Rebel or D70 or new version of Rebel ?

[yb98]

I have been shooting for more than one year now with my S30 and I'm looking now to upgrade to an EOS camera. Of course the rebel seems to be the better choice for me but since I don't have any canon lens yet I'm wondering if it's not better to wait until the Nikon D70 will come out and compare... I'm also wondering if Canon plane to present a new enhanced version of the Rebel this year or not ?

Any advice ?

Thanks.

Yacine.

[nosquare2003]

1. If I were you, I would not wait for the Drebel II. By getting a Drebel now, you can take lots of precious photos and can learn a lot. If the D70 shall be released soon, I would wait for reviews and comparison. (The moderator may take away my membership by saying this.)

2. Although you do not have any lenses, you have to consider the whole system while camera body is only one part of it. It is costly to change system.

[Guillermo Freige]

Yacine:
If Canon will replace the Rebel, it will be at least in Photokina, 6 months from now, and even I doubt it. There are other models more suited for replacement, as the 10D or 1Ds, or they just can announce a new "intermediate" line, as the 3D.
The D70 seems to be a interesting option too, at least in paper, if you don't have any Canon lens, but of course the camera operation will be more different compared with the S30 than the DRebel, so if you switch between cameras, it can be a little annoying. Also you must evaluate lens availabiliy and costs between both systems as a whole before taking any decision.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Gotta admit the D70 looks good,. any idea when it will hit the shelves?

If it is soon,. and you have no preference for Canon lenses,. then it may make sense to wait and see what the reveiws and comparisons say.

If you don't see yourslfl ever investing deeply in a pile of glass,. the choice is about 50-50 as to which system makes sense to get into,.

But I would only caution this,. if you see yourself as possibly someday graduating to the pro level cameras and large lens collection,. do your research now... and you will buy Canon :) ..whaich has the celar advantafe over Ni*** in both lenses and pro digital cameras.

[CyberDyneSystems]

1. .....If the D70 shall be released soon, I would wait for reviews and comparison. (The moderator may take away my membership by saying this.).....

:shock:

We have our eyes on you! :wink:

[dtrayers]

Even if you don't have an investment in Canon Lenses or accessories, consider that within the Canon line there is a large similarity in software and camera operations. The menus on my 300D are very similar to the G3 I had.

For another example, have you shot with RAW much with the S30? If so, you may have an investment in conversion software that you can use with a Canon DSLR. Not to mention that the workflow will be similar. As I understand it, the N***n .NEF raw conversion software is an extra cost.

[roanjohn]

I was in the same boat as you............and after balancing the strengths and weaknesses of both companies, I decided to go with the Rebel.

Canon as a company is just more superior. They release thier products promptly and they are technologically more advance than Nikon (AFAIK).

In the end, you really can't go wrong with both..........It's about picking the platform you want to invest with in the long run.

BTW, when Canon comes out with the 2nd version of the Rebel/10D, you'll be wishing you didn't join the Nikon camp.........or maybe not.

Ro1

[nosquare2003]

1. .....If the D70 shall be released soon, I would wait for reviews and comparison. (The moderator may take away my membership by saying this.).....

:shock:

We have our eyes on you! :wink:

Oh my god! I can still login!

Yacine, I suppose that you upgrade your S30 within 2 years. Do you expect to upgrade the DSLR body? If so, Canon is certainly a better choice. As a D60 user, I can upgrade to 1DMKII that is better than Nikon D2H. OK, 1DMKII is too expensive. I can upgrade to an "obsolete" (going to be) camera 1D with an attrative price. Well, another great Canon 1Ds has been in the market for years while Nikon has no response to it.

However, if you take a lot of wide angles shots, Nikon may have an edge. They have 12-24/f4 lens. After cropping factor of 1.5, it is a 18mm - 36mm lens which would be quite wide enough. For Canon, we have to use either Sigma lens or a more expensive body. And Canon does not offer spot metering which is sometimes a nice feature.

