Wanting to upgrade from my old crop Nikon D3200 to a better full-frame setup.

Prices are about the same... some considerations:

* I already have several crop frame (DX) Nikon lenses I can use. I can get an adapter for the Sony to use them and the Sony actually has so much res that the crop frame images are larger than the native ones from my D3200... so that’s probably a wash. Plus the Z7II would need an adapter anyway.

* I have Nikon flashes and a Commander, as well as a microphone as accessories that I believe I would have to replace if I go with Sony. Not a huge consideration but it is in play.

* I keep hearing about the Sony’s menu system... I pick stuff up quickly but I have heard that it’s not exactly fast.

* 61mp... those are freaking huge files. HUGE. 45mp is more manageable but not by a lot. Can’t call that one a wash though.

In the end it’s about light hitting a sensor so the principles of photography have not changed ... I just want to buy a good camera that will keep me in good stead for probably/possibly the rest of my life. Not hard use but I want great full-frame images when I pull this thing out.

I am willing to jump to Sony... to me 61mp is pushing in to the low end of medium format res and having the flexibility that kind of res affords is interesting to me.

Opinions and comments welcome! Hoping to place an order this weekend for whatever I decide to go with. Right now I’m 50% Sony, 35% D850 and 15% Z7II

This is a pretty big leap for me since I’m also a Nikon fanboi ... my dad shot weddings with his F bodies in the 70s and I’ve just gone Nikon with no complaints since. I was all set to get a Sony but since I talked it over with the finance dept. (wife) and got it approved, I just want to make sure I’m covering all bases and doing my due diligence. For how much I use a camera (occasions, walks, vacation, once in a while a product shot for my freelance work) I think this next camera could be my last, and I want it to be the best it can be.

And I could tether it, I could use it with my DX glass as well as a Sigma 24-70, my microphone and flashes will work, I already have all that. There will always (probably) be repair services and parts available if necessary... and the image quality I’ve seen so far is excellent. The D850 has a lot going for it. The file sizes are probably perfect for me - 61 mp in the sony are probably overkill...

Decisions decisions.

Thanks for chiming in!

My 2 cents....

I've been shooting Nikon since 1983.  I have also had a D850 since day one.  I like it a lot, and it does everything I ask it to do.  I don't know anything about the Sony.

With that said, mirrorless is most certainly the future, when it comes to cameras.  But, I think they are still a little lacking when it comes to speed, and serious sports shooting. They will get there eventually.  So if you shoot a lot of action, it may not live up to your expectations.  Other than that, they seem to be great.

The absolute last thing I want, is bigger files.  The D850 files are  plenty big enough for me, and I actually find them to be a little too big. Yeah, yeah, storage is cheap, but I now find myself deleting "less than perfect" shots quite quickly, and don't have any desire to go back later and edit them.  Maybe that's a good thing.  Still, I do not want bigger files.  

Not sure how much longer the D850 will be around.  It's been out for a few years now, and maybe (I don't have a clue) there will be a replacement before too long. If so, you might feel like you bought into yesterdays technology.  But I can't see replacing mine anytime soon.

Sony ... I have been bitten so many times by buying their technology and finding that everything is just a little bit non-standard, and that things like DMR are embedded, tending not to show as long as you stick with their stuff, but being a real headache otherwise. They also get bored quickly and abandon stuff to move onto the next bright, shiny thing.

For this reason alone, I would not go near Sony stuff any more.

Nikon makes good cameras.


I started with Nikon. I love my Nikon. Glass is expensive compared to canon.

I went with Sony.  I still have my a200 that I bought years ago.  I moved into an a77ii which has been absolutely flawless.  

I now have an a200 that I still use.  An a77ii,  an a7ii and an a7iii and I will not go back.  They have been absolutely flawless and spot on.


Thats said. The Nikon 850 and the nikon 600mm lense I dabbled with at oshkosh was awesome!  I was shooting off hand and nailing shots of fast movers.

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Just bough my wife  a mirrorless, will not go back.

It’s not a love ... it’s more tradition. I can sell the speedlights and get third party strobes ...

After talking with some of the other pros I know and watching a ton more reviews on the Youtube I’m still squarely in the Sony side of things.

I don't think you will be disappointed.  

What are you shooting?

The A7RIV is unrivaled for price point for things like portraits and architecture. It's not as good as the D850 for sports and wildlife.

A7 ergonomics and menu system are way worse than the D850.

Glass- goes to Nikon, but Sony's catching up quick.


What's important to you?

I think the menu structure is kind of dependant on the person using it.  I went from Sony video equipment to their still cameras and never had a complaint.  It worked well for me..
I never got to really like the nikon menus.

Glass is pretty equal imho.  My G and GM lenses are amazing.  Nikons high end lenses are pretty well on par as far as I am concerned.

I havent had the chance to really play with the 7 r4.
Hopefully soon.

As for the 7ii and 7iii..  They have been more than I hoped for doing airshow shooting.

Just pulled the trigger on an A7RIV with an adapter that lets me use Nikon glass with autofocus. I'll get a native lens later... a Sigma 24-70 will eventually come home with me.

