Who still has their D70 as their only DSLR?

Tuesday marked my 6th birthday with my D70. I was going to get a D300 in spring 2008, but used the money (wisely) to pay down my credit card debt. I got a SB-600 Christmas 2005 and then a good Tripod Christmas 2007 and bought 70-300VRII (top notch lens) and a 50mm F1.8 with some money I got a couple months earlier.

I haven't upgraded due to be in government disability and not much photography due to poor mobility (un-related to being on disability) can stand 2m tops without lower back-pain. See my photos below (last updated 2006/7). Don't even get me started on my 28K in photos in Aperture never edited (those are all my photos).
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My gear http://www.trevorharrison.com/camera-gear
My Photos http://www.trevorharrison.net

If a D70s counts, then I'm in. ( Might not be in for long, since I'm planning on getting a D90 within the next couple of weeks.) Bought mine almost exactly five years ago (June 2005). It gets particularly hard use during the warm months--I've shot hundreds of college, high school, and summer league baseball games.

The D90 has really come down in price from when I bought mine (2+ years ago). I upgraded because of the larger/clearer LCD (bad eyes) and the dust reduction system. It's truely a great DSLR! If you do ever decide to upgrade, take a serious look at the D90.

I still have two D70 cameras that I still use professionally. At some point I'll upgrade, but I'm not in a hurry.

Paul Wossidlo
blog.paulrichardwossidlo.com
autismcycling.blogspot.com

Although I now have a D90, I still have and use my D70

I don't have one, but one of the guys I work with still has his, which is why I got a D5000

He has a crap load of stuff....foam padded case, several lens, battery packs, several flashes & remote strobes. He loves it, but was salivating over the D5000, so who knows...might be a D70 for sale one of these days.
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Coming to you from the beautiful Ozark Mountain Country
where if you're too busy to go fishin', then you're too busy!

I have D70s . Great camera.
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Nikon D70s
Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G AF-S DX
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF
Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Nikon SB-600
Manfrotto 190XDB / 486RC2 Ballhead

I do. My D70 still does everything I want it to and still takes good pictures.

As of yet I see no reason to spend money to upgrade. I figure I'll keep it until it dies.

--John
http://jguilford.net/johnsGallery/index.htm

I've upgraded several times since I owned the D70. I went from D70 to Canon 30D to Nikon D200 and Nikon D40, eventually selling the D200 and keeping just the D40. I honestly think the D70 was the best of the lot. The 18-70 kit lens that came with it was fantastic too.

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http://liquoricepontoon.zenfolio.com/p672642468

I still use my D70. I've taken some wonderful pictures with it. Not sure how much I'm going to still use it since my D90 will be here within the next 2 hours
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BretU

The real questiuon is, who still has the original Canon Digital Rebel, which was the D70's closest competition?

Aren't you glad Nikon positioned the D70 a little upmarket; the extra build quality goes a long way down the years.

OK It's not my only DSLR; as I upgraded to a D300 - But, I still love my D70 and it still gets used as a back-up! It's only up to around 9000 clicks and it still works great!

So I want to keep it..



A recent image from Devon UK.
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My galleries at http://www.firestorm.smugmug.com
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/Barry.Humphries

Still have my D70 purchased in June 2005. Its still my only DSLR. I have been planning to upgrade to D300(s) for the past year, but everytime I get some $$$ saved, some needed household/family expense comes up. Don't know if I'll ever get one at this rate.

Yeah, still have the old clunker after 5 years. Love to upgrade, but like most others, it's a money issue. Remember the wisdom of Julius Shulman: "The camera is the least important element in photography." It's all about great pictures, not great (most expensive) gear.

Dave
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'Truly the light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun.' Eccl. 11:7

http://wordydave.zenfolio.com

Very true.

WordyDave said:

Yeah, still have the old clunker after 5 years. Love to upgrade, but like most others, it's a money issue. Remember the wisdom of Julius Shulman: "The camera is the least important element in photography." It's all about great pictures, not great (most expensive) gear.

Dave
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'Truly the light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun.' Eccl. 11:7

http://wordydave.zenfolio.com

Click to expand...

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My gear http://www.trevorharrison.com/camera-gear
My Photos http://www.trevorharrison.net

I don't still have my D70, but do still have (2) D40's that replaced it. But the real deal is that in reality very little has improved very much in actual image quality in these years. Lots of bells, whistles, crutches and gimmicks have been added to the mechanics and a lot of tweaking has gone on in the in camera image and data processing, but especially in reasonable light conditions most real life folks that view your images could not tell the difference. In fact, I do still use my D1H which is older than the D70 and less mp.

If you had posted this a week ago this would have matched been me.
My D90 arrived a few days ago and the D70 is for sale.

That was a very nice camera. We took some wonderful pictures together. It had some drawbacks which I could workaround.
Mostly the LCD was not a factor which ended up causing more post processing.
It was not my first digital camera but it was the one I learned the most from.

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FX

D90 / 17-55mm 2.8 / 18-200VR / SB800
Canon Powershot S3
Former Pro Photographer
I know the difference between an F Stop and a Bus Stop

I still have it as my only DSLR, bought it January 2005. Picture quality, speed and battery capacity still beats any compact camera....

Yes, the D90 was tempting me when it came (and the D700 even more so), especially the big hi-res screen. The 1.8" screen on the D70 was small even by 2005 standards, and the utilization of it isn't good either (magnify on portait pictures is probably so stupidly implemented that I still cannot understand how they could do it that way).

Other things that is irritating is the lack of histograms separated by colors especially since the D70 tends to overexpose reds.

The D70 together with the Nikkor 35 f/2D prime is a favorite for indoor low-light shooting and I still hang on to the 18-70 kit lens as a favorite walk around lens.

Anyway, I have no plans upgrading, there isn't anything good enough for the right amount of money! D700 too expensive, D90 not good enough to justify the expense.

Not my only one, but maybe irreplaceable one.

I upgraded to a D200 after 3 years of D70 usage, and in 2008 both were stolen. I replaced them with a D300 and added a D40 for lightweight carrying. I was disappointed in the D40 and sold it. Really missing the D70 for its high speed (1/8000th) sync ability with aftermarket flash, I bought a nearly new condition used one to supplement the D300.

I use the D70 for bright day shooting like parties and weddings setting the camera at AWB, 200ISO, Raw, -1EV, Aperture Mode and Nikon 18-200VR lens at f5.6. I then set the Sunpak auto-thyristor flash to 800ISO / f5.6 using (4) 1.6V / 2500mWh Ni/Zn rechargeable batteries. This gives perfect fill lighting.

With this combo I can shoot anything indoor or outdoor out to 50+ feet as fast as I can pick targets. The recycle time is fantastic. I never have to think about anything other than framing and focus. Exposure is spot on and battery life far outlives the D300 with SB600. Then, too, I can slap on my 35mm f1.8, set it at f2.8, the flash at f2.8 and continue shooting at high-noon without a glitch. Can't do that with the any other dSLR I know of besides the D70. Even the D40 and D50 are limited to 1/4000.

The D70 may be old in digital terms, but it's certainly a classic and worth keeping.
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Warren