Full-frame is the logical next step for photographers who have gained confidence in their skills – but many understandably feel priced out. While amazing new full-frame mirrorless cameras are arriving every year, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in camera tech, all these advancements do come at a cost.
If this is all sounding familiar to you, don’t worry – I come bearing a solution. I think if you’re looking to get full-frame quality on a shoestring budget, your best bet is to look at the second-hand market. Yesteryear’s cameras are available at fractions of their original launch prices, and they still take fantastic pictures. To show you what I mean, let’s look at an example: a used Nikon D750 vs the Nikon Z5 II.
Now, the Nikon Z5 II is Nikon’s step-up mirrorless camera, and it’s one of the best-value new mirrorless cameras on the market. It can be bought for £1,859 with a 24-50mm lens, and its cutting-edge feature-set includes AI-powered subject-detection autofocus, dual UHS-II SD card slots and a high-speed mode that can capture 30fps JPEGs. It’s a fantastic camera.
Whereas the Nikon D750 doesn’t have AI-powered subject-detection autofocus, since such a thing didn’t exist in 2014, when the camera was released. Its maximum burst mode is 6.5fps, and its card slots use the older UHS-I interface.
However, the D750 has two major assets in its corner that make it, in my view, the best budget full-frame Nikon camera you can buy. One is the fact that it can be bought for as little as £408 in ‘Good’ condition, and paired with a used Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR for a total cost of about £480. The other is the fact that its full-frame 24.2MP sensor still takes fantastic pictures.
If you look at real-world samples – DPReview has some useful galleries for the Nikon Z5 II and the Nikon D750 – you can see that the older camera still holds its own as far as stills quality is concerned. And it can be yours for a quarter of the price of the mirrorless setup.
Is the Nikon D750 still worth buying in 2026?
But hang on, you might be thinking, Nikon’s mirrorless and DSLR cameras use different lenses. One type uses Z-mount lenses, the other uses F-mount. Aren’t I locking myself into an outdated system by choosing an older camera?
Happily, that’s not really the case! Nikon makes it very easy to port your DSLR lenses over to mirrorless with the simple application of the FTZ mount adapter. This simple accessory makes it easy to use Nikon F-mount lenses on a Z body, with full functionality of electronic features like autofocus and stabilisation.
Picture a scenario where you buy and get a good few years’ use out of a Nikon D750, building up a collection of lenses for different situations – and then you decide you want to upgrade to mirrorless to make use of its more advanced autofocus and video features. With the FTZ adapter, you can port your whole lens collection over, rather than starting from scratch the way you’d need to if you moved to a whole different system.
So, that’s why I think the twelve-year-old D750 is the best budget full-frame Nikon camera. Not only does it take great images and come at an amazing price – but in its own way, it’s also futureproof!
Take a look at our extensive range of second-hand products here!
About the Author
Jon Stapley is a London-based freelance writer and journalist who covers photography, art and technology. When not writing about cameras, Jon is a keen photographer who captures the world using his Olympus XA2. His creativity extends to works of fiction and other creative writing, all of which can be found on his website www.jonstapley.com
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