Advice.. Digital or Pro SLR?

[fred99111]

I am a novice that would like to expand. I currently own a Nikon SLR (N50) with a 70-300 lens. I am looking to upgrade my equipment and it seems like a digital is the progressive and smart way to go. I am looking at the D70. However, I have seen the Nikon F5 at a reasonable price ($1,000, used) BTW, I plan on doing wedding, sports photos. I would prefer to get a Pro DSLR, but budget won't allow it.

All input is welcome.

[Lionheart]

I am a novice that would like to expand. I currently own a Nikon SLR (N50) with a 70-300 lens. I am looking to upgrade my equipment and it seems like a digital is the progressive and smart way to go. I am looking at the D70. However, I have seen the Nikon F5 at a reasonable price ($1,000, used) BTW, I plan on doing wedding, sports photos. I would prefer to get a Pro DSLR, but budget won't allow it.

All input is welcome.

How much do you spend on developing and film? What do you do with the images after?
If you digitize your film images anyway, I'd say go digital. If you're not digitally saving your images for use to a significant degree, then I'd say get the F5, you will not be disappointed. There's a certain rush you get everytime you pick up a serious camera like the F5 that cannot be described in words, but once you get it, you will be hard pressed to settle for even prosumer camera bodies. So beware if you get the F5, you'll be spoiled by the capability of that camera. Next thing is to get some really awesome glass regardless of what camera body you get. Others will say get better glass first, but I think that depends on whether you've outgrown the limits of your current camera body. You will be hard pressed to outgrow the capabilities of a camera like the F5. Just my two coppers.

[paulnj]

While (Lionhearts) make a very valid point,...

for (paid)weddings or (paid) sports, you might consider SHARPER lenses

I am not saying to get a 300f2.8 AFSII , but a 80-200 f 2.8 w/ a 1.4 tc will give you DUAL perpose gear.. 80-200 for people/ wider sports images and add the TC for tighter images. A 50f1.8 CAN'T be beat for sharpness/value, a 28-70 F2.8........

CHOICES CHOICES

BOTH cameras will serve you well ... IF you can use them to their fullest patential

[another view]

With weddings, you'll want exposure latitude (big advantage with color neg film over digital) and good AF for low light. With sports you'll want fast, accurate AF and high frame rates.

The F5 (or F100) would be a better choice in these regards. A D70 has (I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong) the same AF as the N80. I also have that on my Fuji S2 and it doesn't handle low light anywhere near as well as my F100 and F5 (not much difference between those two). Also, when the bride has a white dress with a sheen to it and the groom is in a black tux you might have a hard time not blowing the highlights (and losing detail in her dress) and blocking up the shadows (losing detail in the tux).

Digital has lots of advantages, one being that high ISO's usually look better in my experience on digital than on film, especially color neg. But there are a lot of disadvantages and personally I wouldn't shoot a wedding with only one camera. You'll want a backup which could be the film camera you already have. I'm not ready to buy a second DSLR because the technology is changing so fast. Also with digital you'll have an investment in compact flash cards, monitor calibration and editing software, etc.

For these reasons (and the fact that I have a great lab to work with), I shoot weddings on film. The cost savings by using digital is there if you do enough of it, but you will invest more time. However, at some point I'll probably use digital for weddings - like most people will eventually.