Can you help me choose a camera?

[Kalessin]

I have a Nikon D60 which I bought three years ago. I should have bought the D90, which has live view for composition (lacking in the D60), but I was already at the squeaky end of my budget and the D90 was over £100 more. And I'm impatient.

Anyway, I've recently had some professional lessons and the lack of live view has become painful, so it's time to upgrade.

I've drooled over the Nikon D7000 -- and the similarly-priced Canon 60D -- but I think they're more than I need right now. They're certainly more cash than I have right now

So I'm looking at the Nikon D3100, which fits my current budget, or the Nikon D3200 which is about £150 more. I've looked at the comparison between the D3100 and the D3200 on dpreview.com and the D3200 is slightly better overall, but I don't know enough to know if it's worth the extra £150.

TL;DR How much better is the Nikon D3200 than the Nikon D3100? Which should I go for?

[jambo]

What do you use the camera for?
What gear do you already own (lenses, flashes?)
What features (live view aside) are important to you?
What's your budget?
What do you like / dislike about the D60 you already have?

It's easy for us to say "Buy the D7000, it's great" and we wouldn't be wrong, but rather than just pointing you at D3200 reviews like this one:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d3200

We'll need to know what you consider important to know which one's right for you.

Jambo

[keith_d]

Jambo has already asked the key questions, but I'll add some more:

How big do you plan to print/display your images

Do you work on your images in Photoshop or similar?

How important is the ability to take video?

Are you willing to consider used cameras or does it have to be new?

I know this seems like a lot to think about, but these things affect which camera suits your needs.

[Kalessin]

At the moment, about 90% of my photography is snaps of the kids, but the workshop I had was on landscapes and I'd really like to brush up on that. Thinking long term, I'd like to be able to take candid photographs of the children that are well composed, but that's going to take practice.

I own the Nikon D60 and its kit lens (18-55mm), with no other lenses or compatible kit, so I am by no means invested in Nikon. However, my immediate price range tops out at the Nikon D3200 and the Canons at equivalent prices don't seem to measure up. Some more experienced friends and family use Canon equipment, so there is a benefit to switching, but not this time.

My budget is about £500. I could wait longer and spend more, but the lack of live view is a real PITA and I'd like to get it sorted quickly. I would also like to wait and see how my photography develops before I can justify nearly a grand on equipment.

I do like the D60, but coming from a compact, the ability to compose shots on the LCD screen has always been missed. I also like the matrix metering, which produces some pretty good results without the use of filters. However, one thing I noticed on the workshop was that the D60 completely failed to capture the warm reds of the sunset we were shooting using filters; they're more of a warm yellowy-orange. I would also like to have a live histogram, but I know that's not even available on the D3200.

Very few of my images get printed and the ones that do are snaps of the kids. It's hard for me to imagine taking a photo so good that I want to print it and put it on the wall or something at the moment!

I do work on my images in Photoshop if necessary -- like the time I was shooting in JPEG outside, with the white balance set to incandescent light. Oops.

The ability to shoot video is not the least bit important to me.

Another option occurs to me: I could just keep the D60, put up with viewfinder-only composition and then see about making a bigger jump to a better camera. But as I said, I'm impatient...

Thanks for reading this far (if you did ).

[fizzwheel]

If I may offer an alternative view point.

Personally I don't see what benefit you'll get from upgrading your body.

In your shoes, I'd practice practice practice with the D60 and learn to get the most from it. Rules of composition IMHO are still the same whether you are looking through the view finder or a Live view.

I can appreciate where you are coming from with missing the LCD view, but having now got used to a DSLR its not a feature I miss or one that would prompt me to replace my camera just for that one feature.

The Nikon Kit lens you have is OK, but I personally feel you might get better results if you spent some money on upgrading your lens to something else, thats more suited to what you are doing with it.

I would suggest that the colour differences etc etc are more down the lens rather than the camera body itself.

There's nothing wrong with your D60. I have a Nikon D40 and I've been complemented on some of my photos by a Pro photographer with alot of very very expensive kit.

There's plenty more people on hear more qualified than me to give you ideas or suggestions, so dont just my view on it before shelling out your cash.

Viewfinder vs screen.....go for viewfinder every time.When you get out in bright light you will use the viewfinder anyway. You get used to a camera and switching from one view to the other is not ideal . I shot professionally on a D300 with 17mm-55mm 2.8 for several years. Much modern technology is gimmicky or to sell cameras. Buy a fast lens for your current camera (50mm 1.4 ?) and see the pics of your kids just get better and better, especially available light. Viewfinder with a fast lens - that's the way to take stunning candids . Image stabilisation is ok but fast lenses are better IMO. Landscapes are great but getting timeless people pics sorts out the men from the boys. Everyone likes a new camera but you can get so overwhelmed by resolution and shooting features that you start taking loads of shots to try things out. Been there, done that. Just a personal view based on about a million images or so!

[keith_d]

Personally, I'm not a big user of live view except for inaccessible places where I can't get my eye to the viewfinder. Live view also makes the auto-focus slower, so it's less suitable for photographing children than you might think.

If you aren't planning to make large high quality prints yet, you probably have all the tools you need in your D60. I think you would get more benefit from spending your money elsewhere.

a) For photographing children

A 50mm lens would be my first choice, either the f/1.4 or f/1.8 depending on your budget. It's not quite as convenient as a zoom for framing pictures but the wider aperture allows you to control the depth of field which makes for much better portraits.

For indoor shots a couple of cheap slave flashes which you can bounce off the ceiling or a white card would give you a lot more flexibility. Unfortunately, the D60 doesn't support CLS commander mode so you will need a bit of experimentation to get the lighting right.

b) For landscapes

The first thing to buy is probably a decent tripod, something like the Manfrotto 055 with a sturdy head. Shooting landscapes means taking time to look at what's in your shot, and making it all work together. Then waiting for the sun to peek through the clouds, or a bird to fly into an empty piece of sky. So you really need a tripod. Providing it's sturdy and hasn't been abused a second-hand one is fine.

Next I'd add some Cokin P series filters and a holder. My recommendations would be P121 and P121M, which are different density graduated grey filters, along with the rather expensive P164 polariser. With an inexpensive adaptor ring these can be used on almost any lens.

When the budget can handle it, add a 12-24mm lens. The Nikon one is among my favourite lenses, but it's expensive. If you're on a budget the Tokina is almost as good and much more affordable.

[jambo]

As above, I've got quite a nice DSLR, the auto focus in live view is very slow. Useful for composing when the camera's somewhere awkward, that's about it.

The colours in the sunset would almost certainly look the same in the auto setting of a new camera. Play with white-balance, composition & exposure, and you'll find you can get rich colours with what you've currently got.

I know this isn't really what you want to hear, but I'm doubting that you'd be much better off with a D3200. As above, read some literature, go on a course, check out photos in Flickr tagged as being from a D60. Should all help inspire you a little.

I've shot exclusively with a 400D Canon for years until this summer when I was given something bigger as a present from my wife. It's not big on features, but I took a bunch of photos I was really really happy with.

If lots of your friends have Canon gear, and would occasionally lend you expensive kit, it might be worth trying out a Canon body in a while. Just to give you access to that

Jambo

[Kalessin]

Well, that's all very disappointing, as I was hoping to be able to justify a new camera

I have instead added a 50mm f/1.8 lens, the Cokin ND Grad kit and the Cokin polariser to my shopping list.

Next: more practise. I liked the idea of looking up flickr photos done with D60s, I'll do that too.

Thanks for all your help

I have the d90, and never use the live view