Uses are general walking around, nature, wildlife, family portraits, travel, the odd product shot for my freelance work... I want to future proof myself.

I know 61mp is insane but I'll muddle through 'til I can upgrade my 6 year old computer to more easily handle raw files of that size.

I want to improve my photography and between this, eventually the lens, and probably selling/swapping my lighting setup so I can use strobes (I'm all Nikon on strobes)... This makes me happy. I've wanted to bump up to full frame for a long time now and I feel like this is a very good next step for my skills.

https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/image-comparison

This tool helps you view output from all the cameras. Sony isn't known to have good color, not sure why people thinks it does well at portraits.
Sony may do mirrorless well, but I haven't heard of many pros using mirrorless.  I'm sure it happens, I even knew one. I don't see a digital viewfinder as an upgrade, just a couple years ago it was a serious downgrade to have a digital viewfinder.

Out of your choices, I'd go D850. Mirrorless is the new frontier that has everyone excited, and it's bringing in a rush of new sales. I don't think it's exceeded normal DSLRs yet.
If I really wanted a mirrorless Camera, I'd look into Fugifilm's new (cropped sensor not a true medium format) medium format cameras or Hasselblad's DX1 II. But if I wanted a budget friendly option between Sony and Nikon, I'd pick Nikon. The ring is much bigger on the Nikon, and I suspect Sony has some vignetting in the corners of some lens. I read somewhere that Sony designed the mirrorless lens around a crop sensor ASP-C (like buying a DX lens in Nikon). Nikon overbuilt their lens mount and the size competes with medium format capable lens, leading to speculation Nikon has positioned themselves to leap into medium format.  

Overall though, Sony is the leader in mirrorless tech. For a mirrorless camera, Sony has less lag in the viewfinder and the focus is faster. Mirrorless still sucks here compared to the older D850 if you're going to take picture of a kid playing soccer, a running dog, a flying bird, or anything that moves fast.

If you really want Sony, you won't be disappointed, even if Nikon Z7II significantly improved the shortfalls of the first Z7. Sony is still supposed to be the better camera right now.

As a long time Nikon user myself, I had the D80, D90, D7000, and the D500 (all asp-c crop frame sensors "DX").
Full frame is significantly better than the consumer models in almost every way. I have the D850 and I'm considering giving away all my old DX gear to a relative.

Interesting thoughts, thanks for taking the time to put them down!

I think mirrorless is here to stay. I know a guy who was an early Sony adopter. We’d go for lunchtime nature walks and he’d try to get my to jump to Sony but mirrorless seemed a bit like a gimmick. It’s here to stay now and more and more pros - including the ones I work with - are jumping to mirrorless. Fewer moving parts, etc., and even if they don’t use the viewfinders (rendering the EVF moot), they camera manufacturers have really pushed that as well. Now you get a live, in-VF preview of the shot you’re about to take. I like that. It totally was a gimmick with the old Nikon Coolpix 5000 I had, low resolution, slow refresh.. all that.

For the first time I’m buying true professional level equipment and couldn’t feel better about it.

??

Now... I can’t wait to get it to see how it fits my large paws... might need that vertical battery grip when I order the Sigma... ??

Another advantage Sony has, is that Zeiss isn't making autofocus lens for Nikon, but I think they do for Sony.

I dont get the part in red.

I shoot aviation with my mirrorless.  It works as well as the 850 in my picture.  And way better than my older nikons and my a77ii.

I have zero... Absolutely zero complaints with Sony's mirrorless camera ability to shoot movers.

I am not experienced enough with portraits to say.  The very few I have shot for my family have been as good as I am.


A7iii
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A7ii
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Now keep in mind..  Arf compresses these.  My flicker shows them way better.

Smartphones are the mirrorless cameras of the future.
Mirrorless tech has been the king of consumer technology for probably 30 years.
Mirrorless cameras in a DSLR body is relatively new, its getting better, the performance advantage of a DSLR is getting very small. I'll realize it's the future of high quality when Nikon makes the D6 level of body replacement in mirrorless.  I'm not sure it's the future, but it is here to stay.

And yes, OP did fine. If mirrorless tech is your thing, sony is the best right now in that price bracket.

An airplane moves fast, but that airplane isn't moving fast to you because of the perspective. You are far away. Same with both pics. The airplane has a predictable path. Same with both pics. I'm not saying the sony mirrorless is terrible. It's very respected. The focus on the Sony mirrorless is the best in the mirrorless business. You could easily nail a bird in flight with a Sony, you'd have a lot more keepers with the Nikon D850 (like 5 year old tech) or D6. I read DPreview alot, the AR15.com of photography forums, so important that amazon bought them. I read about people selling their D850 to get into the new Z system, only to go back to a DSLR often.

Congrats on the new camera!  

Update... camera came in today. This thing is a b e a s t .

I really need to spend some quality time with it.

I just meant selection, not quality, sorry, should have specified.

You are not wrong there!  I do think they will catch up selection wise.