Nikon D70 - a no brainer ?
Posted by: long-time-dead on 24 July 2004
My well used and loved Coolpix 950 has just given up the ghost due to a casing problem as a result of an accidental drop.
The time is now upon me to replace it with something else and my thoughts are being drawn towards the Nikon D70 (with 18-70 DX lens).
Is it as good as everyone says it is ?
The time is now upon me to replace it with something else and my thoughts are being drawn towards the Nikon D70 (with 18-70 DX lens).
Is it as good as everyone says it is ?
Posted on: 24 July 2004 by Hawk
Im thinking exactly the same way LTD.. been using a sony point and shoot effort since my little one was born and i would love to get into digital SLR... Ive done a bit of homework and the D70 keeps coming up top of the pile.. The trouble is i wouldnt buy a HiFi based on what hifi so i cant bring myself to buy on the basis of what/whichever digital photo rag says..
Have you looked at anything else??
Im off to canada (vancouver) in a fortnight so if there are any canadians out there how much can you buy one for...?? I cant help think it will be a fair bit cheaper than here in the UK
Have you looked at anything else??
Im off to canada (vancouver) in a fortnight so if there are any canadians out there how much can you buy one for...?? I cant help think it will be a fair bit cheaper than here in the UK
Posted on: 24 July 2004 by long-time-dead
Hi Hawk
Yep, last year I was at the point of buying a D100 and decided against it as my trusty Coolpix was doing fine. Just like your P'n'S Sony.
I loved the build quality and overall feel of the DSLR.
As yet, I have not held a D70 in my hands as everywhere local is sold out. I have had a play with the Canon EOS300 and it is indeed a nice camera, but didn't feel "there". Maybe I will feel the same with the D70 - who knows.....
One thing I know for sure - either camera will wipe the floor with my Coolpix in terms of quality.
I'm going to wait until I get to grips with one before buying. I'd never buy without trying at that kind of money !
LMK how you get on.
Yep, last year I was at the point of buying a D100 and decided against it as my trusty Coolpix was doing fine. Just like your P'n'S Sony.
I loved the build quality and overall feel of the DSLR.
As yet, I have not held a D70 in my hands as everywhere local is sold out. I have had a play with the Canon EOS300 and it is indeed a nice camera, but didn't feel "there". Maybe I will feel the same with the D70 - who knows.....
One thing I know for sure - either camera will wipe the floor with my Coolpix in terms of quality.
I'm going to wait until I get to grips with one before buying. I'd never buy without trying at that kind of money !
LMK how you get on.
Posted on: 26 July 2004 by Hawk
Hi LTD, I did the rounds of a couple of camera shops this weekend but couldnt actually lay my hands on a D70. That probably says something in itself! I did manage to look at the Canon EOS 300 D though and it was like you say quite a nice camera... The appeal for me is that i already have an EOS 35mm and it would mean that i could use the two lens that i have with it with the Digital one... The guy said that there is a correction something or other of 1.6 which means my 300mm lens effectively becomes a 400 and something mm lens when used on the digital camera... I did think it felt a big light.. I know thats probably a good thing! but my heads conditioned to think heavy = well built!! Afterall an ultra light HiCAP would never do!!!
Another plus is that they seem a bit cheaper, i was offered one for £699, i guess the shops are working hard to sell what they have in stock! I still want to find a D70 to see in the flesh first though...
cheers
neil
Another plus is that they seem a bit cheaper, i was offered one for £699, i guess the shops are working hard to sell what they have in stock! I still want to find a D70 to see in the flesh first though...
cheers
neil
Posted on: 26 July 2004 by long-time-dead
Hi Neil
Yep - d70's are like hen's teeth !
I have one reserved at my local store but I saw the EOS300D at another store and I felt the build quality to be a little "lightweight" for that money (the rear of the case flexed when I gripped it).
Whilst I couldn't actually feel a D70 in the flesh, I did hold the f65 and was told the D70 was chunkier but with the same ideology of design. It felt solid and value for money.
£300 is £300 though and if I had a couple of EOS fit lenses, my decision may well differ. As it is I have no other SLR lenses of any note so I think I will opt for the Nikon.
