Camera Suggestion

Beachbird

Coming from an old Olympus OM 10 with many lenses, I am looking to come into the digital age with a new camera to take photos of products for our website as well as something versatile for vacations, etc.
I am drawn to the Nikon D3200 from what everything I have read.
Comments or suggestions?

bruto

The D3200 is capable of very good sharp images, and although it is fairly poor in features by comparison with many digital cameras, it's overflowing with them in comparison with an old film camera. It does all the important things well.

I like the D3200 in part because it takes all my old manual Nikon lenses, though it does not auto focus or even meter with them. It's compact and not worth a huge amount of money, thus has great virtues for traveling. You can bring back great pictures, and if someone steals it or if it breaks, it won't ruin your year. If you have a little extra budget but like the D3200 in general, you might look at the D3300, which has a slightly sharper sensor owing to the omission of the anti-aliasing filter, and a kit lens that's a little nicer (non rotating front element allows a polarizer, for one thing). But the D3200 is still pretty close to state of the art in sensor technology, and since the introduction of the D3300, it's a great bargain.

The D5xxx cameras have somewhat better AF and other features, but are not significantly in another class. If you do a lot of macro and movie work the flip screen is nice, but if you don't it's something else to break.

If you have a bit more budget and like the DX format, the D7100, now superseded by the very slightly improved D7200, is worth looking at. It's a big step up in both features and price, and if you don't need it you don't need it. If you need the best auto focus and AF compatibility with older "screwdriver" lenses and some of the other features, it's one of the best cameras Nikon has ever made.

I may yet succumb to the urge for a D7100, but probably not unless my D3200 breaks or disappears, at least for some time yet. I am very fond of mine, and it's almost impossible to beat it in terms of "bang for the buck".

Beachbird

Thank you so much for the comments. I am researching the models you mentioned and hope to make a decision soon. Thanks again!

Beachbird

UPDATE - I purchased the D3200 and have been playing with it for several days now - so much to learn but so far love it! :)