Nikon D70s - any good these days?

[funk odyssey]

I have the opportunity to buy a Nikon D70s.
Any idea what it's worth? or if they are worth bothering with these days?

I want a 2nd hand cam to use and abuse outside.


Not looking to spend a fortune......

[Simpo Two]

funk odyssey said:

I have the opportunity to buy a Nikon D70s. Any idea what it's worth? or if they are worth bothering with these days?

A D70s now will take the same quality of photos as it did when new, and I did my first weddings with a plain D70.

Compared to a D80 or D300 you'll find the monitor is rather small and lo-res, and noise performance is poor above ISO400, but otherwise you should get perfectly good results with it.

[Dogsey]

Simpo Two said:

funk odyssey said:

I have the opportunity to buy a Nikon D70s. Any idea what it's worth? or if they are worth bothering with these days?

A D70s now will take the same quality of photos as it did when new, and I did my first weddings with a plain D70.

Compared to a D80 or D300 you'll find the monitor is rather small and lo-res, and noise performance is poor above ISO400, but otherwise you should get perfectly good results with it.

Just because it's not the latest model it doesn't mean it suddenly stops being a good camera. Hell, even I manage to get half decent photo's (sometimes) out of a D50!

[SamHH]

I've never used a D70 but I have the Canon equivalent from the same time (300D). I don't think it loses much in terms of image quality, it's more the ease-of-use features that the newer and posher models have: shooting speed, LCD size, metering modes etc. I guess the same things apply to Nikon cameras. As for price, probably £125 to £150. eBay is usually a fairly reliable guide.

[funk odyssey]

the noise issue is interesting - I have one of these at the moment as my only digital camera


and the noise above ISO400 is very bad


I'm quite content with older, cheaper equipment- no need to worry about it

but I'd maybe like something with less of a noise problem??

[Simpo Two]

funk odyssey said:

but I'd maybe like something with less of a noise problem??

The key factor in noise is pixel size - most handily www.dpreview.com gives pixel density (Mp/cm2) in its listings You'll see that DSLRs beat compacts hands-down as the sensors are bigger.

[SamHH]

Simpo Two said:

funk odyssey said:

but I'd maybe like something with less of a noise problem??

The key factor in noise is pixel size - most handily www.dpreview.com gives pixel density (Mp/cm2) in its listings You'll see that DSLRs beat compacts hands-down as the sensors are bigger.

I think it's fair to say that the advancement of technology has a big influence too: a Canon 50D is significantly less noisy than my 300D despite having 2.5 times the pixel density. FWIW, I'd say that at ISO400 the noise is pretty unobtrusive on the 300D (same era and pixel density as the D70), at ISO800 it starts to get noticeable, and by 1600 it's pretty heavy.

Edited by SamHH on Saturday 7th February 19:43

[funk odyssey]

Simpo Two said:

funk odyssey said:

but I'd maybe like something with less of a noise problem??

The key factor in noise is pixel size - most handily www.dpreview.com gives pixel density (Mp/cm2) in its listings You'll see that DSLRs beat compacts hands-down as the sensors are bigger.

am i looking for high or low densities?


ETA ... low!

Edited by funk odyssey on Saturday 7th February 19:39

[Simpo Two]

SamHH said:

I think it's fair to say that the advancement of technology has a big influence too: a Canon 50D is significantly less noisy than my 300D despite having 2.5 times the pixel density.

I agree that in-camera processing has improved significantly (witness the D300 over the D70 for example - same price new, four years apart), but the more light you can catch to start with, the less artificial noise reduction/signal amplification etc needs to be applied. As cameras are (regrettably) not sold with a 'Noise Coefficient' then all else being equal, pixel density at least gives you a start