Decisions, decisions....

I find myself in the unfamiliar position of having a little bit of money to play with. Not having to commute a hundred miles a day to work since COVID restrictions kicked in last May has meant close to a hundred dollars a week saved just in gas money. Not to mention no yearly brake job, lunch expenses, etc.

I've been squirreling away a bit here and there over the last few months as a result, and I can see that if I keep this up I may actually have enough to purchase either my dream camera (D500, albeit used), or one good lens (I have 4 mostly kit lenses, and all cost under a hundred dollars except my 40mm Nikkor Micro at $125). I'm talking around $900 to be spent overall, if my calculations are correct.

What do member here think would be the better choice: a D500 with inferior lenses, or a D5500 with a better lens?

My heart is leaning towards the D500 for a couple of reasons: weather resistant body (lot of rain and snow here), FPS (I'd like to do BIF), and features like high speed sync, etc. But would that body be wasted if it was mated to lenses that weren't able to showcase the body's better sensor, et al? (I did entertain thoughts of the D7200/7500, but that D500 really is what I want.)

I'd love to hear any and all thoughts. Thanks!

---

› See More: Decisions, decisions....

I think it depends on what you are mainly shooting. If it is mainly fast moving subjects I would go for D500. However as stated already quality glass in the majority of cases will in most cases yield better results. Don’t know if I can mention this here but I own some really quality Canon lenses that I use on two fairly old bodies and they produce superb images. This is the problem with photography, there always seems to be so many choices that require lots of our money. Is there is an option to keep saving and eventually get both by trading in some of your existing lenses?

Originally Posted by Needa

Or you can just send me the money and save making all those hard decisions.

Done! Hope you'll accept my 4-party post-dated check

Originally Posted by Peter7100

I think it depends on what you are mainly shooting. If it is mainly fast moving subjects I would go for D500. However as stated already quality glass in the majority of cases will in most cases yield better results. Don’t know if I can mention this here but I own some really quality Canon lenses that I use on two fairly old bodies and they produce superb images. This is the problem with photography, there always seems to be so many choices that require lots of our money. Is there is an option to keep saving and eventually get both by trading in some of your existing lenses?

Thanks Peter. Lol, I remember my dad - a small plane pilot - used to say "If god had meant man to fly, he would have given him more money." I don't think photography is too far behind that sometimes.

I really would like to get both. I don't think even selling all my lenses would allow that (the 18-55mm kit lens for instance sells for all of 70-ish dollars on retail sites I've seen, and the others aren't much more). I'm more or less hoping that my saving streak will continue for another year, when I can then get the item I didn't get this first go-round. It sounds odd, but I'm almost hoping the COVID lockdown here continues for that reason alone!

Originally Posted by nickt

I think the textbook answer is to buy better glass. But we are also talking about two different user interfaces here. The menu diving d5500 and easy access buttons of a d500 or even a d7x00. So you might have more fun with a camera that you can quickly tweak on the fly along with the top lcd so you can quickly see where you are set. I'm a very technical guy and I don't feel artsy at all about photography. For me, I'm taking a 'measurement' and the easy access controls and top lcd let me take that measurement in the most efficient way. You would be moving up to a body with a focus motor too, so maybe more used lens choices too.

Those are all excellent points. Thank you very much for the considered reply.

As @nickt mentioned, the usual answer is to put the money into glass - plus his thoughts about being able to use older AF-D glass (lenses without focus motors) opens up a greater choice for preowned gear. But with your two options, I too feel a D500 would work well for you. Just being able to use the buttons and wheels to make setting changes rather than to go into the menu of your D5500 would give you faster changes and more time to shoot on the fly.

The Nikon f/4 Trinity of lenses are amazing for less money than their f/2.8 counterparts. Of course they are still somewhat expensive when sticking to a budget - but they are lenses you might want to consider down the road. The Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR is a decent lens, too, and was my first telephoto purchase when I switched to a DSLR. If you are into macro, some people here have used the Tamron 90mm macro lens. Since you wouldn't be switching from DX to FX, you can continue to use the glass you have now. Photo editing software can do amazing things to enhance images that might not be quite up to par.

Ultimately you need to weigh the pros and cons of each option.

Originally Posted by hark

Ultimately you need to weigh the pros and cons of each option.

That is indeed correct. But as usual, when I'm mulling over what seems like an infinite number of considerations, my mind starts to fog over and I feel a bit overwhelmed. It's tough to be objective when it's my money on the line, lol. If someone were to ask me the same question, and I didn't have a dog in the fight, I'm sure I could come to an (obvious) conclusion quickly. That's why I asked the group here. And I'm glad I did