I’ve been thinking about buying a digital SLR for a very, very long time, and I finally did it a few weeks ago: I am the proud owner used Nikkor 18-70mm lens (the standard kit lens from the D70s) from someone on the Fred Miranda buy and sell forum and a used Nikon D70s body (with accessories and a 2 GB CF card) from a fellow Torontonian through http://toronto.craigslist.org.
Overall, I estimate that I saved about C$450 versus buying the same kit new. The lens was in great condition and the body only had a couple hundred shutter clicks on it. It really was a great deal. I don’t really mind that Nikon is about to introduce its successor model, because it’ll probably cost more than I can afford and won’t be available for months anyway.
Since then, there’s been a bit of a learning curve as I try to adapt to the DSLR way of doing things. I’ve been post-processing my film scans with Photoshop for years now, so that’s not too big a deal, but the HD space and computer requirements of dealing with many dozens of 5 MB NEF files after each shoot is starting to get to me (our old Celeron desktop, circa 1999, will probably need to go). I also have to train myself to be super-vigilant about overexposure: unlike B&W neg film, once the sensor is saturated, the data is gone.
Here are some of my first (presentable) images from the D70s.
