purchasing used Nikon D70, is this a good deal?

[slak]

Hi MacRumors community. First I'd like to mention that I am completely new to DSLR, and this would be my first DSLR camera ever touched.

I am looking to purchase a used Nikon D70, with a Sigma 28-135mm D Aspherical lens. The price is $425, and the camera & lens are in mint condition. The seller is a coworker of mine, and she also has a side wedding photography business.

What do you guys this about this camera and lens for the money? 14669 shutter actuations on this camera.

Thanks!

 

[yeroen]

You can see how many times the shutter has fired. It's in the EXIF header. I don't remember if the shutter count is displayed in Aperture's, Adobe Bridge's, etc., EXIF viewer, but there is a handy command line utility called exiftool that does display the complete EXIF information. I used exiftool to determine that when my D70 died, it died at exactly 23000 actuations (I subsequently had it repaired for $237).

 

[slak]

the shutter count is at 14669

 

[yeroen]

It's a good price for the outfit. $400 is about market price for a LN-/EX+ condition D70 alone. The lens is pretty much a gimme. It's a slow plastic 3rd party zoom that doesn't have any resale value, but it's enough to get you started.

14669 is also a relatively low shutter count. Most D70 shutters die at ~30-50K shots.

 

[ChrisA]

Hi MacRumors community. First I'd like to mention that I am completely new to DSLR, and this would be my first DSLR camera ever touched.

I am looking to purchase a used Nikon D70, with a Sigma 28-135mm D Aspherical lens. The price is $425, and the camera & lens are in mint condition. The seller is a coworker of mine, and she also has a side wedding photography business.

What do you guys this about this camera and lens for the money? I have no way to determine the how many shutter actuations the camera has, is this a number stored anywhere in the camera settings?

Thanks!

That's a fair price. The lens has little value on the used market and the camer+lens price reflects that. (I'm not saying anything about the quality of the lens, just that you shouldn't and aren't paying much for it.) 28mm is not wide enough for the D70 you will want a wider lens. I'd hunt around for a used 18-55 lens. These are available cheap and are easy to find but are good quality. the 135mm may be as long a lens as you will ever need.

This is a good deal, I'd much rather have a used D70 than a new D40 or D60

 

[slak]

thanks everyone i appreciate all the replies

 

[compuwar]

28mm is not wide enough for the D70 you will want a wider lens.

I'll just chime in that this is very dependent on your shooting style and subject. I rarely shot wider than 50mm on a DX crop factor body for 3-4 years. While I find myself shooting more landscapes and cityscapes these days you can certainly get away with 28mm which is wide, but not ultra-wide quite a long time.