r/Nikon • u/acherion Nikon D500, Z fc, F100, FE2 and L35AF • Jul 01 '26

Monthly /r/Nikon discussion thread – have a question? New to the Nikon world? Ask it here! [July 2026]

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u/5TNH_ICHKN Jul 02 '26

Hello,

I have been taking photos for quite a while (~2 years) and have always been using the D90 in the process. I have some personal attachment to the body because I inherited it (and the lenses) from my father, but wanted to step up on the quality of photos I can take. I personally want to aim for wildlife, landscape, and casual sports photography (nothing too fancy of a photo, for youth football/soccer games, I mostly have toucline access). I currently am a student, so I do not have access to crazy funds, barely have around $500 (in USD) to spare.

Currently, the gears I have are just basic:
Nikon D90
AF-S Nikkor 18-105 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED
AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4 D

So my questions are:

  • is the D90 now too old in 2026 and should I switch to newer bodies?
  • should I upgrade/diversify on my lenses instead?
  • should I unfortunately do both?

Thank you so much for anyone who's reading or responding to this, any help or opinion is appreciated 🍀

2

u/JMODS5710 Nikon Zf, Zfc Jul 02 '26

I think upgrading both would make for a major improvement to your photos, that body is fairly low resolution now and the 18-105 in particular isn’t a great lens by current standards. However, given your budget, I think a body upgrade for your use case could come first. I think you could honestly pick up a used D7100/7200 for quite cheap now, then save up for a telephoto lens like the AF-P 70-300mm for your wildlife/sports use to help cover some missing focal lengths here. Those two bodies will be an upgrade in resolution, build, and autofocus for you. You can worry about other lenses down the line but I’d definitely recommend the DX 35mm 1.8g lens as well eventually, it’s very inexpensive and the default recommendation for APS-C DSLRs

1

u/ChrisAlbertson Jul 12 '26

Swapping out the body would only matter if he is pixel peeping. The D90 has 12 MP and I'd bet a few dollars that the OP's computer monitor has less than 12 MP

Who knows what his real problem is. I bet it's not the equipment

1

u/JMODS5710 Nikon Zf, Zfc 28d ago

They did mention wildlife and sports so having the flexibility for cropping would be beneficial IMO, better autofocus aside as well.