Downgrade to Upgrade?

trackaddict

First off Hello, I'm new to the forums and would like some help. I'm currently a student but I do event photography on the side. Right now my gear list is as follows, D200, D40x, D70 with the following lens's 18-200, 10-24, 50mm and I usually rent a 17-55mm F2.8 for larger events like weddings. The upgrade in question right now is my D70, I really don't feel as if it fits in my gear bag right now, it can't take a beating like the D200 and doesn't have the resolution of my D40x.

In the perfect world I'd pick up another D200 or a D300 but I don't have the money for that, the other day I found myself looking at older Nikon bodies (yes things more historic than the D70) and the D1x caught my eye, browsing more I found out about the "10mp" possibility with it. So in short would it be wise to dump my D70 and pick up a good condition D1x? The camera will probably only have a 50mm mounted, and I will not be using a flash with it either, and if I can get similar resolution to my D200 then I don't really see an issue. I also like the fact that the D1x is more robust, it can take a couple dings.

Buying the D1x would also give me a body to take camping / hiking, I get scared when I bring my d200 out in the elements, I wouldn't care with the D1x as much since it can take a drop and if it breaks I feel it would be easy to source a parts camera and repair it myself.

Also off topic but I'm considering selling my 10-24mm and saving up to actually buy a 17-55mm I don't use it enough and there is to much distortion to use it with people in the picture, I seem to only use it taking pictures from a balcony to get a picture of the whole church.

Cliffs: Sell D70 buy D1x.

Sorry if that was so long but I appreciate the help!

Qarik

hmmm..that line up of bodies does not make sense to me. I would try and sell off the D70 and D40x and pick up a used D90 or D5000. You seriously need to upgrade your sensor..you have like 4th generation technology and you really don't know what you are missing in terms of iso performance with a modern sensor.

trackaddict

I do understand that my gear is outdated, problem is I'm only 18, and I actually share the D40x so can't really sell that off, I have shot with a d300 before and I do understand the newer sensors handle low light much better than my older gear but I still have only run into 2-3 situations where I was wishing I could use a higher ISO. But I find that my D200 with the 17-55 and a little bit of flash help keep my ISO low enough to not notice any noise.

ziggy53

Just as you can interpolate the D1x output to 10MPix, you can use Adobe Camera Raw to interpolate the D70 RAW files to 25MPix. The D1x gains nothing on the D70 image quality, but it is a much faster handling camera and likely more durable. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to work on cameras yourself, so I wouldn't recommend a body as old as the 1Dx unless you also have the income for repairs from a reputable shop.

Are you using Photoshop? If so, which version?

trackaddict

Hm, interesting is interpolation only do-able on CCD sensor cameras? The durability and quickness of the D1x are partially the main reason I would go in that direction, the D70 is pretty slow and I haven't found it very useful when people are moving. A couple years ago I probably would have never even though about cracking a camera open, but in the past 1 1/2 years I've started working on cars and saved myself thousands of dollars, and actually found myself doing fairly complex work, so I figure if I'm going to own camera's and shoot photography for the rest of my life I may as well learn to work on them early. I also come from a family with lots of knowledge in electrical engineering and computers.

Before leaving for college I was using CS4, now I'm stuck with elements 6 on my laptop but should have access to CS5 in the very near future.

angevin1

trackaddict wrote: »

Cliffs: Sell D70 buy D1x.

Sell the D70 if you can find a buyer. Save Money for Used/refurb D90 $600. Take D200 anywhere! It is robust and it can handle it. you have two bodies right now. buying older outdated tech makes little sense. The D70 though is one decent camera. It'll even sync-flash to 1/500th of a second, so it is no slouch in that dept!

ziggy53

trackaddict wrote: »

Hm, interesting is interpolation only do-able on CCD sensor cameras? The durability and quickness of the D1x are partially the main reason I would go in that direction, the D70 is pretty slow and I haven't found it very useful when people are moving. A couple years ago I probably would have never even though about cracking a camera open, but in the past 1 1/2 years I've started working on cars and saved myself thousands of dollars, and actually found myself doing fairly complex work, so I figure if I'm going to own camera's and shoot photography for the rest of my life I may as well learn to work on them early. I also come from a family with lots of knowledge in electrical engineering and computers.

Before leaving for college I was using CS4, now I'm stuck with elements 6 on my laptop but should have access to CS5 in the very near future.

You can interpolate any image to any size, more or less successfully. The reason I suggest upressing from RAW files is that RAW files are interpolated anyway, and the recent Adobe Camera Raw demosaicing algorithms are also extremely good at interpolating larger images from RAW files.

Does Elements give you access to the ACR engine?

trackaddict

ziggy53 wrote: »

You can interpolate any image to any size, more or less successfully. The reason I suggest upressing from RAW files is that RAW files are interpolated anyway, and the recent Adobe Camera Raw demosaicing algorithms are also extremely good at interpolating larger images from RAW files.

Does Elements give you access to the ACR engine?

I'm pretty sure it does, I have the plug-in for it. Haven't been shooting RAW lately so I'm not as up to date on it anymore.