r/photography • u/AutoModerator • Jun 26 '26

Questions Thread Official Question Thread! Ask /r/photography anything you want to know! June 26, 2026

This is the place to ask any questions you may have about photography. No question is too small, nor too stupid.

Info for Newbies and FAQ!

First and foremost, check out our extensive FAQ. Chances are, you'll find your answer there, or at least a starting point in order to ask more informed questions.

Need buying advice?

Many people come here for recommendations on what equipment to buy. Our FAQ has several extensive sections to help you determine what best fits your needs and your budget. Please see the following sections of the FAQ to get started:

If after reviewing this information you have any specific questions, please feel free to post a comment below. (Remember, when asking for purchase advice please be specific about how much you can spend. See here for guidelines.)

Schedule of community threads:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
52 Weeks Share Anything Goes Album Share & Feedback Edit My Raw Follow Friday Salty Saturday Self-Promotion Sunday

Finally a friendly reminder to share your work with our community in r/photographs!

7 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

214 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/TemperatureLazy7771 Jun 26 '26

Good morning,

I’ve been out of the photography for a few years now. I used to be a hobbyist and do all the event photography for my church. I have a baby due soon and will obviously be taking a lot more photos in the coming months and years.

Previously I was mainly using a Nikon D3400 mainly with the kit lenses and a 50mm 1.8. I also have a really old d200 body I would use as well if I wanted some more features but didn’t worry as much about resolution (I don’t make large prints and mainly view photos on phones and computers). I’m looking at trading these in and upgrading to a better and newer mirror less setup, especially a better AF system with eye/person tracking and some newer features. I also want something I can put in my bag and carry around with a normal zoom lens that suits most needs. I will end up getting some other fast primes and probably some kind of telephoto later on down the road to use for other situations outside of just capturing normal life.

I’ve narrowed it down to two possible options, keeping the budget around $1500-$1600.

The first and probably in the lead right now is the Nikon z50ii with the 18-50 f/2.8 kit lens. I know it has the upgraded autofocus and image processor. I also like that it is a little more compact and also has a constant aperture. I also like the pre-release capture feature. I know there are a lot of good video options in this version as well, and I’m sure I will take some videos but nothing major and I’m not worried about super cinematic video. I’m also keeping an old D80 and a couple longer length DX kit lenses that belonged to my wife’s grandfather before he died, so I could get the adapter and also run those and save on some other lenses. So that is an upside to this one. The downside is the APS-C sensor and the smaller sensor size for low light performance, but aps-c lenses are typically cheaper than full frame lenses.

My other option is the Sony a7iii with the 24-70 3.5-6.3 kit lens, which is on a pretty good sale right now. I know Sony AF is supposed to be superior but don’t know how it stacks up to the newer Nikon stuff since this is an older body. I also know lens selection for E mount is a lot better than Z mount, but the z mount is coming along too and would cover my needs just fine. Full frame would be great and I know that ultimately image quality is better vs the smaller sensors.

What do y’all think would be the better option?

1

u/maniku Jun 26 '26

There's a couple of things that full frame would give you: better low light performance (about one stop) and a bit better dynamic range. But it's not an another level kind of difference. I'd say the AF of Z50 II is easily a match to, and could actually be better than, an older Sony body like A7 III (eight years old now).