Hello everyone
I have been combing through some of the cameras on the market at the moment and I stumbled across the D3400, I would like to hear your opinion on this camera as I am considering it for use here in Sydney for spotting at the beach, I have a budget for the body of about $500-600 and would like to hear your input and suggestions for other cameras that might be more appropriate for the task. Sometimes I do some photography from my house and can usually fill the frame with a 300mm lens that a friend has lent me so would the D3400 be the right camera for close-medium range spotting. Thankyou

Ellofiend wrote:

Hello everyone
I have been combing through some of the cameras on the market at the moment and I stumbled across the D3400, I would like to hear your opinion on this camera as I am considering it for use here in Sydney for spotting at the beach, I have a budget for the body of about $500-600 and would like to hear your input and suggestions for other cameras that might be more appropriate for the task. Sometimes I do some photography from my house and can usually fill the frame with a 300mm lens that a friend has lent me so would the D3400 be the right camera for close-medium range spotting. Thankyou

The D3400 should do fine. People used to get along with Nikon D70 and Canon 350D. A quality lens is the key thing.

However, just quietly, I would say I'm not so fond of the "simplified" control layouts on the lower end Nikon cameras. I hate having functions I want to change buried down in layers of menus. Mr and Mrs Family taking their family happy snaps might not care, but when I'm leaning out the window of a moving vehicle trying to photograph a bicycle rider going pretty quickly, it drives me nuts.

That's the only drawback of the lower end ones.

cpd wrote:

Ellofiend wrote:

Hello everyone
I have been combing through some of the cameras on the market at the moment and I stumbled across the D3400, I would like to hear your opinion on this camera as I am considering it for use here in Sydney for spotting at the beach, I have a budget for the body of about $500-600 and would like to hear your input and suggestions for other cameras that might be more appropriate for the task. Sometimes I do some photography from my house and can usually fill the frame with a 300mm lens that a friend has lent me so would the D3400 be the right camera for close-medium range spotting. Thankyou

The D3400 should do fine. People used to get along with Nikon D70 and Canon 350D. A quality lens is a key thing.

However, just quietly, I would say I'm not so fond of the "simplified" control layouts on the lower end Nikon cameras. I hate having functions I want to change buried down in layers of menus. Mr and Mrs Family taking their family happy snaps might not care, but when I'm leaning out the window of a moving vehicle trying to photograph a bicycle rider going pretty quickly, it drives me nuts.

That's the only drawback of the lower end ones.

Yes, this is what worried me. I wanted to progress to learn how to change certain settings to fit the scene and learn the different techniques and such so that my photography skills improve but I also want a camera that will fit my budget and provide the best value for money but still under the budget so I think I will have to balance the two but hopefully a good lens will improve my capabilities. Thank-you
Ellofiend

Ellofiend wrote:

Hello everyone
I have been combing through some of the cameras on the market at the moment and I stumbled across the D3400, I would like to hear your opinion on this camera as I am considering it for use here in Sydney for spotting at the beach, I have a budget for the body of about $500-600 and would like to hear your input and suggestions for other cameras that might be more appropriate for the task. Sometimes I do some photography from my house and can usually fill the frame with a 300mm lens that a friend has lent me so would the D3400 be the right camera for close-medium range spotting. Thankyou

I use a D3200 and everything works well until now. The main thing is a quality lens! You can see a Sigma/Tamron 150-600 for long range and a Nikon 18-140 for short/medium range.

vcruvinel wrote:

The main thing is a quality lens!

Absolutely - I couldn't believe it when I paired one time a D800e Nikon with the old 300mm F/4.0D Nikon lens, the old heavy thing. Long distance photos that you might have otherwise used a 500-600mm lens for became possible on clear days. The lens was second hand from B&H in New York in good condition, not expensive and gave stellar results on all the cameras I used it with.

Do not forget the the D3400 will not auto-focus with any used non AF-S lens. So all the beautiful AF-D lenses are no good for you. It would be good to know the combined budget for camera and lenses or what lenses you already have.

These new crop Nikons have great sensors, I'd go as far as to say that even with subpar glass you can manage in good light at base ISO. Here's one with the D3300 and the very poor 55-200 DX lens...

seahawk wrote:

Do not forget the the D3400 will not auto-focus with any used non AF-S lens. So all the beautiful AF-D lenses are no good for you. It would be good to know the combined budget for camera and lenses or what lenses you already have.

So AF-S can't utilise the autofocus and AF-D is in the same boat?

AF-S can, AF-D not as the D3400 lacks the mechanical AF motor.

Nikon D3400 is small and got less buttons but got very smart processor and good sensor which is more important.
Lenswise I would suggest to try Sigma 100-400mm art, new lens from Sigma which is looks sharp and portable at the same time.