kuzzy

<p>John, Sorry to hear that your trusty D70 has finally died. I believe that the D7000 is the closest thing to the D70 today and can be had for a very reasonable price now that it has been replaced by the D7100. Either one of those 2 would probably get you all the features you are used to and then some. I upgraded from the D70 to the D7000 and there is nothing I miss about the D70 any more.</p>

<p>FWIW, If you want inexpensive and it will not get much use, I bought a Slik F143 for about $20 to take on a vacation trip just to use in a pinch. I was not expecting much but it is very small (+1) and very inexpensive (+1) and if it was not usable or if there was no room in luggage to make the return trip I was just going to leave it behind. At $20 it was disposable as far as I was concerned. I was not taking any big heavy lenses or planning on shooting macros so I figured it would be sturdy enough. I still have it and it did the job for me. It is built fairly well considering the price. Good luck with your search.</p>

<p>Jessica, I see that Lisa E. has made an excellent suggestion to you in talking about spending money on education (forget the D700 you do not need it). I really doubt that you need any of those camera's that you mentioned and you really do not need to learn anymore about lightroom.</p>

<p>I would bet that the professional that shot the pictures that you referenced outdoors simply understands her equipment and more importantly photography. I would suggest to you that getting one of the cameras that you mention might well make matters worse rather than better. I would also bet that if you gave your equipment to the professional their images would have come out just as good with your equipment as they did with their equipment. People take pictures not cameras. You should be able to take those pictures that you want with the equipment that you have.</p>

<p>Why was the iPhone able to capture an acceptable image for you when it does not have anywhere near the "photographic horsepower" that you D90 does? Based on some of your comments you seem to have a general understanding of what you are doing but you do not sound like you have all the pieces put together just yet. I would recommend taking a course in photography that will put together the pieces for you and max out your abilities on the D90 before moving on. One of the earlier posters also mentioned the book on exposure, another great idea.</p>

<p>Your husband should get a video camera for himself as DSLR's are nowhere near as efficient or as effective in shooting home movies as a dedicated video cam is. Once again, professionals that know what they are doing can make some beautiful videos using DSLR's but they could do the same with one of those $100 video cams you can get at Walmart as well.</p>

<p>I hope you do not take offense to my suggestions but far too often I have seen folks believe that getting one of those more expensive cameras will fix all their problems only to be severely disappointed.</p>

<p>How big do you want to print your pictures anyway. You should be able to get clean prints from properly exposed shots from that D90 bigger than 8x10 even in low light with only a minimal amount of noise reduction (so as to avoid that plastic look).</p>

<p>You will be better served by increasing your knowledge about exposure as well as lighting (flash) and learning how to take those images with the equipment that you have then by spending large sums of money on new equipment in an attempt to solve the problem. Once you have taken the time to learn how to do it with the D90 you will not even have to come here to ask the question that you did about which camera because you will know what you are lacking and exactly what you need. Good Luck</p>

<p>I have never shot figure skating but have shot plenty of hockey in those same dark rinks. I would say that without seeing any images your shutter speed is definitely too slow if they are moving at all. You will need to increase your ISO in order to get your shutter speeds up. Noise can be handled as everyone else has said in post processing but you cannot fix focus issues. One other caveat about the noise is that I have found that you are better off slightly overexposing than underexposing at the higher ISO's to minimize the noise problem.<br>

My setup would be as follows:<br>

AF-C release priority, Single point or 9 point dynamic<br>

Aperture Priority set at 2.8 with your lens, VR-Off<br>

Center Weighted Metering<br>

Whatever ISO you need to keep the shutter speed to 1/500 and above (you may even find that to be a little slow but you will have to adjust accordingly)<br>

Custom white balance definitely helps (do not use the ice to set this)<br>

You will need to follow (center AF point in the chest of your subject) your subject with the shutter release button halfway down in order to allow the camera to acquire and maintain focus. You might try doing this without the monopod as that gets in my way when I am trying to do this but that is certainly a personal preference and ultimately makes no difference. Your shutter speed will need to be fast enough to stop the moving subjects so camera shake will not be an issue. With the D90 you should be able to get more than your far share of keepers as most of my hockey shooting was done with a D70 which, especially in low light, was much less capable than your D90.<br>

Good luck, I look forward to seeing your results.</p>

<p>It was my first dSlr as well and I have loved it only very recently replaced by the D7000. The only reason for the change for me was the better high ISO of the newer camera, otherwise, I would not have bothered with the change. Mine still works flawlessly as it has for the past 4 years I have used it. I am sure you will enjoy it and wish you many years of good service from it.</p>

