Advice on a Nikon time capsule from the 1990's

njburke

Hi,
I've acquired a camera bag of older nikon gear and I need a bit of advice on what to do with it. I haven't used film in over 20 years, back then I had a Yashica Electro rangefinder and was in a local camera club.

I bought a D70 DSLR for the eldest boys communion last year and have been getting a real kick from amateur photography since. I bought a 1990s bargain bag of camera gear last week. At the time I thought it might be a good way to get better IQ on the occasional shot where the D70 6MP would be lacking. But now I'm not so sure.

My current skill level is still relatively low, almost a year on, I'm still making whoppers with the d70, its just not quite clicked with me yet. With digital theres not quite the sting associated with mistakes. I believe that the sting is necessary to reinforce any learning experience but it can still be fun, like the noble art of boxing. A fllm camera might provide the required occasional bloody nose.

The D70s small screen isn't great for image review, so you need to transfer to a laptop for example to determine if focus and DOF are as you wanted.
But with film, theres the cost and the time delay in feedback.

My workflow needs organisation, as is, I've avoided PP trying to get the best in camera results. I've shot thousands of images in the last year, no more than a couple of dozen are worthy of print.
I'm keen to do better, this forum is a great source inspiration, BTW. My ambition with photography apart from every day family shots, lies underwater.

This is beginning to ramble a bit, and I doubt if anyone has a pint in front of them.....

OK, this is what I've got in the bag.
Camera ,an N70: with a bug, (theres a dead mosquito on the view screen:D).
lenses: Nikon 28. 2.8, Nikon 50 1.4D, Nikon 35-70 2.8, Sigma 28-70 2.8.
Filters: B+W CPLs & Skylight and plus a stack of cokin As: all for the 35-70.

The 35-70 has a fogged internal element where the optical cement has degraded ,which is apparently a common failure mode for this lens and will cost 130 euros to repair.


So, a few questions,
Do I dump the film stock that came with it, theres no date code on it that I can find?
Whats it cost to post off a roll, and have a negs,prints, CD and a new roll posted back ?
Is the 35-70 worth the repair cost (its unmarked but old)?
Is it worth carrying the n70 for the odd opportunity where the d70 won't cut it?
When you rewind film on the N70, it leaves some film out of the canister, is that so you could shoot a few frames on ISO 200, change film to say ISO 800 and the reload and index on the ISO 200 roll? Is that a good an example of digitals push button advantage, just trying to get a feel here of the differences in effort for the two types of media.

Why does the view through the n70 look sooo much better than the d70, is that a big advantage in composing ? although I can't stop down the N70 for DOF preview.

Should I just flog the lot and put it towards an improved DSLR?



Niall

Morrisseeee

Should I just flog the lot

....well........I'd be interested in some of those lenses
Pls keep me in mind

Borderfox

I take it the N70 is full frame, this would be the difference in the view

melekalikimaka

Unless you wanna print huge no real advantage you'd notice, better dynamic range, more fun shooting, bout it. D70 is really quite a good dslr still, the n70 was a prosumer too so it's nothing amazing by film standards

DaireQuinlan

melekalikimaka wrote: »

Unless you wanna print huge no real advantage you'd notice, better dynamic range, more fun shooting, bout it. D70 is really quite a good dslr still, the n70 was a prosumer too so it's nothing amazing by film standards

The N/F 70 is actually a pretty good camera. Its probably got most of the functionality of the F90/x and the F100. Isn't built as well, and the AF apparently isn't up to scratch speed wise, but it uses the same matrix meter as the F90x. Lack of DOF preview isn't -that- huge a deal. I'd say load it up with some film and take it out shooting. You'll enjoy it.

The nikon lenses at least look like a good bag. The 28 2.8 is either reputedly fantastic or merely good depending on what version it is (I've never used it, I prefer my 24mm AIS). The 50mm 1.4 AFD is pretty good, got one of them myself, and the 35-70 if its the AFD version is the old professional mid range zoom and so is probably well worth shelling out the 130 euros for the repair.

melekalikimaka

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

The N/F 70 is actually a pretty good camera. Its probably got most of the functionality of the F90/x and the F100. Isn't built as well, and the AF apparently isn't up to scratch speed wise, but it uses the same matrix meter as the F90x. Lack of DOF preview isn't -that- huge a deal. I'd say load it up with some film and take it out shooting. You'll enjoy it.

The nikon lenses at least look like a good bag. The 28 2.8 is either reputedly fantastic or merely good depending on what version it is (I've never used it, I prefer my 24mm AIS). The 50mm 1.4 AFD is pretty good, got one of them myself, and the 35-70 if its the AFD version is the old professional mid range zoom and so is probably well worth shelling out the 130 euros for the repair.

i was playing round with a f70 and opted for the f90 a few months back, yeah its ok, but sure its not pro. the glass looks excellent... was it expensicve to buy the goodie bag?

...anymore?

njburke

Thanks for the replies,
Yep, its a nikon F70/N70 ,a 35 mm film camera from 1994 I think.

It has many of the features of the D70, it fact the film camera felt strangely intuitive even though the user interface is slightly quirky, the icons and grouping are the same, and the manual is literally in double dutch. It even meters properly with the Schneider Macro lenses.

The viewfinder (Zoeker in dutch) on the film body is marvelous compared to the d70s, even though for the same lens theres the same amount of light entering the camera body, I guess its the magnification and the wider field.

No more glass in the bag, but I already have an 18-70 DX and really nice 70-210 D, and a clean pinhole. I decide early on only to buy FX glass as a cheap FX digital body is only a matter of time.

