[tooki]

Originally Posted by fhoubi

Are you deaf or what? I said Exif Data. Now who's lying, you, Nikon or me



Look there: camera actuations. One more than the filename, because I tried-out sensor cleaning once. Your turn.

Edit: removed memory card, took a dummy picture, put the card back in, took another picture. Camera actuations vs. filename is now 2 off .

You don't have to be a jackass about it. I even followed the link to the Exif Viewer, and the screenshots shown showed NO indication that the information I want would be stored. EXIF is supposed to be exposure information, not a system profile of the camera.

Furthermore, how would I have even been able to test whether this app can check for actuations?!? I don't have a D70, so I don't have any D70 pictures to test.

And pardon me for actually thinking that Nikon itself might know something about the cameras it makes. What a bizarre and naïve assumption on my part. The local dealer told me the same thing, that the total actuations can be checked on Canon, but not Nikon.

tooki

[Edit: actually, it turns out that I do have a couple of D70 shots: some of the sample photos that come with Aperture are from a D70. But they do not contain this information. I checked. They are raw NEF files, FWIW.]

[climber]

I know how many shots I have taken with my D70 because I have a folder holding all of them. I also have the camera set so it does not restart the number that is used in the file name each time the card is reformatted. Unfortunately that counter can not go above 10,000.

If I burned a copy of all the raw photos, the next owner could check the date of the photo against the frame number to see that I am actually telling the truth. Unless of course I could figure out how to modify 8500 files with fake data.

My camera has taken 8374 pictures. the last was at the store the day my D200 was in.

Dave

[paul w]

it's easy enough to find sample d70 pix tooki, people post them all the time, and indeed flickr has d70 groups, and you can check the exif data there as well.

that said it seems like you have that sorted. The fact that sample images were easily available was a big factor in my deciding which camera to buy. (Of course I may or may not have made the right choice with my KM 7D).

I'll just chime in with: I still feel that the d50 takes better pictures than the the d70 - especially in low light situations.

[climber]

Tooki

The best way to see if the camera is in good shape is to try it first hand and shoot some photos with it. To counter this point I will make a bold suggestion in the internet age. If you want my camera, I will ship it to you for you to try out. If it is not what I represent, ship it back to me. If it meets your approval, send me a check.

I would only do this for Tooki because after five years on this forum, I would trust him.

Edit to add:
In addition to the camera and the stuff that came with, I have an extra battery, An extra LCD cover and a custom Kirk (acra swiss style) camera plate.

Dave

[tooki]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

First of all, there is a difference between the two cameras. Then, tooki said, he doesn't want a D50, he wants a D70(s). Judging from his knowledge, he knows why he wants that camera and not another.

If you're happy with your D50, that's fine.

To address your points here: I have CF cards with 1.1 GB worth of storage. If I can continue using them, I will.

DOF preview is a useful feature, even if the viewfinder is smaller compared to analog slrs.

A backlit lcd definitely is useful. I have one on my E-20 and I use it a lot when it's dark. The (large) lcd is a different animal, it's much quicker to change essential settings right on the lcd on top, even if you do something else with the lcd on the back.

Indeed, I know what I need. My "thing" is macro photography, and DOF preview is critical, since DOF in macro is extremely shallow. I realize that the D70's viewfinder is small; I plan to get an eyepiece magnifier at some point to help alleviate this (in part because the strength of my eyeglasses also causes size reduction, making the problem even worse).

I also plan to get the R1 macro flash system, which requires Creative Lighting System support. The cheapest controller for this system is $250; the D70 has it built in. This alone makes up the price difference between the two.



This whole camera shopping ordeal has become somewhat of a nightmare. I'd love to buy locally, but the local Nikon dealer is sold out and has been back-ordered for a month. It seems that the only mail-order place that nobody seems to have trouble with is B&H; all the others have some degree of negative feedback, never mind the "Crooklyn" dealers that have polluted the marketplace. (I think it takes effort to achieve a 0.0 rating on resellerratings.com!!)

Note that for used gear, I really would only consider local, since I'd want to inspect the gear myself! That said, I think I'm now leaning more towards new, on account of having a warranty. (I think it sucks that Nikon's warranties aren't transferrable.)

tooki

[fhoubi]

Sorry Tooki, just english isn't my first language, and "deaf" was the best I came up after 2 minutes thinking. Apologies.

My only sincere guess in the future is that you will find DOF preview in combination with a small viewfinder pretty useless. Well maybe not if you keep a 1.8 aperture lense on it all the time, as it gathers more light. But still...

From now I will not (try to) influence your buying decision anymore.

Oh and for sales people and even companies: My girlfriend has written confirmation from Nokia Germany that the 6680 and no handys they make have the ability to direct store incoming SMS's to the memory card. Yet her old eagerlywonnatobereplaced 3650 can do it, as well as the still available 6680 as she found out herselves. NOBODY knows this.

Bedtime now for me.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by paul w

it's easy enough to find sample d70 pix tooki, people post them all the time, and indeed flickr has d70 groups, and you can check the exif data there as well.

Yes, but most of the photos online have been resized, and most programs only save out basic EXIF, if any, when exporting. Furthermore, online galleries generally don't show all recorded EXIF, but rather only the key exposure data.

I did find some unadulterated images on the pixel peeper sites, and indeed, with EXIF Viewer, they do show a "camera actuations" field. Note that neither iPhoto, Preview, nor even Aperture show this field, even if you go into the full library of available fields.

tooki

[ChrisF]

Originally Posted by tooki

Note that for used gear, I really would only consider local, since I'd want to inspect the gear myself! That said, I think I'm now leaning more towards new, on account of having a warranty. (I think it sucks that Nikon's warranties aren't transferrable.)

Give KEH, based in Atlanta, a look. They're one of the biggest used photo equipment dealers in the US and they'll allow you to return a used piece of equipment without a hassle if you don't like it. They'll also provide a warranty. http://www.keh.com
If you have Photoshop CS2 you can sorta determine the number of exposures from an NEF file but it's my understanding that the problem is that the counter rolls over at 9999, so it's of limited value. In any case, the process for determining the count is as follows: process the file through the Camera Raw plugin and open it in PS. Once it's open, get "File info" from the file menu. (cmd-opt-shift-I.) Then look under the Advanced listing for http://ns.adobe.com/exif/1.0/aux and tip that open; once it's open look for "ImageNumber"– that's the counter. (plus or minus 10000 or more. )
Edit: I'll also point out that the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) trade show is in Feb. It's possible that Nikon may introduce something new there but of course that's impossible to predict. It's sort of like buying a Mac a couple of weeks before Macworld SF though.
Personally I'd wait to see if there are any changes. The D70s was a very minor revision to the D70 so I would not be surprised to see it get a refresh.

[MaxPower2k3]

For what it's worth, I can confirm that JPEGs from my D70 do show the Camera Actuations value in EXIF viewer (in my case, that value is 4760 for this particular image, compared to 506 in the filename counter). However, EXIF Viewer can't read NEF files, and Apple/Aperture's RAW reader (the same one iPhoto uses, AFAIK) doesn't get that particular piece of EXIF data (if it's there at all) so to get the value you'd have to take a test shot in JPEG mode and load it into EXIF viewer.

Good to know the actual picture count from my camera... I didn't realize it was that high (probably more like 6000 now since i've been shooting strictly RAW for a few months)

[tooki]

FYI, I ended up just getting a new D70s kit from B&H, and an SB-800 from the local camera shop.

tooki