<p>OP, I shoot tons of sports and I still shoot with my D70. Compared to newer equipment it is slow focusing, "poor" noise at higher ISO etc. I cannot afford the latest and greatest body or lenses but there are some pretty good low cost alternatives for lenses.<br>

Buy used and smart, you can afford some lenses fast enough to do almost anything. I use a<br>

50mm 1.8 (~$120 new, $200 less than the 1.4 alternative),<br>

85mm 1.8 (~$330 new, $900 less than 1.4 alternative)<br>

80-200 2.8 (bought used, like new $900, and saved $200 over new and $1200 less than 70-200)<br>

It has taken me a few years to accumulate this lineup but I manage to shoot basketball and hockey indoors without flash and football and baseball at night without flash. Yes some additional reach would be great but with 2 kids in college I do not have deep enough pockets to acquire the tools.<br>

Timing, practice, good exposure (to reduce noise) go a long way. Read as much as you can about shooting sports, maybe take a course through a local continuing ed program and shoot shoot shoot. The desire to have that great equipment will not go away but when you get a great shot you will no doubt be just as thrilled. If your interested in what you can do with that gear you can check out this site http://marianhigh.smugmug.com as most of the shots there are mine and have been taken with that gear. Good luck.</p>

<p>Jordan, I am in a similar situation as you. I still have my D70 and would like to upgrade for improved high iso in particular. I shoot a lot of sports so the D300's improved AF over the D70 as well as the better high ISO are exactly what I am looking for. However, I also wanted to improve my lens inventory so I just recently bought the 80-200. No need for VR since I use it 99% of the time for sports. <br /> It was kind of an either/or situation and I am sure that I made the right choice. The image quality from my D70 is more than acceptable and that lens is a substantial upgrade over my previous zoom. Understanding the sport I am shooting and anticipating the action to some extent reduces the impact of the slower AF system. I would suggest that you get the lens, when you see the results it will breath new life into your D70s. There will always be a new and better DSLR out there calling your name while the IQ from the lens will keep you very satisfied for a long time to come.<br /> However.... that being said, I definitely need to upgrade my DSLR before basketball season this year as my son is a senior and this will be his last go round and i just need that high ISO for those dark gyms.</p>

<p>Frankly Dave I have no idea what you are talking about. I looked at the hairdresser photo and can see the pores in here skin. Those areas that are out of focus due to DOF show no "noise" to me. I think when you look at almost any photo from any camera at 100% on the computer you can find things that you do not like. The compact cameras photos are not even close to my eye. I think your expectations of what a camera can do are unrealistic. Make some prints and see how they come out and then make your judgment. Good luck.</p>

Mauricio, Shun and Elliot have headed you in the right direction. You need to increase the ISO in order to pick up the background using the ambient light. How much you increase the ISO depends on how dark it is and how much light you want in the background. With that D300 I would not worry too much about using a higher ISO. Good Luck

Thanks Doug for the response. I saw the one at Target for $139 and I was going to try my memory card in it to see how it handled the pictures instead of the demo program but the demo units memory slots were disabled. The picture quality seems just OK but I think for my mothers purposes would be acceptable. I may just have to buy one and try it out.

 

I guess you could put a standard timer switch at the outlet of any of these units to shut them off at night in an effort to save screen life.

 

Marc

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the small LCD

digital picture frames. Want to get one for mom so I need simple.

Can anyone provide me with some guidance, are they any good, special

requirements etc.

 

Thanks

Marc

It all depends on your budget. Any of the Nikon DSLR's will do the job nicely. I have a D70 ($1200 w/lens) and it has been terrific, easy to use and great results. A freind just bought a D50 ($850 w/lens)and is also very happy with his purchase. If you can afford a D200 (Approx. $1700 without a lens) that looks like it will be quite a camera.

Good Luck.

Marc

I have a D70 and have been trying to shoot both basketball and hockey. The light is a little better at the rink but most of the gyms have terrible light and f3.5 just won't get it done very well. I spent a lot of time asking questions and investigating my options and I just bought an 85mm f1.8 and it works well for both situations. The fixed focal length is somewhat limiting but the trade off in increased speed is worth it. I am able to shoot at between ISO 400-800 and still get the shutter speeds I need to stop the action without having all the noise you get by underexposing at the higher ISO's. Your positioning does become more critical with the fixed focal length but this is pretty easy to overcome.

 

I hope this helps.

Marc