These pictures of geese show that older Nikon cameras that can be bought cheap these days still take great pictures.
The Nikon D70 came out in 2004.

The Nikon D200 came out in 2005.

The Nikon D7100 came out in 2013.

If you ask me the Nikon D7100 cmos sensor was just catching up with the Nikon D70 and D200 ccd sensor.
I’ve been tempted to buy a cheap Nikon D700 full frame and finally be enlightened, but those big cameras are heavy.