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I'm starting to get down to the business end of buying my first digital camera and I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has recently bought a D70s with kit lens and what they paid.

I've searched the old D70 users forums and the DSLR Users site and have found some ballpark figures, but I'm wondering what a decent price is as of October 2005?

For the record, I'm looking at a D70s + 18-70mm kit lens and possibly 70-300mm. The cheapest price is around $1869 from an online Sydney importer (ex Hong Kong I think). Can I expect to go much lower, and will they throw in filters etc to get my money?

Hopefully, anyone else in my position might benefit from the replies to this post.

Thanks, Jonas

Remember, if you buy from Hong Kong, you're D70s won't have a warranty here.

Best off to buy the body alone or body combos (body, kit lens, etc) in Australia so if something goes wrong, you don't have to ship it back to Hong Kong to get it fixed.

I got my D70s + kit lens a couple of weeks ago from

http://www.dirtcheapcameras.com.au

$1845. Good, prompt service and delivery(inc. in price) with Maxwells warranty etc.

Are you referring to Discount Digital Photographics for that $1869 figure? I got all my stuff from him. He's reliable, prices are good, just that they are grey imports, so warranty might be a problem, although I got a Mack warranty with mine, I don't know how good they are, and hope I won't ever have to find out!

Paid $1729 for my D70s kit back in May. I think it's gone down since.

Price of the D70s in between of import and local stock does not have a big gap, around $150.00 difference.
I recommend to purchase local stock for your peace in mind.

My D70 has had nearly $700 worth of repairs since I bought it.....

but, I bought it locally, with a local warranty, and so this has not cost me a cent.

Always buy a body with a local warranty.

Lenses and flashes etc can be bought elsewhere to save a few peso's however, as they will have an international warranty.

Cheers

Justin

jberth1 wrote:My D70 has had nearly $700 worth of repairs since I bought it.....

but, I bought it locally, with a local warranty, and so this has not cost me a cent.

Always buy a body with a local warranty.

Lenses and flashes etc can be bought elsewhere to save a few peso's however, as they will have an international warranty.

Cheers

Justin

Justin,
That's exactly right! lot of people didn't see that point, if the gap is big as when the first D70 released then it's good for your saving, otherwise you'll regret if something turned sour as lemon.

Check out this place, i think its the cheapest MAXWELL stock in oz... bought a few camera off them, quite good and convinient

Body only for $1337.00 and get the 24-120 VR from HKS instead of the kit lense.

http://www.camerafarm.com.au/camera/cus ... hp?cat=273

I got mine here in WA (Gerry Gibbs), body only, with 4 year extended warranty for $1300.

Everything else I am sourceing through Hong Kong...ie just got SB600 for a tad under $300 Aus ($286 to be exact).

Get camera as close to home as possible, save your money on lenses and flash...not the camera.

Escapism

I know Harvey Norman is a bad word, but I actually bought my D70 from them, and purchased an additional 2 year warranty (gives me 3 years). To me, the camera was a 'big' buy, so the extra money for 3 years was definitely worthshile, and gives me peace of mind (especially with the possibility of BLOGD always in the background). Any repairs are done through Andersons (Brisbane), and so far so good.

I think I paid about $1900 (inc gst), but that included both the Kit lenes and also a Nikon G series 70-300MM

I'm lead to believe that this is a pretty good as the price gets, and i got all the maxwell warranty stuff! definatly an aussie buy.

Definatly helps when you have a friend in the business!

gMaster wrote:Body only for $1337.00

I always suspected the D70 was 1337.

... Obsolete ...

MCWB wrote:

gMaster wrote:Body only for $1337.00

I always suspected the D70 was 1337.

Trent, I learn more and more from you

I'm happy with my purchase - d70s, tamron 18 -200, 1GB Sandisk, UV filter & other extras- $2000 from TEDS - this was 6 months ago. subsequently swapped lens back to kit lens and added the 70 - 300. Also got great deals on manfroto 190 tri, monopod & extra memory etc. Form a good relationship with a local retailer and they have always come out way infront of other retailers for me. Definitely buy local body - not worth the hassle as I witnessed young lad with a $700 'bangkok buy' Nikon coolpix hearing he had no OZ warranty - expensive to fly back just to get your camera fixed!

blacknstormy wrote:I know Harvey Norman is a bad word, but I actually bought my D70 from them, and purchased an additional 2 year warranty (gives me 3 years). To me, the camera was a 'big' buy, so the extra money for 3 years was definitely worthshile, and gives me peace of mind (especially with the possibility of BLOGD always in the background). Any repairs are done through Andersons (Brisbane), and so far so good.

I did the same thing but with the added advantage of paying it off interest free over about 9 months. It's all mine now though

MCWB wrote:

gMaster wrote:Body only for $1337.00

I always suspected the D70 was 1337.

I thought exactly the same thing, but didn't want to sound too g33ky

Thanks for the info everyone. I wasn't aware of the lack of warranty from the imports and am now planning on buying the body and lens kit locally.

At this stage Camera Farm has the cheapest deal at $1777, but I'll check Ted's in Southport, Gold Coast, to see what they can do.

Jonas wrote:Thanks for the info everyone. I wasn't aware of the lack of warranty from the imports and am now planning on buying the body and lens kit locally.

