My Dream DSLR is From 2001 

That shutter sound … is wonderful. You could literally sample that sound and use it for movies as the stock “camera” sound for foley artists. It’s so pure

You struck gold there! I think it's funny how people are discovering that these old DSLRs were actually quite good! The CCD sensors, which were designed to keep film photographers happy, coupled with excellent optics makes for a special experience.

I remember those cameras, in 1999/2000 we used the DCS 460 with a Nikon N90 body and Kodak digital back which didn't have a digital screen on the back. We still have five DCS 460 cameras laying around collecting dust at work. We usually scrap all our old equipment but somehow these have managed to stick around. I think I'll ask my manager if I can take them home instead of management scrapping them, since I collect old cameras.

I wish you have shown how the menus look...the back side of this camera is probably the most 2001 thing about it :)

I bought a DCS 760 in 2001 and used it tethered to a laptop to shoot our complete line of school lapel pins in macro with a F/2.8 Micro-NIKKOR 105mm with Elinchrom studio strobes, and those photos are still in our catalog today. It was a fantastic camera and well ahead of its time, and it was an easy transition for me to make to digital, as I had plenty of experience with the F5 that I still have in my collection today. I think I paid about $7,500 in 2001 and sold it last year still in pristine condition for about $1,000. Thanks for the memories!

We owned two of the 760’s that were incredibly expensive back then but very quickly paid for themselves. Awesome setups!

Pentax had some great view screens in the Spotmatic days. They were factory installed by request, and included some split screens that were great for low light and fast action. A removable prism with interchangeable screens so you could manually focus faster and more accurately than the ‘peaking’ on the lcd back would be awesome for sports, low light, etc. I miss that ability in digital cameras. Those who have never used those types of SLR focusing screens do not know what they are missing!

Still kicking myself for selling my F5. This hit me right in the feels 🥲

Great video and review! So much joy in an old camera! Results look stunning! Thanks for sharing! Great content as always!

Hello, I love watching your videos, you seem so calm, it feels good. After several years, I finally managed to collect 16 of the first Kodak DCS And for me, the two I prefer to use are the Kodak DCS 200 (1992) and Kodak DCS 720x (2001). And I've been having fun making comparisons for several years now.

Beautiful intro to this beast. Thank you!

Thank you for the review, I haven't seen that camera in years. One note, Phase One introduced the integrated back for Hasselblad in 2004 which too qualifies it as a fully modular system incorporating digital. Albeit, Phase One is an add-on to the Hasselblad system and not built-in but it broadened the abilities of Hassie owners to have digital without having to purchase a new system. Phase One's were not cheap, but there again neither was the Kodak/Nikon when it was introduced.

What a surprise to have just found this channel and subscribed and now I get a new video with my morning coffee

I can attest to how amazing this DSLR is @Snappiness!! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a fully functional Kodak-EOS 520 late last year, and it's great!! Congrats!! :)

Ahhhhhhh!!! been waiting for this video!! 🤩

Your adoration of this DSLR closely reminds me to how I treat my D2H and D1X cameras. Just incredible cameras, and there isn't a ton of them still on the market for the taking, and sometimes it's a little hard to get things working (for my D2H, it was a breeze, EN-EL4 batteries are still made (partly because it was also used in the D3 series and the D700/D300 vertical grips, so plenty of people around that will use those), and it takes standard CF cards no problem. D1X though, it was a little more tricky. First, it would't take any SD card in my SD/CF card adapter, even the super low capacity SDs I had like one that I had that is 256MB, I had to search for a compatible CF card, ended up paying 10€ for a 1GB CF card from 2003... Andit doesn't stop there ! the camera came with the original Ni-MH battery which takes up to 6/7 hours to charge andcould hold... around 30 shots...if you did them all under 30 minutes otherwise the charge would drop too quickly. I had to search the internet about a replacement, first searching for Ni-MH brand new ones, then seeing that it wasn't really a super good idea, then seeing how youcould DIY an EN-4 Ni-MH battery pack into a Li-ion one thanks to 18650 batteries. Then I saw that VHBW sold a Li-ion replacement for the EN-4 battery format which saved be a lot of time and money. Now the camera works fine ! But yeah, those older cameras pretty much always require you to do your research, be a little crafty and not being intimidated by old tech which isn't supported or manufactured anymore :D

Great looking camera, love the shutter sound, the whole thing looks awesome.

Seeing this video reminded my of the F5s I had back in the 90s. What incredibly fine machines they were.

Wow I’m a recent new subscriber and I must commend you on the work that you do. I’m a camera collector and since discovering your channel I have realised this is one camera I definitely have to add to the collection. Keep up the good work. Love from South Africa 🇿🇦

They used something similar to this (Nikon N90s on a Kodak DCS460 imaging system) back in the late 1990's on space shuttle flights. At least one of these was built with a monochrome system.

