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i am interesed in getting a digital slr and i cant decide between the Canon d70 or the Canon 300D. It will be my first slr. I'll be using it at mini meetings, at hopefully at sports events. What do you recommend.
Canon pros for me
7 point focus, easy to use, cheaper than nikon, lens are cheaper to buy
nikon pros for me
high buffer memory, high quality of camera
I have been an avid Nikon user for years and will be getting the D70 soon (either my wifes buys it as a xmas present or I get it myself).
Go for the quality. You wont regret paying the extra in the long run.
When I compared cameras I found the picture quality better on the Nikon.
The lenses aren't that bad. You can always get good prices from B and H Photo. I have bought quite a lot from them over the years.
What kind of photography are you interested in? Also, what do you think your budget is in the next couple years for purchasing additional lenses?
Some thoughts:
- You aren't just buying a camera, you're buying into an entire system (body, lenses, and flash). Once you start looking at your "next lenses" (the ones you will get after you get the camera and the kit lens), the pricing between Nikon and Canon is very similar from what I've seen.
- The Digital Rebel is out in Black, so if you go that route, get a black one (it looks 10x better IMO).
- Nikon and Canon are both running rebates right now.
- Take into consideration that if you want to shoot RAW format, Nikon makes you either purchase their software ($100) or buy photoshop CS ($649). Canon provides RAW software with their cameras. So Nikon's $100 rebate is really just going to cover the purchase of Nikon Capture.
- You're going to be getting a very good camera either way, but I don't think there is much doubt about the D70 being superior to the Digital Rebel, both in terms of features and in terms of the lens construction. Image quality is pretty similar between the two IMO.
I'll try to post more about this later. Both those are some thoughts for now.
i went through the process recently before buying a camera for my vacation. At the time(and I believe this canon is new, or if not this one, then there is a new one), the D70 was the top......only lacking a couple options that the D100 didnt have. I was all set to buy and then I went to BestBuy to do some hands on checking.......yeah, they were to big for my trip. but, for mini events and the like, its probably not an issue. I ended up with the 5700, which did just fine. The 8700 came out a month after i bought the 5700, which was a little bit of a pain because they added some steady-shot features.
now none of that probably interested you, but i can say that the dpreview site was accurate in most of its comparisons......especially battery life and moire effect of the lens. My buddy is going through the same decision process and he is leaning towards the canon.
good luck.
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One said, "It is not the road that is curved, but a car that curves the road"
- Take into consideration that if you want to shoot RAW format, Nikon makes you either purchase their software ($100) or buy photoshop CS ($649). Canon provides RAW software with their cameras. So Nikon's $100 rebate is really just going to cover the purchase of Nikon Capture.
check into the purchase packages on that one, most come with that software included.
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One said, "It is not the road that is curved, but a car that curves the road"
I'm talking about Nikon Capture which is specifically for editing RAW format (.NEF in this case), not NikonView or Nikon Picture Project.
WIth the D70, currently Nikon only includes a 30 day trial version of Capture, not a fully licensed copy and a fully licensed version of Picture Project. Picture Project is absolutely not worth the CD it's printed on. If you read the D70 review on DPreview, Nikon is taken to task for that.
Anyone purchasing a D70 and wanting to shoot RAW will need to buy software to edit it. You can shoot jpeg for free, but RAW is going to cost some money.
Thanks for all your replys,
at first i'll be mainly using the camera for recreation, pictures of minis, flowers, objects, etc. I then hope to go more sports specific, mainly tennis and motosport.
The prices i have for the canon is 910Euros and the nikon is 1080, both including lens.
Does the 7 point focus in the canon make it much better at sports imaging than the 5 point of the nikon???
i want to order the cameras asap but i just cant make up my mind
I'm talking about Nikon Capture which is specifically for editing RAW format (.NEF in this case), not NikonView or Nikon Picture Project.
WIth the D70, currently Nikon only includes a 30 day trial version of Capture, not a fully licensed copy and a fully licensed version of Picture Project. Picture Project is absolutely not worth the CD it's printed on. If you read the D70 review on DPreview, Nikon is taken to task for that.
Anyone purchasing a D70 and wanting to shoot RAW will need to buy software to edit it. You can shoot jpeg for free, but RAW is going to cost some money.
odd, i got capture with the 5700.......wonder if its a dumbed down version. although i seem to remember settings for the d70. foolish if that is still so.
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One said, "It is not the road that is curved, but a car that curves the road"
I was a photography retailer for 25+ years, sold both Canon and Nikon, heard the argument all the time. From my experience Nikon was better equipment for the majority of those 25 years, Canon did have their moments.
