Somebody Stop Me..

[Fred H]

Dan, she knows.
I already have a quite advanced digital camera. a Nikon Coolpix995.
She is satisfied with the photos. It's not the question of that.
I bought it for 2 or 3 years ago, I am satisfied with it.
The big difference is that I am dreaming about a digital SYSTEM camera.
I already have a Nikon 35 mm camera with an AF NIKKor 35-70 mm lens.
There is an completelly other feeling, as yo shurely know, to manual focus a lens, like this one.
On the other side, a 300 mm tele is not tha same as a tele lens to a fixed optic.
By the way, I love my old Nikon F-401s. I feel that I just have a camera in my hands, not a toy.
For a couple of years or so, some manufacturers announced a special digital back replacement for film cameras. These are very expensive and nothing to have today.
"Mum, I will have a Nikon D70, ooooaaaahhhhh...." "...I will...
( no help, my mum is death, I am 68 )

Fred

[Sasq]

ahh i know the feeling about the manual focus ring.
its the only thing I really miss on my coolpix 5700

[VJ]

Any thoughts why the rings on new lenses seem to be reversed? I mean, usually, the ring furthest away from the body is the focus ring, the one closer to the body the zoom ring (and the one next to the body the aperture). However, on new lenses, the ring furthest away from the body is the zoom ring, the focusring is the next one...

Fred: To my knowledge, there is only one company that has announced a digital back, and it is Leice (for their R8 and R9). The only other attempt was by Siliconfilm (for the Nikon F5 and similar models), but it had a huge number of disadvantages (limited storage, huge crop factor, no lcd, no user interface - no buttons, ...) resulting in it not really reaching the market (some working models made it to the market). Of course, in medium format cameras (Hasselblad, Mamiya, ...) digital backs are more common.

(perhaps you could stain your lens a bit, and then say to your wife: look, the lens is showing its age, we *need* a replacement )


Jörg

[Fred H]

VJ:
Unfortunately (or better, fortunately) I own a Leica model year 194?. Nobody manufactures parts for such an old but very nice) camera. It is a piece of museum and it was my fathers, who teached me photo. I am grateful for it.
Hasselblad was another dream for me, for 10-20 years ago.
The digital back is definitely nothing to have today.
Should I stain the lens? No way. She is more cleverer after 40 years of marriage.
For 2-3 years ago I bought my 995 for the same price as the D70 costs today. I could sell it for the 1/4 of the new price.
Fred

[Sasq]

Actually Fred, there is a whole hobby subset here for old cameras. it wouldn't surprise me if I could get parts for it here.

[az]

Fred H, I know how you feel, it is the same with my Dimage 7i, and the sloooow focusing and unfitness for available light (or simply indoors in the evening without flash) is killing me. I'd also love a sturdy DSLR, though the new models are too big for my tastes - the fully manual ones were just right IMO

AZ

[KvHagedorn]

Fred, I know someone who is gaga over old Leicas and showed me the amazing range of stuff on ebay. Parts, cameras, manuals, etc. Just checked and there are ~ 2000 ebay listings under Leica.

btw, got my D70 and am playing with it.. when I get it all figured out, I might post a few pics.

[Fred H]

My Leica is a relic from my father and I don’t intend to sell it, or transform it.
It was a long time ago I’ve had a film in it, but all its functions are still working.


I would like to buy a Nikon D70, but the need of periodical CCD cleaning scared me.
On the other side, there are too many D70s in use and I can’t imagine that every owner care to clean the CCD once a month or so.

At the moment I am quite happy with my Nikon Coolpix995. The dust from the lens is easy to clean, so the D70 is placed to a future wish list.
One of the irritating moments with the 995 is though the manual focus, in dark environment, as AZ mentioned here.
The other problem is the difficulty to use tele-lenses, macro rings etc.
An extra flash is also a problem with the Coolpix995.

KvH, let’s know about your experience with your D70, not only the photo quality but your general impression. What are you missing and what is more appreciated?
Fred

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by Fred H
I would like to buy a Nikon D70, but the need of periodical CCD cleaning scared me.
On the other side, there are too many D70s in use and I can’t imagine that every owner care to clean the CCD once a month or so.

