NIKON D70s - IT WILL BE MINE... - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**ScarlotteDorian** · 11-11-2005, 03:15 PM

yeah, so i'm finally taking the leap from film cameras to digitial. my history is as follows...i'm an advid photographer and have been as long as i could hold a camera. i was a yearbook photographer in high school and also studied it for 2-3 years in college. i would love to make a career out of it if i could ever find the right niche. i've always been big into film photography and kind of turned a cold shoulder to the digital realm of photography. i've always worked in a primitive darkroom and love the art that is associated with light.

well, now i'm definetly a convert. digitial photography is quickly becoming the best way to capture an image with amazing quality and convience (not too mention cheaper and better for the environment).

so here's the question. having never shot with digitial, i'm not familar with the lengo. what type of memory card should i get for the nikon d70s? is there a difference between the sandisk ultra and the sandisk extreme? are both compatible with the d70s? what amount of memory should i get? 512mb? 1gb? 2gb? i shoot alot of images and at a high quality in hopes to archive it for future portfolios. what type of battery system would be good to get based on travel?

anyhow, hopefully someone here know alot about cameras and/or has an d70 or d70s.

thanx guys!

**travelpunk** · 11-11-2005, 03:37 PM

I have the same questions too on this, as I would like to upgrade sometime this year.

I'll probably get 2 cameras. One small compact one for traveling, and the other for more professional work. Not that I'm a photographer, but I know that I'll get trigger happy and will want one with all the bells and whistles.

I will definitely get the biggest memory card as it will be worth it in the end.

Anyways, I know that this doesn't help you Beth, just wanted to know why the Nikon as opposed to the Canon EOS1

**TheJake** · 11-11-2005, 04:16 PM

Personally I like the Nikons better. They were more comfortable when I was playing with them and just seemed a better camera.

However working in the professional sports industry I met alot of photographers and some used canon while others used Nikon. I learned it really came down to preference. Alot of it had to due with what camera they used with film so they wouldn't have to buy new lenses.

As far as media cards go they vary. I am a firm believer that with gadgets you get what you pay for. I would say do not skimp, go with 2 1gb memory cards as there have still been reported problems with the larger ones and buy the more expensive ones just to be safe.

Personally I would have bought the d-1 last year when I was looking but I didn't have the cash and went with the Sony cybershot. I would still love to have a digital slr but for now my sony does me allright. However there are some things that it can't do, like this pic

it's a little rough but that's not because of the camera, the printer we had it processed at was crap and it lost some in the scanner. anyway it was exposed for 1 minute on a canon slr 35mm. I am holding the only light source in my hand, wearing a backpack and facing towards a almost frozen waterfall. Pictures like this make me want the new Nikon D-2.

**space virgin** · 11-11-2005, 05:59 PM

See, I'm a Canon girl myself.

I just have a better feel for 'em I guess.

But Jake has one thing right-- there *can* be problems with high-capacity cards. This tended to be more the case with compact flash in particular, but I've spoken with several digital camera people about it and they usually recommend going for a few mid-range cards, say 512 to 1g instead of just one 2 gig card.

I'm so excited for you!!

I have an evil plan in place to upgrade mine soon...

**TheJake** · 11-11-2005, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by space virgin@Nov 11 2005, 06:59 PM

But Jake has one thing right

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Just one thing right?

**weirdbeard** · 11-12-2005, 01:31 AM

Hey-0 Scarlotte!
I think the Nikon is an excellent choice. I too prefer Canons but it's just preference. I would go with the 1gb extreme card. Sandisk even makes recovery software if you lose your pics BUT it is kind of expensive. You can find it here.sandisk There is one last thing. The Lithium-ion battery that comes with the D70 has been recalled

Apparently a short in the battery has caused it to overheat and melt. See here Nikon You can use plain ol' lithium batteries for the cam. They'll just cost a little more in the long run.
Good Luck!

**weirdbeard** · 11-12-2005, 01:41 AM

I personally have gone the way of the dinosaur and reverted back to simpler methods of photography by recently ordering this. I have yet to put it together.
Lomo I also found out that you can find a FREE template for this camera...of course after I had purchased it already.

