ptkeam

Kudos to Andy Aungthwin for making a great point about the D70 (and his $30 75-150 E lens -- I used to have one -- it is a great lens) AND for showing us a fabulous picture which had more to do with his knowledge and skill as a photogrpaher than the hardware used

Well -- all I have to say is GOOD. I have this lens and I LOVE it. I know, I know, it's a "consumer" lens and it has a plastic mount but it's incredibly light and compact for a 28-200 lens and I find the optical performance to be surprisingly good -- I think it's better than my 18-70. I've thought about getting an 18-200 but at 2-1/2 times the cost it's hard to justify. The lens is so small and light that I really don't think I'd benefit much from VR.

Anyhow -- it is an interesting development that this lens is back -- I'm really anxious to see what Nikon has waiting in the wings.

I also have two D70's and I'm in no hurry to "upgrade" any time soon. I'd LOVE to have a D2x but I'm in no hurry to drop 4-grand for a camera body.

Think about spending your bucks on some really good glass instead.

By the way -- 10 megapixels is NOT a 60% increase over 6 megapixels. If a 6-mp sensor is 3000 x 2000 pixels and a 10mp sensor is 4000 x 2500 pixels you're only gaining about 30% in resolution in the horizontal and vertical dimensions respectively. This is a geometric progression, not an arithmatic increase.

I've made beautiful 16x20's from my 6-mp D70's. Don't waste money because some dude in a camera store or a geek with Nikon Acquisition Syndrome tells you your D-70 is obsolete.

Go ahead and use the 283. It's a GREAT flash unit. I have three 283's and use them all the time on my two D70's.

You can use them in straight manual mode, or use apeture preferred mode -- as long as the situation you're in will keep the shutter speed at or below the max. synch. speed.

Of course, an SB600 would do a lot more, but it would COST a lot more. How much will you use a flash and for what??

Consider the Nikon SB400. It's a tiny thing but will do a great job for most situations. For just over a hundred bucks you can get one. It works with the iTTL feature on your D50 -- does a fabulous job on P,A,S modes mixing w/ available light. I have one of these too.

In the last 6-7 years I think the "line" between "amateur" and "pro" cameras has blurred considerably. In the "olden" days a "pro" camera was something heavy & rugged -- built like a tank -- and versatile. You bought a Nikon F2 or a Hasselblad 500C and kept them for years (if not decades). I was a big Mamiya fan -- I owned a studio and had 6-7 Mamiya 645 1000s bodies which I used for 10-15 years and I tear up then I think about my beloved C330's (heck, I even had a Mamiya Universal). I did a lot of school photography and used Camerz Classics and used them for the same amount of time AFTER I had bought them USED.

Today, everything's changed. If you plunked down $4000 for a D2x and then HAD to get the "next great thing" 3-4 years later it would be hard to justify that 4-grand expense UNLESS you just used the heck out of the thing or ABSOLUTELY needed the ruggedness/speed of such a body. You can spend $900 or so for a D-80 -- use it for a couple of years and then replace it with something better and have it make perfect business sense.

So many people on this forum are SOOO concerned about whether they are using the "right" equipment -- I went to a seminar back in the 80's which was given by a guy who specialized in doing high-end executive portraiture on location. His name escapes me now, but was a recognizable name at the time -- He travelled around the country and mostly used Pentax K-1000's. He'd shoot on Kodachrome 64 and make internegatives to produce 40x60 prints etc. for big bucks.

He used the K-1000 because the bodies were rugged & dependable - lightweight & compact - and the optics good -- and if anything went haywire in a city away from home he could go to a K-Mart seven days a week and pickup another body.

I have a couple of D-70's now and I'm really happy with them.

Stop agonizing over your equipment folks

I would consider the Nikon 28-200G 3.5-5.6 lens. It's less than half the price of the 18-200 -- VERY light VERY compact. Along with your 20mm there's nothing you couldn't do. I recently took a trip to Cape Cod & this was the only lens I took along with my D70 -- I was very happy with it's performance.

Be advised, many people will pooh pooh this lens as a "consumer" lens. It does have a plastic lens mount but generally good build quality and excellent performance. I think that its small size and light weight will in large part reduce the need for VR.

Give it a look-see

I would suggest that you consider the Nikon 28-200 G 3.5-5.6 zoom. It costs about 1/3 of the 18-200 and is EXTREMELY light and compact. Not only that, it does a fabulous job -- optically it's very good -- and focuses to near macro range (about 1/3). I know, I know, 28mm isn't 18mm, but it is a little wider than a "normal" lens. This lens is often pooh-poohed as a "consumer" lens -- OK it DOES have a plastic mount -- but I'd give it a look.

Heck, compared to Nikkor AI-s lenses ALL of the AF lenses these days feel cheap & "plasticky" -- for that matter, so do the camera bodies (unless you want to spring for a D2x)

For what you save on the 18-200, you'd be able to spring for a super wide angle zoom like the Tokina 12-24 f/4.

About 6 months ago I got an ancient Nikkor H 300mm 4.5 lens to use on my D70 -- had to file down the apeture ring so it would fit on the camera body. Since I made my living w/ Nikon man. focus & Mamiya equipment for years the lack of autofocus & coupled meter didn't deter me a bid. I have a pristine piece of glass that's a good specimen -- for about $70. LOVE IT

I second Ronald's suggestion -- I've done this several times and gotten a good indication of what the finished print would look like. It's kind of like doing a "test strip" in the darkroom. -- If anyone remembers what THAT is. :-)

I have been using a 28mm f/2.8 nikon AF lens as a "normal" available light lens. I've been really happy with it. It's just a tad wider than a 50mm would be on a 35mm body. the 28mm is a LOT cheaper than the 35mm f/2 or the sigma 30mm 1.4 and works really well in most low-light situations.

