New DSLR or repair the current one for Mrs84FSP?

So my Mrs84FSP's 9 year old Nikon D80 ate another servo motor and is non-functional again. The last one I had fixed was the Lens and this time it is the body. Assuming it is a similar component the last one was reasonable at ~$100 installed. I realize it's a dated machine but it has been more than enough camera for us.

She is now doing amateur sports photography as football team mom for the the oldest of the 84FSP kiddos which would probably benefit from better shutter speed and more modern electronics.

She has a 40th bday coming up so I could justify buying her a new rig. I am still planning to get an estimate on fixing the D80 to sell.

Any thoughts from the shutterbug GRM hive?

A quick check shows functioning D80s with the kit lens selling for a little over $100 on ebay, so consider that when calculating repair cost.

Personally, I'd just replace it. Digital bodies are the most consumable of modern photographic equipment. I don't do Nikon, so I can't make a specific suggestion, but I'm sure there have been advancements in AF speed that would prove useful.

How much do you want to spend.

Do you have just the one lens, or many different lenses? Are your current lenses compatible with new Nikon DSLR bodies?

Hard to beat the D750. Really, really hard to beat.

Blaise wrote: Hard to beat the D750. Really, really hard to beat.

No question! This is the way to go. Lenses stay relatively the same, but the DSLR game has changed exponentially. Bury that dinosaur.

The 750 will capture better pictures in low light with no flash than the D80 with a flash. It also does 4k video. EDIT it's actually only 1080P, not 4k

My wife has a surplus D700 from her photography business that she would sell. If you want to go that route, email me through the forum and I'll put you in touch with her....but compared to the 750, the 700 is a dinosaur.

Not to mention that the prices are silly. I paid $1300 for mine and they just expanded the recall on them so I will end up with a new shutter despite having no issues. Yay!

Ah this is helpful folks. I have two nice Nikon lenses and this decision will now be impacted by if they transfer to the new body. It looks like 1300 buys a new D750 body.

84FSP wrote: Ah this is helpful folks. I have two nice Nikon lenses and this decision will now be impacted by if they transfer to the new body. It looks like 1300 buys a new D750 body.

They will. Hope Mrs84FSP has a birthday or anniversary or something coming up. Women LOVE electronics, right?

84FSP wrote: Ah this is helpful folks. I have two nice Nikon lenses and this decision will now be impacted by if they transfer to the new body. It looks like 1300 buys a new D750 body.

can you give more specifics on those lenses? Any other plans/photog interests on the horizon? (i,e. interest in picking up older AF-D/AI nikon lenses?)

While the D700 looks like a dinosaur... it is 2 years newer than the D80, and is claimed at 8fps compared to 6.5fps for the D750 while only losing a stop of ISO to the D750.

quick spec side-by-side

84FSP wrote: Ah this is helpful folks. I have two nice Nikon lenses and this decision will now be impacted by if they transfer to the new body. It looks like 1300 buys a new D750 body.

What lenses? If they are FX lenses they will swap. If not, buy new ones. Odds are you're rocking pretty old glass by now.

banging around some more, I realized the D700 is almost 2.5lbs without lens, compared to the D80's 1.5lbs. A D7100 is in a lot of ways a half step inbetween the D700 and D750, and is probably more compatible with your lenses since it's an APS-C sensor like the D80 and not a full frame (35mm) sensor like the D700/750, while being only a little bit heavier than the D80.

updated side-by-side

If you can afford it get a D500. That will work with any lens that works on the D80, has a fast frame rate for sports and much more dynamic range. It will give a much better result at high ISO in poor lighting and can lift up underexposed areas with easy and free post processing tools. The focusing is also a huge step forward from the D80.

I wouldn't put any money into the D80. I'm guessing for similar to the repair cost you could get something like a used D7000 or D5xxx and have a significantly better camera.

DX lenses from the D80 won't give you full frame shots on a D750.

I currently have a D80, D7100 and D500.

This sounds like exactly the kind of situation that should drive you into purchasing an M42 adapter to mount in the camera body permanently, and get a real focusing screen installed, and go get some fun universal threaded lenses that won't miss the busted AF motor. Helios 44, f1.2 and f1.4 55mm primes, a number of great options from Pentax, etc.

Hmm so much Google fu says my current 18-35 AF-S lense won't function on the D750 due to a lack of APS-C sensor on the body... more hunting to be done.

Based on the input here there is no point in restoring my D80 Dino. The D700 seems like a possible cheap improvement. The D750 sounds ideal but need a lenses so looking at ~1350 with some options below. The D500 looks fantastic but is out of my price range.

D750 deals

There are a variety of nice deals with lenses for ~1350. Most interested in general use and sport shots to select te best lens selection. It seems like there are Nikon and then other brands and it would seem good to go name brand glass. Curious to hear what folks think.

