Wanting an upgrade from D5300 at a great price!

[Dustin]

Question for anyone interested... currently still shooting on a d5300, but life has changed and I'm looking to upgrade this year. I only own 1 noteworthy lens for this camera, a tamron 17-50 2.8. Here is the catch..id ideally like to be under $1000, under 600-800, maybe even 4-500 and would obviously be considering used. 

 

Wants:

-Good slowmo 120p but will do with 60p

-4K capable 

- flat profile of some sort. I get decent results out of properly exposed flaat on my Nikon but again built in would be nice.

Not Deal Breakers but would be nice:

-ibis

- AF

 

final thoughts: I realize in my price range I'm probably looking at either used/new: a63/6500, g7, g85, bmmcc, bmpcc, possibly a used Olympus (already have an excellent Zuiko 50mm 1.8 from an OM2N). I also realize I could compromise and get a camera w/o IBIS and get a nice gimbal. 

 

What cameras besides those listed above should I be looking at in my relative price range? Fuji? Olympus? Panasonic/Sony? I want to upgrade in terms of usability. I love the Nikon image and may post some stills from a vacation/travel/family video im doing now but the advancements in the past few years could really help a hobby filmmaker like me focus more on the fun parts like story/editing/grading. For my purposes Sony/Panasonic seem to be leading based on price/specs but I know specs/YouTube videos don't always tell the story so if anyone can guide me or offer some opinions hit me up!

 

Quote

[Mark Romero]

You probably realized that you are asking for a lot of camera for not that much money...

Most likely anything you want with 4K (or even just really good 1080p at 120fps) is going to be somewhat north of one grand.

The a6300 has quite detailed 4K. With the latest firmware update (2), it shouldn't overheat as much (in theory).

There aren't really any adapters with FUNTIONAL AF or image stabilization support for adapting your Tamron Nikon mount lens to a Sony a6300. However, you could possibly get the Sigma (for Canon) mount 17-50 OS and put it on an MC-11 adapter and then you would have the same 17-50 crop sensor focal range and functioning optical stabilization. But.... you better double check how well the sigma 17-50 f/2.8 will AF with the MC-11 adapter on an a6300.

On the other hand, the 1080p on the a6300 falls behind some of the other cameras out there, and the screen is really not that good (compared to the swivel screen of D5X00 series or even the tilt screen of the D750).

Oh, and the screen dims in 4K when shooting with the a6300... and it is already really reflective. I ain't going to lie; I find it a PITA to shoot 4K video with my a6300. Much easier to shoot video with my D750, just that the 1080p resolution of the D750 is so soft...

A lot of people like the Panasonic cameras (l don't know all their models, but things like the G7 and G85 or something like that??? As well as the GH4 cameras). If you are looking for IBIS, then Panasonic IBIS with stabilized Panasonic lenses are supposed to be great. Then again, I have no idea on the pricing of Panasonic lenses,

The new D7500 is supposed to cost around $1,260 so that is out of your budget. I would imagine that image quality would be good (on par with the D500) but autofocus in LiveView with MOST Nikon cameras is painful. Did they improve liveview AF with the D7500??? If so, might be worth getting.

Heck, I am thinking of getting one anyway. Who knows. 

Also, maybe the Canon 80D ??? I have no idea if it is any GOOD or not, but it seems like everyone and their dog uses one. No 4K but at least you should be able to find one used for under a grand.

[aldolega]

The Panasonics are probably your main choice on that budget.

GX85- very good 4K30, good 1080p60. 4K has an additional crop compared to 1080p (2.3X instead of 2X, compared to fullframe. Your D5300 is 1.5x). Very small body. No mic or headphone jacks. Very good IBIS. Screen tilts but doesn't flip out. Doesn't come with Panasonic's flat profile, Cine-D, but user BTM_Pix just figured out how to add it. HDMI output stays on while recording. Good to very good rolling shutter performance.

G85- Same as GX85, except in a more DSLR-ish shape. Half-metal build is nice and solid. Has a mic jack but still no headphone jack. Has a flip-out screen instead of tilt. Comes with Cine-D.

