Looking for a new DSLR

[Adam Chandler]

I've had my Nikon D80 for almost 6 years now and it's been a great camera. Lately though I've been having focus and image buffer problems so I'm thinking about upgrading to maybe a D90 or D7000 once I get my tax return.

The main purpose of the camera will be to photograph Ball Pythons for website photos, records, advertisements, etc.

My budget is $1000-$1400. Does anyone have any suggestions for which model I should get?

[SquamishSerpents]

i think it depends on price.

i have the D90 and am extremely pleased with it. not saying i don't want to upgrade to the D7000, because i'm a bit of a gadget junkie, but if you can find a D90 for a really good price, i'd go with that.

i've been doing portrait shoots lately, as well as night time low-light stuff, photographing my animals, my D90 gets SO much use and i haven't found any harsh limitations.

.... hmmm i just did a search on Futureshop and Bestbuy to compare prices between the D90 body and the D7000 body, and the D90 is no longer on there. I wonder if they're going to be hard to come by, soon.

[Adam Chandler]

.... hmmm i just did a search on Futureshop and Bestbuy to compare prices between the D90 body and the D7000 body, and the D90 is no longer on there. I wonder if they're going to be hard to come by, soon.

Right now the prices are all out of whack due to shortages caused by the Thai floods.

The manufacturer's price is $900 for the D90 body and $1200 for the D7000 body. Once the Nikon factory in Thailand is back up and running I imagine the prices will go back down to around there.

I'm not planning on getting a new camera until I get my tax return at the earliest (most likely Feb). Hopefully production will be normal by then. In the meantime I'm just doing research.

For me the biggest selling point of the D7000 is the 39 AF points vs. the D90's 11. Also the fact that the body is Magnesium alloy vs. the D90's plastic body.
I just don't know if the upgrades are worth the extra money for what I'll be using it for

[SquamishSerpents]

yeah, exactly. that's why i'm not in any rush to upgrade, either. very rarely have i wished for more focus points, and i wear glasses so i have a hard time with Manual focus, but the 11 AF focus points seem to be enough for me.

i forgot about the floods, though i would imagine if FS and BB were still planning on carrying them, it would at least have a listing on their site with an "Out of Stock" note or something.