Didgital SLRs?

[Loose rivets]

Hi, I have been searching for a good deal on an SLR digital, used and less than $800.

I know people have long term favorites, but any comments on problems with the popular ones like the Canon, Nikon etc? Any outstanding consensus on a favorite? There seem to be hundreds of Canon Rebels for sale.

I've missed a couple of bids on ebay, but they seem to be making a fair percentage of the new price, and carry all the associated worry of trusting the vendors. Is it worth it?

Got my old Pentax spotmatic out of a long forgotten box today. One had forgotten about film.:hmm:

[Conan the Librarian]

I use a Nikon D70 and love it. It has produced some of the most spectacular phtographs I have seen. Thing is, that right now, a used D70 is a very smart idea. Nikon have last week released the delicious D200 and many D70 users will upgrade. Prices will drop accordingly.

Conan

[egbt]

I also have a Spotmatic in the bottom drawer, unfortunately the then expensive screw lenses are not going to help much on a modern camera, although they will sort of work with an adapter.

I have just got a Pentax *ist DL to supplement my Pentax SFXn’s. It takes all my old Pentax FA/KAF lenses with a 50% increase in focal length but no loss in speed so my 50mm F1.7 is now a very useful 75mm F1.7 and a 70-300mm F4/F5.6 APO is now great 95-450mm F4/5.6!.

Initial impressions are excellent and it drives my old Pentax & Metz dedicated flash guns correctly as well, automatically correcting for the different focal length.

I sold a Bronica kit on e-bay with no problems, I think many of the vendors (and my buyer) are dealers, a check on their history may tell you. I noticed in UK there are a lot of personal imports from HK (particularly Pentax *ist S) boxed etc, not sure if I’d trust them.

Most will be a lot cheaper in the US, Hong Kong etc, an internet search of the deals is worth while. The Pentax would probably come around the budget in a US discount store but don't forget to add the price of a memory card!

Good luck and happy snapping!

Will now be selling my Nikon CoolPix 995 compact on e-bay, hope it goes as well as the Bronica.

[Loose rivets]

Thanks folks. I'm in Texas at the moment, but am down in the wilderness, so local buying is a non starter.

The thing is, that unlike my old Spotmatic--which is probably worth now what I paid for it in the 197?--the manufacturers keep updating like automobiles, so old fogies like me, who expect to make an "investment" when buying anything, find that the only option is to buy used. So, I will be looking at the D70.....thanks for that.

Another problem to people like me, is to see a lens like the one on the Pentax, go to waste. I was told in the sixties, that the lovely bayonet system on my Yashica was passe...and I should go with the Pentax thread. I found this counter-intuitive, but got the Spotmatic anyway. The lens is quite the best piece of kit I have ever owned. 1:1.4 and was utterly perfect. I say was, cos it needs cleaning and the hobby stuff I had in the UK is either gone or in storage. So, a clean box with nitrogen supply is not a thing I can fabricate as I would have done at home. (I must have wasted years of my life trying not to part with money!!) Having said this, it takes a loop to see any dust.

I "spoke" to ebay this am, and asked what they thought of folk who only accept checks etc. They advised not proceeding with the deal. Pitty, there is a Canon with a buy now price that I would have paid, but I'm not sending money into space without PayPal.........unless there is a system that I don't know about.

Anyway, thanks again...and back to ebay. LR