ewartphotography Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I have been looking around, and have been thinking about buying a D70s body. Does anyone have any thoughts about this camera? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kohanmike Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 For almost two years I've been using two D70s bodies with a Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4 D macro, Nikon AF-S 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 ED and Tokina ATX-Pro 12-24mm f/4. I shoot events, concerts, print ads, portraits, all kinds of stuff, and print 13x19 often. I'm very happy with the camera, but I find when I shoot sports, the 3 frames per second is just a bit slow at times, and I have run into grain problems once in a awhile at higher ISO, so I'm actually looking forward to replacing the D70s bodies with the D300. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samoksner Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 We need to know a few things to advise you first: What do you shoot? or want to shoot? Do you already own lens? Are the AF or AI or AI-s? What's your budget? I would suggest springing for a D80, they are very well priced right now, and a new one will come with a one year warranty so if anything breaks or goes wrong, you're covered. Usually, it's much cheaper to get a camera with a warranty then to have to shell out the money later for a camera that just failed and isn't covered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_landry Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I have this camera since 2 years and it does a pretty good job. You won't make better pictures with D60 or D80 and even with the D300 except for high ISO (the D300 has much more better noise control at high ISO) If you buy a used D70s, take a few shots to see and also check the shutter count (go to http://drchung.new21.net/previewextractor/) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskar_ojala Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 The D70 is a nice camera, but newer cameras have improved in many ways. Depending on what you do, some later model might be more suitable. I disagree with the previous poster about making better pictures; in a purely aesthetical sense the statement might be true, but in a technical sense a camera such as the D300 offers far better image quality and many features that aid in nailing the shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffs Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I had a D70s and it took some lovely photos.It produced nicely resolved images.The colour saturation in jpegs sometimes appeared conservative.In reality they mirrored the original colour of the scene. It seems many of us have gotten used to achieving more highly saturated colours nowadays with modern cameras.(if needed). Of course if you shoot raw then that doesnt come into the equation. The one drawback in my mind was the amount of noise in the images over iso 400.I know noise can be reduced but then those nicely resolved images I mentioned earlier, would not be so good. If you use the D70s in good light though and are able to use iso`s 2 to 400 then noise just is not a problem and you can achieve wonderful results from a D70s. Its has a solid and well made feel to its body and is bigger than a Canon rebel or the Nikon D40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmitry_kiyatkin Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Its a fine camera for $300. Not great for action. Color balance is odd sometimes. Small VF. If you have $1800 buy a D300, it is better in all respects, but is it 5 times better? Really need more details about what you will use it for to answer that question.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptkeam Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Hi, I have been using two D70's since they were introduced. I haven't been motivated to plunk down a lot of bucks for a new body yet. Sure a D3 would be nice -- but @ $5,000. totally unjustafiable for most of us. I do nature, portraits, some P.R. and product stuff -- I've been really satisfied with the D70 -- made many beautiful 13x19 & larger. It isn't the best for action/sports but if you understand its capabilities and limitations you can make it work for you. For around $300, heck go ahead and get one. See how it works for you -- then you'll have a better idea about what extra cabability you REALLY need before you shell out $1,000 to $2,000. You l'll still have the D70 for a backup. If it turns out that it performs well for you, then spend money on some good glass -- or just fill your tank up with GAS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewartphotography Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 Thanks all for your input. I am in a price range of cheap but good. I don�t have any need for any faster than 3fps. I now have a D100, so no change in lens�s that i already have would be needed, although another lens would be nice, but with the cost of some lens�s you could but a new camera. What Peter had said is most of what i do now, and think i would be satisfied with a D70s. There is one thing that concerns me, and that is the shutter count, which has been mentioned here a couple times. If the count is put back to zero is there a memory of the real count on the camera? Thanks for all your help...John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_s. Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 John, the shutter count can't be reset by the user. Only Nikon service can do that and it's only done when the shutter unit is replaced so I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to get the best image quality out of the D70s you must shoot raw because the jpeg rendition is not good. With a reasonably fast cf card (sandisk ultra II or faster) shooting raw can be done without problems on the D70s, unlike the D100 which is quite slow if I remember correctly. Good luck, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewartphotography Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 Peter, I do use a sandisk ultra II 2gb card now, and the camera works better than it did before, but have no reference as to what slow is. As far as the shutter count is concerned i am glad to hear that it can't be reset by the user. Jack had sent me a link to check the count. I did download it but not much luck on how to use it, but did get it to load the images, but as far as seeing the count i haven't figured out how that that works. I have had my D100 for a few years , but have never found a combination of custom settings that i like, so i have ended up putting all to normal, which has made my output consistency very hard to achieve, but that is another topic. Thanks for all the help.....John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_s. Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 John, I don't think the D100 registers the shutter count in the file so that's why you can't find it. The difference in speed is that the D70S writes images to the card 2 to 3 times faster than the D100. So if you shoot for exampel 4 raw images in a row the camera is ready for the 5th one much sooner. That makes is practical to shoot raw files even if you need to fire a burst now and then. The D70S writes compressed raw files so they are mostly between 5 to 6 MB each and I get around 700 raw images on a 4GB card. 700 images is how many I can shoot before I need to replace the battery so it works pretty good. Search the forum here and you'll find lots more on the D70 and the D100 and their differences. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewartphotography Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 Thank you all for your input and knowledge...John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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