what's the 'best' used ff dslr?

[tstermitz]

Mostly, it depends on what lenses are in your closet. Lenses-first!

The resale value on cameras tends to drop pretty quickly, so you can always get a good deal if you buy a generation or two back. I don't know Canon, but the pro Nikons, like the D700 or D3 are professional workhorses with great auto-focus and solid build quality.

 

[B.Toews]

I'd go for a 5Dc as well (in fact, I did), especially considering you can find them in the $450 range these days.

 

[fireblade]

Nikon D700.

 

[locheeboy]

Being an exclusively Minolta SLR user for nearly 40 years (apart fae my interest in Zenits 🙂 ), ah'd also go with the Sony A850/900. Easily the best (in its time). Couldn't afford one then , bought a used A700; still a beautiful camera, use it a lot, never misses a beat - like my Minolta XD7 and 8000I (both in regular usel) best bang for bucks ever (along with my loved Industar 61 L/Z).

With 4 Minolta AF lenses + a Sigma 75-300APO, ah'm also looking for an A850/900, cheapest seen in UK is 600GBP. IQ and ergonomics are second tae none ( though the menu system can be slightly confusing, initially - tae a non- Minolta fan)

PS. Just bought a cheap, Chinese MD/Sony A mount adapter, tae try out my 3 MD lenses on the 8000i+ A700. Apologies for digressing...😎

 

[CliveC]

I was strictly Canon crop until a friend of mine passed me a couple of Minolta lenses (50mm 1.7 and the beercan 70-210mm f/4) and a Minolta Maxxum camera. In the last two years, I acquired a lot more and in the fall of last year, I bought a A850 to supplement the crop A37 I had. It was cheaper than a 5DII, but more expensive than a 5D. I'd say the imaging capabilities is somewhere between the two as well.

The A850 is really good, but I feel the pixels were a little bigger than what I was used to and the noise comes in pretty heavy at around ISO 1250. It's also the last of the Sony's "real" DSLRs since they have gone with EVFs. Even so, I have my eye out for a used A99 now.

As for a 5Dc, I keep hearing how it has some kind of magical colour rendering. I think I may end up owning one of those as well. I do have a couple of EF full frame lenses.

 

[mburns]

I upgraded to a 30D and 5D combo from my Canon Digital Rebel this past July. I have become more interested in this digital combo over film in my Canon FT for the sake of being able to control for faithful color and contrast.

UFRaw postprocessing gets me this by default after careful calibration for the white balance. But with Canon processing I must use fine tuning settings, namely faithful style, -2 contrast, 1 notch of blue and 2 notches of green (so far) for the Canon 5D.

And I am always fighting the autoexposure with digital, I do not want the exposure to vary so much from 3/5ths blue sky to 2/5ths blue sky. The 3/5ths blue sky exposure is correct of course.

 

[mburns]

The Canon 5D goes out of support, I read, in March of this year. So get the free mirror fix now if you use an early number in hot weather.

 

[Keith]

Nikon D700 without a doubt. I have never owned or used a more competent camera .. great high ISO performance even now, built like a tank and a wonderful IQ. 🙂

 

[sahe69]

Depends a bit on the budget and what you are looking for in terms of size and planned use. Anyhow I would say either Nikon D700 or D3s. D600 could be also an attractive alternative costwise somewhere between D700 and D3s.

 

[Harry S.]

I've owned all 3 5D iterations. Love them. Dependable.

Id highly recommend the sigma 85 and 35mm f/1.4 lenses. Better and cheaper than Canon's.

 

[wakarimasen]

It's been said a million times in this thread, but it's awfully hard to go wrong with the old 5D 'mk1.' I've had one for a couple years–picked it up for under $400, and it's been nothing but great. Back when I bought it, I wanted to get into a FF dslr as cheaply as possible. It was basically this or a D700, which was over $1300 or so at the time. I ditched my AF Nikon lenses and grabbed the 5D along with a Nikon F adapter form eBay.

Strong points for me:

-Pretty decent high ISO performance for such an old camera. 1600 works, 800 looks great. I never shoot film at 1600 anyway, so the lack of anything higher (the expanded ISO H––a sort of forced 3200––is acceptable in a pinch) doesn't bug me.

-Compatibility with a ridiculous amount of legacy lenses. Nikon F, M42, Exakta, etc. I didn't even have any native EF mount lenses when I bought the camera.