I guess it's so good because the base F5 was so good. The shutter sound, the interchangeable viewfinders (common on all professional F Nikons), 3D color matrix metering, etc.

I can’t believe you got your hands on one!! So lucky!

I used the DCS 720X back in 2003-2004. Fun times!

You're definitely one of, if not the most favorite youtube photography channels of mine, so much amazing and unique gear that I would've never heard of, if not your vids, keep going!👊 Also will you make a review of VWFNDR by Nuevo Tokyo, when it'll comes out? It looks like very unique camera from every angle, and will have interchangeable lenses, so won't be such a waste of money

That tree photo in the snow is really beautiful.

Wow the quality on those portraits

Super cool! That waist level view finder would be perfect for sneaky candids

Very cool series of cameras. We used the DCS420 as our primary studio camera at FE Warren AFB in 1996-98. Priced at $11,000 back then, it's still the most expensive camera I've ever laid my hands on by far.

Your production quality is great! You should have more subscribers! Hope you’ve been doing well!

400 ISO?? Dude, that 2nd shot of the front porch at night looked amazing for such limited ISO. Love you vids man, keep em coming!

Congratulations, man! You have found that camera and the camera have found you

It is a marvelous vintage digital camera! One thing though: this is a Nikon, it even says so on the box. The body was licensed then modified by Kodak. This explains how the D1 and the 760 could be released around the same time. They were competing even though both were Nikons. Weird and cool!

The changeable viewfinder is so cool! I would be thrilled if Pentax put that in the K-1iii. I wonder if that would make weathersealing a challenge though. Still, would be sweeeet. I wonder how Nikon and Kodak agreed to make this? Like they were so friendly that they didn't mind having each other's logos on the camera? Cool

What a fascinating camera and history

Fantastic Video! What a camera!

Just by the thumbnail I loved it, but with each passing minute of the video it kept getting better and better, and the shutter sound, ohoho.

Amazing camera - never seen before - it has so many features and options which doesn't even exist on today's camera's - what a thoughtful design it has been back in time (or even nowadays) - they've been well ahead in time...

I have begun to suspect that the excellent image quality you get from your shots is due to your skill as a photographer.

It was a phenomenal camera for its time. Got noisy in low light conditions. Shot with it for years even when I could have upgraded.

Amazing IQ. Love it.

Awesome review 👍🏼

I used an older version of the Kodak pack with the Nikon camera on top, priced about 10k plus lens. I worked for a timeshare company and I photographed newly buyers for a promotional purpose. Every time I see a similar concept I travel back mentally to those years as a pioneer of the digital age. ❤❤❤

Great video, I loved those old Kodak collabs, and you did it justice - lovely photos too! You're right, Nikon really had the customisation thing sorted with the switchable viewfinder heads, screens and filters. Those batteries and chargers for the old Kodaks are a pain though - I have an old Canon D2000 waiting for a battery AND charger, both of which are proving a challenge to find in the UK right now...

Old DSLRs are awesome! Just got a 350D and the colors is beautiful!

What a beast. And that optical waist-level viewfinder! So much prettier and easier on the eyes than a flip-screen! Scary battery situation, though. One good thing about some of the older cameras that use AAs is the rechargeable AA supply is seemingly inexhaustible.

To prank or surprise someone (myself included) I'm keeping Canon 1D from the same era. Omg what results it produces with a good lens. No one believes pictures were taken with 4.2mp sensor😀

Why oh why did you named Pentax when I was thinking 🤔 "hey Pentax" 😅😂😂😂

and that what I call PASSION!! , not like people who trying to compare iphone vs dslr, GREETINGS from Netherlands

I had no idea the 760 was APS-H! I had a 420, 520c, D30, M8, X100, Pentax Q and a few other digital obscurities. Very envious of your Epson. ❤

So cool that it can use Nikon lenses. I am just getting into that mount myself. Really nice lenses to be had there for cheap.

I think this is a similar sensor to the one in the Leica M8, which I loved, the APS-H crop was nice compared to apsc and the full spectrum on the m8 was great for b&w.

I remember seeing prototypes of that camera in magazines in the 90s

I used it in addition to studio even for Street & sports photography, with an external qtm battery pack, so never had a problem with batteries. I had a few of the 760C, meanwhile sold but still have some spare parts. Nice that you mentioned the awesome colors of the CCD. made really sharp and nice very big prints… on the other hand the CCD was a bit sensitive to pixel failures on some of them. Had an app with preset to strip out the pixel failures and an older version of Camera Raw could handle the Raw files very well. While nowadays a bit heavy metal and slow (afair 1 frame per second) I sometimes think it was one of the best digi cams ever according to the print results.