I guess the question I was really asking is, whether my skills might improve by using it a little, or should I leave it until progressed a little further.

Melek.. > it cost about as much as dinner for two with wine.
DaireQ> its the non D variant, but I don't think will make much difference as I always bounce the flash and lock the meter with FV lock.
Moriseeee> Nice waterfall,BTW. if I do want to get rid of some of it, I'll put it it for swapsy on adverts.ie, I've no wide zoom and I'ld like to try one with the kids on the trampoline against a good sky.

I'll shoot a roll or two of the film in the bag, theres kodak 200 and 400.

Niall

DaireQuinlan

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i was playing round with a f70 and opted for the f90 a few months back, yeah its ok, but sure its not pro. the glass looks excellent... was it expensicve to buy the goodie bag?

...anymore?

I've been tempted to get an F90x or F100 for a while now, whenever I -really- need autofocus. The AF on the F4 just doesn't cut it. When I picked up the F4 a few years ago I could have bought an F5 instead and didn't because of the sheer size of those things. The F100/90/x are much smaller and lighter though.

melekalikimaka

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

I've been tempted to get an F90x or F100 for a while now, whenever I -really- need autofocus. The AF on the F4 just doesn't cut it. When I picked up the F4 a few years ago I could have bought an F5 instead and didn't because of the sheer size of those things. The F100/90/x are much smaller and lighter though.

ya can pick up a f90 for nothing these days, i needed it for college, but i'm using it these days for alot more stuff, ir and bw mainly, great results with the af, saves alot of hassle, great for studio work too

njburke

Just remembered that this is the photography forum.

Sleepy

Nice find!

njburke

Well, I bought my first roll of film today in Jessops newry, (we eventually succumbed to journey north in search of nappies, NappyQuest).

Not much to choose from in Jessops film fridge, B+W they send off, slide they send off, no we won't process by post, some films are prepaid processing.
That aside she was quite helpful, the D700 is £1800 pounds.

To be honest its a bit like choosing wine.

I settled on Fujicolour Pro 400H at At £7.50 for 36 exposures.
The nine rolls in the time capsule are beginning to look tempting.

melekalikimaka

gunns in canden street... nearly half that

DaireQuinlan

njburke wrote: »

I settled on Fujicolour Pro 400H at At £7.50 for 36 exposures.
The nine rolls in the time capsule are beginning to look tempting.

Holy crap that's expensive ! Was that process paid ? Hopefully you didn't buy more than a couple of rolls. For future reference gunns (as mele points out) are probably the best place to buy film in dublin (or the camera exchange on georges street). Alternatively try 7dayshop.co.uk. They're better for bulk orders though, their postage is quite high. If you're just experimenting then ask in gunns or CE for any expired film they want to give you for cheap. I've also picked up rolls of fuji superia for 50c a pop in clearance sales in chemists.

njburke

I only bought one.

The last roll I would have bought in 1993 would have cost about the same, given present worth. Most of the stuff I ran through the rangefinder was Spectraphoto, at the time the quality of the film matched the quality of the print.

I'm off to do a bit of diving in Chill Ciaran bay at the weekend and I want to try the F70 on whatever I find there. Theres a shot I'ld like to get indoors with the flash hence the purchase of 400 ISO. The F70 seems to operate just fine with my SB-600, will it flash bracket if I need to, pity the flash doesn't display the last fired power level.
I say "seems to work" as I won't know untill I develop the film.

My brother has an idle SB-28, which wasn't great with the d70 so I might try that on the F70.

DaireQuinlan

njburke wrote: »

I only bought one.

The last roll I would have bought in 1993 would have cost about the same, given present worth. Most of the stuff I ran through the rangefinder was Spectraphoto, at the time the quality of the film matched the quality of the print.

I'm off to do a bit of diving in Chill Ciaran bay at the weekend and I want to try the F70 on whatever I find there. Theres a shot I'ld like to get indoors with the flash hence the purchase of 400 ISO. The F70 seems to operate just fine with my SB-600, will it flash bracket if I need to, pity the flash doesn't display the last fired power level.
I say "seems to work" as I won't know untill I develop the film.

My brother has an idle SB-28, which wasn't great with the d70 so I might try that on the F70.

Yeah you've lucked out there, the SB-600 (along with the SB-800 IIRC) fully support the old film TTL as well as the newer digital i-TTL. Thats probably what was wrong with the SB-28. If its the SB-28dx then it only supports the OLD d-TTL which was Nikon's first stab at digital TTL flash. The D-70 AFAIK only supports i-TTL and not d-TTL (and certainly not the old film TTL) so any which way that old SB-28 wasn't going to work. It should work fine on the F-70 though regardless of which type it is.

D.

njburke

Daire,
Just looked at the sb600 manual and you are spot on, I should get TTL, Balanced Fill and manual modes with the F70 and the SB-600.
So no need for the sb-28,then.

I don't have any really wide angle lens at the moment, so I just tried mounting the 18-70 AFS lens I have on the F70, its a DX lens so I get the vignetting from the smaller circle, but it auto focuses fine. Not sure how I'll set the aperture, I think the f70 expects the user to do that on the lens, of course theres no manual aperture ring on the 18-70 as its G lens.

Overall, I'm impressed by the fact this cluster of gear spans almost 20 years and is still inter operable. I mean some of this gear is as old as say, a 5 1/4" floppy disk, I'ld have some job trying to read one of those today.