In article <10AUG96.17653270.0077@VM1.MCGILL.CA>, B2LP000@MUSICB.MCGILL.CA says... [...]
> I am thinking of getting a second hand N90 or N8008. Both are good
>gear. Should I get N90 or N8008?
> On the other hand, I personally think that the N8008 available on the
>market may have been worn out by it's owner as it discontinued few years
>ago. Am I correct on this point?
As to the second question, there are still relatively little-used 8008's
to be found - it is worth looking for one!
As to the first question, IM(NS)HO, I prefer the 8008 (non-"s", at that
[the center-weighted meter pattern is a disk instead of a doughnut]).
I was surprised, when looking at a friend's N90s recently, how poor the
new viewfinders had become (the 8008's and earlier cameras have snappy,
easy to use VFs for manual focusing - the N90's VF was brighter, but
it was difficult to use for manual focus [sharpness was poor]).
The other surprise was that AF STILL doesn't work reliably (after
hearing all the hoopla with the 8008, then the 8008s, then the N90,
then the N90s about how they "finally got AF right" - yuh, right....;-)
In many AF tries, the N90s did not hunt, but did slightly mis-focus
about 1/2 the time (moving the camera position slightly after AF
[with lock] could improve focus accuracy about 1/2 the time). For me,
the value of the newer Nikons is in the built-in (fairly compact)
motor drive, the HP finder, and (especially) the wonderful TTL flash
with selectable fill-ratio. The Matrix ("roll-o'-th'-dice") metering
and AF are not useful to me. The 8008 meter shows a +/- two stop range,
which I find more useful than the +/- one stop range of the N90 for
manual metering. Too bad Nikon discontinued the 8008..... Maybe the
F5 "finally got AF and Matrix AE right", and auto features will work,
uh, "as advertised"? BTW, Nikon's AF is hardly unique in not working
very well - I think it may still be an unperfected technology for
those who take image sharpness seriously.....
Hope This Helps