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Autofocus is sharp. Works fine with the 18-70 it came with and my 18-200 VR, through which I’ve shot perhaps 15,000 shots on my D40.

The color leaves a little to be desired by me. I would describe it as cool instead of warm like the color from my D40. The same thing I noticed when comparing my cousin’s D70 to my D40 earlier this year.

But it appears I’ve purchased a functional D70 at a fair price.

I closely compared pictures shot with BASIC, NORMAL and FINE JPEG compression and decided, as I did with my D40, to shoot in BASIC.

Why not a D80 or D300?

Reason 1: Because the D80 is presently ~$750 and the D300 is presently ~$1799. I can, and did, get a D70 (with lens!) for under $400.

Reason 2: Metering. According to Ken Rockwell, the D70’s meter is better than the D40 and D80’s. Wonderful.

What I really want is  D300 but I believe this D70 is an affordable step in the right direction. And I already wanted this particular lens (18-70) for times I’m walking a lot and my 18-200 VR is just too long to be hanging there, tipping my D40’s nose down all day. For those times, when I also don’t need the 200mm zoom, the 18-70 will be okay. I would also haven been happy with the 18-55 kit lens, but I sold that after I got the 18-200, desafortunadamente.

I found a D70 with 18-70mm Nikkor lens for $500 on Craigslist this morning. I emailed the guy, offered him $430, heard back quickly and called him. Including a bag, battery, 2GB Ultra II CF card, some chargers and he threw in a USB CF reader.

The lens was scratched so I offered just $200 for the body. He asked how much for the whole deal including the scratched lens. $375. Deal.

I’m happy with the deal. According to Exif data from a pic I took, the D70 has about 7700 shutter actuations on it. Not bad — according to a D40 pic from about a month ago, my D40 has 18752 shutter actuations — and I’ve only had it since February this year (2007).