Interesting, thank you! Hasselblad H-Series cameras have interchangable viewfinders too. 😊

I headed up a photo studio back when this camera came out and we lusted after it. Unfortunately it was too expensive and took too long to come to market for us to get approval to pull the trigger. We ended up going with a 5 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F717.

Very nice! It’s truly sad, Kodak didn’t survive the camera wars.

My digital journey started with the Pentax *ist DS it was very reliable and performed nicely consistently but I eventually ‘upgraded’ to Nikons D5100 and a couple of D7100 bodies, I loved the Nikon Kit 16 mega pixels is a sweet spot for me and my own needs…I always missed my Pentax though…I’d really love to play with some of the Pentax cameras of similar spec to the Nikons I enjoyed using…I’m 57 so maybe I’ll add that to my bucket list…Photography has a special place in my heart..! 😇

Great video! Such a beautiful camera. Do you find the colors of DCS 760 similar or different to 14n?

this camera rocks. amazing colors! i think i would prefer that canon mount one you talked about just cause I have a lot more history using old FD glass in addition to the old EF lenses. but yeah man, that is def a beast and looks like it'll be super fun to play with. happy clickin!

I remember in early 2000's I somehow got introduced to this same Kodak and since then I started to keep its image quality as reference what digital photography was supposed to look like. It was mostly depressing and "what's wrong with this camera" from there on with other cameras :D

Hi! I own two of them. And now i finally know where to get batteries!

Of all the old DSLRs ever made... this is one of them.

I started my digital photography with these Kodak Nikon blend DSLR coming from film. I loved them except in long bulb mode way too noisy but the quality was amazing.

These days I was one of the Pro dealers to sell DCS cameras. Aside to sell them to professional photographers I had often the chance to use it for my private photography. To be one of the first DSLR users was a great experience. I loved them

Man, we used to rent it to shoot. Pretty sure it costs more than a car back in the day. I did buy the Nikon d2x and Fuji S1. Great video.

I worked with similar Kodak cameras in 1996 during a trial on cruise ships for all of the passenger photos. They were a blast to use but there were still issues. The photogs would press a button and say the cabin number, then take the picture. I cannot remember how audio remained with the photo to keep it straight but it was a bit of a bodge. Also we had problems with moire on certain areas, specifically men’s jackets with small herringbone patterns that could only be fixed by manually removing the color from those areas. It looked OK but the printing process was slow with each photo taking five passes each. CMYK and a clear coat. I cannot remember the camera model numbers offhand but we had two with different sized sensors. They used PCMCIA Type 2 cards. The photos themselves have held up quite well as I still have many and the colors are still quite good. In the end the test did not lead to moving to them just yet. It would take a few more years before the end negative.

You don't need to be able to swap the prism head of a DSLR to view from above - use a right angle finder - and you can even swivel it to use in portrait orientation.

Many of the early large CCD sensors have a certain film-like look to them somehow... My first digital camera was a Fuji S5100 (circa 2005), which used a relatively small 1/2.7" CCD, but looking back on the JPEG images it produced, many of them still hold up great (even at only 4MP). At the time, I really wanted a Nikon D70, but there was no way I could have afforded it... lol. Then, my previous experience with film was mostly negative (mostly due to using only my cheap fixed focus/aperture 35mm camera and not understanding its limitations)... Was scooping up all of my Dad's old negatives while visiting for Christmas, and he mentioned had a Kodak Disc camera and Canon AE-1... but it got stolen when we moved from Germany back to the US (I was ~3 years old). Damn, would have been awesome to learn more about photography as a kid.

Cool. I shot news/sports/magazine with both the Nikon/Kodak DCS760 and the DCS720x from about 2002 to 2005, and I made great images with them. Their weaknesses were weight, terrible battery life, and a small and dark monitor screen. The 760 died years ago, but the 720x will power up. They can't compete today, but their nostalgia factor is off-scale high. Have fun!

I wish they would adapt a n F3 or FM2 or other classic bodies with a digital heart. Retain all the classic manual functionality, but with digital image capture. That's the dream!

still got my dcs 620x Memories.. Extreme fine trustable camera

I used the Canon EOS 1D, a body from the same year as the Kodak DCS 760 (and its Canon-bodied counterparts), professionally until about 2010 - long after it had been surpassed in various metrics. The NiMH batteries were terrible and cranking it to 1600 ISO was best avoided, but the tonality was unmatched. I'm not much into gear these days and perhaps my viewpoint is tinged by nostalgia, but the 1D and its contemporaries definitely hold a special place in my heart. Thank you for this video.

Shutter sound is great also waist level view finder is amazingly n useful tool . Battery is big . Hope this comes with canon mount as well in future. And medium format camera would be lovely

Excellent

Honestly shutter sound is the first thing I check when picking up an SLR or dSLR.

