ist DL? D50? D70? Rebel?

[ken1953]

Ok everyone...

I've narrowed it down!! And with all the advice I've given to others lately...I am now in a quandry myself. I promised to buy my wife a DSLR so she can start learning photography from the ground up.

I've narrowed it down to the 4 listed in the subject.

Pros for me...
Pentax ist DL at Ritz ... good package, good price. I have 3 older Pentax lenses (2 are the same and one telephoto that doesn't work very well).

Nikon D50 or D70...we are already learning the Nikon menu format. We can interchange the speedlight with my 8400. Price is ok for both, a little high on the D70.

Canon XT Rebel...would have to start from the ground up. Great camera but probably my last choice at this point..depending on what everyone recommends here.

OK everyone...this is your chance to talk up your brand!!! What should I buy my Valentine??? As usual...any help greatly appreciated!!!
Ken

[Franglais]

Ok everyone...

I've narrowed it down!! And with all the advice I've given to others lately...I am now in a quandry myself. I promised to buy my wife a DSLR so she can start learning photography from the ground up.

I've narrowed it down to the 4 listed in the subject.

Pros for me...
Pentax ist DL at Ritz ... good package, good price. I have 3 older Pentax lenses (2 are the same and one telephoto that doesn't work very well).

Nikon D50 or D70...we are already learning the Nikon menu format. We can interchange the speedlight with my 8400. Price is ok for both, a little high on the D70.

Canon XT Rebel...would have to start from the ground up. Great camera but probably my last choice at this point..depending on what everyone recommends here.

OK everyone...this is your chance to talk up your brand!!! What should I buy my Valentine??? As usual...any help greatly appreciated!!!
Ken

What we usually suggest is for your beloved to take the things in her tiny delicate hands and see which she is most comfortable with. The Pentax is rather small for my hands, the Canon feels rather light.

As you have a Nikon accessory already - I recommend that you take the D70 kit with the 18-70. That is a great lens that you will want to keep.

Charles

[SmartWombat]

Are you looking at the 350 for budget reasons, or size/weight?
Do you have to buy new?
I'm wondering if a good 2/h 20D or 10D might be an alternative to the 350?

[deckcadet]

My recommendation: D50 with 18-70 DX. Excellent at high ISO, built very well, excellent image quality, huge system, plus as you said interchangeable with the 8400. Also try out the D70, but the D50 is cheap, reliable, and although its basically teh same sensor, image quality is a great leap forward.

[ken1953]

Ok...thanx everyone...I will look at all...if I can get out of the motel tomorrow morn...hehe...been snowing about 3 hours and got 4 inches already...

AV...the 350 is really an afterthought...If Adina decides to sell her 10D...I will, if I can afford it, probably go with it, if I haven't gotten something else already. The final decision will be Kims...she's the one going to be using it most. I'm currently happy with 8400 until I can afford a D200 or 20D. I'm also going to look at the Maxxums and brought the Pentax lenses with me to see how they work with the *ist...We're going to spend some time shopping and then compare notes...wait for PMA 2006...give Adina some time to think...then make up our minds...
But I respect all of your opinions greatly and wouldn't make any decision without asking here first!!!!!!!
Thanx again,
Ken
Again...thanx for the help.
Ken

[Lava Lamp]

I have the D70 and while it has been a good camera for me in many ways, I've recently ordered a D50. (Should arrive tomorrow.)

I'll know better when I have it, but it seem to me like the D50 doesn't lack anything that the D70 has that a beginner would ever need. To me, it makes sense to put the money into better lenses.

You probably want to get something now, but Ritz is usually more expensive than the reputable big names in mail order like B&H and Adorama. If Ritz has it, try to get a 50mm 1.8 lens for around $100. It is one of the sharpest Nikon makes and a great start. the 18-70 has more range, but less low light capability.

By the way, I think Canon makes fine stuff, too, and honestly if I didn't have Nikon equipment alrady, I'd proabbly buy Canon. Canon generally makes new technology avalabel to its users more quickly and less expensively than Nikon. With cameras you get mroe megapixels. With lenses you get USM motors in almost every lens and Image Stabliization in many of them. Nikon tends to save that for its highest priced lenses.

[Michael Fanelli]

Ok everyone...

I've narrowed it down!! And with all the advice I've given to others lately...I am now in a quandry myself. I promised to buy my wife a DSLR so she can start learning photography from the ground up.

I've narrowed it down to the 4 listed in the subject.

Pros for me...
Pentax ist DL at Ritz ... good package, good price. I have 3 older Pentax lenses (2 are the same and one telephoto that doesn't work very well).

Nikon D50 or D70...we are already learning the Nikon menu format. We can interchange the speedlight with my 8400. Price is ok for both, a little high on the D70.

Canon XT Rebel...would have to start from the ground up. Great camera but probably my last choice at this point..depending on what everyone recommends here.

