There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
In retrospect, was it worth it?
What, if anything, would tempt you to upgrade again? What would you be looking for in your next body?
D7000 offers a usable ISO 400 for me, and even higher up to 800 is serviceable. The viewfinder shows 100% of the image taken. In addition were some other upgrades such as HD video mode (I was using a Lumix for that capability, D80 has no video), much improved auto-focus similar to the pro bodies. The controls are improved with more things you can turn on/off with buttons and selector dials instead of navigating through the setup menu. And the 2 SD card slots work perfectly for me shooting RAW+JPG with the RAW files landing on a larger, faster SD card and the JPG files writing to older, slower SD card in the other slot. It makes my importing to PC folders neater and easier.
For a future upgrade, I still have the DX vs FX debate going like I did when I bought the D7000. I'm invested in a lot of DX lenses, but I do have some telephoto FX size lenses in the mix. I always am after lower ISO noise and FX would be a way to go for that. Basically I believe it will be when I feel I am ready to make the jump to a pro-level DSLR body. There will be a lot of money to invest in that and I am not ready to do it now.