my budget.  I was able to get a new open boxed one with a 1 year manufacturers warranty for $445, which leaves me a little left to pick another lens for camera once she gets used to it.  The 16-50mm lens should keep be enough for a while.  Thanks again for all the help.

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  • 4 months later...

If wanting full-frame I would just go backwards within the Canon 5D original to Mark IV lineup until within budget... The original 5D is missed, a truly great camera to this day - I still edit or re-edit raw images from it and it has big beautiful pictures with an organic look/feel to it.

 

However, I'm biased, been a Canon 1D and 5D line-up loyal for a long long time, with a few sprinkles of APS-C ones as side-kick "convenience camera" or backup, currently on the 5D Mark IV which is an absolutely fantastic workhorse camera, capable of everything and muscle memory from having been within the same "line" is beneficial, efficient and makes you able to focus on other things then a complicated/alien camera.

 

All IMHO of course.

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I think I have some D40 pics on here. When the mp level was way high. As others have already said, a camera like a Nikon, ( or whatever make you decide on) , with an APS-C sensor, and the now 17mb upload requirement, should see a little click happy bunny. One who's going to hog your computer for processing, editing and uploading. :)

 

Krisken

 

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