Hello from Hampshire

[amk1977]

Hi Julia,

I moved to a Nikon D90. My dad bought me it brand new with an 18-105mm VR kit lens, which I have to say, for a kit lens is very good. The difference in the image quality was instantly noticeable and the 11 AF points made focusing much easier, compared to the 3 on the E-510.

If you are in the market for a new camera, what is your budget?

Aaron

[julip]

Hi Aaron,

The D90 is very nice, my friend has one and its what prompted my thinking about getting something new! The AF system is excellent, I used it to take some photos in a situation where my E510 was struggling and it was brilliant but I find it really difficult to hold. For me its really quite heavy and the body is just that little bit too big for me to use one handed.

I went into LCE the other day and tried a k7, which is about the same weight i think and it was much easier to hold for me.. my total budget, because I am changing systems, is about £1500 for camera plus kit lens, one reasonably long zoom (compared to my 40-150 anyway!) and a macro (havent budgetted for bag/battery/cards yet....**sticks fingers in ears and goes "lalalalalalala"**).

I looked at some of the Pentax k5 bundles which would get this if you added a 50mm macro on top but I am not sure if the Pentax AF system is as good as the Nikon one....but the k5 does look very nice and as I find the D90 so difficult to use...

The alternative is a Canon 50D which is also good for me ergonomically but I havent looked much into pricing for that one, it seemed more expensive from a cursory glance the other day!

decisions decisions!

Thanks for your reply though, its great to hear where other people have gone to from where I am now!

Julia

[Matthew Forrest]

Hi Julia

Welcome to the site!!

[amk1977]

Hi Julia,

The D90, although superceded now, certainly isn't a bad bit of kit and I found it to be pretty user friendly. When I first got it, I was a bit bamboozled by all the additional features though. When I picked up the up the E-510 again, it felt tiny and a bit sparse lol. The only thing I miss about the E-510 is the metering. I used to use some wonderful old manual focus glass lenses on it. The D90 doesn't have the ability to meter non D or G type lenses, which is a shame, as for me it was its only drawback.

The best thing to do is read reviews and the cameras' specifications and see what meets your requirements. Then go and hunt out those models and see what feels best in your hand. Going from the E-510, the D90 felt huge and a little cumbersome initially but, after a while you just get used to it and now it feels perfectly natural, so bear that in mind. Any new camera is going to feel a bit alien.

If you thought the D90 was heavy, you should try it with battery grip on the bottom and a solidly built lens lol. I had to buy a new camera strap, as the weight of the D90, grip and my Tokina 28-80 f/2.8 was REALLY hanging heavy on my neck.

You could splash out on the latest models, or you could sit tight for a bit and see what happens to the price of older models, giving you a bit more to lavish on lenses and accessories. I have to say though, the new Nikon D7000 does look bloody awesome, with its 16.2MP censor and 39 point AF system, plus the new exspeed II processing engine. My D90 looks a bit naff on paper compared to it

Tell you what.... buy the D7000, if you don't like it, I'll swap it for my D90. Can't say fairer than that!

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by amk1977

...although superceded now...

I know it's a pedantic point but actually to D90 is not superceded. The D7000 goes above the D90 in the range.

It's often about ergonomics as well. I find the D90 feels lighter than it actually is because it fits my hands. If you don't get on with the feel of a camera, it will seem heavier than it is.