On 2005-11-08 09:39:58 -0500, "Norm Dresner" said:


It may be batteries, it may not. I think this should be a simple
repair in any event (less than 200 US) but you never know. Worth an
estimate anyway.

Jim



About 8 years ago I abandoned the Minolta XK SLR system that I'd been
amassing since 1975 and bought my first AF/AE camera, a used Nikon N90.
It's given me good service since then and I've finally added an N90s
and a D70 along with 7 lenses to the system. But on a recent trip to
Italy the N90 failed -- the mirror's not returning to the down position
and the camera indicates "ERR".

SO ... I have to decide whether to repair, replace, or upgrade. I
definitely want (and many times "need') to have two film bodies in
addition to the digital and I need to be able to use
older/non-automatic lenses (like a 500 mm mirror or a 55 mm AIS macro
or the PB-4 bellows) with the film bodies in Aperture Priority mode.
The N90/N90s does this flawlessly as does IIRC the F100 and the F5/F6,
but the N75 that I had for about 6 months did not and I got rid of it,
partially for that reason.

A new F6 body is close to $2K. While I could probably come up with
that much money, I'm not a professional and probably couldn't
effectively use the additional features it possesses beyond the F100 &
F5. (For reference, I do shoot a lot -- on a recent two-week trip to
Italy, I shot over 2000 digital images and 14 rolls of 36-exposure 35mm
film, along with a few rolls of 120).

A new F100 is $750 (marginally within my self-imposed budget) and a
reconditioned (by Nikon) N90s is $375. I haven't gotten a quote yet
for the repair but based on recent experiences with other equipment I'd
expect it to be in the $100-200 range. (Note: because of the Nikon
$200 rebate, the new F100 body and the current used F5 offerings are
running about $750 so there's no price advantage of a used F5 over a
new F100.)

What to do? Yes, I'd love a new F6 -- I'd certainly be happy with an
F5 too and even the F100 has features beyond what I have with the N90's
as well as faster focusing, ... But as an amateur, there's always the
money issue. I'm quite pleased with the N90s and I certainly wouldn't
cry too much if I simply got a second one but the F100 is very
appealing. Is it really worth twice the price?

Your comments, opinions, and constructive flames will be graciously accepted.

Norm


--
Jim