Richard Bugg

...depends on a lot of factors unique to each user. A7RII: Au $4.5k body only, ouch. Battery life: hmmm. Buffer clearance: oh well. Some queries around certain handling aspects, including menu arrangement and buttons. Otherwise looks impressive. As a harbinger, the Sonys look ominous for other manufacturers.

I have a D750 and I like it a lot. I've considered getting another to accompany it, but then there's the D500, so my question is similar to yours, but not quite, since there's a big advantage to having two cameras set up the same. I'm betting the next significant Nikon successor will be for the D810 - possibly more MPs and with 4k, but no articulating screen, and considerably more expensive than current D750 prices. So with an eye to getting very good value I think there's a lot to be said for getting a slightly long-in-the-tooth camera that does what it does very well. If I wanted anything more from the D750 for general stills and for 1080p corporate videos and event recording it would be... well, I can't really think of anything much at all. So, as a value proposition, my money would be on a secondhand D750, which means that if, by chance, a new camera comes out with a bit more x factor, you could do the upgrade without any great loss. As Thom Hogan points out in his D750 review, its a bit of a Goldilocks Nikon Fx: Just right. YMMV depending on need, of course.

A Nikon perspective: I've progressed through the Nikon D200, D700, D7000, D5300 and D750 and used all of them pretty extensively. I have no qualms with the build quality of any of them for travel and landscape. Sure, if you throw them onto rocks then jump on them, some will survive better than others. But in day to day use with being reasonably careful I've never found build quality to make a material difference for indoor/outdoor use. I have however, found the weight and size to make a material difference, and I generally prefer to take the smallest and lightest camera when travelling and when weight and space are at a premium, so the D5300 is a real winner here. In terms of image quality, the D5300 (and hence D5500) is significantly better than the D7000 and consequently I would pick the smaller and lighter camera for its IQ over the D7k pretty much every time for every application, so much so that I rarely used the D7k and in the end sold it. For travel and landscape I've often paired the D5300 with the 35mm 1.8 (small, light, sharp and cheap) and been done with it. I've taken some very nice panorama landscapes in the bush and stitched them later in photoshop, so carrying a wide angle is less critical in that application. One real world limitation vs the D7xxx series is the slight increase in shutter lag and more button presses at times to change settings for the D5xxx. So for events the D7xxx series is a bit better in that way, being somewhat more responsive and with some more dedicated buttons for ISO, WB etc. But again, if I had both the D7k and D5300 at hand for an event I'd likely opt for better IQ and go with the D5300. For video, as others have mentioned, the D5xxx is a lot better, not the least because of the articulating screen, and because you get 1080 60p and a better overall image. Of course, the D750 spanks all of them all round, except for size/weight, but it's a lot more dollars and the lenses are bigger and heavier. Even with the D750 available, when size and weight are important I'll often take the penalties of the D5300 and leave the D750 at home. For my uses the D5xxx series packs a lot of bang for buck. Paired with a 35mm 1.8g, the Sigma 18-35 and something longer, it's pretty darn good.

Sold. I'm upgrading to the airPhone just as soon as it's out. I feel better already.

I reckon I'll stick with my current phone a while longer, given the needs vs wants vs consequences equation. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-09/environmental-impact-of-the-iphone/7825360

Not necessarily - for example you could plug it into a standard lead acid battery via an inverter, or into a lithium battery with AC outlet like the Paul Buff Vagabond, or similar. You could also put another plug on the end and connect directly to a more portable battery as long as it had the appropriate voltage. I have a vagabond so it I were to run a long time lapse sequence I'd just plug it into that. It would be an expensive item just for occasional use, but if you have a portable strobe like the Einstein or you want to do a lot of power hungry work away from domestic power it would be a pretty good solution.

As it turns out I didn't know this either until tupp pointed it out a few posts back. I just happened to get my dummy battery/AC power adapter a few days ago (Nikon knockoff via ebay) to help record an event to a Blackmagic video assist without the camera batteries cutting out. That's the value of a community putting ideas into the melting pot. tupp had the knowledge; I had a couple of pictures. Bam! Problem solved.

That is a rubber boot that can be pulled back and which allows the cable from a dummy battery to exit the body with the battery door closed. Here it is on the D750 with dummy battery inserted.

This is the same distinction between public and commercial broadcasting in general. While I'm sure that honest opinion finds its way into commercial broadcasting, and platitudes find their way into the non-commercial sphere, on balance, I'm with the non-commercial sector every time. Vested interests are everywhere and they wield insidious influence. An honest and thoughtful opinion is like a cool drink for a thirsty person.

That's a mean looking rattlesnake. Having a camera nearby at a time when the light was interesting was cool enough, but when I'd framed the shot and set the exposure, and a bloke happened to cruise by on a snazzy motorbike...well, what more could you ask for. It's a form of hunting, and it triggers a primal drive.

Lucky you. It's a great camera. I only sold my D7000 because I wanted somewhat better video with a flippy screen in a smaller package (D5300).

Comment removed per AL's wish below.

The crook's still playing the crowd.

Having read through this topic and at times had some emotional response one way or another (and with a disposition to give the benefit of the doubt to the chief protagonist) I'd have to say that right now there has been no compelling evidence from 'ES' to support that particular case, only assertion, much of it conflicting (what happened to the supposed pregnancy op rationale for example - she looks rather too large for one). IDs can be and are stolen so posting some photos of an ID means very little. There is no 'evidence' presented that is conclusive one way or another. As pointed out earlier the last message from 'ES' appears to me to be mocking with a series of deliberate spelling mistakes to illustrate the point about making spelling mistakes. An open mind on this matter, I feel, cannot be convinced by anything from the 'ES' account. My guts scream BEWARE!