Nikon D750 Digital SLR Camera Package 4 1. Nikon D750 DSLR Camera (Body Only) 2. Full Size Professional Photo Bag 3. Professional Monopod - Floor Standing 4. Digital Slave Flash For Use With Digital Or Film Cameras 5. Lens Care and Maintenance Kit 6. Universal Digital Camera Screen Protector 7. Table Top Mini Tripod 8. Deluxe Lens Pouch For SLR Lenses 9. 4GB SD Memory Card 10. High Speed Secure DigitalCard Reader 11. New! Nikon 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G Autofocus Nikkor Lens 12. Nikon 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 AF Zoom Nikkor Lens 13. Cap Keeper 14. Memory Card Wallet 15. Wireless Remote for Digital SLR 16. All-Weather Deluxe All-Weather SLR Camera Backpack Case - Blue 17. 59-Inch Photo/Video Full Size Tripod For Nikon AW100 AW110

$1,349.00 Add to Cart

Nikon D750 Digital SLR Camera Package 9 1. Nikon D750 DSLR Camera (Body Only) 2. Full Size Professional Photo Bag 3. Professional Monopod - Floor Standing 4. Digital Slave Flash For Use With Digital Or Film Cameras 5. Lens Care and Maintenance Kit 6. Universal Digital Camera Screen Protector 7. Table Top Mini Tripod 8. Deluxe Lens Pouch For SLR Lenses 9. 8GB SD Memory Card 10. High Speed Secure DigitalCard Reader 11. Full Size tripod 12. Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S Nikkor Lens 13. Nikon Zoom Normal-Telephoto 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor Autofocus Lens (Vibration Reduction) for Digital Cameras 14. Cap Keeper 15. Memory Card Wallet 16. All-Weather Deluxe All-Weather SLR Camera Backpack Case - Blue 17. Deluxe Soft Diffuser 18. Macro Ringlight Flash 19. Projector HDMI Super-High Performance Audio/Video Cable -(6 ft)

$1,389.00

Nikon D750 Digital SLR Camera Package 12 1. Nikon D750 DSLR Camera (Body Only) 2. Full Size Professional Photo Bag 3. Professional Monopod - Floor Standing 4. Digital Slave Flash For Use With Digital Or Film Cameras 5. Lens Care and Maintenance Kit 6. Universal Digital Camera Screen Protector 7. Table Top Mini Tripod 8. Deluxe Lens Pouch For SLR Lenses 9. 4GB SD Memory Card 10. High Speed Secure DigitalCard Reader 11. Full Size tripod 12. Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S Autofocus Lens 13. Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G Lens 14. Cap Keeper 15. Memory Card Wallet 16. Wireless Remote for Digital SLR 17. All-Weather Deluxe All-Weather SLR Camera Backpack Case - Blue 18. Deluxe Soft Diffuser 19. Projector HDMI Super-High Performance Audio/Video Cable -(6 ft)

$1,399.00 Add to Cart

Does the D750 not have a crop mode to use with lenses that don't cover the full image circle? Make sure those other lenses you mentioned aren't meant for a crop body; the Nikon 18-135 is a DX lens, which in Nikon talk means crop and not full frame. So having it in a bundle with the D750 seems odd. Not funny odd.

You can still use your crop lenses on a full frame, you'll just be cropping the resultant images down in post. They'll still offer the same field of view, you'll just be losing available resolution. Might be a good solution for the time being. Your crop lenses may actually cover the full frame sensor, although it's doubtful if they're zooms.

p.s. I wonder what a Porst 55 f1.2 would perform like on your D80. Just saying.

The difference in resolution between APS-C and FF sensors is utterly irrelevant unless you are making very large prints. Purchase an adequate body for your needs, and spend the real money on the lens(es). Or just get an adapter and some good vintage primes as pres589 suggested - that's how I use my Leica rangefinder lenses on my Fuji X-E1.

02Pilot wrote: The difference in resolution between APS-C and FF sensors is utterly irrelevant unless you are making very large prints.

Loving the non-car talk on GRM (lol).

There's a marked improvement in IQ, depth of field, and dynamic range going to a proper FF setup and legit lenses. I said this kind of stuff for years too (you're right, the resolution itself doesn't matter nearly as much - looking at you Sony A9) and then I went to a Sony A7ii with Zeiss Glass and now a D750 with Sigma Art and that oh-so-nice 58mm nikkor.

There's really no comparison. Also phones are so good now that I really don't find a good reason to have a mid-range DSLR anymore. Phone or straight up Pro-grade stuff IMO :)

To whoever asked, yes the D750 will automatically work with a DX lens, just isn't using the whole sensor which kind of defeats the purpose of the camera. Shop around 2nd hand. I actually paid $1300 with a lens included, I wouldn't worry at all about buying a used one especially with the ongoing shutter recall which would likely get you a free cleaning/service/replacementshutter.