OK everyone...this is your chance to talk up your brand!!! What should I buy my Valentine??? As usual...any help greatly appreciated!!!
Ken

The Pentax is an excellent camera that is often overlooked. It will work with your existing lenses as well as new ones you may purchase (compatability is even higher than Nikon). Some people find that it is too small and light. I like small and light, you may not! I went into Canon way back before Pentax had a digital model. Had Pentax been available back then, I would have stayed with Pentax without question. Excellent ergonomics, excellent service, excellent optics.

[payn817]

I will go with what seems to be the crowd here. The D50 seems like it is more what you may want. The Maxxum line has buttons and dials galore, and seems a bit intimidating. Which is exactly the reason I haven't purchased it yet. It has typical features with better than typical access, but to a beginner, it may seem a bit much.

If you do happen to go that way though, let me know. I have a good set of Minolta lenses I may consider selling, possibly going to Nikon.

Lenses are:
28 f/2.8
50 f/1.7
28-100 f/3.5-5.6 (kit lens)
70-210 f/4 (older leica version)

[Jason ON]

I'll have to agree with Michael. Not because I own 3 Pentax cameras, including the DSLR *ist DS, but because as a photography machine it's superb. As Michael explained, Pentax's are generally overlooked for their more popular competition: Canon and Nikon.

The Pentax is small and light but I like that, especially considering how much hiking I do. Lighter is always better.

The pictures are superb! Especially with the Pentax lense it came with. I have a couple Pentax third-party lenses, but they tend to be grainy and slow. I'm hoping to get the SMC DA-50mm-200mm in the next couple of weeks and retire the others (maybe to ebay).;) I figure that lense, plus the 28-80 it came with will cover most of my basis for now!

Anywho, back to the *ist. Don't take my word for it.

And the best part? It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. I was out taing pictures of my community a few months ago when a dog's leash triped me and I dropped the camera. Luckily I had the strap in hand (not around my neck, though) and it just grazed the ground, but it came back working just fine.

[ken1953]

Thanks all...haven't gotten a chance to get to The Camera Shop, because of the weather, but did stop at American. They had the D50, the Rebel and the Olympus E500. So Kim got to play with those, but I want her to actually get to a "camera" store where there are photographers who can really talk to her about cameras...I'm liking the D50 now that I've held it...but still want to put them all together and see which I like best...
All of your suggestions are engrained in me as I look and I ask many better questions than I would have with out your help...Thanks...
Ken

[Lava Lamp]

I received my D50 tonight and went over it closely, comparing it to my D70 and doing some test shots. I was only working at night under the lights in my house with some flash here and there, but the D50 seems to have comparable image quality to the D70 with lower noise and slightly better autofocus. There are a couple of minor missing features in the D50 (top LCD light, a few missing buttons that are instead accessed through menus) and it is a little smaller, but I wouldn't pay the extra for the D70 if I were doing it again.

[ken1953]

Thanx LL...tomorrow morning we're going to the Camera Store here in Madison...never know...I might just come home with one!!! hehehe...but, I want to put them all on a counter next to each other and really play with the lot!!!!
I'll let you know tomorrow night if I buy or wait!!!!! hahaha
Thanks,
Ken

[xsport652]

Sorry do you think you could go more in depth with the differences between the D70 and D50 so far.
How much better is the noise and autofocus on the D50?
What features would you say you really have to search through the menus to get on the D50?
Any opinions directly from you that you like about the D50 or D70 more?
What lenses are you using?
Thanks I just really can't decide what to do now.

[xsport652]

anyone. sorry im in a dilemma here.

[ken1953]

Hi Xsport...sorry I really can't offer you the details...but I recommend you ask this in the Nikon Manufacturers forum. Since I bought the Pentax yesterday, I think most people are overlooking this thread. But the Nikon and Canon forums are really good about these types of questions.
Ken

[Franglais]

Sorry do you think you could go more in depth with the differences between the D70 and D50 so far.
How much better is the noise and autofocus on the D50?
What features would you say you really have to search through the menus to get on the D50?
Any opinions directly from you that you like about the D50 or D70 more?
What lenses are you using?
Thanks I just really can't decide what to do now.

My experience with the D50 is limited to playing with a friend's new one for an afternoon plus reviewing her first 250 images. I certainly couldn't detect any difference in the noise, the autofocus worked great just like on my D70, the menus seemed to be just the same (I have done the firmware update so I have the D70S menus).

I did notice that the D50 JPG's looked better than the D70 ones - they look brighter and more saturated (the original D70 tended to make the JPG's rather dark to avoid burning the highlights, something that was corrected in the D50 & D70S).

I notice that the D50 has only one control wheel whereas the D70 had two. The body is smaller but still feels good and solid. I liked the smaller SD card but as I'm going to use the D70 as a backup for my D200 (when I find one) then it's better to have a CF card.

So far I've never used the D70 to remotely pilot my SB800's but it could happen - something the D50 can't do with its built-in flash.

Charles