flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

A local fellow has one for a fair price, ~20,000 Shutter actuations. Tempting to try FX...Worth buying?

BebuLamar

What is a fair price?

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

How much?
See what B&H and KEH are getting then consider you will get NO Warranty from the individual !!

therwol Loc: USA

A "landmark" camera for Nikon when it was introduced, it was their first high resolution camera (36 megapixels). That was 12 years ago. If cared for properly, it could be used in a studio, for landscapes or even general photography for things not moving too fast. Sensor IQ is still in the top tier. I don't know a fair price, but I see them advertised for between $400 and $600 on the internet.

But if you're looking to "try FX", keep in mind that you will need FX lenses and may spend more on lenses than the camera for a fair trial. You won't appreciate the camera's capabilities if you mount DX lenses on it and throw away half of the pixels.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If MPB has one at $499 this afternoon, your 'fair price' should be around $350. Otherwise, you're wasting your time and money. If you have the money and desire for a full-frame Nikon, consider their best and final models, either a D750 at 24MP or the D850 at 45MP. Skip the earlier stuff, especially when buying used on these discontinued DSLRs.

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

I agree with CHG_CANON on the D750. I have one and it's an awesome camera and built like a tank. I purchased a D810 (refurbished) and am pleased with it. I had thought that my D750 would rarely see the light of day after purchasing the D810 but I reach for the 750 as much as the 810.

Have you considered buying a refurbished from Nikon? They currently have a D800e for $2499. There is also a D780 (the next step up of the D750) for $1759. I purchased my refurbished D810 from B&H but don't see many offerings of refurbished from them any more. I would definitely purchase a refurbished item from Nikon.

Best wishes in your search!

Dodie

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

"Fair Price"=$350...possibly negotiable. D 750s ~ $150-200 more...I think all but 2 of my lenses are FX, sooo not much of a problem there. How would the D 750 be a better purchase? Refurb is definitely an option.

therwol Loc: USA

The D750 is a bit newer, smaller and lighter, faster with better autofocus and great low light capability. It is a contemporary of the D810. The D810 was a significant improvement over the D800 in many respects, though not necessarily in IQ. They use similar Sony sensors.

I had the D750 and D810 side by side in a camera store when they were both current. The difference in size and weight was obvious. I went for the D810 and can't say I have any regrets. I just had to see what 36 megapixels could do. I don't think I would have regretted buying the D750 one bit.

BebuLamar

I think that's OK. I would prefer the D800 than the D810.

therwol Loc: USA

Just curious why you'd prefer a D800 over a D810. The D810 is faster and has better autofocus. The shutter/mirror on the D810 is VERY quiet. The D800 has an anti-aliasing filter, absent on the D810. This may affect sharpness under some circumstances.

BebuLamar

It's my personal reason. I don't want a Nikon made in Thailand.

therwol Loc: USA

Nikon stopped manufacturing cameras in Japan aound the end of 2021. Then you're out of luck if you want a new Nikon camera. By the way, Sony has transferred nearly all of its camera production to Thailand. I guess you're going to have to buy Canon. That may change too. It's about economics.

BebuLamar

Yup! I think Sony makes all of its mirrorless cameras in Thailand and that including the A1. Canon still makes most of its cameras in Japan but I am not a Canon guy. So true I don't buy a new camera. I could buy a Leica but I don't think so.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

In the summer is 2022 I bought a Craigslist D800 locally for $500. 10,000 shutter actuations, came with Tamron 28-75 2.8 and the Nikon extra battery pack.

It’s heavy and physically large compared to my D7000. Multiple shutter firing is rather slow but faster with the extra battery but is still much slower than the 7000. Take a bunch of shots in rapid succession and you can fill up the buffer and it really slows down, that’s with jpeg. I don’t shoot raw so I can’t say about that. I don’t think I’ve ever loaded up the buffer on the 7000, but it’s 16mp while the 800 is 36.

With the 800 I can do intense cropping and still maintain image quality, better than the 7000. Even shooting jpegs with the 800 will fill up computer hard drives pretty quickly because of the file sizes meaning you might need additional storage space.

My hands are fairly large and the 800 is very comfortable, far more than the smaller bodies like a D40 and D5100. For remote firing you cannot use the handy little wireless remote like with the cheaper bodies. I miss that.

As for using DX lenses, you can set the camera to crop like DX or not do so. Some lenses will vignette at certain focal lengths. The Nikon 17-55 2.8 does so noticeably from 17-20 something but not so beyond that. I think it will on the short end of a 55-200 as well but not all the way through. I have several DX and old manual prime lenses and there’s no vignetting whatsoever on them. That means you don’t have to buy all new FX lenses and DX lenses can be used as a crop sensor or not.

Yes it’s an old camera but it can still to a pretty good job. As with anything, whether it’s worth owning depends upon purchase price and what you expect of it. I’m happy with mine but I still use my DX cameras for certain things. Is one worth $1,000? No. Is one worth $400-$500? For me personally and based upon what I expect, yes especially if other goodies come with it. Good luck!

therwol Loc: USA

The D810 corrected many of the shortcomings of the D800 such as the buffer, and it had better autofocus. The issue here is that the OP is being given an offer to buy the older camera for a "fair" price, not a D810, D850 or any other camera suggested in this thread. It's a yes or no issue. I would agree with you that the D800 is worth considering if the price is right. All of the D8xx cameras are capable of stunning images.