That fast 50mm glass also works like a champ at portraits or other almost-telephoto tasks when mounted on a crop body. I've thought more than once about putting together a dedicated m42 kit around some Pentax body and a k-mount to m42 adapter left in permanently. No reason to not do the same with a Nikon (I wouldn't do Canon as they seem to need a glassed adapter, which is meh) or some mirrorless thing.

If you have Nikon glass already that you like, I think I'd go for a D7200, as I think the D7500 is slightly crippled or lesser somehow to the 7200. Pricing on the 7200, body only, seems to run around $750 or so, maybe less, seems like different deals are out there. I'm pretty sure the D7500 lost the aperture ring coupling ability that the D7200 still had.

I have nothing to add, except one of the hockey moms has a Sony A6000 with a zoom lens that gets excellent action shots at the rink (even through the glass).

If your willing to go mirrorless, it might be worth a look for the sports photos.

I recently went through this decision myself so I'll share some thoughts.

While the resolution differences between modern full-frame and crop-sensor DSLRs isn't important (especially since some of them are both 24mp ), low-light/high-ISO performance and lens selection says to go full-frame if you can.

If sports photography and/or weight are high priorities I'd give the mirrorless stuff a hard look. The Sony A6000 is a deal and blows away even the best full-frame DSLRs in frames-per-second. There are also benefits in mirrorless tech like the fact the viewfinder will mimic what the sensor is actually capturing instead of your eye. Sony (and probably others) also have a cool feature called focus peaking that shows you where your focus area is, making manual focus much easier and probably a lot faster than relying on auto-focus plus AF-L to get the shots you want. Honestly I think when mirrorless catches up in price and low-light performance they're going to make the SLR tech completely obsolete at that point. If the OP chooses to go this route I believe Sony may make a lens adapter for the Nikon F-mount should you want to keep your lenses. The A6000 is crop-sensor so they'll be suitable.

In the end I wanted the best low-light, dynamic range, color depth, and wifi-capable camera I could get for under $1K with at least one lens so I shopped for a used full-frame DSLR. I couldn't get to that price point on the D750 comfortably (would have been nice), but I managed to get a D600 with a 50mm 1.8 AF-S lens well under that with about $300 worth of accessories I may use or sell off. I've seen the bodies go for $660ish on Ebay, so that leaves lots of room for good lenses where you want to spend your money anyway. You give up some specs to the D750 of course, but they weren't worth the price difference to me at this point.

In reply to 84FSP:

If I were going to buy from the place you linked I would verify that you are getting US spec that Nikon will honor the warranty for. I don't think Nikon will honor warranty on grey market gear. Also verify those aren't DX lenses in the bundles.

Wow - as always impressed by the knowledge here all. Thanks for all the input. I'll dig in and see what I find. I'm not so worried about the best of the best or brand new. I'm more interested in general capability to serve the purpose for some years ahead as we got 9 happy years out of the last rig.

Will report back shortly as I need to have this in hand in the next few weeks ahead of her 40th bday.

I would ditch the DSLR format and go mirrorless... you get a camera that is nearly half the size and lot less weight, yet is just as capable (or more even). It is much easier to travel light with a mirrorless camera verses a DSLR. Your wife will thank you. The Olympus OM-D series are basically the size of their original OM-1 35mm cameras - so small.

The below images were taken at the Daytona 24 with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II and old OM-Zuiko manual only glass (because inexpensive and good enough quality, plus I came from Olympus 35mm shooting when going digital and had most of my lenses already...)

2017 Daytona 24 gallery

Blaise wrote:

02Pilot wrote: The difference in resolution between APS-C and FF sensors is utterly irrelevant unless you are making very large prints.

There's a marked improvement in IQ, depth of field, and dynamic range going to a proper FF setup and legit lenses.

That's as may be, but for the vast majority of users they won't make any difference whatsoever (with the possible exception of DOF, but that can be compensated for). Pixel peeping is not the same as viewing the photograph as a photograph. On a screen, or far better, as a print, technical advantages are going to be lost on 99.9% of viewers.

Technology is all well and good, but too often it is viewed as a panacea. I've had people look at some of my photos and say something like "wow, you must have a really good camera," which is tantamount to saying "anybody with a good camera could have taken that". (That I shoot primarily with film cameras at least a half-century old tends to confound them.)

On the various photography forums I'm active on, I have the following Hunter S. Thompson quote in my signature: "Any man who can see what he wants to get on film will usually find some way to get it; and a man who thinks his equipment is going to see for him is not going to get much of anything." I think that sums it up nicely. (You can read the whole 1962 HST letter here. )

I'm a bit of a zealot about this, I'm afraid - apologies if it comes across too assertively, and for wandering off-topic a bit.