**travelpunk** · 11-12-2005, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by weirdbeard@Nov 12 2005, 01:41 AM
I personally have gone the way of the dinosaur and reverted back to simpler methods of photography by recently ordering this. I have yet to put it together.
Lomo I also found out that you can find a FREE template for this camera...of course after I had purchased it already.

[snapback]86399[/snapback]

Dude, I didn't have the patience to read through it all, but is that camera for realz? That's pretty funky if it is

!

**TheJake** · 11-12-2005, 12:21 PM

Yup yup lomos are sick!

**The Monsignor** · 11-12-2005, 12:38 PM

I have an Olympus C-8080 Wide zoom... 8mp, but no interchangeable lenses. I bought it as a compromise between price and quality (the image quality was rated in many tests nearly as good as the Nikon D70, but the price was far less)

Since it is such a large camera, there was definitely a need for big memory.

It takes CF (compact flash) memory, which is the most common for "pro" and "pro-sumer" type cameras, because of many reasons.

I went with a 2GB Hitachi MicroDrive, with shipping it ran $125, which is cheaper than the 1GB cards. The microdrive is a 'type II' CF card, which means it's thicker than the average one.

The D70s takes type II cards, so that might be the best way to go. Hitachi makes the microdrive in up to 6gb now!

The downfall to the microdrive is that since it is an actual hard drive (3200rpm), it uses more power than a CF card usually does. On my Olympus, it's not significant enough for me to notice the difference, but my camera is known for its long battery life.

If you tend to do 'rapid fire' shooting, where the data transfer rate is important, the Extreme CF card is supposed to be faster, but again, comparing the write times with my drive and a borrowed extreme card, I've noticed little difference. The write speed difference may be more apparent on your camera, since my camera may simply not have a high enough transfer rate to make the difference between the two cards all that important.

I enjoy doing my shooting at night, using available light, and my camera offers shutter times up to 15 seconds in automatic and bulb for up to 8 minutes, which is why I switched from my trusty Pentax K-1000 35mm in the first place. Some things are much easier in the darkroom, and I still haven't quite perfected my B&W techniques on Photoshop. I'm still old school when it comes to that.

My camera has been combat proven, and I had no problems with the card, despite abusing it. The CF cards are supposed to be a bit more durable than the microdrives, but I haven't had problems with heat impact or shockwaves (I've nearly fragged my camera a couple of times from being too close to an explosion).

The Weapons Intelligence Team (forensics guys that work with us in Iraq) guys used their nikon D70 as their primary camera for that kind of work, and the cameras took plenty of abuse (though they had problems with the dust killing the cameras) so I think you've probably made the right choice of camera.

As for finding a niche for your work, you're actually in a good area to market your photography. I used to manage a Kinko's, and in my store, I had two different amateur photographers that were pretty regular there (only place to do large format printing, reliably) and both of them started getting commissions after about a year. Your stuff is every bit as good as theirs, and I am pretty certain that if you do the show circuit, yours will pick up as well...

Washington and Oregon seem to be pretty well predisposed towards the arts, and it's not a bad place to begin!

**ScarlotteDorian** · 11-13-2005, 01:11 AM

thanks for all the advise guys. so i'm just going to go with one 1GB card and a 512MB or another 1GB card as a back up. and i'll definetly go with the extreme card because of the faster writing capabilities. i like to push my camera equiptment to their creative limit. also, thanks for the heads up on the faulty battery. so what's the difference between just a lithium battery and the lithium-ion battery? is one rechargeable and the other not? i'd rather have a rechargeable battery, but i surely don't want a faulty one.

oh and i have one more question about lighting systems. i've always used the vivitar 283 flash unit that has been time tested and performed wonderfully through many upgrades, but i was advised to get a flash that was specifically made for the digitial camera that you are purchasing because you could risk the sync being off. because i know how precise and technical this artform can be, i just don't want to risk it. so i'm looking at the SB-800 or SB-600 speedlight systems made by nikon. i can't quite figure out what the diference between the two is yet but the SB-600 is about $120 cheaper than the SB-800.