G7- Same shape as G85 but plastic build. Otherwise pretty much the same except it doesn't have IBIS. HDMI shuts off if recording internally.

GH4- Bigger metal body. No IBIS. Has Cine-D and can be upgraded to V-Log. Slightly worse ISO performance than the GX85 and G85. Color science is also a tiny bit "worse" than the newer cams. HDMI stays on when recording, unless in 10-bit mode, then it's HDMI only. Much better bitrates for 1080p modes and has a VFR mode for up to 96fps, but it's pretty soft. LCD screen is nicer than the G cams. Battery life is phenomenal. Rolling shutter is a step better than the G cams, especially in 1080p.

With the Panasonics I would recommend going the Speedbooster route. You could keep your Tamron and then expand on it with some old AI or AI-S glass, for fairly cheap. Your Olympus 50mm won't adapt to a Nikon booster though, you'd have to use a plain adapter. Or just sell it and get a Nikon 50mm.

Photos with the Panasonics will be on par or a bit weaker than the D5300. The Speedbooster will help close the gap but you won't have autofocus.

You can also look at the A6300, but as said above, its 1080 modes are soft, no IBIS, battery life and rolling shutter sucks, dim screen, etc. But for some people the tradeoffs are worth it for the great DR and detail in 4K, and superb photos.

[Dustin]

Thanks guys! I probably post something like this every quarter but I know this time I'm serious. And yes I'm expecting a lot out of a little but again that was a bucket list thing. 

Honestly there are so many options out there it's kind of mind numbing. Even specs considered at the end of the day it's just a tool. Will more than likely keep the d5300 for stills anyways

[mercer]

I recently did a handheld test between the GX85 in 4K and 1080p vs. the D5500 in 1080p. I used the Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 with both cameras. I do not have a speedbooster for the GX85, so I used a simple adapter. The FOV was obviously different. I have yet to look at the footage, but I have a feeling there will be little difference between the two images in terms of visible quality. I will post the results here when I finish.

You may be better off keeping what you have. There is some fine work done with the Nikon Flat Profile, so maybe a simple upgrade to the D5600 would suffice. Otherwise, if you can raise the money, the D7500 should drop a little by the holidays or you can do what I am considering, either the a6500 or the Fuji X-T20 if you want/need 4K. 

[Dustin]

If you could manage to post a clip of that I would much appreciate it! @mercer 

[IronFilm]

Panasonic G80 is the clear top #1 option with 4K in your price range.

The next two contenders I'd suggest are:

BMMCC (if you don't care that the Micro lacks 4K and IBIS, and has max slow motion of 60fps FHD)

Nikon D7500 / secondhand D500 (if you'd like to keep on using your D530 as a very easy to match B can)

 

[mercer]

3 hours ago, Dustin said:

If you could manage to post a clip of that I would much appreciate it! @mercer 

Will do but I probably won't get around to it until early next week. 

[aldolega]

No way you're realistically getting a Micro up and running for a grand. It needs a monitor at the verrrry least. More likely a speedbooster, cage, and lots of batteries/media too.

[Dustin]

Wow the d7500 does look okay. I will look up reviews on the e-VR 3 axis system. In the meantime though, at $1300 new I could pick up plenty of camera for that used and probably buy up. On the other hand, that 7500 is a bigger camera than my 5300 so I think handheld would be a bit smoother with the added weight at least for me.

[Dustin]

7 hours ago, mercer said:

Will do but I probably won't get around to it until early next week. 

Looking forward to it! Man I was looking at my footage this morning... if my 5300 had ibis and 120fps hd I would be so satisfied.

[mercer]

6 minutes ago, Dustin said:

Looking forward to it! Man I was looking at my footage this morning... if my 5300 had ibis and 120fps hd I would be so satisfied.

I sing it from the rooftops so you may have read... I've been shooting with the 5D3 and ML Raw for the past two months. While I've been shooting my film, I've realized how much storage I need, so I've been deleting a lot of old test footage from my hard drives. Of course, I get nostalgic, so I've been watching a lot of the footage before I delete it. The only stuff I feel remotely attached to is the footage from my D5500. So much so, I'll probably end up buying a D7500 for some Nikon Flat 4K. Or if I really want to save some money, I'll sell my D5500 and make the small upgrade to a D5600 for the video timelapse. 

