Upgrade to D5500? Crop vs. Full Frame? Lenses?

[als]

After many years of not owning an SLR (the last was a Canon AE1 back in the 1980's), i dipped my toes back into photography with the purchase of a relatively inexpensive Nikon 5500 a couple of years ago. Having recently retired, my wife and I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel more extensively and, although I'm clearly not a professional, I wanted a camera that could do more than the iphone to capture wildlife and landscape images, especially as we have been able to travel to more "exotic" locations.

Though it's been more than a decade since it first was released, overall, I have been pleased with the performance of the D5500, though I can't say it produces National Geographic quality images To supplement the kit lenses it came with, I did purchase a Tamron 18-400 mm zoom which has worked reasonably well to capture far off wildlife, though sometimes the images aren't quite as clear as I might like, especially if I try to crop to zoom in even closer. But all in all, ok.

We're in the initial stages of planning a bucket list African safari for next year and could use some suggestions on some equipment upgrades. For a number of reasons, a lot of photographers strongly suggest bringing more than one camera body on safari--mainly to add some redundancy in case of equipment failure. Makes sense.

I can't justify or afford to go out and purchase the latest, state-of-the-art mirrorless gear that's out there these days, but I am looking for a camera body that would be an upgrade to what I have, would be able to share the same lenses, maybe do some video, etc. I'm not opposed to buying used equipment. I'm not highly versed on the technical aspects of all the different models. It seems like a Nikon D 500 or D5 would represent a significant upgrade, and prices are somewhat reasonable, especially used. Is there any particular benefit to going with a crop sensor vs. full frame? Should I be concerned that these models have fewer mega pixels (20.9 vs 24) than what I have now? Are there other models I should look at?

Last, I been led to believe that the quality of the lens is probably even more important than the camera body. I am looking at the Nikor 200-500 f/5.6 lens to either rent or purchase? Does this make sense for wildlife?

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[Woodyg3]

D500 and D5 are both huge upgrades in terms of autofocus and build quality. Either of these would be ideal for your trip, in my opinion. You'll need to purchase new memory cards and batteries/battery charger with either camera. So figure that into the equation.

Lenses are a tough one. On safari there may be times that subjects are pretty close, and the 200-500 may be too much lens. If you combine your 18-400 with the 200-500, though, that might work out well.

 

[BF Hammer]

A few thoughts. As I read your story I really hear a lot of desire for zooming in to long telephoto focal length. I do not detect any concern for shooting a wider focal for things like group photos or a landscape. I am guessing that is not the case and you are taking that ability for granted?

So if you primarily are wanting the long telephoto shots for nature subjects and that is mostly what you going to take pictures of, then A D500 is about the best of your choices and by all means get the 200-500mm lens. But you may want a have another lens of the 18-55mm range for those other photos. I generally recommend a full-frame camera when you are desiring to photograph scenes with a wide field and also have the more pleasing background blur to isolate subjects better. This is something you compromise when choosing a DX format camera, but with the camera cropping out already what you were going to cut out in post.

Now if a full-frame sensor is going to make more sense to you, a D5 is not my first choice. It is large and Nikon really had photo-journalism and sports photography as the primary purpose of the "flagship" bodies. The Z9 today is of that mold also. For nature photos I am going to say the best F-mount tool is the D850. And if that looks like too much, a D760 has much of the important stuff in common.

And I am going to drop in a crop-sensor curveball to this. Check out the price for a Z50II and then the Z180-600mm lens. I am not going to fully endorse this because the combination would have no vibration-reduction at all. You are really going to want that. I am corrected here. Now I would endorse this option. Better autofocus system by miles and the lens gives better reach.

 

[Clovishound]

Actually, the Z 180-600 does have VR. On their website it claims 5.5 stops of VR.

l was going to suggest the Z50ii, but BF beat me to it. My daughter just got one. While it is close to an entry level camera, the features it sports are impressive. I've not had a chance to to do more than take it out in the back yard and try AF on a number of different subjects, and it was very quick and accurate. It has the object detection that my Z8 has, including bird detection, as well as many other features, such as pre-release capture. It also has the same sensor the D500 has.

If you decide to get a Z50ii, you can get an FTZ adapter and use all of the F mount lenses you currently own. The only question mark might be the Tamron lens. It should work fine, but there might be a possibility that a non Nikon lens may not communicate properly through an FTZ. A quick search turned up a statement by Tamron saying it would work with the FTZ.

My experience with mirrorless was that it took a week or two to get used to the EVF viewfinder, but once I did, I really didn't want to go back to an optical viewfinder. I really like a lot of the features of mirrorless, not the least being the ability to see exposure issues in the viewfinder.

As to going full frame, you do gain some low light performance over crop frame. Also, there is the issue of getting blurrier backgrounds over crop frame. For wildlife photography, many photographers prefer crop frame, even though they can well afford FF cameras. Mainly it's the reach advantage of CF. If you decide to go full frame, I would recommend the Z5ii over the Z5. I have a Z5 and was frustrated with the AF. The Expeed 7 processors really up the game on AF. If you are looking for a FF DSLR, right now the D850 is only $200 more than the 5ii. It is a beast of a camera with a high resolution 45.7 MP sensor. It is also a large, heavy camera that was designed for professional/advanced amateurs. I can't say how the AF compares with either the 50ii or the Z5ii, but it is older technology. Nikon is slowly removing DSLRs from their lineup of new cameras, and soon the only way you will be able to get one is to buy used.

 

[BF Hammer]

@Clovishound thanks for looking up the VR spec, I could not remember.

And I would say Nikon is not slowly removing DSLR from their lineup. They have already struck them as current products on the Japan website. All the D-series bodies are in their legacy section today. Just a matter of moving out existing stock.