Nikon D70 Digital SLR

“Thanks for the info WW. Several months ago I heard that Nikon was bringing out a D-70 and decided not to buy an Olympus C-5050. I have an N-70 with several lens that should be compatible. Anyone have a spare $1000 lying around they can loan me?”

“I'm drooling on the keyboard and I have a great camera.”

“Sol ...I have the Oly C-5050 and I have a N-50 Nikon with several lenses...so this is really looking good to me :)
That 18-70mm Nkon lens sounds great too!

I'll probably wait a little longer...but DSLR's under $1000. is a nice start!”

“I noticed that the C-5050s are getting harder to find on eBay.
Cameta Camera is not even selling that model anymore. The thing I liked about it was the fast Zuiko F1.8 lens. The newer C-5060s have a F2.8.

I'm hoping that in a year the street price of the D-70 will come down some. I'd like to see it around $849.99.

I have a sweet little Olympus OM-2n with five Zuiko OM lens. My two favorite lens are the 50mm F1.4 and the 24mm F2.8. I wished Olympus had come out with a full sized digital SLR that would accept those lens. They came out with a 3/4 or 2/3 lens sized camera but the thing goes for $2500.”

“I worry about getting dust on the CCD when changing lenses. With film, you get a blank slate with each shot but if you get dust on the CCD, its in each subsequent shot. I know Olympus blasts the CCD with an ultrasonic wave before each shot. Does Nikon have something similar? All I'm getting is a blank page with the above link.

I think I'll hold onto my C-5050 a while longer, unless you want to make me an offer I can't refuse, SH.”

“How's that C-5050 treating you Violin? I'm still enjoying mine.

Sol...if you run a search on Yahoo shopping for the C-5050 you can still find lots of them. I saw one for $429.”

“Regarding the C-5050, there seems to be quite a few factory refurbished units on eBay of late. I was wondering if it was an indication of a quality issue. There are still new units on eBay but I was just noting that Cameta Camera wasn't selling them. Since Cameta has a very high rating it made me wonder if they stopped selling the C-5050 for a reason. Probably nothing other than the new model came out.

I appreciate your offer Violin but now that "affordable" SLRs are almost within reach I'm going to hold out.”

“I love the images from the C-5050 but the shutter lag annoys me. I've missed good wildlife and kiddie shots because of it. If I could upgrade to the C-5060 for a modest cost, I would.

I'm waiting for the SLRs in the $3,000 range to become $500 cameras before I leap. Having specialized lenses would be sweet. I haven't used my 35mm SLR in ages.”

“Here is the URL to the dpreview site review of the D70. It is a multipage review with great pictures of the camera. I want this camera bad!!!!


http://www.dpreview.com/articles/nikond70/

Sorry I don't know how to make a link.”

“I see it has a plastic body as does the new Canon. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.”

“I saw that but my N70 has a plastic body and it's fine. I could live with it. Still I know what you're saying Violin. Nothing like the heft of magnesium or titanium (OM3T or OM4T!!!). The D100 has a cast metal body like the 5050. Did you notice that the reviewer wasn't sure he was stepping down from the D100 to the D70? It had most of the features of the D100. It will be nice to pick one up and see how it feels.”

“The other camera I was seriously considering when I got mine was the Fuji FinePix S602 which has a plastic body. Like I said, maybe I'm old fashioned but I think a magnesium body might last longer than plastic but I guess by the time the plastic gives out, the thing will be obsolete anyway.”

“I think the D70 is going to be a very popular camera. My first SLR was an N70 and it was a great little camera. The all metal SLRs and DSLR's are more solid and durable, but the D70 will be pretty light which is a plus for backpacking. It's half the weight of my D1H DSLR.

Dust on the Nikon DSLR ccds is a big issue. I spend a lot of time in Photo Shop cleaning up spots. Cleaning the ccd is very awkward, expensive and not always efficient. I have spots that I can't remove and right now my camera is at Nikon service getting an expensive cleaning.

If I were ever to pick up a D70 when it comes out, I'd put my 24-120 lens on it and keep it there forever.”

“The idea of mounting one lens and being done with it is probably the right idea .... but then why would I buy a DSLR? Can't we just puff them with some canned air to clean the ccd? Surely it's not that fragile? Could the ccd be given a repelling charge to negate the attraction of dust?”

“If you've got a few hours to burn, here's a link to the Dpreview Nikon SLR forum using dust as a search keyword.
Dpreview dust threads

Some say that canned air works for them but most say it just blows the dust around and causes more harm.

Here's an interesting link that offers tutorials on the dust issue.
CCD cleaning tutorial”

“thanks Pennsy,
I couldn't get into the first link but should be able to find it at dpreview.

I saved the second one in my favorites file. Very good tutorial.”

“Hi, Sol... Long time no...see?

Enjoying this thread... looking for new one myself.

Shall I continue to E you?”

