After years of languishing in a cupboard, i dug my old Nikon D40 out today and managed to get some relatively good quality pics of the kids/dogs/local beauty spot.

The D40 is quite old now (6mp?) and i fancy upgrading with a better used Nikon body as i can switch lenses.

Anyone have any recommendations for a good second hand Nikon body? It doesnt have to be latest tech, just something with a little more MP and functions than a D40.

Cheers in advance.

Picked up a d90 from mpb a couple of years ago. Really nice solid body, seemingly hewn from granite. Think it was the first Nikon dslr that would take my “g” lenses. 12.9mp. Was less than £250 with a brand new battery and fewer than 10k shots.

Cheers Hot_Fiat. MPB seem to be decent.

D90 if your coming from Nikon. Pretty cheap these days. Still use mine even though it’s nearly 10 years old.

Worth a look at Ffordes as well. Some reasonably priced second hand cameras. http://ffordes.com/

Nikon D3200 looks like the sweet spot for value. 24MP

Depending on how much you want to spend, I would either look at a D90 or a D7000.

I’ve got a D80; the D90 is better, but not massively so. More of a ‘freshen up’ than anything groundbreaking over the D80. But, the D7000 is vastly better; faster with more autofocus points that come with things like subject tracking, faster frames per second for sports/action & the sensor is MUCH better, so you can shoot at low light with higher ISOs to retain a usable shutter speed & the noise levels will be kept quite low.

The D7000 is quite a bit chunkier than the D90, but if it was me, I’d be upgrading to that if the funds allow.

I was gonna post the same thing. I’ve gone from a D40x to a D90 to a D7000. The D7000 is three models old now so should be available for a good price I’d imagine?

Big Nikon fan in our house (D80, D610, D3300 and D7200 between us). The later models are quite a bit better than the D80/D90 era cameras, though these still take good pics.

Biggest thing I always advise on Nikon for those wanting to actually control the camera is to get the models with two control wheels. The base models have some amazing sensor tech and will take photos nearly as good as models costing 4 times the price, however the base models are a pain if you want to control exposure manually. Most of the settings are in menus, which quickly becomes a chore. The next layer up in the Nikon ecosystem has many more buttons, which makes control of the camera so much easier. Cameras such as the D7000, D7200 or older D700 and even some of the older full frame cameras depending on your subject are fantastic bodies. Our D80 still gets used after 11 years as a walk around camera and still takes some fab pictures. Newer cameras are faster, have MUCH better ISO range and obviously more pixels. Enjoy!

I’ve got a D5000, it must be ten years old i reckon, battery still holds charge no bother, whenever i show anyone pictures from it they always say wow.

i’m not a pro, but i do have a rough idea what I’m doing.

so, to summarise, I’d happily recommend what i have.

D700 is full frame (great cameras though!).

I’d agree with the suggestions above, especially re the dual control wheels (which is the D90/7000 series, not sure about the D5000). The D3x00 will give you a jump in image quality but for me the jump in control is worth more than that.

All that said I’m a total mirrorless convert now, my D90 barely comes out any more!

Another vote for the D7000 here, I thought about it for a while when my D80 just packed up working on day, but the quality of the sensor and firmware (colour and low light) is so much better that the earlier cameras.

I’ve often bought second hand from London Camera Exchange, the D7000 came with only a few hundred shots and most of the leads still in the packaging.

D5000 has one dial on the top and one thumbwheel

A quick google shows that d90 etc has a thumbwheel, and one on the grip, as well as the dial.

the d5000 doesn’t have the one on the grip.

Yeah, D90 or D7000/D7100.

I went D40 to D90, D90 stolen so got a D7100. It’s great. Few years old now though.