Why We Chose the D70

People have asked Heather and I why we chose the Nikon D70 over the Canon Digital Rebel 300D. My thinking initially was that we’d buy the Digital Rebel body and just spend some extra money on a better lens. A coworker has both a 10D and a 300D and said that with a good lens, the 300D is every bit as good for candid shots and outdoor work, both of which are the main types of shots that Heather and I shoot.

A couple of months ago a friend posted some shots he took in Argentina. I asked him what he was shooting with (I loved the shallow depth of field) and he mentioned the D70. So I figured we’d look at the D70, but probably couldn’t afford it or the camera I really wanted, which was the Canon 10D. Once you factor in lens costs for the 10D, you’re looking at $1500 — $2000 US, which was above our budget.

Really, it came down to two things. First, the Nikon ships with a better lens. It has a few more features than the Canon DigiReb and is actually much closer to the 10D in features, but without the expense. After standing in the shop and shooting a ton of pictures, Heather looked at me. Leta looked at me. Boom. Done. It didn’t hurt that I purchased a Nikon CoolPix 990 in 2000 and we had shot somewhere in the range of 12,000 to 15,000 shots with it.

You’ve undoubtedly seen some of the first shots that Heather has posted. I’ve been a slacker, but here’s one of my favorites (no retouching):

One of the benefits of shooting with an SLR is that you can let the camera do a lot of the work. The other is speed. When the light is just right, you have to be able to get the shot, and I’m very pleased with the results.

So far, we’ve done limited RAW shooting, opting instead for the highest JPEG setting. Any artifacts you see are the result of me compressing the files so we don’t have bandwidth cost issues.

Hopefully, I’ll be posting more photos than I have in the past.

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  • http://1mp.blogspot.com Jme

    Looking at the shots you took make me salivate even more for a digital SLR — problem is, I’ll need to go rob a bank to get enough dosh for one. In the meantime, while I’m gathering enough guts to commit the crime, I’m happily taking semi-alright shots with my fuji finepix s5000, a polariod, a lomo lca and a holga. I’m sharing the same sentiments as mihow on the Holga — it looks dirt cheap and like a toy camera, but the fun is that every holga’s different and you can never predict what sort of shots/effects you’re going to get with it. Medium format is still one of my favs.

    And yes, I’m still loving those shots you took with the D70, blurb. Post more! More!!!!!

  • http://www.digitalcatharsis.com the mighty jimbo

    per chance, did you check out the sony dsc-f828? 8 megapixel, 28–200 zoom, zeis lense, looks like a cool package. i have been debating the whole d70, digirebel and sony choice right now too. the rebel is nice cause i already have some canon slr lenses, but that sony, although less flexible without the interchangable lenses, looks like it would fit 98% of my needs in one package.

  • http://mac.antville.org Mac

    I am still shooting with my CoolPix 995 and looking forward to get a D70 — looks lovely…

  • http://penn.typepad.com Leah

    The Nikon Coolpix 4500 came with a rechargable LI-ion battery. In fact, so did the 995.

    I’m uber-jealous of your D70. When I graduate college, that’s what I will most likely do with the money I am given. I still use my Minolta SLR all the time because I love the feeling of the camera, focusing, etc, and all the control I get.

  • http://www.brochspot.com Broch

    My 2 cents as a 2 week D70 owner… I suffered like a caged animal for a few months while I tried to decide between the Canon 10D and the D70… I already owned a Nikon F100 and a crapload of lenses for it. Therefore the decision was made a little more easily. I shoot primarily with the D70 and a 24–120 (36–189 on the D70) and have nothing but the best to say about the camera. The review of it at http://​www​.dpreview​.com was also very influential. New toys are SOOO fricken cool!

  • http://www.brochspot.com Broch

    Oops, 36–180 that is.…

  • http://www.twosittingducks.com Hannah

    Chris and Jon

    Thanks for the info. That red light was the only thing that was bothering me about the D70. Now, I just have to wait for that backpay…

  • http://www.kinkamono.com Sarah

    Id really appreciate it if someone could point out exactly what the difference is between the Canon 10D and 300D (Digital Rebel).

    They are EXACTLY the same technical spec in slightly different body styles, with a few minior exceptions — that being the 10D offers slighly less compression and slightly more control over white balance (because specifying your temperature in Kelvins is oh-so usefull! *rolls eyes*). Oh and lets not forget the all important .5 fps increase from the 300D and that 9 frames burst.

    You can actually make your digital rebel function exactly like a 10D by simply changing the firmware. Can someone tell me how Canon can justify the increase in price for the 10D when it has exactly the same hardware as the Digital Rebel? I just dont get it.

    Im a digital rebel owner and Im very happy with my camera except for the fact that it takes a moment to warm up. It would be very cool to have that done away with.

    Sarah

  • http://no.com Sarah

    methinks wives in pantyhoes might not particularly interest our dear dj blurb. but who am I to judge.

  • http://richardsnotes.org Richard

    I think one of the important differences between the Canon 300 D (Rebel) and the Canon 10D is the mirror lock up on the 10D that the 300D lacks. Mirror lock up is useful for any tripod work or macro photography to get rid of some of the vibration that happens when the mirror on an SLR flips out of the way when the shutter is released.

    The 10D also has a bigger buffer so you can shoot more pictures faster before it has to sit and write to the card.

    You can do a nice comparison of the two at dpreview​.com.

    I’m in exactly the same spot as many here: waiting to make the leap to a digital SLR. I have a Canon G3 which I love and the menuing on both the 300D and 10D are similar so the transition would be less painful than going to Nikon but the D70 looks like a great camera and it’s hard to find much bad said about it.

    I’d say if one had no investment in lenses for either make then it’s a toss up and you can’t go wrong with any of these cameras (money aside).

    Of course, the other difference between both the D70 and 300D and the 10D is size: the 10D is a full-size digital SLR and the other two are newer, smaller, and lighter. If you’re going overseas on a tough assignment it might be good to have the tougher, metal bodied 10D but I’ve been using my plastic G3 for three years and appreciate the lightness of it.

    My guess is that Canon will come out with a D70 killer that will be a hybrid of the 300D and 10D and that’s what I’m waiting for.

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