Nikon D70 unused for years. Past it??

[Bill]

I have a D70 I bought 14 odd years ago to go travelling. It saw a lot of use at the time but once we had kids has been superceded by a series of point and shoots. The current one is a Panasonic FT5 which is brilliant.

The kids are getting older so I'm getting some time back and occasionally find the zoom on the Panasonic is lacking.

So my question is, how much has technology moved on? How does a newish 16MP point and shoot compare to an ageing 6MP DSLR?

I'm going to need a long lense anyway as the autofocus on mine is borked, so do I start afresh?

[Craikeybaby]

I still occasionally use my 20D which is from the same era and my 5D which is only a few years newer and the picture quality, with good lenses is still way better than anything else I use.

[Simpo Two]

The D70 was 'Camera of the Year' and at £999 with the very decent 18-70mm lens it sold like hot cakes - it was my first DSLR.

Technology has moved on massively. That said, not all tech is useful or helpful. Compared to more modern DSLRs the limitations of the D70 are ISO (for best results don't go over 400), and the small low-res monitor. But it's compact and has a quiet electromechanical shutter which will synch with studio flash at up to 1/2000th sec. It can also be adapted for IR.

If you want good photos easily straight out of the camera stay with the modern PoS. If you want the extra facilities a DSLR provides and don't need to work in low light, dust off the D70. It will be as good as it was last time you used it.

[Bill]

Thanks, good news indeed. I could do without the expense anyway, but I've charged it up and had a play and it's like an old friend.

Only question is the longer zoom... It's a Nikon ED 70-300 and it struggles to focus to infinity at full zoom, and there's a mechanical click from somewhere inside when it does focus. The same click happens if you manually use the focus ring.

Does it sound fixable (If so, who?) or time for a replacement? It spent months in a bag rattling round Africa in a Land Rover, so I'm not hugely surprised.

[superlightr]

Ive had my D70s for must be 15 odd years too. Bought a number of different lenses. Still use it today. Its a lovely thing and enjoyable to use, helps you to take great pictures and was my first DSLR after film.

My 13yr daughter likes it too and it was always a fight who was going to use it. Anyway was her birthday recently and bought her a used D80 and lens. She loves it.

So as most things - it can do way more than I can do.

The lens - you can pick up used lenses for good prices if that one you have is broken.eg used sigma 70-300 £69
I get all my stuff from these guys. Very good.
https://www.parkcameras.com/c/2503/used?p=1&q=...

[Bill]

Here's a video of the clicking, in case anyone's had anything similar.

https://youtu.be/Jh4Cd4PVuYY

[Bill]

Although looking at the prices of used stuff I'm not sure it's worth fixing unless it's simple.

[LeoZwalf]

Just pick it up and start using it again, you'll get back into it. Take it on days out with the family etc.

Nearly 10 years ago I bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D40x. It was end of line at the time so there was a nice discount and 2 lenses included (an 18-55 and a 55-200). For a couple of years and a bit more, I was well into it and took loadsa photos. Time moved on, life and other hobbies got in the way and I went off it, but kept it.

Just before Christmas I felt the need again. After some thoughts and chatting to cameray friends I bought a Nikon 50mm f1.8 prime lens. It has breathed a new lease of life into my photos, but more importantly into my enthusiam for photography. The lack of zoom really makes you think about what you're doing and the potential for shallow DOF and being great in low light opens up new creative avenues.

TL;DR? Keep the camera, buy a new lens (after doing homework) and remember what you love about photography.

[andy-xr]

I would say shelve it and buy something else.

It's a nice camera, I have one. It's sat in the same drawer as my D7000, D300, D40, 4 film cameras and about 10 lenses.

Anything I take a photo of now that isnt completely set up from start to finish in a studio comes off a bridge camera that has a popout screen that anyone can use, 4k video that can pull a reasonable still from and doesnt hurt my shoulder from a day carrying the bag around on the offchance I'll need one of the other lenses.

For popshots, dSLR's from that era can still cut it, but they cant do everything else that basically an uprated phone can already do. Video is the big one for me.

[Simpo Two]

Bill said:

Only question is the longer zoom... It's a Nikon ED 70-300 and it struggles to focus to infinity at full zoom, and there's a mechanical click from somewhere inside when it does focus. The same click happens if you manually use the focus ring.

Does it sound fixable (If so, who?) or time for a replacement? It spent months in a bag rattling round Africa in a Land Rover, so I'm not hugely surprised.

I had the ED as well and it wasn't great. Sell it and get the VR version, it's better in every respect - better IQ and fast silent (AF-S) focusing.

[tonyb1968]

Just passed my D80 on to my dog groomers daughter who is doing photography at Uni, its still a good camera but as said, ISO has moved on so more noise and over 800 is very noisy, but if you can live with that it should do you if you dont want to upgrade.

[Simpo Two]

tonyb1968 said:

Just passed my D80 on to my dog groomers daughter who is doing photography at Uni, its still a good camera but as said, ISO has moved on so more noise and over 800 is very noisy, but if you can live with that it should do you if you dont want to upgrade.

This is where a grounding at 100 ASA is handy - but the lenses were invariably f1.8 primes, not f5.6 AF zooms...

[Bill]

Simpo Two said:

I had the ED as well and it wasn't great. Sell it and get the VR version, it's better in every respect - better IQ and fast silent (AF-S) focusing.

Was it as noisy as mine?

Simpo Two said:

This is where a grounding at 100 ASA is handy - but the lenses were invariably f1.8 primes, not f5.6 AF zooms...

Ok. I know is what ASA is, and what noise is, but please explain.

[Simpo Two]

Bill said:

Was it as noisy as mine?

It made the standard screw drive noise. That wasn't important, but speed and accuracy were.

Simpo Two said:

This is where a grounding at 100 ASA is handy - but the lenses were invariably f1.8 primes, not f5.6 AF zooms...

Bill said:

Ok. I know is what ASA is, and what noise is, but please explain.

The faster the lens (ie larger aperture, like f1.8) the less recording sensitivity you need. People have gone for the convenience of zooms and AF, both of which for any given budget compromise aperture. So when you have f1.8 to play with, film speed isn't so important. When you're squinting through an f5.6 hole, it is. ATEOTD it's a juggling game

[Bill]

Gotcha, thanks.

[Bill]

andy-xr said:

I would say shelve it and buy something else.

It's a nice camera, I have one. It's sat in the same drawer as my D7000, D300, D40, 4 film cameras and about 10 lenses.

Anything I take a photo of now that isnt completely set up from start to finish in a studio comes off a bridge camera that has a popout screen that anyone can use, 4k video that can pull a reasonable still from and doesnt hurt my shoulder from a day carrying the bag around on the offchance I'll need one of the other lenses.

For popshots, dSLR's from that era can still cut it, but they cant do everything else that basically an uprated phone can already do. Video is the big one for me.

Interesting. I've had a look at bridge cameras and the zoom seems immense. Some are 18-2000!! 60x or even 80x zoom. Bonkers numbers, and the price of a VR lense.

[essayer]

I pulled mine out of semi retirement a few years ago, with a cheap Amazon flash and 35mm lens it’s been great fun taking decent pics of the kids and dog etc. No worries on battery life or card capacity. Leave it on ISO 200 though!