“Yeah....long time no see Obi :)”

“Good to see you and yes, keep those e-mail jokes headed my way.

While you're here be sure to check out the Kearsarge Pass to Sheperd Pass thread. You need to make plans for this trip. It's going to go through some beautiful country. Wingding is organizing it. PepperDog has signed up. I'll bring the Shrimp Etoufet and promise you a round at the Cutthroat Saloon. Think about it. It would be great to hike with you guys again.”

“I spent some time today playing with the manual features of my C-5050....that little camera still amazes me....more features than I know how to use!

”

“Wow, I had no idea there were concerns of dust on the CCD!

I wish Icould have justified the Canon digital EOS now, but just couldn't. I'll use the G-5 and await lower prices in the future.”

“Lizs,
From what I've read you're going to love the G5. What I ought to do is go ahead and buy a C5050 or C5060 or a G5. Since they're sealed cameras there shouldn't be a problem with dust. I may wait to buy a DSLR but I could be very happy with any of those cameras. I guess it's one of those the grass is always greener things. But just look at the quality of the above picture by WW. Hard to argue with that.”

“oh yeah, the shot is lovely. Then again, we should see it at 13x19 (which you'll be able to with my new Canon i9100 printer!! lol) to really peruse how the color and pixels stand up. (and I'm sure they stand up well)


Solly, I'm all confused (what else is new) I used to think you were in CA, then I thought you were in South Carolina or somewhere. And now you're talking CA again????? Help??!?”

“I was playing around with the macro mode on the C-5050 last spring:

”

“Doh!

”

“View it full size (drastically resized for photobucket) here:
http://img4.photobucket.com/albums/1103/rjenkie/test_007.jpg”

“Lizs,
I give a lot of mixed signals don't I? My home has been the upstate of South Carolina since 1970. Before that Ft. Bragg,NC, Ft. Benning,GA, and Jax,FL where I graduated from high school. My wife is from the Low Country (that's coastal SC to the non-natives or damn Yankees if you prefer.) Nevertheless I have special fondness for California and the whole West in general. My Dad was from Borger, TX and his father had a place in Rye, Colorado. My Dad used to talk about how much he loved the West and how I should visit there. When I got out of the USAF I took a four month camping trip that started in Guadalupe Mts. Nat'l Park and ended in Washington State with me picking apples for going home money. I went all over the West.

But I never made it to California until 1996. Then I had to make a bunch of business trips to the Bay Area. I worked for a great boss and he would let me fly out early. If we had meetings on Monday I would fly in on the Friday redeye or early Sat morning. I drove the Coast Highway to Monterrey, the Bixby Bridge and Big Sur (Kerouac made me do that). I went across the Golden Gate to the Napa Valley, to Muir Woods and Stinson Beach, up the Russian River and up to Point Arenas. Needless to say I was hooked on the place.

Then Mel invited us all out for the 1999 Llama-Rama and I got my first look at the High Sierra. WOW!!! Unlike the East you can see forever AND the weather is great. Want to see snow? Drive to Manmoth. Got the winter blues, go out to Death Valley. Wanna surf? They got that too.

I love my home but if I ever win the lottery I could see myself living in Bishop for the winter and maybe selling fishing flies in a hardware store for coffee money.”

“Fun part is if you were really ambitious you could have Desert sun, Mountain Snow and Coastal Surf all in the same day!”

“Great close-up and a lot of good deep color. Just wondering, can you put a polarizing filter on the 5050?”

“Hoya makes one. You can also screw on a x2 telephoto and wide angle extension, although I haven't tried either.”

“Solly, I was gonna tell you I got to see coastal Georgia going from Atlanta to Cumberland Island at Thanksgiving. But then I remembered most of that travel was in the dark. LOL! So I didn't get to really see the transition. I did see the hurricane evacuation signs on the interstate from Savannah heading toward Macon. That's just NUTS to a YANKEE like me. LOL!”

“I read the trip report for your Cumberland trip. One of these days I'm going to do that hike. I like the idea of riding over on the ferry and hiking through the live oak forests. I'm very familar with the sea islands of South Carolina.
As I said my wife is from the Low Country. She grew up in Walterboro which is south of Charleston. Watch the movie "Radio". It was filmed in Walterboro. Her brother still lives there and we have explored some of the remote creeks and hammonks in that area. In some places the older blacks speak Gullah and paint the trim around doors and windows bright blue to keep out the haints. Very interesting country.”

“hammonks = hammocks”

“Thanks for the recommendation. Sounds very interesting. I just saw "Radio" being sold at Wal-Mart. Also, I got "Midnight in the Garden of God and Evil" CHEAP at that Wal-Mart. Wanted to see more of Savannah, which I understand is where that movie was filmed or at least based on the area.

This weekend I'm heading to Ocala. Losing elevation from mts. of the midwest!!! lol And gaining DEGREES!!!!!”

“bump”