Yep - d70's are like hen's teeth !
I have one reserved at my local store but I saw the EOS300D at another store and I felt the build quality to be a little "lightweight" for that money (the rear of the case flexed when I gripped it).
Whilst I couldn't actually feel a D70 in the flesh, I did hold the f65 and was told the D70 was chunkier but with the same ideology of design. It felt solid and value for money.
£300 is £300 though and if I had a couple of EOS fit lenses, my decision may well differ. As it is I have no other SLR lenses of any note so I think I will opt for the Nikon.
Posted on: 27 July 2004 by domfjbrown
How much is the D70?
I'm thinking of upgrading my PREHISTORIC Olympus Camedia 1400XL (it's a D-SLR, but with built-in, non-changeable, lens, and due to the age its autofocus is shoddy in low light; it produces very good images for a 1.3mpixel camera though, so the CCD in it is still quality)...
BTW - can you use older non-auto focus Nikkor lenses on the Nikon? I've got an old F301 and reckon the lens might still be pretty decent. I'd not say no to a nice zoom lens for it either....
__________________________
Don't wanna be cremated or buried in a grave
Just dump me in a plastic bag and leave me on the pavement
A tribute to your modern world, your great society
I'm just another victim of your highrise fantasy!
I'm thinking of upgrading my PREHISTORIC Olympus Camedia 1400XL (it's a D-SLR, but with built-in, non-changeable, lens, and due to the age its autofocus is shoddy in low light; it produces very good images for a 1.3mpixel camera though, so the CCD in it is still quality)...
BTW - can you use older non-auto focus Nikkor lenses on the Nikon? I've got an old F301 and reckon the lens might still be pretty decent. I'd not say no to a nice zoom lens for it either....
__________________________
Don't wanna be cremated or buried in a grave
Just dump me in a plastic bag and leave me on the pavement
A tribute to your modern world, your great society
I'm just another victim of your highrise fantasy!
Posted on: 27 July 2004 by Hawk
quote:
Originally posted by domfjbrown:
How much is the D70?
Jessops want £1099 for one with the basic lens and a 1GB memory card (these cost a couple of hundred £££'s if you buy them separately but most shops sell them for about £150 if you buy them at the same time as the camera) £899 is the cheapest so far for a body only... Im struggling to find one in stock let alone haggle on price so i dont expect much discount..
The EOS is a different story though, reading between the lines everyone is asking for D70's and shops are reducing the price on the EOS to tempt buyers to part with cash for what they have in stock!
I cant answer the question on the Nikon lens, but if canon is anything to go by there is a certain amount of compatability between lens... I'll leave that to one of the experts on the forum!
regards
neil
Posted on: 27 July 2004 by long-time-dead
D70 kit (Body plus 18-70 DX Nikon lens) is £1000. You'll need to buy a memory card.
I saw the kit cheaper on the net and I know Jessop's will price match the net if the site has stock !
I saw the kit cheaper on the net and I know Jessop's will price match the net if the site has stock !
Posted on: 28 July 2004 by domfjbrown
Mmmm - wander how much the Eos is then, as £1k for a camera, while POTENTIALLY affordable (depending on how I go tonight re the bank and creative financing!) is still a helluva lot of cash...
If I can get a "last years's model" DSLR brand new, like I did with my Olympus back in 2000 though, I could be up for that...
__________________________
Don't wanna be cremated or buried in a grave
Just dump me in a plastic bag and leave me on the pavement
A tribute to your modern world, your great society
I'm just another victim of your highrise fantasy!
If I can get a "last years's model" DSLR brand new, like I did with my Olympus back in 2000 though, I could be up for that...
__________________________
Don't wanna be cremated or buried in a grave
Just dump me in a plastic bag and leave me on the pavement
A tribute to your modern world, your great society
I'm just another victim of your highrise fantasy!
Posted on: 28 July 2004 by long-time-dead
Hi Dom / Hawk
Just a quick update - get to your LCS (Local Camera Shop) and get to grips with the D70 and the Canon. Your hands will not lie !
I bought the D70kit (c/w 18-70 lens, battery, charger etc.) at Jessop's today for £900. I used the PriceRunner site to get quotes and they were happy to accept the stock information from it.