I have two of the film Nikon F5's and am looking to get the WLF for one of them actually. Amazing cameras. Many say the best every made (opinions vary between it and the F6). Never used this digital modified version but knew of their existence.

Oh man! Great find! I've been looking to get one of those for years! Got close to the Canon version but they always wanted too much for a untested camera.

I love this camera, I remember trying to find one because of its unique sensor filter. *edit* this has GRGB filter, what I was referring to is the CYYM filter in the earlier versions: DCS 620x and DCS 720x DSLRs. Nicer colours in my opinion.

Nice camera! The idea that larger sensors give more background blur is just a myth.

This was based on Nikon F5 body and mechanics. The next genration was the DSC14-N which was a 14MP digital camera based on Nikon F80.. The remarkable thing is that there was also a DSC14-NM whch was , wait for it , a true Monochrome DSLR back in 2004. The APS-H sensor was actually used in Canon Pro DSLRs and it was the sensor size that Leica used in their first Digital M the M8, they also forgot that the sensor did not have any filters like the IR. This was rediculed by all the usual armchair general pundits at the time, but now the M8 is so sought after for these very reasons, its image quality is unique. RDS1 that you mentioned uses the a similar 6MP CCD sensor as the entry level Nikon D70. Good job.

Amazing camera. I own a Nikon D3 which I really love using. I also own a mint F5. But his Kodak Frankenstein is an amazing thing. lol

Nikon F5 has the best 35mm viewfinder I have ever used.

I also own this camera, still working although it shoots only a couple of images (around 40) till the battery is gone (although the battery is „new“). But even this makes I feel very analog...

What a great video! I have a DCS520 (EOS 1N) here, but the Kodak side of things is dead, sadly.

looks so portable as well

I owned several of the Kodak DCS cameras. Eventuallly I out-grew them and sold them for a fraction of the cost I paid.

My first DSLR was a Kodak DCS560. 6mp for $24,000. Great camera well ahead of the times.

Love the interchangeable finder. Not specific to this camera, but something that occurred to me recently with regard to the color science of old cameras... I wonder how many people were able to appreciate the color reproduction back when these cameras were new? My family had a Windows XP laptop back in the noughties, and the screen was fairly horrific by modern standards of gamut coverage etc. I imagine most screens were a bit suspect back then, except the professional equipment. Our old (digital) family photos from back then take on a new life on a modern screen. I suppose this wouldn't apply so much to printing. But interesting I thought.

I remember selling these, I also have a 620 here with the original packaging and manual. I think you will find the IR filter has a significant effect when shooting images that contain fire, these older sensors tended to blow out and flame took a significant magenta shift. Given the use case for this was primarily as a way for a newspaper photographer to turn stuff around quicker than film; taking pictures of burning buildings / war zones etc were heavily effected by the magenta shift. Also, please tell me you cleaned it after putting your finger prints all over it :P

I seem to remember it was very competitively priced. I wanted to get one, but I just couldn't find them on sale anywhere here in the UK.

Ed Pierce brought one of these to Arizona Professional Photography meeting on about 2001 or so. The future of Photography he said. We were unconvinced. But by 2003 my school Photography company had gone digital

I think the shutter sound matters a whole lot more than "image quality" the way we consume images these days is on a tiny 1080p phone screen.... 6MP is still plenty for that... 80-400 ISO sure sucks... but i shoot 90% still on film and 800T and Portra are hard to come by.... so i'm mostly shooting at below 800 ISO anyway, i think (except in a studio setting) a camera that brings the photographer joy is the best camera there is. The more joy and fun you have with the camera the more you will use it, the more you will shoot, the more you will improve

Also, if you're interested in 35mm SLRs with interesting viewfinder options, you can't go past the Pentax LX.

They look like the purply POS I used to get from our Nikon D1. In other words, don't miss em at all. Gimme a Z9 anyday.

Beautiful camera, you should try a original 1D. Fantastic cameras

I still absolutely love my Kodak SLR/n. I had no clue that the F5 prism came off. I just took mine off after watching this.

Danke!

Very cool old monster. Interested by your IQ observations... i feel the same with my 5MP Oly E-1. Does look like you should be wearing welding gloves though - to make the size of it look 'normal' in the hand. All the best from NZ.

Used similiar setup in 1998 for local paper. Cost $8,000 CAD at the time

Thanks for the video... love it, very interesting. I have a Canon D2000, got it in 04, did local band photography with it, with a 2-head flash (Metz). Question: what is the input voltage to the charger cradle you show there? I have the OEM cradle, but don't know which of 1000000 power adapters I have that goes with it! Same battery as DCS520, 560, and...a portable printer :) Thanks in advance!