We have a winner
by Volker Weber
This was not easy. Both Canon and Nikon make excellent cameras. I read the two reviews for the Nikon D70 and the Canon 300D on Image Resource yesterday. After those reviews I was sure that both cameras would meet my needs. At noon I talked to Hans-Werner about his experience with (analog) SLRs and I gathered that it is not the bells and whistles that make the difference. A battery grip for instance may be a nice add on, but it also makes the camera more bulky which is a burden when you need to carry it around. One needs to look at the main features you use all the time. How easy they are, how natural they feel. You won't be doing any complicated stuff anyway. At least not on my level of expertise. I went to the store once more and they let me play with both models for half an hour. After that I had a winner:
The only thing I have to learn now is to take good pictures. ;-)
Comments
You said: "The only thing I have to learn now is to TAKE good pictures. ;-)"
I say: "You take what you SEE." ... So, just keep your EYES WIDE OPEN. The picture an the rest will happen by itself.
Very true. And that was THE reason go get the Nikon. It does not stand between me and my pictures. I never had to wait for something to happen, I never had to think about how to do things. It just did what I wanted. The speed is frightening. You fool around a bit and you quickly add up a hundred pictures or two.
And then you need to throw most of them away. ;-)
> And then you need to throw most of them away. ;-)
No, you need one or two new harddisks. ;-)
ahh.. congrats. Since you own a "real" camera now, you can join me next time I lead a group of hobby photographers to Namibia/Bhotswana? Could be fun! For a first impression have a look at www.naturephoto.net
BTW: I own a EOS10D, EOS1D, EOS3... but almost all pictures are taken with an analog body on a Velvia tranparency film. Yet no digital chip can compare to that. You may call me old fashioned or bone head, but I love my Velvia.
cheers
helmut
Viel Spass mit Deinem neuen Spielzeug!
Ich bin vor 2 Monaten von meiner 10D auf die 20D umgestiegen. Absolut traumhaft!
Ich hatte mit meiner 10D nie Probleme, obwohl ich in 13 Monaten ueber 5600 Aufnahmen gemacht habe. Die in einigen Online Foren beschriebenen Fokusprobleme hatte ich gluecklicherweise auch nicht. Das Upgrade zur 20D hab' ich hauptsaechlich gemacht um nicht auf "alter" und schnell ihren Wert verlierender Technologie sitzen zu bleiben. Ich sehe den Schritt von der 10D zur 20D eher evolutionaer und nicht revolutionaer, nichtsdesto trotz ist es ein sehr spuerbarer Unterschied: Alle Operationen sind rasend schnell, kein Warten mehr und keinerlei spuerbare Verzoegerungen und viele gute Detailverbesserungen. ISO 100 bis 1600 ist absolut brauchbar. Wirklich toll. Die einzigen "brauchbaren" Steigerungen die ich mir noch vorstellen kann sind ein full-frame Sensor und der damit verbundene groessere Sucher und bessere dynamische Breite der Sensoren im Allgemeinen. Wie Du sicherlich weisst ist die digitale dyn. Breite zur Zeit in etwa mit Diafilm vergleichbar und kommt noch nicht an Negativfilm heran... und meine alte Liebe gehoert der S/W Fotografie. Da ich haeufig RAW mit gleichzeitigem JPG fotografiere finde ich die 20D Verbesserungen in dem Bereich auch sehr nett: 1. extrahieren der JPG Datei ist nicht mehr noetig und 2. kann man Farbe (RAW) und instant S/W (JPG) gleichzeitig "schiessen". Very Cool!
Alles in allem kann ich nur sagen das ich mehr als zufrieden bin, wir leben in guten Zeiten!
Nochmals viel Spass!
Gruss & take care,
Ulli
P.S.: Ein digitales Aequivalent der Leica MP oder M6 koennte mich allerdings auch in Versuchung bringen!
You may wish to follow this item. Harbortronics will be releasing a vertical grip for the D70, with shutter release.
http://www.harbortronics.com/news.htm
I've seen other non-vertical-shutter release options, but without the release, there isn't much point.
