What's the real cost of the D60?

[walter_strong2]

B&H sells the D60 for $2200 without a storage card, and with a one

year warranty. I don't know about the rest of you but I think a

camera of that stature isen't going to fly with a 128MB card and that

nothing short of a 1 gig microdrive will do (try taking in on a two

week vacation with a 128MB card unless you are satisfied with the

lowest resolution jpegs). And then there's that paltry 1 yr

warranty. This thing is going to cost an arm and a leg to repair and

a three year extended warranty is mandatory for all except the most

adventerous amongst us. We're up to something over $2600. I got the

money in the bank but the Scot in me says I'm doing just fine with

the EOS 3. Maybe I'll just mull this over until the D120 comes out

in a couple of years. Am I turning my back on the greatest thing

since sliced bread or is patience a prudent exercise here?

[walter_strong2]

A couple of more things. This camera has a reputation for underexposure when using the 550EX flash. And then there's the problem with my 14mm lens, it'll become a 22mm when mounted on the D60!! Maybe those problems will be solved when the D120 comes out.

[fredus]

Of course your 14mm become a 22mm on the D60. This is true with the nikon D100 and any pro DSLR ... The CMOS sensor is not a real 24X36 and any lens will get a x 1.6 factor (difficut to get get wide angle but you get nice zoom instead ...)

 

Fred

[brian_torio]

Walter - I definitely understand where you're coming from. I think the thing to remember is that all this digital technology is still evolving. Yes, the D60 is a great camera -- a huge step forward, but it is by no means perfect. The EOS-3, on the other hand, is the product of many years of research and fine-tuning. Just as Canon's first autofocus film SLRs weren't perfect, the first DSLRs won't be perfect either. In time, prices will come down (camera prices ... and the prices of peripherals, too) and reliability will rise. It's just an exercise in patience for some of us. A time will come when high-quality DSLRs exist at prices more people can afford (at least I hope).

[carl smith]

If you want full frame, and probably no exposure problems with the 550EX, wait for the EOS 1Ds to come out. Also, save your $$. Eight grand will be quite a hit.

[mick_j]

I guess it depends on your requirements. Many journalists require the ability to transfer pictures soon after they are taken, so digital is a must. If you don't mind waiting for your photos to be developed, then I'd wait. D-SLRs will only get cheaper and more reliable.

 

Mick

[andy_green1]

It will not feel, in the hand anything like the EOS 3! You could be disappointed with the build compared to your 3!

[jay_.]

The original question regarded the "true cost" of a D60. Here's my experience: I got my D60 "LN" (truly, none of the packing had been unsealed)from KEH for $2029. Picked up a 512MB CF card from them in EXC+ for $189, and bought a reconditioned 20-GIG Digital Wallet from www.mindsatwork.net for $179. The 512 CF will hold 69 RAW images from the D60 (Canon's proprietary compression makes them 7.4MB each), and the Wallet will hold 2702 RAW images. So if I were to travel with the D60 I could bring home 2771 RAW images (or the equivalent of almost 77 36-exposure rolls of film. The highest-res JPEG files from the D60 are 2.5MB so--well, you do the math. (I also happen to own a 1GIG microdrive, but it resides semi-permanently in my wife's Coolpix 5000 whose highest-res files are a whopping 16 MB). My total outlay for the body and memory was $2400.

 

I also shoot with a pair of EOS 1V's and have no immediate intention to sell them, mostly because I consider the $7500-8000 price of the 1Ds to be obscene. IMO the full-frame 11MP chip will appear in a D60-based body within a year. No, I don't like the D60's feature set as well as the 1V, but the price of the 1Ds is simply ridiculous for anyone not currently shooting either a) hundreds of rolls of film weekly, or b)routinely making 20x30 blowups and selling them.

[nwphotog]

Walter -

I'm not one for putting all my eggs in one basket. I have 5 128MB cards for my D60. When shooting for one day's photojournalism, I used all 4 I had at the time! The one good thing was I could "cull the herd" and pull the bad ones out, but still used all 4!

 

Were I traveling, I would rather use these smaller cards and download them to a "tank" of some kind at the end of the day, especially if the images are one of a kind or non-repeatable.