Comparison Nikon D70s to D50

[nikonover]

Hi I was wondering what other members thought about D70s compared to D50,ihad a great run with the latter.Just bought the D70s on ebay,cheap $212. it works brilliantly. Cheers Mal

[Blueywa]

I have a D70 and keep it as a backup - its too good to throw out.:th3:

http://www.digitalreview.ca/cams/NikonD50vsD70SvsXT.shtml

[arthurking83]

...... - its too good to throw out.:th3:

.....

Ditto!

Not the best camera available, but if you already have one, then it probably doesn't pay to get rid of it.
If the camera is still working, it still has life in it for capturing images

[Blueywa]

My point exactly Arthur,
D70 isn't top of the wasser these days but mine still takes reasonable images.
If someone bought it for a couple of hundred dollars they would be getting very good value IMO :)

[arthurking83]

I have the D300 as well as the D70s, (the D70s has been 'handed down' to my 10 yo son).
The only reason I don't use the D70s is for three specific hardware features that the D300 has which allows a few advantages over the D70s in certain situation.
They are MirrorLockUp(MLU), LiveView, and the ability to set non CPU lenses to work with the body.

For the majority of uses, the D70s is more than sufficient and the conditions presented to the photographer are far more important than the camera itself.

two images captured on the same day in pretty much the same conditions:

D300:
82280

D70s:
82286

Comments I've had on these two, are generally in favour of the D70s image as the red sky is more dramatic and appealing.

I would have much preferred the use of the D300 as per usual, but what had happened was that I forgot to charge the battery on the D300 and it died before the sun set to the point of producing the red sky. Without a spare, I had to revert back to the D70s. Problem was that the D70s(being my son's) doesn't have a QR plate to attach to the ballhead.
With no time to remove the D300's plate, I simply hand held the D70s on the top of the ballhead and snapped away .. kind'a hoping for the best.
At 1/4s and such a makeshift solution hoping for the best was all I could do and I wasn't going to let the conditions pass by without an attempt.
Mind you, not only was the camera not mounted to the tripod, I also don't use the cokin filter holders to secure the GND's I generally use for these situations, so one hand holding the filters(two grads doubled up) and only one hand holding the camera to the tripod.

D70s image is sharp enough to view at 100% and there is no blur.

Is a D70s worth having? You bet it is!

it's only when you want a few more features for various reasons that a more modern camera is handier to have....

high ISO(D70s is no good past about ISO400), Liveview(macro!), brighter viewfinder(D70s is very dim), MLU(vital for a lot of how I shoot), and non CPU lenses(half my lenses are Ais type, with more to come) .. and also with that manual focusing(accurately) is harder with a D70s due to the viewfinder.

it still works, my son has captured some great images with it, with his kit lens.

As long as your requirements are within the camera's ability, there is nothing wrong with an older gen camera.

[kiwi]

There was a trend for awhile in converting d70s to IR, dunno how or how much.

[arthurking83]

There was a trend for awhile in converting d70s to IR, dunno how or how much.

Can be done by enthusiastic enthusiasts quite easily and cheaply.
Filter pack needs to be removed and replaced with a filter of appropriate type.

When I update my D300 to a newer model, I'd say my son will definitely want to start shooting with the D300 and leave the D70s, so I'll do the IR/UV conversion to the D70s myself.

Apparently the sensor in the D70/s (which also means D100, D50 and D40) has very good IR response naturally, whereas CMOS sensors tend to have slightly lower sensitivity to IR and UV.
(I'm want to get into doing more UV/macro stuff)