First impression - holy cow ! I quickly charged the battery and took a quick snap of my daughter at 6MP res. It's feckin' amazing !!
Lets put it this way - I doubt I will need (or buy) better unless it was Medium format. And digital is so much more immediate a medium for me.
One happy bunny !!!!!!
Just a quick update - get to your LCS (Local Camera Shop) and get to grips with the D70 and the Canon. Your hands will not lie !
I bought the D70kit (c/w 18-70 lens, battery, charger etc.) at Jessop's today for £900. I used the PriceRunner site to get quotes and they were happy to accept the stock information from it.
First impression - holy cow ! I quickly charged the battery and took a quick snap of my daughter at 6MP res. It's feckin' amazing !!
Lets put it this way - I doubt I will need (or buy) better unless it was Medium format. And digital is so much more immediate a medium for me.
One happy bunny !!!!!!
Posted on: 28 July 2004 by Hawk
Hi LTD,
Very pleased to hear your a happy bunny! hopefully ill be hot on your heels...!? i think the D70 might steal it for me too..
Happy snapping!
atb
Neil
Very pleased to hear your a happy bunny! hopefully ill be hot on your heels...!? i think the D70 might steal it for me too..
Happy snapping!
atb
Neil
Posted on: 28 July 2004 by long-time-dead
Posted on: 28 July 2004 by Martin D
LTD
Just had a very close look at the large jpg and its very good indeed, and food for thought for film heads like me!
Martin
Just had a very close look at the large jpg and its very good indeed, and food for thought for film heads like me!
Martin
Posted on: 28 July 2004 by long-time-dead
Hi Martin
Just to make you think a little harder....
The image was taken within 2 mins of the kit coming out the box, fully automatic and using the little inbuilt speedlight !
Just to make you think a little harder....
The image was taken within 2 mins of the kit coming out the box, fully automatic and using the little inbuilt speedlight !
Posted on: 29 July 2004 by Dobbin
The only 2 things I can find wrong with my D70 are:
Poor autofocus in very low light (big deal eh!?)
Poor remote release. You have to use a little £15 IR gizmo to release the shutter - having set the camera to trigger via this method. There is no cable release (or cable type electronic release like on my D90). I was taking photos of the foxes in our garden a few weeks ago and to trigger the tripod mounted camera from inside the house necessitated taping a spoon to the front of the camera near the IR sensor. This acted as a concave mirror focussing the beam onto the sensor. Range was about 15ft. AND the camera resets itself after a pre-determined time to be fired from the on-camera shutter release button.
I've shot hundreds of images so far and been very pleased with the quality. Everything from 200 - 6400 ASA looks good. I'll post a link to some pics in the next day of so so you can have a gander at the quality.
Have shot Nikon Raw (NEF) and Jpeg (fine). Haven't decided what I'll be using long term. Prob NEF as I'm into Photoshop and like the unadulterated image as my starting point. BTW be aware that older versions of Photoshop don't like NEF files (I think I'm correct on this). Haven't looked into other (less expensive) alternative s/w packages. If you don't want to spend the cash on a pro package like photoshop, the bundled Nikon s/w works (ish) and you can always just use Jpegs. (Get c. 99 files to a 1gb disk using NEF - LOTS more in Jpeg fine.)
What else...kit lens OK (camera and body are made in Thailand - I guess to get the cost as 'low' as it is), although the lens feels a bit slack. Have had excellent results with my 80-200 f2.8 (effectively a 300 on the D70).
Like the way all the info (date, speed, aperture, ASA) is held with the image file - no more little notebooks for me!
Have bought an Innoplus Phototainer to save images when out and about (or on holiday etc) so I dont need to carry a laptop around.
Enjoying my D70 very much!
Bought mine from the London Camera Exchange in Guildford. Got the kit and they chucked in a 1gb microdrive. Nice.
Poor autofocus in very low light (big deal eh!?)
Poor remote release. You have to use a little £15 IR gizmo to release the shutter - having set the camera to trigger via this method. There is no cable release (or cable type electronic release like on my D90). I was taking photos of the foxes in our garden a few weeks ago and to trigger the tripod mounted camera from inside the house necessitated taping a spoon to the front of the camera near the IR sensor. This acted as a concave mirror focussing the beam onto the sensor. Range was about 15ft. AND the camera resets itself after a pre-determined time to be fired from the on-camera shutter release button.
