Nikon SLR D70 + Tamron 70-300mm is it worth

[Catcha]

Just about splurge on a D70 Subject to some reference check from buyers edge, anyway the deal I have from harvey norman is

Nikon D70 + Nikon 18-70mm + Tamron 18-70mm lens
Scan disk 128MB (pleaded with the guy to throw it in for free )
3 years entented warranty from harvey norman
Some canon bag, decent quality.

$2459 on 12months interest free minus cash back $200

$2259 Total

I think i have a good deal but can only get it from harvey cause they have interest free.

Opinions please

Looking forward to learn from eveyone here

[christiand]

Hi Catcha,

I don't believe that the deal you are describing is that good.
Also could you kindly disclose your location in your profile.

Cheers
CD

[johndec]

Just about splurge on a D70 Subject to some reference check from buyers edge, anyway the deal I have from harvey norman is

Nikon D70 + Tamron lens
Scan disk 128MB (pleaded with the guy to throw it in for free )
3 years entented warranty from harvey norman
Some canon bag, decent quality.

$2459 on 12months interest free minus cash back $200

$2259 Total

I think i have a good deal but can only get it from harvey cause they have interest free.

Opinions please

Looking forward to learn from eveyone here

Sorry Catcha, you are getting ripped off big time. Do not consider any D70 that does not come with the nikon 18-70 lens. I paid $1899 at Harvey Norman back in December for D70+18-70+70-300 lenses ($2099-$200 cashback) and I've seen much better deals since then......

A 128 MB card is useless, it will only hold about 20 pics at full (RAW)resolution. I would suggest that before you dive in you spend a few days reading the old posts in this forum to give yourself a better idea of prices and suitable lenses. PS: Never heard of a Tamron 18-35 lens

[Catcha]

Well not the greatest..but you know..decent.

Whats a good CF card I should look at next cause i know the 128mb ain't going to be enough.

I'm also interested in sports photography like motoracing and taking pictures of the V8 supercars in July when then come up to Darwin, I know lenses can cost heaps but a few variety at reasonable cost 1g-2g max in the near future once i get some more experience

[christiand]

Sorry mate,

I somewhat missed your location.

What is the deal exactly ?
Nikon D70 with kit lens plus Tamron 70-300mm + 128Mb card (which you can just forget) plus bag plus extended warranty plus $200 cash back ?
$2259 total ?

Cheers
CD

[johndec]

Sorry mate,

I somewhat missed your location.

What is the deal exactly ?
Nikon D70 with kit lens plus Tamron 70-300mm + 128Mb card (which you can just forget) plus bag plus extended warranty plus $200 cash back ?
$2259 total ?

Cheers
CD

The way I read it Christian was a D70 body only plus a Tamron wide angle (18-35mm) plus 128 card bag and warranty. Well that's the way it reads according to the subject title and Catcha's post Please clarify Catcha

[Nnnnsic]

That sounds like a pretty piss poor deal.

It's more expensive than most alternatives, and I'd hedge my bets on the Nikon 18-70 being better than the Tamron 17-35... and 128 mb? They've got to be bloody joking.

[stubbsy]

Catcha

A comparison
www.camerastore.com.au has:

• D70 + Nikon 18-70 kit lens for 1,990 before rebate
• 3 years extended warranty is $89
• Lowepro Micro Trekker 200 is $135
• Sandisk 128 Mb $49
• freight is $16

Total is $2279. This is close to $200 less than your buy price and you're getting a damn good bag and a better lens than the Tamron. For close to the same price as your $2459 you could get a Nikon 70-300 mm lens AS WELL

Bottom line is you're paying an extra $200-250 for the interest free once ypu've taken into account the fees they charge you to sign up for interest free. By my maths that makes about $10% interest which, last time I looked, is more than a personal loan.

And BTW I chose camerastore cos they have all the bits listed. There are many other places online to buy with similar pricing just do a search.

Edit: To crystallise the sage advice already offered by the others a 128Mb card is useless. A typical image weighs in at around 5Mb RAW or 3 Mb compressed so a 128 card will fit about 40 pics at best. The price difference between the 128 card and a 1Gb card is $100 to $150 depend on what and where you buy and the 1Gb is 9 times the size

[Catcha]

Ok sorry my description is somewhat confusing let me try again

Harvey norman 12 interest free

Nikon D70
+
AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm
+
Tamron 70-300mm
+
Scan disk 128mb
+
Canon Bag to fit everything in
+
3 year extended warranty + factory = 4years total warranty
+
$200 rebate

Comes to $2259 for everything listed and rebate already taken off the price.

[NetMagi]

im really confused what purpose the tamron 18-35 serves in that setup. I could see if it was a prime in the same focal range as the kit, but why two zooms???

