D70s or D80

Shoei · 22 Oct 2006 at 17:18

Looking at getting back in photography again and wondering between these two, which would be better:

D70s with 18-70 + 55-200 or
D80 with 18-135
Both work out roughly the same price

Tried a D50 and fits comfortably in my hands.
Cant say the same for the 350D, far to small, ended up with 2 fingers under the camera and didnt feel comfortable.

woodsy2k · 22 Oct 2006 at 17:33

I would say D80, simply because it has more technology from the higher end models in it. Get lenses later mate. Spend as much as you can on any single item, as you will be much happier with the results in future.

reddeathdrinker · 22 Oct 2006 at 18:40

Seconded - go for the D80, and get lenses later.

And derailing the thread....Heysham, eh? I'm seeing a lovely lass from your little Lancastrian suburb

Bit of a trek from Inverness-way, but worth it.....

Colin_da_Killer · 22 Oct 2006 at 19:02

Lens technology doesn't advance as fast as digital cameras do, so I don't agree with spedning the extra money on the body and less on the lenses. I say get the d70 and invest in good glass.

nolimit · 22 Oct 2006 at 19:59

You also have to consider the memory. People going from D50 > D80 don't need to change memory as it uses Secure Digital.

With D80, I find 1 of my fingers under the camera, with D70/s no problem.

I have use to have Nikon D70 and comparing it to my current camera Canon 30D, it can basically do everything the Canon 30D can do except 5FPS and maybe little noisy over ISO 800.

Don't be fooled by the price tag, D70 is still a very capable camera.

Edit:

This is a picture taken indoor @ ISO 1600, handheld @ 1/50 with 70-200 with x1.4. without any post production.

This is cropped 100%

As you can see the noise isn't too bad, at least you get quite sharp photo.

woodsy2k · 22 Oct 2006 at 23:30

colin_da_killer said:
Lens technology doesn't advance as fast as digital cameras do, so I don't agree with spedning the extra money on the body and less on the lenses. I say get the d70 and invest in good glass.

Thats not what i meant mate, i meant spend a lot on the body, and then at a later date spend a lot on lenses, not, a lot on the body and skimp on the lenses.

Shoei · 23 Oct 2006 at 08:15

Yeah, the ideal lens being the 18-200 VR, but its in short supply and lots of dosh.
One of our friends has a D70 and she said go for the D80.

Shoei · 23 Oct 2006 at 11:53

reddeathdrinker said:
And derailing the thread....Heysham, eh? I'm seeing a lovely lass from your little Lancastrian suburb Bit of a trek from Inverness-way, but worth it.....

Just make sure she dont glow in the dark!!

King_Boru · 24 Oct 2006 at 13:00

You are better off spending more money on a lens. At the end of the day it is down to the quality of the glass. Go for the D80 body and invest in a quality standard zoom. The 18-70/135mm DX lens' are good starters but you soon see their downsides. The 18-70mm DX suffers from bad barrel distortions at 18mm coupled with bad vignetting at f4. It would appear the 18-135mm DX is a sooped up 18-70mm DX so expect some bad distortions and vignetting with the increased magnification factor.

Really, you need to figure out what you will be using the camera for moast and spend accordingly on a decent well suited lens.

Just my two cents.