Buying first DSLR Camera (Page 2): If you ant a second opinion, buy a Canon T6i or T7i. With a canon 10-18 lens and a Sigma 18-250. You will be a very happy man. Captain Al...

Al Freeedman

If you ant a second opinion, buy a Canon T6i or T7i. With a canon 10-18 lens and a Sigma 18-250.
You will be a very happy man.

Captain Al

RickL Loc: Vail, Az

UTEP65 wrote:

Retired with a WANT to improve quality of photographs. Will be traveling in Europe this summer and will be taking a lot of scenes, buildings inside and out. One of my friends is a recently retired professional photographer. He strongly recommends a Nikon D7200 with a 24-120mm lens. I just need a second opinion.

I am going against the tide here and suggest a D750. Yes, it is an fx camera but you can save money on lenses by purchasing fx film auto focus lenses. I have 8 lenses, all but two are vintage. I also use a D7000, the D7xxx series all have internal motors and use vintage glass. One of my photos taken with a vintage lens is an international finalist. Just an example, I recently purchased a vintage 500mm lens for $350. A new one of good quality, $1,300 or more. I just had this lens out on a photo shoot and it was amazing. I shoot with a D7000 and a D810. The full frame is more money but the quality of photo is amazing. The D750 is on sale right now or you can get a refurbished one with a year warranty from Cameta for a very good price

RickL Loc: Vail, Az

The weight between the D7200 and the D750 is negligible

CO

GPS Phil wrote:

I have had my 16-85 lens for years and would not part with it, for all the reasons you stated. Plus it gives beautiful contrast and is very light weight. Not sure how the 16-80 2.8 stacks up, but would love to try one!

Phil

I had the Nikon 16-80mm f/2.8-4 lens. I was disappointed with it and ended up returning it. It had a severe back focusing issue on all of my Nikon DSLR cameras. That's not to say that every copy of that lens would be that way. All of my other Nikon lenses require just very small amounts of AF fine tuning. It's also way overpriced. The 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 is just as good with just a slightly slower max aperture.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

UTEP65 wrote:

Retired with a WANT to improve quality of photographs. Will be traveling in Europe this summer and will be taking a lot of scenes, buildings inside and out. One of my friends is a recently retired professional photographer. He strongly recommends a Nikon D7200 with a 24-120mm lens. I just need a second opinion.

My second opinion agrees with his first opinion. Now let's see how many pages of discussion we get.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

UTEP65 wrote:

Retired with a WANT to improve quality of photographs. Will be traveling in Europe this summer and will be taking a lot of scenes, buildings inside and out. One of my friends is a recently retired professional photographer. He strongly recommends a Nikon D7200 with a 24-120mm lens. I just need a second opinion.

Nikon is currently running a deal on a D750 (full frame) with a 24-120 F4 lens with the battery grip. A total savings of $1554.00. You can also sell the battery grip if you don't want it and save an additional $300.00 and the body and lens would end up costing you about $1696.95. About the same price for what you were going to spend on the D7200 and 24-120. And a full frame would deliver, the D750 is a much better camera in low light than the D7200 plus it is full frame and has an articulated viewing screen. Check the following out.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1082604-REG/nikon_d750_dslr_camera_with.html

machia Loc: NJ

You should go to a camera store first and put it in your own two hands . Also if going with a crop sensor , a lens such as an 18-140mm would be a much better choice . The 18-135mm for my Canon APS-C camera is a wonderful lens for all around needs and travel . The Nikon you mentioned has solid reviews , very highly rated camera .

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

So many good suggestions so far, I thought I'd include mine for cheap alternatives. Oldies but goodies. A D7000, D5300, D3300, or full frame D700 would work well. For lenses a Nikon 18-70 with a 70-300, both can be had for $100 each. A 18-200 Nikon for about $300 and you would get it done with one lens. For the D700, I'd use a Nikon 24-85 vr for about $350 used, or referbed. My choice would be the D700 with 24-85 vr. Great sharpness and very good in low light along with tough and sealed well for bad weather. It is 12 megapixel but plenty good for enlargements more than 8x10.