-Ability to use the fantastic Canon STM 40mm 2.8. Killer pancake lens for $130. My copy rarely ever leaves the camera.

-Surprisingly durable body. Mine looked like hell when I bought it, and it now looks even worse. It's not weather-sealed, but spent hours getting blasted with wave spray on a cold, rainy, windy day, and suffered no adverse effects.

-Great control and menu layout. Much better and simpler than a D700, I think.

-Nice raw files. Lots of room to play around with stuff, and the colors come out nicely.

Weak points:
-Manual focusing is so-so. I even have the better screen, and it still sucks on a 1.4 lens. I got an M42 adapter with focus confirm, spent half an hour doing micro focus adjustments, and now everything works much, much better. I'll probably get a Nikon adapter with the same chip.

-Apparently some type of mirror issue...it falls out or something? Mine has been making an unsavory sound in the cold for a while that seems associated with the mirror, but nothing bad has happened so far. Canon might still be warrantying it?

When this camera dies, I'll probably either buy another one, or an A7. I've used an A7 off and on too, but prefer the ergonomics of the 5D. I don't really have any desire to throw money at a 5d2 or 5d3.

I'd be interested to hear more about your use of manual lenses: what you use and how (in practical terms) the metering works.

 

[Skiff]

I'd say the Nikon D3. It is the most flexible and most capable of the full frame offerings that are now discontinued. Battery life is pretty much the best you can get aside from the old D2H/s. They meter and have full function with every Nikon lens from the AI period until the current lineup. The last Nikon camera this flexible was the F4.
Phil Forrest

The Nikon F6 also has this flexibility concerning lenses. All lenses from the AI era up to now can be used.
And AI lenses even with the outstanding Color-Matrix exposure system. Big advantage.
And for pre AI lenses the camera can be modified, so that this combination is usable, too.

I agree to the recommendation of the Nikon D3. But the camera is still very expensive on the used market.
Another good choice at lower prices is the Nikon D700.

 

[Bille]

Also, why would anyone want a FF DSLR other than to shoot under less-than-ideal conditions?

This is the only reason you can think of for shooting FF?

 

[ornate_wrasse]

.but if for me it would have to be as low as possible...

Like others, my top choice would be the Nikon D700. I have used this camera (which I bought used) for a couple of years now and I have been happy with it in every respect. I especially like its low light capabilities.

Although I decided NOT to purchase the 24-70 due primarily to the weight of the lens, it is one heck of an awesome lens according to most.

I don't think you'd be disappointed with this used FF camera and the cost is low for what you are getting. It's hard to believe that just a couple years ago, I bought this camera for about $1,600. Now it's even more affordable!

My two cents,

Ellen

 

[jsrockit]

Low End: Pentax K5 II
Middle: Nikon D610
High End: Nikon D810
Impulse Buy: Nikon Df

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Nikon D700 for me. Some great examples out there at decent prices. Tank-like build and fantastic sensor. Let's face it 12MP is as much as most people will need and more than enough up to A3 prints. If you already have Nikon glass, this is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

 

[drinkingeye]

Would look for a Pentax K5 IIs.... it's a gem....
And if FF is demanded, totally agree with Paul Jenkin on a Nikon D700

 

[dfatty]

put me down for the 5d "classic" (mark i). i have a 5d mark ii but prefer the output of the classic, there's just something about it. imho i think it's the big pixels compared to more modern FF sensors that jam too many of them onto the sensor. afaik it's the best deal in FF right now.

i've never used the d700 but hear great things about it as well.

 

[willie_901]

A D700 with Zeiss F-mount lenses.

I really do not enjoy the rendering of Nikkor FX primes. With a few notable exceptions Nikkor AI/AIS optics aren't that great either. Nikon lost all interest in DX after the D3/D#S/D700 and their DX lenses are bot acceptable (to me).

In fact, if I could not afford the Zeiss F-mount primes, I would look at Bill Claff's ISO vs Dynamic range data base and pick the Canon body withe the most modern analog to digital converter I could afford. That is the Canon body with the most ISO-less signal-to-noise ration behavior. Canon's ISO amplifiers and ADCs in their older DSLRs are ... uh ... well not that good. Then I would do a bit of research buy a len adapter and play around with third-party lenses.

For an APS-C solution I would be tempted by the DSLR Pentax system and try to forget that Penatx's future depends highly upon the mercy of Ricoh's bean counters.

 

[back alley]

very quick count and the money is on the nikon d700 with the canon 5d series right on it's tail...