A blast from the past - Nikon D70s

[nerwin]

I recently purchased an untested lot of cameras on eBay for funzies. One the cameras included was a Nikon D70s, I never had this camera before but started out with a Nikon D60 which is newer. As I essentially paid $13.25 for this camera I thought it wasn't a bad deal. It did come with a battery, but no charger. I did rig up a way to charge the battery to test the camera and managed to take a dozen photos with it. The camera looked pretty rough, all the rubber was sticky and just nastiness all over the camera. I spent a couple hours on a rainy day going through the entire camera and giving it a good clean. The mirror was dirty but the sensor was actually very clean. The viewfinder is also clean and everything is functional on the camera.Only 39K on the shutter! That ain't bad for a camera from 2004!

For some reason it mounts my Non-AI lenses without issue so I been having fun using those on it. The photos still look quite nice even today, when you get the exposure right that is. There is no dynamic range, but there is some wiggle room.

The tricky part was getting the CF card to read on my Macbook Pro, I had to dig through my closet to find my old card reader that has CF slot. It worked!!

Overall I been having a bit of fun with the camera. Since I am using non-cpu lenses, I am stuck with no meter and 100 percent manual control which is fine because its been challenging me to take photos and kinda of gives me film vibes if I'm being honest.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Not a bad purchase. Many outstanding photographs have been taken with mediocre cameras. The D70 isn't a bad place to start as your photos show. Enjoy.

 

[nerwin]

Not a bad purchase. Many outstanding photographs have been taken with mediocre cameras. The D70 isn't a bad place to start as your photos show. Enjoy.

I think for anyone starting out in photography, it's perfectly fine..in fact beneficial getting an older camera to learn the basics. This camera brings me right back when I first started. I think as more and more cameras become so advanced we often rely on it to take good photos when these older cameras require more effort to get the same results.

 

[smoke665]

these older cameras require more effort to get the same results.

Or maybe experience makes you more aware of the effort. As a newbie you'd be shooting blindly.

Nice find, nice write up!

 

[nerwin]

Or maybe experience makes you more aware of the effort. As a newbie you'd be shooting blindly.

Nice find, nice write up!

That's true too. I remember getting the D60..my first DSLR and camera that had any sort of manual controls and just using auto because I had absolutely no idea. Auto mode is a good way to start out to be honest and learn from it. I know some people today will say "just use your phone" It seems to be a popular phrase these days but there is nothing like using a dedicated camera that doesn't have distractions.