Where to go next from D5500

AGX70

New member
Newbie here.

I had a D90 ad upgraded to D5500 but I kind of feel the D90 picture quality... was better.

Now i want to upgrade because I need better picture quality / detail and sharpness and possibly less noise at high iso.

What do you suggest staying within 1500$

Thanks
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Tomorrow Allen's Camera is advertising a sale on some Nikon products.

Nikon D750 and Nikon grip $1396.95.
Nikon D750, Nikon grip, and Nikon 24-120mm f/4 $1896.95
Nikon D500 and Nikon grip $1796.95
Nikon D500, Nikon grip, and Nikon 16-80mm $2396.95.
Nikon D5600 double zoom kit $796.95.

https://allenscamera.com/

I've never used a 3x00 or 5x00 series but had two D90 bodies as well as my current D7100 and D7200. The D7x00 series operates similarly to your D90 (the command and sub command dials and not so much being menu-driven). The D7200 is great! I don't know if it will be on sale lower than it is right now--looks to be $996.95 in the USA at the moment. I got mine new on sale in May for $796.95.

The D7500 is the newest in the DX lineup, but Nikon took away some of the important features such as dual card slots. There are other downgraded differences, too. BUT the D7500 shares the same sensor as the D500. And that is one awesome sensor. I'm not sure about the differences in which lenses it can use, but there is a lens compatibility chart online that would offer more help there.

See what tomorrow brings with the sale. Maybe there will be more Nikon gear on sale. Otherwise, quite often Nikon runs sales for the holiday.
 

Nero

Senior Member
If you want to stick with DX I'd recommend the D7200 or D7500. The D500 is great too but not the best choice if you don't do a lot of fast-action photography imo. If you're going for FX, the D750 is most likely your best bet as it's still an amazing camera and even when it was released it was considered one of the best cameras available in terms of value for money.
 
Why do you not like the quality of the Photos you are getting with the D5500. Every time I have ever upgraded cameras I have been dissatisfied With the image quality till I work very hard to learn the new camera
D3100>>D5100>>D7100>>D750
After mastering the new camera I have always gotten better photos than the previous camera. What I have found is that with the new camera the quality is so much better that the smallest error on my part shows up more so I have to get better myself to match the camera. Sometimes Cheap glass will look just fine on an older camera but you put that same glass on a better camera and it will show how bad it really is.

Don't chase better photos my throwing money at it. Work on your photography first till you get the best photography you can with what you have
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

When I first upgraded to my D7200 from my D200 I was very disappointed in the image quality of the D7200. But I worked hard for a few days and learned to use the much more powerful D7200 and now I love it. Also, one of my lenses that worked fine on my D70 and D200 was garbage on my D7200, so this might also be an issue.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Sometimes Cheap glass will look just fine on an older camera but you put that same glass on a better camera and it will show how bad it really is.

Don makes a really good point. The sensor on the D90 has fewer pixels than the D5500 as well as all of the new bodies. If the quality of your lenses isn't good, it will be more noticeable on all bodies with sensors greater than 12mp.
 

nickt

Senior Member
A new camera (in the $1500 range) is not going to do anything noticeable for your image quality. Tell us more about your lenses and what/how you shoot. Post some pictures that you are unhappy with. Are they shaky, poorly focused, or poorly exposed? Or do they just lack "pop"? I assume you are shooting jpg. Your fix might be as simple as tweaking your in-camera picture controls. With a d5500, I would say your biggest reason to upgrade is that you miss the user interface of your d90. You will not be able to tell the difference between images from the D5500 and the highly regarded d7200.
 

Danno

Senior Member
I agree with Don that most of what it takes to improve photos is improving technique. I started with a D3200 and went to a D7200 and the biggest change was the control I got by making the change. I had less reason to go into the menus to make changes. I like shooting in manual and it was easier to do that with the buttons and dials once I learned how to take advantage of the flexibility, but when I first started using it I felt I had lost ground. With the 7200 I had to work on technique and get better glass, but I do love the 7200. I will keep this one for a long time.
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
The D5500 should, on paper anyway, be giving you better image quality than the D90. Image quality shouldn't be greatly different between the D5500 and, say, the D7200. I suspect there is something else going on if you are seeing a decline in picture quality. There is always the small chance that there is something wrong with your D5500.

Can I ask, are you shooting RAW or jpeg? If jpeg, is it full size? Are you comparing images on both cameras using the same lens?

If you could post some pics, noting the problems you see with the quality, it might be easier to help.

I have seen some amazing pictures come from the d 5xxx series of cameras. If you look at user WEVs pictures here on the Nikonites forum, many were taken with a D5xxx series camera before he got his D500.

Best of luck in you quest for the image quality you are seeking!
 

Nero

Senior Member
Don makes a really good point. The sensor on the D90 has fewer pixels than the D5500 as well as all of the new bodies. If the quality of your lenses isn't good, it will be more noticeable on all bodies with sensors greater than 12mp.
I've been hearing that this is especially true on the D850.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
I agree with the others, the D5500 is capable of better images than can be resolved on the web and your monitor. How are you viewing the images, zoomed in or so the entire image is seen at once on your monitor? The D90 was a camera that really upped the feature set for mid-range cameras and it is capable of very good images. If viewing its files at 1:1 100% a larger area is seen on the monitor due to its lower pixel density so zoomed in they might look better. But when viewed so the entire image is seen at once, the detail and dynamic range will be better. Zooming in to examine a photo should only be done to check focus but not for image quality because the higher pixel density file will mean a 100% view is a lot greater magnification. It is called pixel peeping and it has caused more people to upgrade needlessly and ruins the artistic impression of an image. It is a bad habit.

There are a lot of factors in image quality and some of the least important factors are camera related. If you get the subject well and creatively lit, the D90 is going to produce better images than the pro D850 without the careful lighting.
Please post an image or a link to an image that fails for you and we can probably identify what the problem is.
 
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