Boris Ekner Loc: From Sweden, living in Guatemala

You never mentioned your budget, but it should land around $7-800 for the body only.

When I decided on my D5300 with an 18-55mm I had a budget of $500. I wanted the best professional reviews, good and fairly priced lenses, as many pixels as possible, Wifi, and BUILT IN GPS for my travels. The D5300 turned out to be my best option, if not the only one.

When I travel I see little to no use of my 55-200mm lens I bought later. I prefer the 18-55 as it is smaller in size and captures larger sceneries, which is what I want my travel pictures to show.
As I shoot RAW I have every opportunity to crop the picture later if the 18-55 doesn't cut the cake. An alternative would be an 18-200 ($2-300 on eBay) but right no I can't motivate buying it.

I hope it helped.

Djedi

GPS Phil wrote:

I have had my 16-85 lens for years and would not part with it, for all the reasons you stated. Plus it gives beautiful contrast and is very light weight. Not sure how the 16-80 2.8 stacks up, but would love to try one!

Phil

From what I hear, the 16-80 is slightly better optically under some conditions, but has more distortion at the wide and telephoto ends. It is larger across, though not heavier.
It is also quite a bit more costly if you are trying to get one used.
I purchased the 16-85 a few months ago, mainly for a trip to Japan this summer. The used copy I received is a fabulous lens and cost me about $300.
I have used it prodigiously for the last few weeks and am VERY happy with it. I also purchased the new Nikon AF-P 70-300mm plastic bodied lens to save weight.
Those 2 lenses (and an 8mm Rokinon) will make up my glass selection for the trip.

Ikonomos Loc: Adelaide, South Australia

A Nikon 610 is an affordable FX camera.
Either the 24-120mm f4 or 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 work well.

MtnMan Loc: ID

UTEP65 wrote:

Retired with a WANT to improve quality of photographs. Will be traveling in Europe this summer and will be taking a lot of scenes, buildings inside and out. One of my friends is a recently retired professional photographer. He strongly recommends a Nikon D7200 with a 24-120mm lens. I just need a second opinion.

Too heavy and has a complex control system.

Get a D5500. Half the weight and price plus a fully articulated screen that will help you do selfies and other things. It takes the same images. B&H has a great package deal now.

You want a lens that goes down to 18 mm for a DX camera.

Or if you want something even more suited for travel check out the Panasonic Micro 4/3 Lumix mirrorless or even fixed zoom lens cameras. They have several that take marvelous images and are more convienient than DSLRs.

Keep in mind all people self justify their buying decisions. It is an unconscious thing. They will, in good faith, assure you they don't.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

the d7200 is a excellent camera at a reasonable cost. It does have many features that I like. And is compatible with most Nikon Lenses. The 16 -80mm, 16-85mm and the 18-140mm lenses would be very good choices. I don't like super zooms as there are many optical compromises. A very inexpensive and nice combo is the 18-55mm (get one with the VR switch) and the 55-200mm. You should not longer lenses unless you are shooting wildlife or sporting events. (these lenses are big and heavy anyway). I have the 18-55 and 16-80 and the 55-200mm (plus others)

mtstick

I totally agree with the other post about putting 24mm-whatever mm lens on a crop sensor. It's very hard to take a "Birthday cake" photo.

You mention indoor shots, make sure your lens is fast enough to take indoor shots without flash.

mrpentaxk5ii

I will put my two cents in, a lot of good comments have been made as to camera and lens choice. No one lens will do every thing, if you get a 18-135 or 200 mm you will be able to cover a wide range but because of this your F stop will start at about 3.5 to 5.6 or 6.what ever this is ok for photographing out side but indoors it will suffer as the lens will not be fast enough so you would need to add a 17-50 f 2.8 or a wider 11-20 f 2,8, these will allow you to shoot with less light. the other problem that a zoom lens that covers wide to telephoto is that picture quality will be slightly off because of the range it has to cover.