Move to D610 or stay with D7100?

Ok guys..Ive been shooting with the D7100 for a couple of months now..It was a upgrade from the D3100 which I had for almost 2 years..I consider myself a Semi-Pro and do get paid for my shoots. I have great FX glass and want to fully take advantage of it. After my last shoot I did at night in some low-light situations. I was unhappy with the noise I got at 2000-2500 ISO..A pic I really liked was so noisy and in post I had to turn the luminance up so much the pic became so soft..On top of that because of the dx crop I couldn't get some shots I wanted in tight spaces.
Really considering the D610 for the what you see is what you get focal and High Iso capabilities.. Other then the crop factor and better iso the D7100 and D610 are the same camera...What would you guys do?

Keep the D7100 and buy a D610 ;-)

If possible, I agree with Scott! It sounds like your needing an upgrade, but having a good back up camera is a really good idea in my opinion!

look at this comparison and decide
Nikon D7100 In-Depth Review: Digital Photography Review

I'd just stick with the D7100. You need to account for the cost of new lenses, etc also and decide if you feel it's worth it for a camera that has very few things better than your current model.

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I have great FX Lens...The main thing for me is shooting at the Focal length it says and better Iso capabilities..Cons of 610 is the AF system vs the D7100..I like the 51points(D7100) vs 39 points the 610 has..

Sounds like you really want a D800e then

If I had the money I would buy the D610 and keep the D7100, its a very good camera. The only area I feel it is lacking, is in low light.
The question I would need to ask, is, how much better is the D610 in low light ? How much of an improvement are you getting for your money ?

I try not to go above iso800 on my D7100, as I dont like the noise. To be able to go higher would be a bonus.

If I was getting paid for shoots I would get the D610

I'm with Scott, too, if you think the D610 is for you. There are going to be trade-offs. Have you looked through the viewfinder of a D610? If you prefer the higher number of focus points, please know that the focus points are more closely clustered to the center on a D610--if your D7100 is similar to my D90, the focus points are spread out more across the viewfinder. So in addition to there being fewer focus points, they aren't as spread out.

And the resolution of the D610 is 24mp. When you crop a photo, you are lowering your resolution. If you take a comparable shot on a D610 in DX crop mode or crop a photo to make it comparable to the same shot on the D7100, your resolution will be higher on the D7100.

Please understand I have no qualms with my D610. I upgraded from a D90 so for me it was step up--plus I spent years using 35mm and prefer the full view. Like Lee532 said, you might want to look at a D800e.... Only you can decide which features are most important, but if you do go with a D610, you might want to hold onto the D7100.

Yep..aware of the focus point spread...The cons are focusing system, 1/4000 shutter 1/200 flash,and no self dust cleaning...Pros are full frame(focal length is what it is) and Better low-light..Would love the D800e..1000k more and not sure about the upgrading in memory on the computer...As far as cropping in post..Both 7100 and 610 are 24mp and cropping on either in post should yield the same resolution per se..Thanks for the input guys...Decisions

Best of luck on your decision my friend! I'm glad I don't have to make it!
But no matter which you choose, I have no doubt you'll produce some great photos bud!

ShootRaw said:

Yep..aware of the focus point spread...The cons are focusing system, 1/4000 shutter 1/200 flash,and no self dust cleaning...Pros are full frame(focal length is what it is) and Better low-light..Would love the D800e..1000k more and not sure about the upgrading in memory on the computer...As far as cropping in post..Both 7100 and 610 are 24mp and cropping on either in post should yield the same resolution per se..Thanks for the input guys...Decisions

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Ironwood said:

I try not to go above iso800 on my D7100, as I dont like the noise. To be able to go higher would be a bonus.

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Excessive noise above ISO 800 on the 7100 seems odd. Could it be that a lot of the noise is from underexposure? In many cases, it's better to increase your ISO and properly expose a shot than to leave the ISO as is and underexpose the shot. Underexposure creates a lot of noise, which is revealed in post-processing.

WM

Scott Murray said:

Keep the D7100 and buy a D610 ;-)

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Best advice and will double the effectiveness of all your lenses. I've been considering a Dx body for just that reason.

Someone recently posted a head-to-head review between the two and in that test the D7100 came out clearly above in sharpness when using the same quality lens. That leaves low light ability to really be the decider. I would do a rental for whatever the minimum amount of time is and do some comparison low light shots. Then you will have a definitive answer as to whether you should do it or not.

Don't know how that can be^^^When looking at Dxomark,the same lens I have go up quite a bit per MP in sharpness(on D610)..Id like to see that head to head..

Trying to find the article link.

Just to add, I am not against full frame. I'm only pointing out a few things if your truly trying to decide as opposed to this is what I'm going to do but want everyone to reinforce what you were going to do anyway.

Whiskeyman said:

Excessive noise above ISO 800 on the 7100 seems odd. Could it be that a lot of the noise is from underexposure? In many cases, it's better to increase your ISO and properly expose a shot than to leave the ISO as is and underexpose the shot. Underexposure creates a lot of noise, which is revealed in post-processing.

WM

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This point is spot on. My D300 is ok at ISO 800 and the D7100 (my wife has one) is about a stop behind my D800.

I've noticed that it's tempting to keep the ISO down lower than a proper exposure requires because you think it will be less noisy. You then add one or two stops of exposure in Lightroom and hey presto an ugly picture.

I did have a D600 for a few months and it was fairly good in low light but no better than the D800 on like for like sized images. I swapped the D600 for the D800 as I found its autofocus poor in low light where the D300, D7100 and D800 had no issue.

The D610 has an advantage over the D7100, and that is the full-framed advantage. Other than that, there isn't enough differences to warrant an upgrade. I'd wait it out and see what's coming down the pipe from Nikon. You just purchased the D7100. Enjoy it and be patient. Wait for the next version of the D610. Upgrades should be a leap. Not a hop or skip.