Nikon D70 - Dusting off the 'Dinosaur'

For giggles, I decided to see if I find our old Nikon D70.  When we got it (almost 10 years ago), it was a pretty high-tech DSLR.  6.1 MP!  Three fps burst shooting!  ISO range 200-1600!  Shutter speed range 1/8000 - 30 seconds!  We used the camera primarily for taking photos at ski races, which mean the camera was out in the cold, the snow, etc., etc.  And, honestly, I had No Idea how to use it.  Which mean it eventually got replaced by a series of point-and-shoot cameras.   But given that I am trying to learn how to use a 'real' camera, and I had a long holiday weekend, I thought I'd see if I could find the camera, see if the battery would hold a charge, and see what sort of shape it was in.

The good news is that I could find the camera, the battery miraculously holds a charge, and the camera turns on, and even takes pictures.  All of which is cool.  It does seem to have a little bit of dust on the mirror (which is not so cool, although not entirely surprising), but it's not tragically dusty, and for some photos the dust isn't even noticeable.  And the lenses seem to be in good shape.

Since my local camera shop would charge me $75 to clean the mirror, and I could (if I was so inclined) buy a refurbished body for about $110, I don't think I'm going to have it cleaned (besides, I think the camera may have sustained some other 'injuries' in its ski racing career, which would make it definitely not worth fixing).  But, since the mirror doesn't render the camera unusable, I may use it for some of its features, such as its 30-second shutter speed setting.  And it's external flash capability (assuming we have an external flash). And the fact that it can shoot RAW files (and not just JPEGs).  It definitely won't replace my wildly fun P520, but it's neat to know it's an option...

Here are a few shots I got with it today.

1/15, f/4.8, ISO 800, 75mm

1/30, f/4.5, ISO 800, 66mm

1/30, f/4, ISO 800, 42mm

It does have a nice soft feel in natural light.

The built-in flash creates surprisingly natural colors  (Fi and Abby are actually red and apricot respectively).

1/60, f/5.3, ISO 400, 97mm

1/60, f/4.2, ISO 400, 57mm

And it gets nice outdoor photos (as it should, after having taken 30,000+ ski photos)

1/500, f/6.3, ISO 400, 202mm

But with the snowy background, the schmutz can be seen...

Technically, it's mirror schmutz, but I don't write well using PS paintbrush!

And it gets some fun indoor shots.

1/160, f/5.6, ISO 800, 108mm

It's really not a bad camera, even with the little bit of schmutz on the mirror.  However, having gotten used to intuitive display screens, it's definitely not a 'natural' camera for me.  For now, I think I'll be putting most of my energy into the P520. But I'm definitely going to keep it and pull it out occasionally as it really is a cool camera, even if it is a bit of a dinosaur.