Nikon owners were more quality conscience, took their hobby more seriously, and in that time I seldom heard a Nikon owner say they wanted a Canon!
As far as the price difference, I was alway able to break it down, show the customer the longterm benefits and the price difference went away.
Think about this, after 6 monthes, several more new models, even the D70 will seem dated, you cannot beat the system. As a camera dealer we thought the turnover was great!!
Thanks for all your replys,
at first i'll be mainly using the camera for recreation, pictures of minis, flowers, objects, etc. I then hope to go more sports specific, mainly tennis and motosport.
The prices i have for the canon is 910Euros and the nikon is 1080, both including lens.
Does the 7 point focus in the canon make it much better at sports imaging than the 5 point of the nikon???
i want to order the cameras asap but i just cant make up my mind
Hi, Fabio. I posted some comments about this on Mini2.com as well. I find any sort of autofocus less than useful for motorsports work. I almost always have it turned off, even with a very fast autofocusing camera like the D2h. One reason is that I don't like being forced to compose with one of the AF points over the subject. It's true that having more AF points helps a bit (the D2h has more, also), but I still don't like it. For some sports I'm sure AF works fine but I at least don't really care for it for motorsports. The motion is fairly predictable and pre-focusing works very well. That said, I know some motorsports shooters who like and use AF.
My inclination would be to go with the Nikon. I'm not saying that just because I use Nikons (if you were asking me whether to get the D2h or the 1d Mark 2, for instance, I would have trouble suggesting one over the other). Canon essentially used the 10d firmware in the Digital Rebel but deliberately removed some functionality from the firmware so as to not hurt sales of the more expensive model. Nikon didn't do that. In some ways, the D70 is superior to the more expensive D100.
Also, the Nikon kit lens is much better than Canon's. That's not to say that all Nikon lenses are better than all Canon lenses--certainly not--but Canon went the cheap route with that lens.
I second the suggestion to look at the total systems. Maybe there's some future must-have item that Canon has that Nikon doesn't, or vice-versa.
I also agree that you really should get Nikon Capture or one of the third-party NEF converters like Bibble if you get the Nikon. It's too bad Nikon makes you pay extra to fully exploit the camera's RAW capability.
I got a brainwave earlier today, what if i get the 20D, do you think that its worth the extra few pounds???
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkS
Hi, Fabio. I posted some comments about this on Mini2.com as well. I find any sort of autofocus less than useful for motorsports work. I almost always have it turned off, even with a very fast autofocusing camera like the D2h. One reason is that I don't like being forced to compose with one of the AF points over the subject. It's true that having more AF points helps a bit (the D2h has more, also), but I still don't like it. For some sports I'm sure AF works fine but I at least don't really care for it for motorsports. The motion is fairly predictable and pre-focusing works very well. That said, I know some motorsports shooters who like and use AF.
My inclination would be to go with the Nikon. I'm not saying that just because I use Nikons (if you were asking me whether to get the D2h or the 1d Mark 2, for instance, I would have trouble suggesting one over the other). Canon essentially used the 10d firmware in the Digital Rebel but deliberately removed some functionality from the firmware so as to not hurt sales of the more expensive model. Nikon didn't do that. In some ways, the D70 is superior to the more expensive D100.
Also, the Nikon kit lens is much better than Canon's. That's not to say that all Nikon lenses are better than all Canon lenses--certainly not--but Canon went the cheap route with that lens.
I second the suggestion to look at the total systems. Maybe there's some future must-have item that Canon has that Nikon doesn't, or vice-versa.
I also agree that you really should get Nikon Capture or one of the third-party NEF converters like Bibble if you get the Nikon. It's too bad Nikon makes you pay extra to fully exploit the camera's RAW capability.
Yeah, I'd be tempted to get the 20D if I was going to get a Canon. The additional cost is obviously a factor, though (and don't forget you'll need a good lens), but from what I've read it's a very good body.
I had a good chance to head to head compare the two while visiting family over the holidays. I've had my D70 for a few months now and got to use my cousins 300D fairly extensively. In the time that I fiddled with the 300D I didn't find a single thing that was better than my D70, but I found many things that were annoying and not quite up to the D70 standards.
First, the LCD screen on the 300D doesn't have some of the most useful parts of the information that is displayed on the D70. The D70 displays the exposure mode (single object, center weighted, or outside weighted), AF-area mode (single area, dynamic area, or closest subject), and whether the camera is in AF-S or AF-C mode (AF-S beneficial for stationary objects, AF-C better for moving). Also the LCD on the D70 displays the flash mode and if flash compensation is on or not. Finally, it displays the shooting mode that the camera is in (single shot, continuous, self timer, remote, remote timer). All this information makes tailoring the camera to the exact shooting needs for the condi