-Rich

[Nnnnsic]

I'm trying to figure out what the point is of including an 18-35 Tamron with the kit lens...

[Catcha]

There are two kits in the store

Kit 1 consist of
D70 Body
AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm
Tamron 70-300mm
Price $2299 RRP

Kit 2 consist of
D70 body
AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm
Scan Disk 128mb
Camera Bag

Price $2199 RRP

I go for the Kit 1 and get the price down to $2199 so basically i get the Tamron 70-300mm for free.
I pay $200 for 3 years extended warranty (normally $300)
Camera Bag, that is actually a canon $60 ($80 rrp)
Scan disk 128mb Free
And Nikon $200 Rebate

Total after rebate is $2249 12months interest free

[NetMagi]

a tamron 70-300 is making much more sense than the aforementioned 18-35

[Catcha]

a tamron 70-300 is making much more sense than the aforementioned 18-35

apologies I only notice it just then..fat fingers

[birddog114]

The kit consists of:

D70 + 18-70 + Nikon 70-300 is $2050.00 GST Inc., after cash back is $1850.00, that you should pay, 128Mb card cost $20.00 or less, giving it to the kid they will rant you.
A Canon bag for $60.00 Canon? 10 buck, no one want to touch, only tempting you, The Nova 2 AW is better than the Canon bag for $55.00.
3 Years extended warranty? have you read the fine prints?
Mostly you paid interest 10% on your purchase as they said interest free.

[gstark]

I pay $200 for 3 years extended warranty (normally $300)

Why?

It's what's they refer to as a profit centre. You need to figure out why that is so.

Camera Bag, that is actually a canon $60 ($80 rrp)

And in reality will be worth about $0 to you. Have you seen how much of this kit it might hold?


Tell them to swap the Canon bag for a Lowepro. Scrub the warranty. Throw in two 256 cards.

And at the current negotiated price (excluding the warranty) and you'll be getting close to a reasonable deal.



And where's the usual mandatory POS tripod?

[kipper]

Please. Get them to throw in 2x512mb Sandisk Ultra IIs or Extremes
Or atleast 1x1GB Sandisk Ultra IIs or Extremes.

I wouldn't bother with anything less than 512mb personally. It's funny, I've used film based SLRs for 20 years and had to put up with 24-36 shots per roll. Now I have DSLR I can't be bothered changing a card every 90 shots

[birddog114]

Buy a 4Gb card around $500.00 and shoot until you're bored.

[kipper]

Buy a 4Gb card around $500.00 and shoot until you're bored.

A man with the same line of thought as me!

[boxerboy]

Now that we've established that there's no such thing as "Interest Free" at HN, I'd be getting my number of posts up around 30 and be talking to birddog about the D70 + 24-120VR kit on offer for $1900. Leaves you with $300 for some decent memory and a bag. This would leave you way in front in terms of both value and usable kit IMO.

Cheers
Peter

[kipper]

Hasn't that deal come to an end? I thought it had.

However the Kit with 18-70MM is still on offer and is way better than anywhere else.

[birddog114]

Hasn't that deal come to an end? I thought it had.

However the Kit with 18-70MM is still on offer and is way better than anywhere else.

The new offer is still on and on the new thread.

[kipper]

Oh....wonderful. Should find some small change and get this as a spare body

[HappyFotographer]

I think what most people are not reading is that Catcha can only afford to take this deal on because of the buy now pay later deal that he has with Buyers Edge.

This is how my husband got me my camera for christmas. Did he pay way too much, in comparison to Birddog's offerings, you betcha......but at that/this time, it was the only way to get me the camera.......otherwise it would have taken 12-18 months before we were even close....and now with child number 4 on the way and we have just committed ourselves to a 5 years loan to buy a people mover....I might never have gotten one.

Catcha, if you are happy with the deal (although I would recommend a bigger card....I got the 512mb) and it suits your circumstances......then go for it....don't have regrets....they are pointless. Or if you have the patience of a saint and can save enough to take advantage of Birddogs amazing deals......then go for it.....but either way, get your camera and start enjoying it.

Cheers
Deb

[JordanP]

Catcha,

Not sure of your financial situation but as has been echoed above ... interest free should be looked at for what it is.

Shops can offer this because their mark up covers them paying a premium to the finance company (equivilent to interest). Some interest free deals also have 'small' administrative fees that go with your repayments - these when tallied up over your repayment period are often close to 7-10% of your purchase price. If you offered to pay cash you would find that you could get the same deal around or even sub 2k - as they don't have to pay a premium to the financier they have more margin to bargin with.

