(This post is from an email conversation with a friend. I thought the content might be useful for others.)
Q: I’m planning a Europe trip coming up in a couple of weeks. I have a D90 and have loved it for many years, but now seems like a perfect time to invest in new gear. From my research the D7200 seems to be comparable to the pro-sumer level D90 and will support my lenses.
I shoot architecture, landscape, and occasionally people but it’s not a focus (because taking candid shots of people is off-putting without permission 🙂
Any thoughts on that camera as a choice? It comes with kit glass up to 140mm which seems like a nice walking around lens. Thinking I don’t want to drag along the 300m because it’s heavy. Maybe the 140 and my 11mm ultra wide. iPhone 6s Plus as a walk-around of course.
A: Europe will certainly be a great trip! Eager to hear more about where you’re going (or where you went). Before getting started on specifics, it’s a little scary to get new gear immediately before taking an important trip. At best you’ll be fumbling a bit with controls and features. But it’s also kind of fun learning new gear on great locations – if you have time and can tolerate a few missed shots along the way.
I think you’ll be really glad to upgrade from your D90. All of the pro-sumer and better bodies Nikon has are remarkably good today. You will see much much better noise, higher usable ISO, resolution, dynamic range, and focusing.
If I were starting from scratch to build a great travel kit, I’d pick a D750. I love full-frame bodies because of the better low light / noise performance and having more wide-angle flexibility. And the D750 is relatively small and a great performing body in general. Low light and very wide angle are both pretty common situations for travel.
If you have existing DX lenses, though, it’s harder to consider moving to full frame, and if size / weight matter then DX is a pretty solid choice. Here’s a guy I like talking about this exact question:
And if I were looking for a pro-sumer level body the D7200 is the perfect choice. Here’s a good review of it:
Nikon D7200 Review
Lenses are the real issue. I’m not a fan of kit lenses because they’re not great in any of the important areas: image quality, low light, and ruggedness. I’ve not tested any of the current crop, so I can’t speak about them directly. But what I know is that most of the time I prefer to carry two or three lenses that are better quality and faster (larger aperture) than one or two that are more convenient. Thom (first link above) is a big fan of the 16-80/2.8-4 DX lens. (Here’s his review: http://www.dslrbodies.com/lenses/nikon-lens-reviews/nikkor-zoom-lens-reviews/nikon-16-80mm-f28-4e-vr-dx.html). That lens seems pretty sweet for a primary walk-around lens. And then you could add your 11mm (not sure which lens that is) for ultra wide and/or the 70-300VR (not the other one) for longer reach. Or for better quality, the new 70-200/4.
A D7200 with a good quality ultra-wide, the 16-80/2.8-4, and the 70-200/4 would be a really great kit.
But it’s always easy to spend other people’s money. 🙂