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nikon D70


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From what I read before deciding on a point and shoot (Canon A610), the D70 is a feature rich, high quality dSLR for the enthusiast or beginner. A great website is dpreview.com if you haven't been on it. Reviews, forums for your camera. All kinds of goodness. Thanks for your help this weekend. I have quieted down the stockman but it still "chugs" and ejects big, fat, splashy bubbles into the sump. That beer/glass of vino is definitely still available :)

Dylan

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I am like you in that I shot a N50 for years and just last week got a D100. So far I love it. I am still trying to figure out all the features. I did figure out that setting the white balance for shade at -3 is the best for pictures of the tank. They still come out a little blue but I found doing the adjustments in Photoshop like Marc suggests here: http://melevsreef.com/pics/demo/ make a big difference.

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I also have the D100 after having a N90s for many years through college. The cloudy white balance does seem to give the best out-of-the-camera tank shots for manipulation in PS. I have a few lenses for it, nothing over 10 years old. They are standard Nikon Nikkor lenses, not the fancy D lenses.

Wonderful camera. Not as fast writing raw files to the card as I'd like, but I can certainly work around it. On shoots in the past for clients I'd have everyone take short breaks and shut the lights off as the camera caught up. Make sure you don't shut the camera off if the green 'writing' light is on. I have lost many shots this way.

raw mode is the way to go for sure if you want detail. jpeg is nice for everyday stuff that doesn't need the control. A good raw editing software will keep it uncompressed all the way through the workflow, in 16bit color. I've been using Adobe Bridge, which comes with CS2. You can work in Photoshop as well, but be careful of switching modes, as they will degrade your image quality. (ie 16bit color to 12bit color, or saving out as a jpeg or even a tiff file to a degree.) Bridge doesn't even affect the file, it merely saves a reference file in the same folder that applies the corrections and changes you want to the raw file. It's a great way to work!

Another good program is Apple's Aperture. (mac only)

Shooting digital is similar to film. I feel something is lost in a way, as I am so used to shooting large format, carrying around a light meter and a 4x5 camera. I guess it's more the experience of film and the on-the-fly calculations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a purist by any means. Digital is MUCH easier to shoot with! But I'll keep my 4x5 around for a while :)

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thanks for the input joe. i wont ever shoot this camera with the same demand that studio work requires so not worried about the RAW buffering, though they say it was improved from 4 to 5 images. more importantly the RAW files are written in a lossless compressed form making the write much faster. I think i may have a couple of lenses that will still allow 3D matrix metering. i believe that i will have no on board metering for most of my lenses. but i like using the LunaPro. are you shooting the D100 without TTL metering? what card do you like? have you used a microdrive?

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You know, I never used any in-camera metering. Long before I got serious about photography, I used my dad's old Nikon A2020. It had a meter built-in, but never worked and always overexposed any film I put in it. So I decided to just wing it. After years of guessing and then finally going to art school for photo and learning the correct techniques, I still just use my eyes to judge ('sunny 16' and all that) and that has worked great for me. However, I was shooting all film back then, and I only shot Ilford Delta 100 BW. With the D SLRs, the ability to change the ASA on the fly has kinda screwed my 'eye' up, but I'm getting used to it. I do use Aperture Priority for any snapshot photos. It's just easier and functions the same as my N90s. I try to keep the ASA as low as possible. Just like film, the higher the ASA, the more noise shows up.

I still shoot alot of 4x5 Delta 100 in my Graflex, which is similar in exposure to 35mm (minus the bellows factor, of course) glasses10.gif So I'm trying to keep my eye trained in that sense.

You should still have metering even with older lenses. I believe as long as they are auto-focus, they should work with the in-cam meter. Whether or not you'll get all of the fancy metering features, I don't know....

I've never used the LunaPros myself. I've had a Sekonic L-508 for many years. It has a spot meter and an incident dome, so it's perfect for anything I do. I just wear it around my neck and grab my graflex and go.

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Also, I have the 1gb microdrive and it has worked fine so far. I reformat it whenever possible to keep things fresh. I think it is a little slower than some cards out there, which certainly contributes to my cameras write speed. Overall, I think that card is fine. I haven't looked into other brands, but I would consider researching another card if I was shooting raw more than I currently am right now.

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