There are a lot of happy Nikon DSLR users. But I think that there are more happy Canon DSLR users.

(Like roanjohn said, Nikon did have a record to delay the release of new products, especially the D2H.)

[Tito948]

...BTW, when Canon comes out with the 2nd version of the Rebel/10D, you'll be wishing you didn't join the Nikon camp.........or maybe not.

Ro1

Have they been announced already? ...roanjohn

Tito

[Cal Maier]

The Nikon D70 will be shipping to shops here in Canada in the third week of March/04. Yes, this camera does appear to have some features that the D-Rebel does not have, but you should remember that this camera will also be more costly than the Canon D-Rebel, and I would imagine that we may see a price drop from Canon on both the D-Rebel and the 10D once the Nikon becomes available. If this is the case, then the 10D may not be much more money than the D70, and believe me there is a huge build quality difference between these two cameras. In fact, if you want to check out the basic build of the D70 have a look at the Nikon F75 film camera, the D-Rebel IMHO will still be the better (built) camera, even though it may not have as many whistles and bells.

I do see that the D70 will be a huge success for Nikon as there are many, many Nikon users in the world that have been waiting for an affordable 6mp body that they can attach their Nikkor AF glass to, but I doubt that this camera would cause any Canon users to dump their glass and switch, and besides, as someone else mentioned, Nikon has fallen behind in this technology and is merely playing catch-up now. Their biggest mistake being, that they will not be making a full frame digital body - Pros want full frame, and eventually Canon will be producing even more full frame cameras like the 1DS but a bit more affordable of course.

My 2 cents.

Cal M.
CPS 432[/quote]

[roanjohn]

...BTW, when Canon comes out with the 2nd version of the Rebel/10D, you'll be wishing you didn't join the Nikon camp.........or maybe not.

Ro1

Have they been announced already? ...roanjohn

Tito

No...........but when they announce it sometime this year, the spotlight will be on our side again. (Not that it really moved in the first place :-))

Ro1

[ron chappel]

I don't think any improved Drebel will bring huge improvements-not enough to wait the the likely amount of time it'll take anyways.

The D70 does indeed sound great,but.....

In the small amount of experience i've had with modern nikon optics,i'd say that the most likely lenses you'll buy for it are ever so slightly better than the canon equivilants but they are a good chunk more expensive.
Some examples:50/1.8 -canon is 2/3rds the price
28-105 -canon us$225,nikon $400?
Kit lens - canon 18-55 (just barely? acceptable optically) $100, nikon longer and abit better optically but $300!

[yb98]

Thank you all for your advices.
I didn't take my final decision yet, but I have to say that I'm more attracted by the Rebel for different reasons :

1. I have been very satisfied by my canon S30
2. I have seen some pic samples of the D70 and I'm not so impressed
3. It seems like there is a blue cast in the nikon pics...(am I right ?)
4. I'm addicted to raw processing and the canon raw format seems to be more universal...
5. The prices of canon camera and lens are lower than Nikon (for same quality)

All I regret is that the 18-55 lens provided with the kit does not provide the powerful zoom I'd like. That means my next purchase after the rebel will be probably a good zoom lens, but that's another story...

Yacine.

[Hoof Hearted]

I too am considering which camera to purchase. I have concluded that for the most part, any of these cameras will more than suffice my needs.

I can't help noticing though that the D70 has a USB2 port. This should make it very much faster at downloading (Assuming of course that you have a USB2 port on your pc)

Comments?

[yb98]

In practice I never connect the camera to my PC because I have a card reader connected to my PC. So, I just remove the compact flash card and insert it in my card reader.
Consequently, the USB 2 doesn't matter for me.

[Hoof Hearted]

Well that's fair comment. I just formed the opinion that plugging a cable in is easier than removing the card. Perhaps I should get myself a card reader and stick with Canon. I already have Canon Lenses

[Bruce Watson]

Darned cords are never around when you need them. I went with a card reader in one of my printers and a PC card adapter for my notebook.

