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Geez, this forum is costing me more money and not just on Jeep parts! A search for a lightly used long-telephoto to use around the property, ended up turning into a complete Nikon package purchase.
The seller was actually a friend of a friend who had this as a backup setup. He is a county coroner in the nearby county and bought this a few years back. Like most backups, it was barely used and mostly forgotten about. Only 11,000 actuations on the camera and the 50mm prime has never been unpackaged, so basically a “barn find” by camera standards.
Long story short, after inquiring about the 200-500 f/5.6 VR, he was very adamant about his preference in selling “the full lot”, including the D5. I beat around buying the full lot (as I have already too much glass overlap) and just wanted the 200-500, but he gave me a ridiculous price on it and I couldn’t pass it up.
And I mean ridiculous, ridiculous. To the point where I could sell the D5 on eBay today and MAKE money on the deal (leaving me with all the glass and flash for free!).
Truth be told I have been wanting a full frame again. I have been eyeing up the new Nikon Z-series and was waiting until the Z9 came out (or if I could find a cheap Z7), but life decided that it will be the D5 for a while. I haven’t shot a full-body, FF since my D3s about 10 years ago, but I will admit, it feels GREAT in my hands… something about a full-body SLR that just settles in. No compromises, buttons where you need then, built for beef and for speed…
I may give the 24-120mm to my son as it isn’t a terrible option for a DX camera. It’s a tad slow (I’ve been making him shoot prime lenses to learn and think about how to compose rather than just zoom away) so maybe this is a good opportunity for him to learn how to manual pre-focus on stuff.
I actually already have a 24-70mm f/2.8 - a very popular and much loved portrait and wedding lens. I may stick this one in the closet and bust it out for my son when he gets a tad older and can appreciate it (and eventually gets a camera that can use it effectively).
I haven’t used a SB700 flash (currently have an 800 and a 600) but it seems like a nice upgrade over the SB600 with many of the SB800 features in a smaller package. I may throw this in my bag as the primary and give my 600 to my son (or likely save it for him) and put the SB800 in the “house bag” if I ever need to do a multi flash setup.
Exciting day all around