Thanks, Mike.

Where in Florida are you? Have you found a spot to call home yet?

I was heading for Nirvana and ran out of gas in Sarasota.

Have you placed your paintings here yet? Let me know where and I'll go by and talk them up.

D70 purchased
 

The new D70 is here. Have had very little time to study the manual and practice with it, but took it on a shoot yesterday as a backup. Used the FinePix 3800 mostly which I know and trust. Took only a few frames with the D70. An eight year old boy and his one year old dog Max. Good grief! That dog was incapable of holding still. It took three people to get him to sit by the boy and then only a few seconds at a time. Most pictures show him as a blur. I made a composite from parts of three photos, the best pose of the boy, the best of the dog and the boy's hand cropped from another photo. I think I can make it work. It occurred to me the dog could be drugged under the supervision of a vet. Anybody tried that?

Marvin, as I mentioned in the thread about the Canon Digital Rebel, I'm about to go buy a Nikon D70.

I think the 70-300mm lens (which I can get from a local retailer for $180) sounds much more useful than the 18-70mm "Kit lens". Thanks for the suggestion.

Do you think I should get both lenses or just the longer one?

Michele, I responded on that other thread. Short answer: buy both!

Marvin, regarding lenses, I have the N80 which uses G lenses. Are they compatible with the D70? Also have a couple of lenses from my manual FM2, but have'nt tried mixing the lenses on the cameras.

Just in case someone is wondering about the G lenses, they don't have aperture rings, the settings are on the camera.

The Nikon D70 uses G lenses.

Marvin, I got the kit lens and will ask Santa for the longer one for Xmas. They're down to $180 now.

Jimmy this is what Nikon says about compatable lenses:

Compatible Lenses: DX Nikkor: All functions supported; Type G- or D-AF Nikkor: All functions supported; Micro Nikkor 85mm F2.8D: All functions supported except some exposure modes; Other AF Nikkor (excluding lenses for F3AF): All functions supported except 3D Color Matrix Metering, i-TTL balanced Fill-Flash for digital SLR; AI-P Nikkor: All functions supported except 3D Color Matrix Metering, i-TTL balanced Fill-Flash for digital SLR and autofocus; Non-CPU: Can be used in exposure mode M, but exposure meter does not function; electronic range finder can be used if maximum aperture is f/5.6 or faster. IX Nikkor Lenses: cannot be used.

Thanks guys, just checked dpreview website and noticed the aperture is controlled with the front sub-command dial, so my lenses are good to go. I'm sure by the time I can afford the D70, the price will have dropped and the new model will hit the streets. :(

If anyone is interested, the D70 has a $100 rebate going on until I believe the end of the month.