Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Camera graveyard

I've been preparing boxes for Mexico, divvying up what goes in storage and what we take with us. A lot of stuff is just getting ditched, sold or given away.

Opening some of these old boxes opens cans of worms. I had almost forgotten about my old Nikon SLR optical cameras. They seemed so sad sitting there with their little backs pressed against each other, lenseless and unloved. I don't know what to do with them. I used to use them daily and then I moved to France where I was too poor to develop film. Now they're just sitting around--icons collecting dust.

What do you do with old cameras like these? I don't really think there's much of a market for them anymore. One of the cameras is an N series fully automatic model (auto advance/auto focus) and I have at least three lenses for it. Are the lenses for the automatic models compatible with the newer digital SLR's? Those lenses cost me a fortune! Are the flashes compatible? I have some nice flashes.

I'm such a digital nerd. I guess it's time to start all over and get a serious camera again. Meanwhile the guys are going in a storage box. I don't think I have the heart to give them away.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

YES!

Do NOT get rid of the lenses! Or the bodies! Gaaaaahhh!

:)

I don't know about the flashes, but Nikon lenses work on Nikon DSLRs; however, any autofocus lenses will only work in manual with the newer D40 bodies. This means that if you want to go digital, you'll have to invest in a D80, or try to find a used D50 or D70/D70s.

dpreview.com is a good resource site for digital cameras. If you have lenses, you will only need to bhy the camera body, and that will save you a nice chunk of change.

Hope that helps! Oh, and I am sure there is a users forum on the Nikon website...

Anonymous said...

E-bay them! Someone surely will scoop them up in a minute...


laura

Anonymous said...

My mom hung on to her SLR Canon until it absolutely d.i.e.d. It took the best, brightest, clearest pictures until the day it did.

Despite having just gotten a D80, and tho the lenses aren't compatible, he's hanging on to his SLR. Ebay is a good option if you aren't sentimental about that kind of thing; there are loads of manual folks still out there.

Love your blog!