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Hi All photography boffins

For those that don't know I have a Nikon F55 SLR body. I have invested in a couple of good lenses. I was lead to believe when I upgrade to digital body, the lenses will fit.

It is time.............. SLR costs are getting ridiculously high.

I am looking to upgrade my SLR body for DSLR body. However it must be Nikon.

Any suggestions and approx cost I am looking at?

Waiting in anticipation............

DvZ

Hi Dvz
Know a few fanatic amateurs with D70
They are all very satisfied with the results

If I had the money I would also like to get the Nikon D70. If I'm not mistaken Meg use a D70. Maybe PM her to find out what she thinks of the camera

Hi

Done a bit of investigating on the net.

Latest toy is D70s - which is improvement on D70.

Alternatively they have D100 (bit too expensive for my budget).

Best cost I have found for body only is R8,450.

Hi DvZ:

Have a look at the postings in the Kit Parade sticky, which includes several who have the Nikon 70D. I've found these postings extremely helpful in my research for upgrading to digital.

cheers, arks

Forget about the D70(s) and D50s. I use a D100 and if you realy want to make "professional" photos this is the camera you should go with.
My girlfriend is using the D70 and I updated the bios to the same as the D70s but there are still some issues with it.

The camera is in Nikons setup as soon as switched off. The object focus is always back to dynamic instead of static. As well as some setup are made by Nikon for you.

I prefer my D100 as I can change it's setup as I want.

Even if you change the lenses make sure they are working. I do own a 28-70,2.8 which is working but the autofocus has to be switched from single to continous. Because of the multiplication factor from the DSLRs some lenses work but the result is an unsharp picture.

When I got mine I took all my equipment to the shop and made some pictures. They even offered me to get the camera for a day.

Hi DvZ


Your current options here are;
D70
D70s
D50
D100

D70 - many failures reported on this model, camera model is just over a year old now, and showing it's failure rate now
D70s - too new to say, but hopefully above points have been addressed - only time will tell
D50 - also a new kid on the block, but price looks sweet

D70 and D70s need a lot of software post processing by default to get your final results looking great.
D50 takes great out of the box pics.
D100, I have no knowledge of this one, sorry.

Check the following for prices;
www.sacamera.co.za
www.prodigital.co.za
www.kalahari.net
wholesaledigital (do a google for the url) - but their prices seem WAY too high.
Bonus is that they are close to you, so if the guy tries to snooker you, you can visit him with one of your lenses in hand

You say must be Nikon?
The lenses you have worthwhile limiting your decision?
Why I ask, olympus have the E-300 Slr Twin Lens Kit, comes with a 14-45 and 45-150mm lens - VERY VERY GOOD PRICE right now.
You need to haggle with your local shopkeeper, and make him very aware of the major price drop in this model Aug 1.
Places like HiFi Corp, Game, reputable dealers are selling for app R 8000

Shout if you need further advice.
ps.
Accesories you must have are;
1. Memory min 1gb
2. Portable storage device eg iPod, Maha storage tank, laptop (depends on how many shots you want to take, and how long you 'll be away from your computer to upload
3. Spare Battery - D70s and D50 are quoted at taking about 2000 shots before they die
4. Tripod - a good, sturdy one, for those low light shots.

pps Digital SLR's have a factor that increases the final size of your image by a multiplication factor, called FOV (Field of View)
In the Nikon case, its a factor of 1.5x
The Oly E300 is 2x
What it means (and hopefully you dont know all of this, otherwise I'm typing for nothing here - LOL) is that when you fit your normal SLR lens to your BRAND SPANKING NEW Nikon, your range will cover your lens + .5%
eg. Your 50mm now becomes a 50 x 1.5 = 75mm lens
Nice for telephotos, but sucky for wide angles

Gee, and this is my first post EVER here (well, excluding the Welcome to the forum one) - LOL
Sorry

Hello Andreas
Page 136 of the D70 manual states;
Menu Reset with 2 options. ie
No
Reset

You are saying that even when selecting the NO option, it resets to defaults?
Rgds.

It's stupid but it's just how the autofocus works. The rest stays like setup.

My girlfriend got the camera this year right before vocation and a lot of her pictures are bad becasue the autofocus worked at the nearest object.

Hi Theronfamily.

May I assume your name is Kevin, due to your website name.

Thanks a million for the great post. Helped a lot. Most of the stuff I had heard of before, but you just confirmed it for me.

Unfortunately I am going to have to stick with Nikon. I have invested a fair amount of money in the lenses and I am extremely happy with my Sigma 170-500 lens.

I am going to do some phoning around and maybe take a drive to Pretoria (Menlyn Park) on Saturday to purchase my new toy.

Want to test drive it next week-end in Kruger.

DvZ

Aye and accurate observation indeed ..
But then, this forum seems geared towards "observation" eh?


Besides the part that Andreas mentioned, dunno how life-changing that would be for you


Oooooh, 500mm x 1.5 = 750mm - W0W! Nice reach!
Use that tripod


Menlyn is notoriously expensive, but try New World Pharmacy 012-3681055 there.
There are of course also the gray imports, ie, your local "coolie" (no offence guys), prices are great, but dont know about warranties . any thoughts?


You lucky fish you, was on my way to purchasing my camera, when I dropped a cambelt - sorta set me back a few months financially

Shout if you need more info, or any help here.
DvZ[/quote]

Here is a side-by-side review of the D100, D70 and D70s, with links to useropinions.

To DvZ:

The 170 - 500 mm is working! I use the same one and it makes great pics. If it wouldn't that expensive I would like to go for the 300 - 800.

I bought my Nikon D 70 in March this year.
One of the main clincher for me was that I already got the lenses for my Nikon F 80 and was able to use them with the new DSLR.
But I am fully satisfied with the camera .
I just had some test drives at home (pics of the cats) and at the Zoo before we went on holiday to South Africa in May .


http://www.flickr.com/photos/katydownunder/

It's said that the the battery of the Canon 350 D lasts for 270 pics and the battery of the Nikon D 70 makes easily 2000-2700 pics.Which is another point worth considering.
Andreas Cierpka wrote

That is a good point if you got the money….
And I think you can make fantastic pics with the D 70 (s) as well.Always bear in mind that the one behind the camera is making good photos, not the camera itself.I saw bad photos done with expensive cameras and brilliant photos made with a simple point and shoot camera.
It is still the question what you can afford.

In addition:
I got two 1 GB( that gives me 370-380 pics in RAW on each ) Hitachi Microdrives.
An extra battery (I did not need it once…)
And as a portable storage device a VOSONIC X- Drive VP 3310 with 60 GB.

Yes francoisd is right Meg has got the Nikon D 70 ( and great photos) just PM her.
My girlfriend just thinks about a DSLR.And here we are again .Making a decision wether to take the Nikon D 70s or the Canon 350 D.
She feels more comfortable with the Nikon because of the size ( she thinks the Canon is too small).And there still is the thing with the battery...We do not want to carry around 2 or 3 spare batteries.

Thanx DuQues for the link (usefull for me as well).
Here is another link
http://www.digicamfotos.de
(sorry just german but at least you can have a look at different test photos)
Just click on Testfoto on the left hand side .
Next step: Testfotos nach Herstellern and than you can select the type you want).

I know it is a hard decision.But I hope all the postings will a least help you a little bit.


Keep us updated about your decision and of course we would like to see the first results as well.

A friend of mine has the 350D and uses GP 2300 rechargable batteries and they last forever. She took more than a gig's photo's in .jpg format before it ran flat. Also those batteries recharge within 2 hours