At this stage Camera Farm has the cheapest deal at $1777, but I'll check Ted's in Southport, Gold Coast, to see what they can do.

welcome to the forum..........

My first post, I bought the d70s body only from ccccamera house in the city. I got them to price match the price on camera farm. Me and a mate were originally going to get 2 bodies but my mate piked out at the last second. The guy thought he was going to get a huge purchase, but in the end I just picked up the body only for $1360 or something like that.

It also came with a double warranty as Nikon were running a promotion.

In the end I decided to get Maxwell stock to save on the hassles of postage and waiting if there was a problem. There isn't much of a difference in price on the bodies between maxell and grey imports so I recommend getting the body here and buying a grey lens. I ended up getting the 24-120 vr though you might want to wait and check out the new 17-200vr coming out.

is camera farm still running this offer?

keno wrote:
It also came with a double warranty as Nikon were running a promotion.

Can you point me to the link or any info of this offer on Maxwell site? I'm interested!

PiroStitch wrote:

MCWB wrote:

gMaster wrote:Body only for $1337.00

I always suspected the D70 was 1337.

I thought exactly the same thing, but didn't want to sound too g33ky

Its D70s Body only for $1337.00 See link ..

http://www.camerafarm.com.au/camera/customer/product.php?productid=1009&cat=273&page=1[/b]

gMaster wrote:

PiroStitch wrote:

MCWB wrote:

gMaster wrote:Body only for $1337.00

I always suspected the D70 was 1337.

I thought exactly the same thing, but didn't want to sound too g33ky

Its D70s Body only for $1337.00 See link ..

http://www.camerafarm.com.au/camera/customer/product.php?productid=1009&cat=273&page=1[/b]

Yes, I've seen it but with Nikon 2 years warranty, I'm interested in it as seen it from keno's post mentioned ealier.

I puchased the camera two months ago, and at the time ccccamerahouse were giving away an extra years warranty + some free prints with every Nikon purchased. I'm not sure if the offer is still on.

The extra warranty was just a piece of paper which looked liked a flyer with date stamp and places for me to fill in the details. It is a genuine Maxwell warranty as if you need to claim under warranty to contacted the authorised repairers.

Like I said not sure if it is still on though I noticed that camera farm have reduced their prices by a few dollars anyway which might compensate for the cost of the extra year warranty

Oh just remembered, I originally wanted to pick up my body from camera farm though they didn't have any stock and couldn't tell me when they were going to get any.

Even though I have never bought from them, their customer service was fantastic. I was calling them every day for about two weeks and they were very accomodating.

In the end I was going overseas and wanted to claim the gst back so went to negotiate with ccccamera house. So less the GST final price was $1237 with an extra years warranty.

keno,
As far as I known in the last 5 years, Nikon or Maxwell Optical Industries never offer any additional or extended warranty on any Nikon products which they distributed in Australia.

The Extended warranty is usually offered by camera shops or resellers which covered by third party as Mack Warranty, PhotoTechnical or CPU etc...

The Extended warranty does not related to Maxwell Optical Industries in any events nor any incidents.

Incase of claims of the Extended Warranty could not be repaired by the provider or its underwriter, then they will choose an option to send to Maxwell for repair and Maxwell will act as the contractor of the underwriter, and you're the indirect benefactor, it also means, if the underwriter is bellied up then perhaps your extended warranty won't have much effects.

You never know Birdie, there is a first time for everything

Looking at the warranty card now and it has been issued by camerahouse so defintely a store promotion. On the back of the warranty card the terms and conditions states in addition to all the usual stuff.

This bonus warranty must be presented to the registered official Nikon service agent in your state (see below), before any repair can be made under warranty.

The address for NSW is Maxwell Optical Industries Pty Ltd, Unit F1, 3-29 Birnie Avenue Lidcombe NSW 2141 Ph:02 8748-5200

So looks like Camerahouse have done an exclusive? deal with Nikon on the warranty with Maxwell.

keno wrote:You never know Birdie, there is a first time for everything

Looking at the warranty card now and it has been issued by camerahouse so defintely a store promotion. On the back of the warranty card the terms and conditions states in addition to all the usual stuff.

This bonus warranty must be presented to the registered official Nikon service agent in your state (see below), before any repair can be made under warranty.

The address for NSW is Maxwell Optical Industries Pty Ltd, Unit F1, 3-29 Birnie Avenue Lidcombe NSW 2141 Ph:02 8748-5200

So looks like Camerahouse have done an exclusive? deal with Nikon on the warranty with Maxwell.

keno,

Sydney also has few Camera House stores and I have few contacts, who're working as staffs or store owners, and I never heard they mentioned it to me nor from Maxwell Optical Industries which they are my suppliers of all Nikon DSLRs & lenses.

Hi guys

Thanks for all the feedback above. Just wanted to let you know I ended up going with Camerastore.com.au. $1829 bought me a D70s with 18-70 kit lens. 1GB CF card was $165 and $16 for postage.

I paid over the weekend, received a phone call on Monday to confirm and had it delivered by Wednesday midday.

Jonas........ welcome to the forum........ we have quite a few members now on the Gold Coast, almost enough for a mini meet..........

Jonas

Welcome as a fully fledged DSLR owner. I bought my D70 from camerastore.com.au last December and found them great to deal with (although not as great as our own birddog)