Obviously if you can't afford that, you can't offer that as 'happyfotograper' points out. But lets say you can get a good deal (as mentioned above) for say 1800 -1900. What interest would you pay on a personal loan of that size? Could you pay it off in under 12months? The answer to these question would help you figure out if actually paying interest over a period could be cheaper than an 'interest free' deal.

With regards to what is worth getting. In my opinion - scrap the extended 3yr waranty and go with at least a 512meg card.

Cheers,

[phillipb]

Catcha,
I agree with the last two posts. The only place I buy interest free is David Jones because they match prices and don't go through a third party finance company so you're getting the best of both worlds, unfortunately they're not very big in photography.

[sirhc55]

Deb - You are spot-on with what you have written.

This forum is made up of people from all walks of life with all forms of income.

There are those of us with a good income, there are those of us who do not. We all have commitments of varying degrees that stop us from spending money on the VR’s or 12-24’s etc, that we would love.

In the end this forum is about information on phototgraphy, letting others see our photos and a place to share the love of a great hobby - the D70 being the means no matter how it is purchased.

[owen]

Hi Catcha.

I got deal no 1 from harvey's with the kit lens, a 70 - 300mm tamron, a 128 mb card and a 3 year warranty. I paid $2300 for it on interest free which you tell them that's how you're paying after you negotiate the price.

Anyway, go interest free, but make sure you pay it off before the interest free period ends, mine charges 23% per annum after that!

Enjoy your camera

Cheers,
Owen.

[nigels]

Hi Guys,
Yes Owen is right, if not paid off prior to the end of the interest free period, the charges are horrendous, up to and over 23%.

This is a situation where you are betwen a rock and a hard place, damm difficult decision.

I dislike intensly dealing with HN but there has been the odd good deal, although this isn't one of them.

As I see it, 4 choices:

1. Don't buy now but save
2. Buy from HN
3. Buy on credit card
4. Personal loan

The advantages of 3 and 4 are that you can bargain for the best deals available, yes even with credit card.

Bit of a guess here, but credit card repaymants on say $2200 should equate to about no more than $50 a month and a PL over 2 years at 10% should equate to about $100 a month but of course paid of much faster.
But as with all of us,"we want it now" and what you are getting with Harvel Borman are the 2 basic things that will make up your good camera set, ie the D70 and the kit lens.

The other stuff you may be able to flog on Ebay and put to good use at a later date

Regards
Nige

[Catcha]

Thanks for all the overwhelming response, since the cash back offer is extended give me some room to do some researcch and see what is a good or great deal.

Basically my wife is getting me the camera for my birthday so she's paying for it, and she is also a writer for Territory Times so she needs it as well for her articles, best of both worlds.

When first considering a D70 last year I went to HK and compared prices, in the end the saving of only about $200-300 dollars IMO was not really worth it with warranty issues, buggered if i am going to send it back, but after breify reading this forum, it seems that it can be overcome.

JordanP: suggested that i scrap the 3 year extended warranty and just stay with the standard and get a bigger card? is that advisable, have other user just taken just the 1 yr warrenty and not extended it at all, i can see so many things go wrong with a digital camera, I think is needed opinion please.

I can get a Scan disk 2 ultra 512mb plus card reader as a kit for $175 how does that sounds ? bearing in mind the card reader as you all would know is $40 alone. thats from RRP $199

When you see these RRP and after prices that i post, it's what discount people i know at Harvey Norman are giving me.

So confused really need to sit down and look at it......but have to rush to work...

[owen]

I got the extra warranty. What if the camera goes guts up in 2.5 years? You can swap it over with whatever model is out then. At least thats what my warranty specifies can be done. Anyway, paying extra for a bit of piece of mind is worth it I think.

[MCWB]

I can get a Scan disk 2 ultra 512mb plus card reader as a kit for $175 how does that sounds ? bearing in mind the card reader as you all would know is $40 alone. thats from RRP $199

Sounds rubbish IMO. You can get good 1GB cards for $120 these days... I suppose what it comes down to is this: if you can't afford it outright then you're going to pay more for it in the long run (like everything). How much more is acceptable to you is another thing altogether, IMO the enjoyment from owning the camera will outweigh the extra cost... but clearly better deals can be had.

[Catcha]

Hi Catcha.

I got deal no 1 from harvey's with the kit lens, a 70 - 300mm tamron, a 128 mb card and a 3 year warranty. I paid $2300 for it on interest free which you tell them that's how you're paying after you negotiate the price.

Anyway, go interest free, but make sure you pay it off before the interest free period ends, mine charges 23% per annum after that!

Enjoy your camera

Cheers,
Owen.

Damn i'm going to shop around a bit more and try and squeeze a few more dollars out of them. that $2300 is that after the cash rebate as well.

[owen]

No that was before getting my $200 back which took about a month.