Cords stay in the drawer. Will be buying the Delkin cardbus adapter when I can find one in stock.


http://www.dpreview.com/news/0310/03102103delkincardbustest.asp

[Man-Fai Wong]

I would wait and see, if you don't already have Canon glass. Unless you really need the camera immediately, can't hurt to wait a little longer. You could be rewarded by a potential Canon price drop for all you know even if you do choose the D-Rebel.

Thank you all for your advices.
I didn't take my final decision yet, but I have to say that I'm more attracted by the Rebel for different reasons :

1. I have been very satisfied by my canon S30

There are plenty of Nikon DSLR owners who also own a Canon compact digicam. It doesn't have to be mutually exclusive.

2. I have seen some pic samples of the D70 and I'm not so impressed

Well, if the user doesn't know how to use a camera and just keep shooting in bad lighting environment, what can you expect?

Personally, I've found the samples quite reasonable given the way they were shot. There are several former/current D-Rebel/10D/1D owners who feel likewise about the D70 samples over in DPR forums.

The reality is image quality between these DSLRs are really very close when you know how to use them.

3. It seems like there is a blue cast in the nikon pics...(am I right ?)

I'm not too sure what's causing some of that. Personally, I find Canon has a tad yellow cast myself.

FWIW, I put out several D70 samples downloaded from a couple Chinese sites for temporary, easier access on my pbase account, if you want to see them. No blue cast there.

http://www.pbase.com/mandnwong/temp

4. I'm addicted to raw processing and the canon raw format seems to be more universal...

There's nothing particularly universal about RAW. Each maker has their own RAW format. But yes, it seems you're more likely to be able to share the same converter between your S30 and a Canon DSLR.

BTW, you don't have to buy extra software to do RAW conversion w/ Nikon. The camera apparently comes w/ a basic converter that's probably a bit better than Canon's basic converter, but not as good as 3rd party software like BreezeBrowser.

Also, some 3rd party software do support both Canon and Nikon RAW. Capture One seems to be one and Adobe PS CS is another. But they are certainly quite expensive to buy. Nikon's more comprehensive offering Nikon Capture costs ~$100 and seems very good though.

5. The prices of canon camera and lens are lower than Nikon (for same quality)

All I regret is that the 18-55 lens provided with the kit does not provide the powerful zoom I'd like. That means my next purchase after the rebel will be probably a good zoom lens, but that's another story...

For same quality? Not exactly. Many same quality lenses are very close in price, but yes, Nikon does seem to charge 5-10% higher in most cases, but then, they offer 5-year warranty vs 1-year. In cases where Nikon charge a lot more, the lenses are not really same quality or same range. For example, the 24-120VR is ~35% higher than 28-135IS, but it's probably a more suitable range for walkaround lens (after crop factor) than the 28-135IS.

Yes, 35% (or ~$150) is quite a bit of change. OTOH, personally, assuming I get the D70, I'd just get it w/ the 18-70 kit lens ($300) and not bother w/ 24-120VR. The D70 kit lens seems like it should be a good long term walkaround lens, not just something that will hold you over for a couple months as a basic kit lens. If you went w/ D-Rebel and get 28-135IS, you will likely still need something wider to complement.

FWIW, I am planning to get the D70 w/ kit lens myself. While Canon certainly has its appeal, most of its strong points seem to matter too little for my needs/wants, including the lack of flexibility in the D-Rebel right now vs the future potential for a superior, but big $$$, body like 1DMk2. And I wouldn't put too much stock in the future landscape of DSLR being heavily in Canon's favor. Things can change in a couple years when you're ready to buy your next DSLR body. And anyway, much of the differences are just timing unless you're prepared to spend top $$$ for top bodies. If you stay in the low-to-mid end, I doubt there will ever be any huge advantage to either side.

In the end, the camera is just a tool, and you have to be responsible for the results.

_Man_