According to :
Dear experts,
I've always used Nikon, and have a number of FE and FM
cameras, and whole bunch of fixed focal length lenses.
I took my equipment to the store the other day, and
noticed a few issues.
The focusing screen in that D70 was just a matte/Fresnel.
There was no split in the middle where you can focus
by lining up two lines together. And it's hard to tell
in the small viewfinder if the picture is in focus.
That can be a problem, as the viewfinder screen (permanent one,
not changeable like the Nikon F was) is optimized for working with the
autofocus mechanism.
The other thing I noticed is that the viewfinder screen
is smaller. I'm older now, and it seems I need my glasses
to focus through there. And, in the catalog, there is
no diopter (?) correction for the D70. They have some
for other Nikons, but not the D70.
There is none in the catalog because it is built into the
camera. There is a ribbed sliding object just to the right of the
eyepiece which can be used to adjust the diopter of the viewfinder
eyepiece. To set that correctly, turn on the grid and the zone-of-focus
indicators to give your eye something to judge the focus by. (These
also help when focusing a lens, once the eyepiece is tuned, because they
can help to anchor the focus of the eye, which can otherwise be pulled
by an out-of-focus image -- as could an eye using the clear spot version
of the Nikon F viewfinder, which is why there was a fine black '+' in
the center of the spot.
So, this brings up the question, if there is any
real advantage to buying a Nikon digital so that I can
use my old fixed manual focus sharp lenses, if I can't
focus them.
You can focus them -- but if they have no built-in electrical
contacts, you cannot use the camera's metering system with them. The
metering system for the D70 *must* see a chip in the lens. Some of the
more expensive Nikon cameras will still work with any lens with the AI
aperture ring (a couple of tabs on it to talk to sensors on the camera.)
I could buy used Nikon autofocus lenses if I bought
the Nikon. But then I could just buy used Canon
lenses too if I bought a Canon.
If your lenses have the chip, you can use them with the D70
metering once you tune the viewfinder to your eyeglass prescription.
I understand that Canon has brought out a newer
camera lately. Does anyone know how it compares
on these issues? Does it have a diopter? Does it
have different screens?
I presume that it, also, has a built-in diopter adjustment like
the Nikon D70. I don't know whether it has interchangeable screens, and
this may be a function of *which* Cannon you are talking about. There
are several, just as there are several Nikon DSLRs. The D70 is the one
which I happen to have, so I can answer your implied question about the
diopter correction.
How does the Canon compare in any other area that
you think is significant? Advantages? Disadvantages?
Again -- *which* Cannon, compared against which of the Nikon
cameras?
If I had the money, I would be very tempted to change to the
D2x, which would allow me to meter with some of my older lenses which
can't be "chipped". (I had a nice 180mm f2.8 manual lens "chipped" so
it will work nicely with the metering in the D70, though it still has no
autofocus.
You can also get used lenses *with* the autofocus. One of mine
(a 50mm f1.4) was obtained used, and I expect to get others as time goes
on. (I also expect to perform some modifications on some really old
ones to allow me to actually mount them on the D70. Those too old to
have the AI aperture ring won't mount, as the solid aperture ring
interferes with the sensor that assures the D70 that a lens has been
stopped down all the way.
Good luck,
DoN.
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