I've shot hundreds of images so far and been very pleased with the quality. Everything from 200 - 6400 ASA looks good. I'll post a link to some pics in the next day of so so you can have a gander at the quality.
Have shot Nikon Raw (NEF) and Jpeg (fine). Haven't decided what I'll be using long term. Prob NEF as I'm into Photoshop and like the unadulterated image as my starting point. BTW be aware that older versions of Photoshop don't like NEF files (I think I'm correct on this). Haven't looked into other (less expensive) alternative s/w packages. If you don't want to spend the cash on a pro package like photoshop, the bundled Nikon s/w works (ish) and you can always just use Jpegs. (Get c. 99 files to a 1gb disk using NEF - LOTS more in Jpeg fine.)
What else...kit lens OK (camera and body are made in Thailand - I guess to get the cost as 'low' as it is), although the lens feels a bit slack. Have had excellent results with my 80-200 f2.8 (effectively a 300 on the D70).
Like the way all the info (date, speed, aperture, ASA) is held with the image file - no more little notebooks for me!
Have bought an Innoplus Phototainer to save images when out and about (or on holiday etc) so I dont need to carry a laptop around.
Enjoying my D70 very much!
Bought mine from the London Camera Exchange in Guildford. Got the kit and they chucked in a 1gb microdrive. Nice.
Posted on: 01 August 2004 by Hawk
LTD I tried your advice and went to jessops armed with pricerunner printouts and managed to get a great deal on a Canon EOS 10D so thanks for the tip! Im really pleased with it because it accepts all my Canon lens that i have with my 35mm SLR, and it seems much better built than the 300D... Just got to work out how to get the best from it now!
Dobbin
How much did the Phototainer cost and how much does it hold? Im off on a trip next week and im not sure whether to get an extra compact flash card or one of those hard drive type devices... Im bound to be extra trigger happy!!! Ive also got some space free on an ipod so i need to look into the options to use that too..
regards
Neil
Dobbin
How much did the Phototainer cost and how much does it hold? Im off on a trip next week and im not sure whether to get an extra compact flash card or one of those hard drive type devices... Im bound to be extra trigger happy!!! Ive also got some space free on an ipod so i need to look into the options to use that too..
regards
Neil
Posted on: 01 August 2004 by long-time-dead
Hawk
Well done ! Glad you saved a few quid !
I am sure you now know what I mean about the 300D's build 'quality'
Happy snapping !
Well done ! Glad you saved a few quid !
I am sure you now know what I mean about the 300D's build 'quality'
Happy snapping !
Posted on: 02 August 2004 by Derek Wright
Dobbin
"Poor autofocus in very low light (big deal eh!?)"
Do not want to rain on your parade but that can a be a real bummer when you want to get flash pictures of people and you cannot rely on getting good focus
I have been there, done it, and swapped the camera that I had for one that gives good low light focus
Derek
<< >>
"Poor autofocus in very low light (big deal eh!?)"
Do not want to rain on your parade but that can a be a real bummer when you want to get flash pictures of people and you cannot rely on getting good focus
I have been there, done it, and swapped the camera that I had for one that gives good low light focus
Derek
<< >>
Posted on: 02 August 2004 by Dobbin
The innoplus is £320 ish. I bought it from SpeedGraphic who also have some alternatives:
http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/pdfiles/p108.pdf
(It may be expensive - but I also use it for work (I'm in IT so use it to move big files around my various customers via its USB capability)). The Innoplus is also an MP3 player so useful for travel (not in same class as iriver/ipod).
Don't expect great images - it is only a portable backup device. 40gb will hold 4000 raw images (ish).
http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/pdfiles/p108.pdf
(It may be expensive - but I also use it for work (I'm in IT so use it to move big files around my various customers via its USB capability)). The Innoplus is also an MP3 player so useful for travel (not in same class as iriver/ipod).
Don't expect great images - it is only a portable backup device. 40gb will hold 4000 raw images (ish).