Not underwater, but upgrade from a D70 to???

[Jax]

My D70 is having f-stop issues.

What is the next best body, and why?

 

[beautybelow]

What are the issues? Have you tried cleaning your lens and body connections?

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Could you be more specific about the "f-stop issues"?

The connection between the camera and the lens that triggers the lens to
stop down is mechanical, not electrical, however, if the lens does not have
an aperture ring, the camera tells the lens WHAT stop to stop down to
electrically.

Can you try a different lens?

The current equivalent in the Nikon line-up is the D90, but you'll find that
even the lower-priced D3000/D5000 are better than your D70 EXCEPT that
to autofocus, they need a lens with a built-in motor, and they may not
have as many AF points.

 

[diebeste]

D3x, for obvious reasons. But if you could spend that much, you already would have had one
I like my D700, but if you have DX lenses a D300s would be better.
Read Thom Hogan's Nikon Field Guide and Nikon Flash Guide for everything and more about Nikons.
Oh, and rather spend the money on a better lens, and get a cheeper body.

 

[slowhands]

My D70 is having f-stop issues.

What is the next best body, and why?

Sounds like dirty contacts, try cleaning them gently.

I don't know what lenses you have, but I will assume they are screw drive AF lenses, not AF-S. A D80 might be a good next step, for not much money. The 90 would be nicer, but more money. I'd stay away from the D5000 since you would need all new AF-S lenses.

For quick repair at reasonable price, I always send mine to Camera Clinic:
Contact Us

 

[divengolf]

For quick repair at reasonable price, I always send mine to Camera Clinic:
Contact Us

From their web site, it appears that they only work on Canons. No mention of Nikon that I could find anywhere on the site.

Is this true?

 

[Jax]

What are the issues? Have you tried cleaning your lens and body connections?

The [f---] is blinking in the viewfinder and on the settings LCD.

I will try the cleaning, thank you, but I think it is in the cpu.

The reason is that I can go into the menu and adjust, say,the ISO or something, and the next shot is just fine. Then it begins blinking again. Manual adjustment through the LCD will allow me to set the stops, but as soon as I push the button, the [f---] begins blinking again.

It's as if something isn't keeping the reading, and from a computer point of view, that says failed memory locations or CPU cache locations.

I am seeing gently used D200s for $600. My lenses are af-dx.

 

[Jax]

BTW, guys, it isn't flashing the [F EE] error which seems to be commonplace.

 

[beautybelow]

On my canon if I remember right with a bad connection the f stop went blank. I finally figured out that if I "rock" my zoom back and forth it would make it come back for a shot or two. Then I figured out if I cleaned the contacts they worked all the time. Yours does sound like a computer error I guess.

 

[Viz'art]

Try cleaning the contact shown in the picture with a pencil eraser. I had a similar problem in the past and is was due to mild corrosion (I did some jungle shooting for a while and the humidity can cause all kind of weird symptoms)

Also I feel if you can wait a bit (a few months), there is persistant rumors of a replacement for the D90 with 1080p HD video, the D3100 just showed up this morning on DP review, impresive little Nikon, but strickly AF-S, hopefully the sucessor of the D90 will retain its internal motor as well.