Buying a SLR/n a mistake?

Dear Knowledgable Kodak Forum,
I've been shooting with Kodak DCS 760's for the past several years and have been very happy with the color and tonality. I've wanted larger files and have looked at the DCS SLR/n off and on. I shoot mostly in the studio with controlled lighting and I'm pretty proficient with Photo Desk. I've just stumbled into a mint SLR/n with three batteries, all accessories and the original boxes and charges, etc. I paid $2100. Will I regret buying into a dead system? I have ten days to test for a full refund. Are there any "gotchas"?

The info here is always so good. Any input would be great. You can look at my website to see what kind of work I like to do.
www.kirktuck.com

Thanks, Kirk

[ArtChristopher]

My view:

No. Just because the camera is no longer being distributed doesn't change it's strengths (or weaknesses, come to that). What it does mean is that new functionality is unlikely to be forthcoming via firmware updates, so what you see now is what you get forever...

And for use in a studio, the SLR/n is a perfectly competent beastie (although some people seem to have had occasional issues using it wired to a computer as opposed to shooting to card, but it doesn't seem to be a common or on-going issue, and it may be dependent on the computer hardware involved). Certainly, I'd opine that it's the best solution for studio use with Nikon glass, because no matter how great the D2X is, it suffers from a field-of-view crop and demolishing the rear wall of my studio to get the extra shooting distance would cost more than switching to a Hassy Digital...

One thing I didn't regret was getting the PocketWizard upgrade, and if that's something that appeals to you, you may want to call Rochester soon, lest they forget how to do it!

AC

Kirk,

I own three of them two are 14NX and the other is the 14N. The 14N lives in my large camera room while a DCS 760 is in my smaller camera room. The two 14NX cameras are our location cameras. I am a very happy camper. If you would like to see them in action, I am one hour north of you in Copperas Cove. Feel free to give me a call 254 547-3980 to come up and play with one for a day or so.

Bob Smith, from Waco also has a couple and likes them very much.

[Forest_McMullin]

Kirk-

The 760 was my main camera for three years and I love(d) it. I tested a 14n/x and a SLR/n and found both severely lacking. I had serious problems with the files, but that's an inconsistant situation that many people on this forum don't experience. At least as much of an issue for me was the build quality. After shooting tens of thousands of frames with the F5 based 760, shooting with the SLR/n felt like taking a major step backwards. The auto-focus was slow and sloppy. I was constantly pressing buttons with my nose. It just felt rinky-[BAD WORD DELETED]. I also couldn't get it to work very well tethered.

I ended up waiting for the D2X and I couldn't be happier. It's a truly professional tool with files more than big enough to keep my clients resolution happy. The biggest drawback is the 1.5 magnification factor, but I sold my 14/2.8 and got the 12-24 lens so it's not an issue. I miss the ease of workflow with Photodesk, but I've adapted to Bibble, Nikon Capture, and CS2.

You and I do similar kinds of work, so I'm comfortable expressing these opinions. You can see what I do at: http://www.mcmullinphoto.com/homebase.htm .

Good luck,

Forest

Dear Larry,
Thanks for the response. I really like your work. I can see you and both shot a lot of 2-1/4 square before switching to digital. For the price, I'm determined to make the SLR/N work. If I am ultimately defeated I will join the ranks of D2x shooters without much complaint. Thanks again.

Kirk

I don't know why people are having problems using this camera tethered other than the rinky doofus 4 pin firewire port that cannot support a firewire cable. This engineering really was bad, but Kodak make a work-around by designing a two part clamp that will hold the cable into the port.

Unfortunately, when they designed the clamp, they forgot to put a tripod screw hole in the bottom of the clamp assembly so one has to take the part to a machine shop to have a 1/4 X 20 hole cut in the item so it will fit on a tripod.

Another, cheaper method is to buy a large tripod screw at any camera store and buy a large flat metal washer in any hardware store to keep the cable in its port. If you want to firm this up a bit more, invest in a bit of velcro strapping. It looks yucky, but its very functional.

We shoot everything in the studio tethered and all of our event photography is tethered as well.

We have a couple of laptops we shoot to and while driving home from the job(s) we burn either a CD or a DVD so uploading the images to our lab is done the same evening.

I did not use the word doofus, but when I wrote d i n k as in rinky-[BAD WORD DELETED] it told me I has used a bad word.

[RickMoore]

Greetings,

I have only one 14NX and have no ambition to sell it. It works wonderfully for me for in studio and also location shooting for fashion and boob & butt calendar work. I am keeping it until it falls apart.

The full frame is great. I can crop if necessary and still do high end full color, full bleed 20x20 inch glossy calendar work.

I love PhotoDesk and dread the day that I have to move back to Photoshop for the amount of work that I do.