The IBIS is nice with the GX85, but with a simple monopod or shoulder stock, I can get just as good stabilization with a more organic feel to the video than I have ever gotten with a Panasonic. Also, adapters are annoying and the affordable micro 4/3 glass feels like they may break just by looking at them cross and the expensive glass, like the Voigtlanders, are awesome but they're a lot of money for a micro 4/3 system, IMO.

Of course, that's just me. The GX85 is a fine camera that has proven to be a reliable tool. I just like the Nikon image better.

[Dustin]

2 hours ago, mercer said:

I sing it from the rooftops so you may have read... I've been shooting with the 5D3 and ML Raw for the past two months. While I've been shooting my film, I've realized how much storage I need, so I've been deleting a lot of old test footage from my hard drives. Of course, I get nostalgic, so I've been watching a lot of the footage before I delete it. The only stuff I feel remotely attached to is the footage from my D5500. So much so, I'll probably end up buying a D7500 for some Nikon Flat 4K. Or if I really want to save some money, I'll sell my D5500 and make the small upgrade to a D5600 for the video timelapse. 

The IBIS is nice with the GX85, but with a simple monopod or shoulder stock, I can get just as good stabilization with a more organic feel to the video than I have ever gotten with a Panasonic. Also, adapters are annoying and the affordable micro 4/3 glass feels like they may break just by looking at them cross and the expensive glass, like the Voigtlanders, are awesome but they're a lot of money for a micro 4/3 system, IMO.

Of course, that's just me. The GX85 is a fine camera that has proven to be a reliable tool. I just like the Nikon image better.

I've gotten better as this trip has gone on...I find sometimes I'm so excited to shoot I forget to use 3 points of contact. When I extend the camera using my hands and neck I tend to get a stable shot that requires just a touch of warp stabilizer in post. I have no use for the time lapse feature, that just takes an additional 30 seconds in premiere to do. I'm a bit nostalgic too so idk I feel the Nikon color science is great even shooting with the flaat11 profile I'm finding as long I have plenty of light it yields a base that can be graded however. Maybe what I want is two cameras...a solid d7500/d5500/d5300 and a slow mo camera like the rxIV?

[srgkonev]

Have similar question and situation. Really like my Nikon D5500 for that color, easy grade flat profile. But i just wanna to experiment more. And IBIS free your hand for this. No monopod, no shoulder rig, just your hands and this amazing IBIS. But i every footage i`ve seen from gx85 and g85 was so videosh... Cant find any cinematic example with shose cameras.

So i like DR, depth of field and color from d5500 and stabilisation from panny. Cant make any decision  

[mercer]

On 7/5/2017 at 2:19 PM, Dustin said:

I've gotten better as this trip has gone on...I find sometimes I'm so excited to shoot I forget to use 3 points of contact. When I extend the camera using my hands and neck I tend to get a stable shot that requires just a touch of warp stabilizer in post. I have no use for the time lapse feature, that just takes an additional 30 seconds in premiere to do. I'm a bit nostalgic too so idk I feel the Nikon color science is great even shooting with the flaat11 profile I'm finding as long I have plenty of light it yields a base that can be graded however. Maybe what I want is two cameras...a solid d7500/d5500/d5300 and a slow mo camera like the rxIV?

The RX100iv or v are very cool little cameras, but they really are little, like itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie little. I liked the RX10ii better than the RX100 but they're not that cheap either and being used to an aps-c sensor, I think you'd be underwhelmed.

Unfortunately, if you really want 120fps, there aren't a lot of options in your price range.

If I hadn't decided to go with the 5D3, I am pretty certain I would have bought a D7500 by now. The 4K looks brilliant, even with the crop, but then when 4K is overkill, I would have some of the cleanest, leanest, gradeable 1080p around up to 60p.

[mercer]

With that being said, a GH4 will almost get you to the 120fps and they are pretty inexpensive now. And the G85 is a fine camera if you want the IBIS and can be happy with 1080 60p AVCHD.