Well I have gone and done it! Thanks in part to the help of list
members and a few others in buying some of my old gear I have raised
enough funds to get into a used digital setup.
I debated a lot of the pros and cons of various systems and in the
end I went with a used N*kon D70 as the body was in my price range
and I have access to an 18-70 N*kon lens to use with it - making my
entry into digital fairly cheap. It does not hurt that there a a
number of N*kon lenses that are attractive to me for future expansion
should I wish to stay with the digital system and with N*kon. I also
have found that most of the N*kon based bodies seem to handle well
for me by and large. The control layout on most bodies makes sense to
me, something that is not always the case with C*non bodies.
For me this is a 'toe in the water' kind of thing. My investment is
not so steep that I would feel bad should I not care for shooting
digital or the Nikon system. If Olympus does something spectacular
down the line - at this point I would find it easy to switch. Or to
another digital platform that matter.
What really has me intrigued with the N-thingy system is two lenses -
the 12-24 f/4 and the 18-200 VR Nikon lenses would fit virtually all
of the shooting I do. The thought of a 2 lens kit is very enticing!
As for Olympus - well I relly still do like the handling and
viewfinder in the E-1, but the noise level at higher ISOs and the
lack of much in the way image stabilization lenses is still holding
me back. Of course at this point I have not made any real investment
beyond the body in the N-thingy, so an E-thingy is not out of the question.
Part of the digital push (frankly a big part) is from my wife who is
tired of waiting for me to sort and scan slides to be able to see
them on the computer or get them printed. The other part is that for
anything that isn't sitting still I am having problems focusing fast
enough these days so I am feeling the real need to go autofocus. If
the digital workflow does not cut it for me I will probably look for
a good autofocus film body and a couple of lenses.
So, am I abandoning Olympus, OMs, and film - certainly not. I am
keeping a core kit of OM stuff, as well as my XA and Stylus film
cameras. I am also keeping my Contax G which has been seeing more and
more use these days. But the world is moving on, and I suppose it is
time to see if this old dog can learn a few new tricks!
Jim Couch
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