Upgrade?

[Rammie]

Quick question for anyone with a bit of knowledge!

 

I used to be well into photography, back in the film days. Had use of a dark room, and did my own developing, printing and so on. Anyhow, when things started to go digital, I did eventually buy a Nikon DSLR, which I still have, and use. But I never really took to it. Once others in the camera group I was in at the time went that route, and started 'shopping' everything, I lost interest. Not wishing to talk about the film/digital argument (if there is still such a thing), but have a question.

 

My Nikon is 6MP. At the time, that was about mid range. Obviously, it's very outdated now. My mobile overtook that four phones ago!!

 

If I bought a new one these days, would I notice much of a difference? Not sure how many MP a mid range one would have these days? Assume I can use my lenses with a new one, so would need to buy body only. Would there be a noticeable difference in quality??

[4wd]

The Nikon will still have better resolution than any mobile phone, because the sensor is larger.MegaPixels is really little more than marketing hype.I'd stick with what you have, maybe consider additional lenses which would also work with any new model?Using RAW and maybe Lightroom for basic editing, a camera like that should be able to produce fantastic images.

There would be a big difference if you go to full frame sensor, and newer models handle noise at higher ISO much better.

[Bobby]

Quick question for anyone with a bit of knowledge!

 

I used to be well into photography, back in the film days. Had use of a dark room, and did my own developing, printing and so on. Anyhow, when things started to go digital, I did eventually buy a Nikon DSLR, which I still have, and use. But I never really took to it. Once others in the camera group I was in at the time went that route, and started 'shopping' everything, I lost interest. Not wishing to talk about the film/digital argument (if there is still such a thing), but have a question.

 

My Nikon is 6MP. At the time, that was about mid range. Obviously, it's very outdated now. My mobile overtook that four phones ago!!

 

If I bought a new one these days, would I notice much of a difference? Not sure how many MP a mid range one would have these days? Assume I can use my lenses with a new one, so would need to buy body only. Would there be a noticeable difference in quality??

 

Megapixels are less important than the lens and sensor. You can get cameras that produce 30 megapixels images that are inferior to a camera that produces 15 megapixels. What also matters a lot is what you want to do with the camera. If you want to do everything and don't mind the bulk, lack of portability and cost then a SLR is the way to go. These days you can also get compact inter-changeable lens cameras with SLR-like sensors that give very good image quality and flexibility and are becoming very popular. Or you can get a standard fixed lens compact camera, some of which can deliver very good photos and do plenty of things as well.

 

Also depends on whether you care more about usability and flexibility or image quality. You can get cameras that can do everything, have loads of megapixels, fast, loads of features and functions, flexibility etc but don't produce brilliant photos. Then you get cameras that are a bit quirky and lacking in features and flexibility but produce superb photos.

 

Narrow down what kind of camera you want and read the various reviews and user experiences I'd say.

[Rammie]

Many thanks for the replies. I've no interest in using software for anything other than viewing, (and very occasional cropping!). Am due a small bonus in the next couple of weeks, and was wondering about the upgrade. Sounds like I may be better off adding another lens then. Don't want to go down the compact, semi compact, hybrid route. Have been using SLR's for about 30 years now. Have only really had a very quick look around as yet, but I can see that I can go up to about 24MP for £300ish. On the face of it, that sounds so much better than six! But yeah, I know what you are saying about the hype! Thanks again.