Anybody here have or had a D30?

[Malaxos1]

I just purchased a D30 as a backup camera. I know that it is dated but at $580 with a 28-80 Ultrasonic I thought it was a decent deal. I am just a fraid of doing a shoot and something go wrong with my main camera. Anyway I know it's oly 3.2mp, but how large of a print have you gotten out of the D30? Also is there anything I should know about? I probably should have asked these questions before buying. Please only those who have owned or used D30 respond as I don't want opinions or speculation. Thanks...Dean

[karusel]

Better yet, can someone tell what is the optimal (normal) dpi for a photo?

[Cordell]

Okay I won't speculate, but I will tell you what I have seen and touched from a D30.

The photographer is a highend wedding photographer who still use wedding album samples shot with the D30 a couple of years ago. His album sample sizes are 11x14 and are extremely good quality. Detail is good, not the extreme best, but very good.

I can't go into details of his experience using it, but I can say he urged me to get one because he thoroughly enjoyed his prior to upgrading to a 10D when I first started shooting weddings a year ago. I went with the D60 instead because a great deal crossed my way. Otherwise I would have gone with the D30 because the quality was good for the print size.

[Doug Rowan]

I have one & love it. You got a hell'uva deal at $580 since they went for over 2K new! I routinely shoot 8x10 prints that are much better than my 5MP Dimage ever did.

[CyberDyneSystems]

They are a sweet deal right now,. often going for under $600.00 used.

If My 10D weren't about to become my back up.. I would be considering a D30 as a back up to the 10D.

One of the biggest downsides to the D30 is it's low light focusing.. not the best. But it's jpegs still look better than the 10D out of the box... the in camera processing was more "complete" leaving you with less work to do in post.

This was the first DSLR I ever "lusted after".. but I was not ready to spend the $2,500.00 .. so I waited untill the 10D.

[BobbyC]

I love my D30 even though I haven't used it much since getting the 10D. It's a great little camera. I made prints up to 16x20 that looked great with the right shot, not all shots could handle this enlargement. (I've seen shots from others up to 20x24 and they looked awesome) The camera did not do any more in-camera processing than the 10D does, but I found the LCD was much better for judging exposure than the 10D is. Since I paid 2600.00 for it, I will probably never sell it (I never seem to sell anything, even though I should) It's 3.2 mp but the pixels are twice as large as most. If you mostly go up to 11x14 with an occasional bigger print, you should be very pleased. I would highly recommend an L lense to really get the most out of it.

Cheers,
Bobby

[Malaxos1]

Thanks guys, I have posted on a few other sites that I got the D30 and some of them have turned into flame wars. I was just trying to avoid that here. From what I have seen and read, it should do just fine. I also do weddings, so the few comments here really encouraged me. Thanks again...Dean

[GenEOS]

This thread cracks me up...Cyber, it wasn't that long ago we were all lusting and waiting for the release of the D30!!!!

[EoSD30fReAk]

i still use one (will probably upgrade soon to 10D?)
i've got D30 prints 24x20 and they're still very good.
i will probably never sell it like all my other cameras! maybe i should although some of the aren't worth a thing nowadays, like the A5 :wink:

[Malaxos1]

i still use one (will probably upgrade soon to 10D?)
i've got D30 prints 24x20 and they're still very good.
i will probably never sell it like all my other cameras! maybe i should although some of the aren't worth a thing nowadays, like the A5 :wink:

Very cool, 24x20s. I could be totally wrong, but I have been looking on Photosig all day at photos that were taken with the D30 and it seems to me that it has more dynamic range than I am used to seeing with other DSLRs...Dean

[chris maddock]

When I bought my 10D, I kept my D30 as a backup. I'm still quite happy to give it an airing now and again - I've had plenty of camera club seals of merit for 17"x11" D30 prints, some larger.
Actually, I'm glad I did keep it, because I want to get into infra-red monochrome when the weather and light picks up here, and the D30 is a couple of stops more sensitive to IR than the 10D.

KRs
Chris

[hickory]

I own the D30 and I love it! As was said earlier focus is a problem under some situations but for the price I think its a winner. I print almost entirely 8 x 10s and they get me a lot of "wows".

tom

[Malaxos1]

When I bought my 10D, I kept my D30 as a backup. I'm still quite happy to give it an airing now and again - I've had plenty of camera club seals of merit for 17"x11" D30 prints, some larger.
Actually, I'm glad I did keep it, because I want to get into infra-red monochrome when the weather and light picks up here, and the D30 is a couple of stops more sensitive to IR than the 10D.

KRs
Chris

A couple more stops more sensative? Cool, what about the dynamic range compared to your 10D?

[chris maddock]

When I bought my 10D, I kept my D30 as a backup. I'm still quite happy to give it an airing now and again - I've had plenty of camera club seals of merit for 17"x11" D30 prints, some larger.
Actually, I'm glad I did keep it, because I want to get into infra-red monochrome when the weather and light picks up here, and the D30 is a couple of stops more sensitive to IR than the 10D.

KRs
Chris

A couple more stops more sensative? Cool, what about the dynamic range compared to your 10D?

Dunno yet - all I've been able to do so far is shoot a few test shots to get an idea of exposure times and to make sure they could see through the IR filter ;-)

KRs
Chris