Quote:

Originally posted by travelpunk@Nov 11 2005, 03:37 PM
just wanted to know why the Nikon as opposed to the

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well, when my old camera body (nikon N60) was destroyed by a nasty basement flooding incidence, i was left with about $1500 in nikon lenses and no body. so as opposed to buying all new lenses, i just decided to stick with nikon and really didn't look at any other camera companies.

weirdbeard - ah-ha! the good ol' pin hole camera. you can make one of those out of a shoe box too. my ex-roommate and i used to lay on his bed in his overly dark room and watch the street traffic on one of his walls. there was a percisely positioned hole in one of his curtains that turned his entire room into a pin hole camera. pretty nifty little phenomenon.

Will -- that's so funny. i have a pentax K-1000 as well. i love it! it's my second one in 8 years. it's the camera that i learned on. even though nothing can beat it's performance in shooting B&W photos in my mind, it has a terrible tendency for light leaks and doesn't really shoot color all that well. yeah, and i feel ya on the good old B&W darkrooms. i totally love doing my own processing, but it was getting way to tedious to tranport my enlarger everywhere i move. maybe, i'll take it up again when i settle later in life. anyhow, thanks for the advise on the memory cards and the vote of convidence in my decision. these are all good things to know and hear when you're about to blow a bundle of mo-la on a new camera.

**The Monsignor** · 11-13-2005, 01:27 AM

Just doing a bit more research for ya...

Battery recall : Nikon recall
(it seems to be pretty limited in scope)

From what I can tell the 800 appears to be a bit more expensive because of the light metering system, and some advanced features, granting more control over the flash's behavior but I'm not absolutely certain on that... It looks like both models may be able to be used remotely from the camera, or in conjunction with each other - granting metering and flash data from different sources, but wirelessly slaved to a flash (or control unit) on your camera...

You'll have to keep me posted on it..

**space virgin** · 11-13-2005, 02:54 AM

The final word: whichever camera Beth gets, her photos will be abssolutely fan tastic.

**ScarlotteDorian** · 11-28-2005, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by space virgin@Nov 13 2005, 02:54 AM
The final word:* whichever camera Beth gets, her photos will be abssolutely fan tastic.*

[snapback]86665[/snapback]

thanx jeanie!

yeah, so i'm going to order my camera today. good-by $1000...hello a dream come true. (i'm a photographer that's been without a camera of my own for over 2 years. you just can't imagine what that'll do to a girl.) so after a year of hard work paying off bills and saving money for college, i can finally get my camera. i am so stoked!

so here's what i've decided:

i'm getting the nikon D70s body for - $529.00

i decided to go w/ the speedlight 600 because i just can't bring myself to blow $300 on a flash. the 600 is said to preform just as well, it just doesn't have all the 'bells and whistles'. - $179.00

and i've decided to start w/ one 1GB sandisk extreme II card as opposed to the larger 2GB cards. i'm going to see how fast i fill the card and then order another 1GB if needed. -$89.95

now the battery is where i'm stumped. yes, they did recall the Nikon Model EN-EL3 rechargeable lithium ion battery packs but they are replacing them with the new EN-EL3a rechargeable battery packs. i'd really rather have a rechargeable. or should i not risk it and just get the CR2 battery holder for the nikon? anyone have any suggestions on this? and what is anyone's take on what i decided?

as always, thanks guys!

**kingcrazylegs** · 11-28-2005, 10:28 PM

Yea new camera!

**weirdbeard** · 11-28-2005, 10:37 PM

I think it's a great decision. I would go with the new lithium-ion rechargeable over the cr2's. It will save you money in the long run and I'm sure Nikon's worked out the bugs with new battery. Can't wait to see how good the pics from this camera will look.

**ScarlotteDorian** · 11-29-2005, 01:00 PM

^thanx for the feed back. yeah, i went ahead with the new rechargable. if it doesn't work out, Nikon has to cover it anyhow.

yeah, i woke up this morning and was like "hell yeahs! my camera is on the mail!" i'm so freaking stoked. this is technically suppose to be my christmas gift though and even though it will arrive next week, i can't use it until christmas.

**ScarlotteDorian** · 11-29-2005, 01:01 PM

p.s. weirdbeard - i'm cracking up at your signatures lately.

**benna2** · 11-29-2005, 01:54 PM

hmmm, so you will be able to take pictures with this new camera at Christmas time right Beth? Well I for one am extremely curious how you and KCL will top last years "Happy New Year!" picture!!

**ScarlotteDorian** · 11-29-2005, 01:58 PM

^that sounds like a dare.