You will find that most cameras that support raw files can be used pretty successfully for product shots with careful management of lighting and white balance - use a grey card or white balance preset to fine-tune this either during the shoot (latter) or in post (former). AF is not a particular issue with product photography in general because manual focus will be preferable in most cases. However, if the camera is remote then AF might be of assistance. Given your stills requirement and lens selection, I'd suggest a Nikon with wireless control capability and so you can use the qDslrDashboard app (http://dslrdashboard.info/introduction/).This app also works with Canon cameras. I've used qDslrDashboard successfully on a mac for taking product shots and for stills of transparencies and artwork with a D750. It provides a live screen preview which is useful for managing framing and focus and a number of controls. It is touted to work on Android mobiles as well. The nikon wireless control app can also be used but it is rather rudimentary. You can also trigger these cameras with a cheap remote trigger (e.g. Nikon ML-L3), but this is simply an infrared shutter release, which in many cases may be sufficient. As for camera, I'd probably consider something like the D5300 as its stills image quality is good but it is relatively inexpensive if you get one second hand. If you want the Nikon flat profile for video as well, step up to the D5500. My Sigma 18-35 works fine with AF on my D5300, and I believe the Sigma USB dock can be used to upgrade the sigma ART line to work with newer cameras, but I'd do some double checking with camera and lens combinations other than the D5300/18-35.

I suspect the lad is under an enormous amount of pressure at the moment. I'd personally rather lose a few hundred dollars than be in such a position. I don't know the real story, but I can imagine that a young man wanting to be respected and liked, and with an underdeveloped sense of judgement and perspective, might make a series of bad choices. I was young once and I sometimes cringe at the things I have done. I suppose it is normal. But I am not the same person now that I was. A crisis can sometimes be a useful catalyst for change. In many stories the hero sets out on a quest of some sort. But he has a weakness of character, exposed by some circumstance, which causes him to stumble and fail, possibly becoming ostracised, or at least diminished in the eyes of others, in the process. Seeing how the hero responds to the difficult road ahead despite their weaknesses and failings is what keeps us on the edge of our seats. Good luck to all.

I'm just wondering in what way the D750 is DOA specifically, or is this camera an exception?

When I started out with one or two lenses, I felt severely compromised and set out to acquire everything from 14-300mm. Now that I have everything from 14-300mm I find that I'm using a 35mm 1.4 for most of what I do, stills or video. The more I have, the more it feels like less is more.

I agree with Ebrahim about the D750 + D5500 with ND option for the reasons described. I have the D750 and D5300 with Tiffen Vari ND (see, for example: http://www.learningvideo.com/variable-nd-filter-shootout/ ). Being able to swap lenses between cameras is a good option. I have both the Sigma 35 1.4 ART, 18-35 1.8, and Nikon 35 1.8g DX, but far prefer the Sigmas due to their nicely smooth focus rings and overall solid feel. All are sharp. The D750 with Sigma 35 1.4 is a great combination. Both the D750 and D5300 make good stills cameras with reasonably consistent menu structures. Changing exposure on the D5300 can be done in Live View while recording by changing ISO as indicated by Ebrahim. I think that unless I wanted to change DOF for some reason during a shot, either ISO or Variable ND would be a preferable way to manipulate exposure in most circumstances.

It is also possible that Nikon's left arm is not talking to its right arm. The marketing department might be more on the ball than the design and engineering departments. The marketers know what the market wants, but they haven't been given quite the product to match it. Without bringing the two into closer alignment this sort of discrepancy might go on for years. And marketing is a bit like politics; just tell them what they want to hear. Words like 'broadcast', 'cinematic' are so loose and ill defined that you can use them at leisure. 'Broadcast' these days might imply a standard of quality that the BBC might accept, but in reality it could just as easily apply to YouTube, which is technically a form of broadcast, just in a different sense.

I'm in exactly the same decision making situation right now. Having been running your system for a few months now do you have any thoughts or advice regarding your new setup? I have 2008 15" MBP, FW Drobo and peripheral misc external drives. In particular I'm deciding between iMac per your specs and a system like the one described by Skip. I reckon either would be splendid.

Thanks for the article Andrew. I'd speculate that most Nikon consumers don't care too much about the intricacies of the video specifications; they just want a bit of half-decent video here and there, and in reality are just as likely to use the iPhone because it's far simpler. Most camera consumers will use iMovie or equivalent, if anything. Only a small minority will want the higher end video features you talk about. However, I wonder if Nikon is missing the power of reputation in driving lower end sales for video enthusiasts like me. If Nikon were renowned for high end video, this would influence a lot of low end buyers to choose Nikon based on reputation alone, even if they never actually used the high end features that came with the brand. On this point alone the average consumer currently interested in video would veer towards Canon or Panasonic. A Nikon user like me (from a stills background) is strongly tempted to keep the Nikon for stills (due to existing investment in bodies and lenses, and also because Nikon is very good for stills) but veer towards Panasonic as a second body for video, since the Nikon lenses can be used on that system too. Someone strongly interested in video from the outset will skip Nikon altogether. What a wasted opportunity for Nikon.