Congratulations to your new toy. I was looking for that piece too and now it has an excellent recommendation. Have fun with it.
I bet you would choose the D70 ;-) Its on my wish list, too. Maybe Santa Claus will bring it this christmas...
About TAKING photos..... @Jim Basman... it´s as easy as forming a statuette of a dancing lady out of a block of marble, you just take away everything from the stone that doesn´t fit with the image you have in mind it´s as easy as that for an expert :-)
Armin
(I may be, and probably am, completely wrong)
Hi Volker,
Could you tell us some more why you choose the Nikon D70? I'm looking at both camera's as well (and have Nikon lenses). The Nikon is slightly more expensive.
Which reasons convinced you to choose the D70?
Great blog BTW
I did not balance price and features. If you do that you end up with the Canon. It is about 150-200 Euro less and has a very comparable feature set. I have learned from past experience to never let the price guide you. I set aside a budget I am willing to pay and then decide what I like best within that budget.
I recently applied the same principle when consulting somebody with a notebook purchase. There were a number of machines within range. An iBook, a T41 and an R51. The T41 was the right choice. They were all inside the budget and the T41 "felt" right.
I plan to live with the camera for quite a few years and I needed to get the right one. If your mind cannot decide, your heart can. ;-)
Hallo vowe - willkommen im Club :-)
ich fand Ken Rockwells´ Lektüre "HANDS-ON NIKON D70 REVIEW" noch sehr lesenswert. Nicht nur als Vorabhilfe zur Kaufentscheidung (Danke auch für d e i n e Infos!), sondern wg. der Tipps und Tricks in der praktischen Anwendung der Kamera. Der Mann hat "Ahnung"...
Knipps schöne Bilder!
Frank
hmmm ... I like the idea of a photo "safari" ... however, mine took me to New York City :-) I just recently got a D100 on eBay. My impression is, that the lenses are the most critical (not really new insight, but still underestimated sofar). All original Nikons btw, but the medium standard (I'm not making my money with photography) and bought originally for the F100.
I've been taking pictures for about 35 years now (that was long before I touched the first computer) and have been on Nikon for the last 25 years. Being in NYC I compared the F100 (using Fuji Sensia film) with the 'new' D100 - while it's great to have a 1GB card to fill up without thinking of the waste (of money, chemicals, etc.) the colors of the film are still unbeaten. So much better. I actually was disappointed by the D100. But I also hear that the new chip generation has improved in that aspect a lot.
So I wish you a lot of fun - please share your experiments here :-)
Very good decision, i own a D100 since nearly 2 years and was playing with the Canon 300D (for some hours). The Nikon "D-Class" is just something different...
Have fun with this.
btw: for downloading pictures, you may like the Lotus Notes based Image Downloader with support for Nikon NEF here:
http://www.mathiaspohl.de/exif4notes
I did a similar thing - decided to actually try the Canon and Nikon units in person - didn't take long to sway towards the Nikon - just felt better in my hands - entirely personal thing I'm sure but thats just as important as features (both would have suited my needs).
I really got enrolled into the D70 and found another very detailled review at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond70/page2.asp
They even have included a MP3 file comparing the sound of the shutter between D70 and EOS300 so you can clearly hear the difference in speed! very exciting :-)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond70/Samples/nikond70vscanoneos300d.mp3
The D70 is a great camera. I hope you have lots of fun with it.
I got a winner too...
And it is ... drum roll...
the Panasonic DMC-FZ20EG-S.
Why that? And not the EOS 300 D?
1) My current set of EOS compatible lenses (Sigma 70-210 F2.8, Sigma 35-70 F2.8) for my EOS 100 do not work well together with the EOS 300D.
I also discovered that the long lens needs to be repaired just like the camera body.
So the lure of the Leica 12x zoom lens became irresistable.
2) I needed a camera quickly for X-mas
3) My wife wanted the FZ20 too ;-)
First impression: I like it.
A lot.
Menues and general handling feels just right...
Habe mir heute aufgrund aller guten Berichte auch eine bestellt. Bin schon gespannt...