I was prepared to pay a little bit more in order to have the camera to play with while paying it off, but I think I got a fairly good price.

[Killakoala]

Here's a quick suggestion. See if you can get someone else anywhere in the country to give you a good offer and then take the printed offer into HN and ask them to match or beat it. It works for Bunnings so it might work for HN. BTW. I have never liked the HN store in Darwin since they knocked down the Berrimah Hotel to build the thing. It was much quieter having bikies drinking next door than the Saturday morning family exped to the shops. (door slamming etc)

[ozimax]

Catcha,

I assume you're paying a premium for living in Darwin. I paid $1990 (after HN rebate) for D70 + kit lens + Tamron 70-300 lens, not cheap but again I had no money but wanted the camera, I have already paid off a chunk of it, definitely will not pay 25% interest or whatever it is.

As for the Tamron lens, not world class but OK, please check out my new website, it seems you're interested in sports photography, all the shots were taken with the Tamron. (I'm not going to wade out into the surf with a nice Nikon lens!) Having said that, I am looking around now for a second hand 300mm Nikon (even a 600mm!)

The kit lens 18-70 is superb in every way.

To my reckoning, Birddog's stuff seems way cheaper than any other place out there.

Hope this helps a little,

Max
Coffs Harbour
http://www.surfshotz.com

[Catcha]

Here's a quick suggestion. See if you can get someone else anywhere in the country to give you a good offer and then take the printed offer into HN and ask them to match or beat it. It works for Bunnings so it might work for HN. BTW. I have never liked the HN store in Darwin since they knocked down the Berrimah Hotel to build the thing. It was much quieter having bikies drinking next door than the Saturday morning family exped to the shops. (door slamming etc)

Thats and excellent idea, i have an uncle down in Sydney as well, and i guess finance interest free works all around australia..actually my cousin is coming up from sydney as well........in march... what to do hehehe let me sit down and do some ringing ....well see how it goes .

[Catcha]

Catcha,

I assume you're paying a premium for living in Darwin. I paid $1990 (after HN rebate) for D70 + kit lens + Tamron 70-300 lens, not cheap but again I had no money but wanted the camera, I have already paid off a chunk of it, definitely will not pay 25% interest or whatever it is.

As for the Tamron lens, not world class but OK, please check out my new website, it seems you're interested in sports photography, all the shots were taken with the Tamron. (I'm not going to wade out into the surf with a nice Nikon lens!) Having said that, I am looking around now for a second hand 300mm Nikon (even a 600mm!)

The kit lens 18-70 is superb in every way.

To my reckoning, Birddog's stuff seems way cheaper than any other place out there.

Hope this helps a little,

Max
Coffs Harbour
http://www.surfshotz.com

Nice photos.....yeah thats the sort of stuff i would like to get into or take for that matter.

Well after reading all of the post in bargins and seeing the deals that are avaliable or have been for that matter, the harvey norman deal doens't sound so sweet at all, and seeing that Birddog can get australian delivered Nikons from maxwell with local warranty at a cosiderable lower cost than harvey norman, i'm going to sit and wait till save up the cash and get 30 post ..........hmm getting 30 post would be easier if i had the camera and was asking questions on how to use it oh well rules are rules i guess.........

ok everybody reply to me so i can increase my post .......

[bwhinnen]

Here's a quick suggestion. See if you can get someone else anywhere in the country to give you a good offer and then take the printed offer into HN and ask them to match or beat it. It works for Bunnings so it might work for HN. BTW. I have never liked the HN store in Darwin since they knocked down the Berrimah Hotel to build the thing. It was much quieter having bikies drinking next door than the Saturday morning family exped to the shops. (door slamming etc)

You just need to go to the Winnellie instead then, still has it's original charm (well did when I left about 18 months ago), just a little further from Coonawarra though

Good luck trying to beat HN down though Ben, they are pretty strict up there in the electrical section.

Cheers
Brett

[Catcha]

Here's a quick suggestion. See if you can get someone else anywhere in the country to give you a good offer and then take the printed offer into HN and ask them to match or beat it. It works for Bunnings so it might work for HN. BTW. I have never liked the HN store in Darwin since they knocked down the Berrimah Hotel to build the thing. It was much quieter having bikies drinking next door than the Saturday morning family exped to the shops. (door slamming etc)

You just need to go to the Winnellie instead then, still has it's original charm (well did when I left about 18 months ago), just a little further from Coonawarra though

Good luck trying to beat HN down though Ben, they are pretty strict up there in the electrical section.

Cheers
Brett

Did you remember where abouts in Winnellie ? or i might sit and wait for a good deal to pop up here after my 30 post , so hows things Brett ?see your still around in different forums besides rexnet it turn to crap now hehe. This seems like a better way to spend my time taken photos for now