Hello

[Sokaissues]

First timer here. Have a D3100 bought in 2012. Used heavily while learning a ton. Took tons of sports photos of son who is now out of school so sports aren't the most important now (as long as I had bright light, photos were pretty good but not great). Now we are traveling and I want to take awesome landscape/nature/tourist shots. I have a budget of $1,000. Looking at the D5500/56 or D7200/75 or similar. I have no interest in going pro on any level. Just want to take amazing pics with what I've learned. What would you all recommend?



Also, whatever I go with, what zoom lens would you recommend. Some come with the 70-300mm zoom but it's not VR. I'm pretty shaky. I tried the massive zoom lens once and it was so heavy I had to send it back. The 55-200mm and 55-300mm lenses I have with the D3100 are junk. Grainy and terrible with low light. Really want to improve on low light pictures!



Thank you!!!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to APUG Photrio!!​

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Welcome to the forum. If you are not married to Nikon as a camera, I'd recommend looking at a Fuji XT2 with the kit lens as a starter - the 18-55 is perhaps the best "kit" lens out there, as it is quite fast (f2.8-f4 maximum) and has image stabilization. I absolutely love my Fujis - I have an XT1 and an XT2. I was shooting full-frame Canon (5D) and ditched it for the Fuji. Their color management is perhaps the best in the industry right now, and the bodies are much smaller, lighter, and have better ergonomics (the controls you want/need are all on the surface of the camera as knobs/dials/buttons, rather than buried in menus). They also have for a tele zoom a very nice 55-200 that does a very good job. That said, no "amateur grade" tele zoom like that is going to focus extremely well in low light. It's fast enough, and accurate enough, but it's not going to give you instantaneous perfect focus, especially with fast-moving subjects in continuous focus mode. For better performance, you'll need a lens like the fast 50-140 f2.8, which is really big and heavy, not to mention expensive.