A D70s seems reasonable...this just sucks Im going to Europe in less than a month and theres no way I'm going to deal with film over there...then paying to have it all developed ughh
I dont have the money to rent a camera either :-/ I cant find a job
You take a sizable hit on the viewfinder. My F4's viewfinder is HUGE compared to my D90's. That's the only thing I really find compelling about shooting with my F4 over my D90, although I started on digital.
I'd agree with luminosity that you'd want a body with a decent JPEG engine, I'd think:
Honestly...thats the BIGGEST thing Im worried about...the viewfinder...after messing with a friends Rebel the viewfinder just left me...disgusted! haha
maybe I should just save and save and save and wait for the D700 to drop in price and buy it used and stick with that for a few years
When I first went part digital I got a D200. It is only marginally larger than an F100 and about the same size as an F6. It took me all of 5 minutes to get used to the handling - all 3 are in most ways similar.
The D200 screen is slightly brighter than the F6 and being 100% magnification compared to about 73% on the F6 appears only marginally smaller through the viewfinder. The D70 viewfinder is quite different - small and dark.
The "crop" factor does not bother me - you just get a bit more magnification when switching from FF to DX.
The learning curve, software costs are quite steep if you are not already scanning film to digital.
You can easily take 40 rolls of film safely through carry on security. Remove them from the tubs, pack them tightly in a sandwich box, CASSETTE LIPS FACING INWARD, and put them through the low dose x-ray at the European end. The metal in the cassette stops low dose x-ray - though if the velvet light trap points out it may not. Working this way I have gone through 6 passes taking film to Africa and bringing it back to UK for processing. If you buy a photographers vest things in it do not count in the carry on weight limit.
Get a D2H. It is cheap and fast, the viewfinder is as good as it gets for DX, smaller than the F100 but it won't kill you. As for the focal length/DOF issues, after a few shots and a couple of lens changes you won't even notice.
I'd say a D200 is pretty good value for money. The viewfinder is good - you'll get used to the size difference in no time. Even though I have a D700, I use the D200 with equal joy. It's a great DX-camera. IMO.
Digital isn't necessarily cheaper. You'll need a PC capable of doing any processing you want and a decent enough monitor, you'll need to buy the software you're going to use if it's PS / NX / Lr + any other tools like EfexPro etc, then you'll want enough storage space for all your pictures, then you'll want a backup solution so when your hard drive dies (which is 2x more likely to happen if you don't have a backup solution) you can recover everything, then you need to factor in that this PC and monitor use a lot of power.
Anyway, if I were you I'd be looking at a D40 with kit lens. I bought one for my Mrs and it's great in the green mode - I really wish my D300 had a green mode!!!