KvH, let’s know about your experience with your D70, not only the photo quality but your general impression. What are you missing and what is more appreciated?
Fred

once a month - no way. once in a blue moon - maybe. I've been using mine for about half a year now, switching lenses quite often, and using some bigger zoom-lenses too. I've not yet found any dust on the ccd.

the shop I got the camera from (paid a bit more than absolutely necessary, but the additional, local service is easily worth it) bought one of the power supply units, now the ccd can be cleaned there for a few euros. the "usual, official" way seems to be shipping the camera to nikon service and paying a premium...
anway, the shopkeeper said that they hardly ever have to do this anyway, only one customer (who was using some huge telefoto lens, therefor pumping quite some air volume over the ccd) visits them from time to time.

what is missing... my main problem is the distortion at the low end of the kit lens. besides that - I'm still more than happy with my set. have to get a decent, compact flash-unit (using an ancient metz 45CT-5 at the moment). oh, and be careful when using (more than one) filter on the kit-lens. I realised nearly too late that the polarizing filter shadows the corner at the wide end. *sigh*

mfg
wulfman

[Fred H]

The basic idea behind my intentions (dream) to buy a D70 is that I already own a Nikon F401s camera and I guess I could reuse the lens, wich is an "AF NIKKOR" 35-70/1:3.3-4.5.
Do you have any experience with older lenses from 35mm cameras?
How is the corner shadowing or distortion with such a lens?
Talking about tele, I am thinking a 200 or highest 300 mm zoom would be fine. Any opinions, please?

Fred.

[Wulfman]

35-70/1:3.3-4.5.

I had the old'n'heavy 35-70/1:2.8 here, but I decided to get the kit lens. reason? fast AF, and wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide end for a (relatively) low price. your lens will go from about 50-100mm, which is - sorry to say - a kind of useless range. no wide end, not much room in the tele department either.

distortion was not a problem with the lenses I used (the aformentioned 35-70/2.8, a cheaper 35-70/?, some nikon 200mm (not sure) and a sigma *-300mm zoom).

I've never really used the 35-70 lenses again, for above reasons. the 2.8 is used for special occasions - low light, etc. but as it has no D chip, the advanced flash features are not availabe, therefore making indoor-pics less attractive than with the kit lens...

the 300mm one is interesting ( --> 450mm). sadly it is only a cheap sigma - which can be clearly seen in the pictures. wonder why I have never recognised that with actual film.

mfg
wulfman

[VJ]

Originally posted by Fred H
The basic idea behind my intentions (dream) to buy a D70 is that I already own a Nikon F401s camera and I guess I could reuse the lens, wich is an "AF NIKKOR" 35-70/1:3.3-4.5.
Do you have any experience with older lenses from 35mm cameras?
How is the corner shadowing or distortion with such a lens?

It will be less of an issue with a digital camere: the CCD is smaller, so the corners are actually closer to the center.
Best to check the manual (it is a pdf download from Nikons website) to make sure you can use your lens, they have a full compatibility list in it (some older lenses for instance don't support 3D matrix metering).


Jörg

[Fred H]

Yes, I realize that the 35-70 is not the best all-round lens, maybe good for portrait with manual focus.

sadly it is only a cheap sigma - which can be clearly seen in the pictures. wonder why I have never recognised that with actual film.

Colour, sharpness, contrast, other ?
A Sigma auto focus 28-300/3,5-5,6 if costs ~ 375€ in Sweden.
A Tamron AF 28-300/3,5-6,3 XR is ~495€.
One of them could be, disregarding the size and weight, a kind of all-round lens.
Talking about prices, the D70 dropped with ~100€ last month, here in Sweden.
Sadly, I can not sell my old AF401 and the Coolpix995 to recover a part of the price of a new D70.
Thanks for your advices.

Fred.

[az]

Not all lenses that were good (or even great) with film are good with digital, some are downright nasty. This has to do with the light not coming in orthogonal to the sensor, and digital sensors being quite insensible for light coming from the sides. There must be other effects too, maybe it's only that we view our digitals at 100% while we only view film images as prints.

AZ

[VJ]

Originally posted by az
Not all lenses that were good (or even great) with film are good with digital, some are downright nasty. This has to do with the light not coming in orthogonal to the sensor, and digital sensors being quite insensible for light coming from the sides.

True, but the crop factor on most digital cameras more or less solves this light issue. Furtermore, many software (i.e. Nikon Capture) actually have a light fall-of correction (it sees which lens you have, which aperture was used, determines how much light was lost in the edges and corrects accordingly).

When buying lenses, it could be interesting to plan for the future. I have a 24-85 f/2.8-4 which is a great allround lens, but now matter how I'll upgrad, there will always be a severe overlap in ranges. I have been looking at a 17-35, and have doubted about the infamous Nikon 28-70 f/2.8 (for this I would perhaps sell my current lens).
As for long term investments, I still have doubts about the DX lenses. Nikon doesn't have any full-frame camera now, but who knows about the future? Then a gain, the 12-24 DX gives a nice wide-angle range on a digital...


Jörg