Hey folks,

For what it's worth, I've been using a nikon 28-200 3.5/5.6 G lens on my two D70's for a couple of years. It's a GREAT LENS. It's really considered (somewhat derisively) a "consumer" lens -- OK it DOES have a plastic mount -- but the optical quality is excellent. It's so small & light -- I've done some surprising existing light stuff with it. I don't have a VR lens but I'm not really in a hurry to go out and get one.

I have considered getting the 18-200 but at about 3 times the cost I just can't justify it. I also have the 18-70 and a 28-105D macro but I use the 28-200 more than the other two.

Just my two cents worth

I have used quite a few of flash brackets mostly in the past with medium format cameras. Currently I'm using a stroboframe "Quickflip" which is inexpensive, lightweight and really rugged. For weddings you'll absolutely want to use a bracket that will keep the flash directly over the LENS for horizontal and vertical shots. The one drawback to the Stroboframe Quickflip and others like it is that you can't use bounce flash for VERTICAL shots. For this you'd need a bracket that actually rotates the camera beneath the flash -- more expensive, bulky & heavy

I had the sigma 600mm f/8 years ago which I used on an Olympus OM-1 at the time. Very well-built. Good optics -- Pretty doggone hard to take a picture hand-held, though.

I recently got an ancient 300mm f/4.5 Nikkor H & filed down the "lip" on the apeture ring so it would fit on my D70 -- done some great stuff with it.<div></div>

As far as the flash is concerned. I just got an SB400 -- it's a WONDERFUL little baby. VERY compact but works well w/ Nikon iTTL

I use two D70's & one of several lenses I have is a 28mm 2.8. I also have the 50mm 1.8 but I find it too long for a "candid" type lens for indoors. For this reason I got the 28mm. I'm very happy with the slightly wider than "normal" perspective of a 50mm on 35mm film. It reminds me a lot of the 70mm lens I used to use on my Mamiya 645's. Also it's a whole lot cheaper & readily available than a 35mm f/2

Hi Errol. Interesting to see your post. I have just finished doing exactly the same thing with an old, old Nikkor P 300mm 4.5 lens.

I am using it on a D70 as well.

the lens is very sharp and has good contrast. focsing is not a problem, however I have had some weird color balance results. I got REALLY cold tones -- I had to use the open shade WB setting in full sun to get good results. I was thinking about posting a question about this myself.

by the way, I filed the lens apeture ring myself -- no big deal.

Hi

I have been looking at getting a slide copying attachment for my D70.

http://slidecopier.com/

If you've used one of these, please give me some feedback. How does this

compare with a film/slide scanner????

Thanks

Kingston,

I shoot with two D-70's. I have found that "auto" white balance doesn't really work well in a wide range of situations. I really only use it under bright, sunny conditions. If it's the least bit cloudy I use the "open shade" setting -- Indoors with available (window)light I automatically switch to this setting. Of course, with tungsten or fluorescent lighting you'll have to use those settings.

I used to have a Fuji S2 and found its auto setting to be much more "automatic" and adaptable, but not so with the D70.

I think that once you get used to how the white balance performs you can select the appropriate settings for your situation.

I made my living as a photographer for 25+ years and was very conscious of the "temperature" of the light esp. when shooting color film. -- If you've only used digital, or "automatic" film cameras it might take a little getting used to, but it makes you much more aware of what you're doing and you'll get better results. No camera can do your thinking for you.

Yep!! 50mm f/1.8 (nonD) I've got one & LOVE it. The D may be of some help w/ flash photography, but otherwise it's not a big deal

I have used Vivitar 283's on my two D-70's. No problem. I've even used the D-70's with my Speedotron brownline studio lights also no problem.

BTW -- just got a nikon SB400 speedlight -- the little bitty one. LOVE IT. GREAT results with a lumiquest mini-soft box

I use two D-70's and have made gorgeous 16x20's. An increase from 6-megapixels to 10 megapixels is not as much as many people think since you're dealing with area of the sensor rather than just linear dimensions. If a 6-megapixel sensor is, say, 2,000 x 3,000 pixels, a 10 megapixel sensor will be roughly 2,500 x 4000 pixels (depending upon aspect ratio). So in each dimension (horizontal & vertical) the pixel resolution increases by 25-30%. Nothing to sneeze at for sure, but not nearly the % increase in the sheer number of pixels.

I certainly salivated when I saw the D-80 come out, but I'm not rushing to plunk down $900 plus dollars just because I have pixel envy.

Huzzah for Nikon flash. I just bought an SB400 (the little bitty one) for my D70. FANTASTIC. I'm blown away by the results. I often used it with a lumiquest mini-softbox. I've used Metz, Sunpak, Vivitar -- but you can't beat Nikon flash

I use an ancient Nikkor 300mm 4.5 Q lens with my D70. Mostly tripod mounted -- meter doesn't work, of course, but I shoot a couple of test shots & use histogram to determine exposure. Equivalent to 450mm lens on 35mm -- sharp as a tack & built like a tank. I LOVE it

Hello All,

I'm thinking of purchasing a Nikon SB600. I currently use Vivitar 283's (OK

don't laugh, they're great little beasts) with my two D-70's. I use the 283's

with a lumiquest mini-softbox. Will this work with the SB600?? Or does the

softbox obstruct what appears to be a sensor on the front of the flash??