decisions, decisions, decisions...

    Ok. I think I am going to have to upgrade the camera body. Shot a show Friday, CirKiss, by Aerial Revolution, got a lot of great shots, album coming soon, lots of great shots means lots of processing and trying to decide which of the many good ones are the cream of the crop, then processing the noise out and uploading... these things take time. 8 month old sons seem to demand I pay more attention to them that to image editing. Thank goodness for duty days where I am stuck for 24 hours straight on a ship with nothing to do except edit pictures... /stream of consciousness....
    Anyway, as I started this third foray into the wonderful world of photography, I went with the wise teachings I found online. I went low end on the camera body and spent on glass. Overall this has served me well. I picked a Nikon D3200, which is nikon's entry level crop frame camera body. Even though it is entry level, its' selling points are resolution and image quality- 24mp sensor. I've flashed this out with a set of 2.8 zooms and a 35mm 1.8 DX prime, which are all as good as it gets lens wise. As you can see from my SD Fringe Festival commercial shoot album it can grab some amazing images in good light at a low ISO. It can keep up in decent lighting at a roller derby bout. It can perform decently well in low light with a pre-focused subject, but the AF system simply can't keep up with the demands of a dimly lit aerial performance. As long as there is a decent light on my target, I am good and can get some great images, especially with the high end 2.8 zooms, but for a lot of the mood lit numbers, especially ones that favor the blue end of the spectrum, the AF sensor just won't cut it.
    So, here is the dilemma- there are three bodies which would be a serious step up. I could theoretically afford any of them, depending on which other financial priorities I wanted to short change and by how much, and I am torn. The D600 is the low price FX nikon. It has decent resolution, but the weakest AF sensor of the three. It would still be a great improvement over the AF system on the 3200 and a marked improvement overall in low light. It also has the advantage of the U1/U2 custom menus, which neither of the higher priced options have. This would let me pre-set a group of settings for dark aerial shows, with a one click switch to a set up to better capture fire performers or LED flow. Then one click back to dark aerial. That option alone almost makes it the best choice.
  Then there is the D800. Better AF sensor, the same sensor as the total high end top dog. Better resolution, but the trade off is speed, lower frame rate than the D3200 I have now. But only slightly more expensive than the D600. Effectively the same for my current situation. Better resolution and better AF sensor, but more expensive, bigger files to work with, more importantly slower shooting, and no custom modes. (ok- they exist, but only through a system of menus, not just a quick click. Same AF system as the D4.
  At the holy crap top end, there is the D4. The king of the Nikon line, maybe slightly less resolution than the 600 or the 800, but frame rate is through the roof and the low light noise performance is at least as good, if not better than the others, depending on which review you choose. No easy custom buttons, but this is the king. Higher native ISO, and a low light autofocus system that is supposedly almost psychic. If I got this camera, it would be awesome because there would no excuse for not getting the shot. It would also be scary, because there would be no excuse for not getting the shot. I mean, it is the best Nikon has to offer, if I didn't get a shot with a D4 and a pro lens, the blame would inescapably fall on me, I would be the weak link. I couldn't blame the sensor, the AF system, the lens, anything. Any missed shot would be completely and totally the fault of the dork behind the lens. If I get either of the other two, I am afraid that part of me would always want to say, "well, I could have gotten that shot with a D4...." even if the logical part of my brain knows that is total BS. But if I go for less than the best that small out will always be there in the back of my rationalizing mind....
   I can "theoretically" afford the D4. If I blow my entire wad on it. Instead of saving for my kids' college fund. Instead of paying off some of the mountain of debt the divorce and bad but necessary financial choices on my part left me with. Or I can go for one of the less costly choices and pay some of that down. Really, I should stop dumping money into better gear, since to this point no one has paid me to take a picture really. I wanted to say that I would hold off of jumping to full frame until I was actually getting paid to shoot things. But two really awesome lenses found their way too me dirt cheap thanks to my endless and possibly fanatical daily craigslist job searches. So I have two out of three of the holy trinity of full frame pro lenses now (zooms at least..) and a full frame will be nice to have by the time I shoot the San Diego Fringe Festival this July. It's only a matter of time before I give in and go full frame.
  So, do I go cheap for now, since the 600 will definitely be an improvement over what I have, go the 800 and high resolution with the slow frame rate, or do I say screw getting out of debt faster and go all in and get the D4 so I have no more excuses? Right now I am thinking the D800 is not really an option, the high res would be nice, as would the great AF, but the low frame rate is a killer. So I think my options really are-
A) get the d600 now and enjoy it until i am out of debt and hopefully at least getting some money back getting paid to shoot, then re-visit the D4 or whatever Nikon puts out before that time comes around...
B) suck it up and just go for the D4, believe in myself, get the best gear, and know that the paying gigs will follow....
C) Shut the hell up, I am still not pushing the camera I have to its' limits, who needs a second body anyway.....
Depending on when you ask me, I am all over the map. I have a few weeks to decide, but please, toss any inputs you want my way....