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Changing Lenses

Clix Pix said:
The D70 sounds like a decent deal, as you'd be getting the better-quality and very decent "kit" lens as well as one which goes from 55-200 !
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First off the D70s has replaced the D70. If you compare the D70s with a D50 there is very little differance between them that matters. OK it has two command dials and does a fany off camera flash mode that you'd pay extra for if you had the D50. But in terms of image quality they are almost identical and truely identical if you shoot in raw format.

As for the kit lens. Yes, absolutly the D70s kit lens is the 18-70 and the D50 is sold with the 18-55 kit lens BUT you don't have to buy the kit. I bought a D50 with a 18-70 lens. You don't take a price hit either. the D50 body only goes for as low as $500. Many options for the lens you can skip the kit lens entirely and go with a "pro" quality f/2.8 or even buy a 50mm prime The new 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR is _outstanding_ quality
 
iGary said:
You are going to kick yourself in the ass for not getting an SLR.
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Why? I feel I'm too new to the scene to justify a DSLR. The DSLR's are still developing and getting cheaper too, I think the Canon will do me fine.
 
Glenn Wolsey said:
Okay, I have made my decision...almost. Which one out of these three though I get?

http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/webapp...10001&productId=60604&crumb=10003-10066-10073

http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/webapp...10001&productId=59802&crumb=10003-10066-10073

http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/webapp...10001&productId=54754&crumb=10003-10066-10073

I'm leaning towards the Canon.
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Before you buy ANY of them, be sure to read reviews on each and more importantly, go to a brick-and-mortar store and handle each one of them.

Personally I would not buy any of them because I feel that a DSLR is the much better way to go these days.
 
ChrisA said:
First off the D70s has replaced the D70. If you compare the D70s with a D50 there is very little differance between them that matters. OK it has two command dials and does a fany off camera flash mode that you'd pay extra for if you had the D50. But in terms of image quality they are almost identical and truely identical if you shoot in raw format.

As for the kit lens. Yes, absolutly the D70s kit lens is the 18-70 and the D50 is sold with the 18-55 kit lens BUT you don't have to buy the kit. I bought a D50 with a 18-70 lens. You don't take a price hit either. the D50 body only goes for as low as $500. Many options for the lens you can skip the kit lens entirely and go with a "pro" quality f/2.8 or even buy a 50mm prime The new 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR is _outstanding_ quality
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The D70 is the one which is mentioned in the offer to which Glenn was posting the link. As he was inquiring about that specific offer, I was addressing the issues around the D70 as opposed to the D70s. As I own both the D70 and the D70s, I am very familiar with the benefits of each and I am also aware the the D70s has supplanted the D70 on retailers' shelves now. Many D70 camera bodies are being offered for sale on eBay and other places because their owners have moved on to the D200.

Yes, I quite agree that the new 18-200 VR is an outstanding lens. I love mine! Definitely the 18-70 "kit" lens for the D70/D70s is superior to the slightly shorter "kit" lens which is available for the D50, and yes, many people have opted to buy the D50 body only and then go with maybe the 18-70 "kit" lens or with some other lens altogether.
 
Glenn Wolsey said:
Why? I feel I'm too new to the scene to justify a DSLR. The DSLR's are still developing and getting cheaper too, I think the Canon will do me fine.
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I think you've shown us some very nice work and that you've got a lot of promise as far as developing into a very fine photographer. The best way for you to continue learning and growing at this point is with a DSLR. I know that's hard to understand and believe right now, but certainly there have been many of us telling you this. Maybe you should pay attention to the "experts?" We've all been there, done that.

Yes, I know the idea of a DSLR sounds somewhat daunting and intimidating, something for which the photographer should be "ready." Actually, I think you'd be surprised to learn that in some ways it is EASIER to use a DSLR than it is a P&S! That's right. EASIER. Why is that? For one thing, some of the controls are set on the camera body itself rather than hidden in menus, and this can make a huge difference. I've mentioned on here before that I went from the CP 8800 to the D70. The very first day I was thrilled to discover how much simpler and quicker it was to quickly switch from autofocus to manual focus by the flick of a switch on the camera body of the D70 as opposed to fumbling through the camera's menu on the CP 8800 and still not having as accurate and precise results because the manual control was not the same as simply turning the lens until one found the right focus. There was some green bar thingy in there that you had to fiddle with and IMO it did not produce accurate results, never mind that it certainly is a cumbersome system.

I had only had my D70 a few days before there was a great photo op in my neighborhood: a truck was on fire. I went rushing out there with the camera and immediately was happily shooting away. Eventually I needed to use manual focus and it was so nice to be able to quickly flick the switch on the camera body, adjust the lens with my hand, verify through the viewfinder that it was correctly focused, and take the shot. No fussing with menus, no fussing with some stupid green bar....

As I've mentioned before, too, you will be able to grow with a DSLR in a way that you really cannot with a P&S, even the most advanced one. You will have so much more flexibility in how you frame and shoot your images and you will have a much higher quality of images, too, due to the differences in sensors.

Canon or Nikon or Olympus or Fujifilm.....whatever you buy, I can pretty well guarantee you that you'll be happier with that manufacturer's DSLR than with even their most "advanced" P&S bridge cameras....
 
Clix Pix said:
I'm addressing only the potential purchase of the Nikon D70, as I'm not a Canon user and am not as familiar with that system and their lenses, etc. I'm sure others here can help you in that regard.
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The 20D is the body I have, and I'm very happy with it. It's more camera than I know how to use right now, but I do know it'll grow with me, and will last me for a very long time. The 30D is a little better, but not so much that I'm upset at having bought only a couple of months before its release.

The 18-55mm lens is a "kit" lens. It's not bad, but really, you're letting down the camera with it; you'd do better with either the 17-55 or the 17-85 (the optical quality of the former is better than the latter, but you're also paying a lot of money either way for the lens.) For a starter lens, though, it's good enough.

For sports photography, you'll want a lens that's much longer than either of those, and that'll cost. I've heard reasonable things about the 70-300, but remember that anything that's slower than f/2.8 (ie: with a larger number after the slash) will need a lot of light to take good shots. Indoor or night just ain't gonna happen in a satisfactory manner (I'm talking about action shots here, rather than posed.) In good sunlight, though, it'll be good enough.

I'd strongly urge you away from the point-and-shoots with their fixed lens. Range and speed are both issues with what you want, and I seriously doubt that any compact has a fast lens, especially if they have the reach you want. Yes, the DSLR is more expensive, but it's also a lot more flexible, and will do more of what you want. I can't stand shooting with a compact any more; it just frustrates me. (So much so that I'm looking at spending a lot of money on an underwater housing for my 20D in a year or two -- my compact is just too slow to react when I want a shot taken, so I haven't taken it down more than three or four times total.)

Everything you're saying screams to me: SLR! SLR! (digital or otherwise, but these days, I'd suggest digital rather than film -- the quality is well and truly there for most purposes, and if it's not there for your purpose, you'll know about it before you buy anyway.) Also remember that any SLR you buy today has a fair amount of automation: mine can let me do everything on manual, or everything on automatic, or anything in between.

Yes, the price might drop between now and when you buy the DSLR, if you go the compact route. I'd be surprised if the price drop was significant, though; I suspect that the cameras we have today are close enough to the limits imposed by physics that it doesn't matter to anybody but the most serious professional (mmm... 1Ds Mk 2 ...)

In any case: good luck with your purchase.
 
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