Nikon D-70 vs. Olympus C-8080

[dabitz]

Well I own a D-70, still on my honeymoon (3 days), but here is what

thsi post is about. A friend of mine is shopping for a Digital Camera

and she is inclined towards the Olympus C-8080. I have tried to

explain to her that even though the Olympus model is a good camera,

it does not compare to the D-70 at all. Now she is even more

confused, after a salesman at one of this electronic stores told her

that the Olympus outperforms the D-70 in several areas, although he

did not tell her in which ones specifically. She has two Nikon SLR's,

and I know if she buys the Olympus, she will be dissapointed a couple

of weeks/months down the road, due to the limiations on "point and

shoot cameras". Note that this would be her first digital camera. I

bought the Dimage A1 and it wasn't enough for me, I missed all those

features of SLR cameras. I can't even think of a single feature in

which I would prefer the C-8080 over the D-70. She values my opinion

and we've been doing a lot of research on this. Would you guys like

to add anything to our discussion?

[eric friedemann]

I sell both the D70 and the 8080 and have shot both. I would make these observations as pro-8080:

 

 

1. The 8080 is a little smaller and lighter than a full-blown DSLR.

 

 

2. The lens on the Oly 8080 is simply outstanding. It is remarkably sharp and has excellent contrast.

 

 

On the other hand, anti-8080:

 

 

1. The Oly has no buffer. If you shoot the camera in any high-rez mode, you can wait 15 seconds or longer, as the camera locks up to digest the image you've shot. I find this absurdly annoying; and your friend would not have the same problem with a D70.

 

 

2. The 8080 has a considerably smaller sensor than the D70. At ISO 50-100, this isn't a big deal. But over ISO 125, the 8080 progressively exhibits noise that your friend may find unacceptable. By way of contrast, I find that the D70 and D100 perform better than any 35mm film at ISOs 800 and 1600.

 

 

At its current reduced price of under $700, the Oly 8080 is a good buy. However, I would disagree with the salesman your friend spoke to, in that there is no way in which the Oly 8080 "outperforms" the D70.

[jay_miao1]

Point-and-Shoot is simply a point-and-shoot, no one would and should compare it with a DSLR, which are not in any way the same level devices. The salesman is a salesman who is not a photographer by all means. How about the popular Canon G2~G6 P&S as I own the G2 and can image that the G6 would be MUCH better but only than the G2 that would NEVER cross the line of D70... which's not even close as when we're talking about the AF speed, shutter lag time, aperture and ISO handling, view finder and lens interchangeability and so many forth. In a word, for almost $700 on Oly 8080, forget about it.

[hayward]

Show her your D70 and the pics you get. You might not persuade her, though. My wife prefers her Canon A70 over my Nikon D70. The Nikon is too big and bulk for her taste and the image quality isn't as important to her as it is to me.

[sarp_ozdemiroglu]

If she has several Nikon lenses she wouldnt think of 8080. Every digital camera's life time is 2-3 years but if you have lenses worth of $4000 or more you can trash your $1000 body and buy more featured body later in SLR world. If she wants portabilty she can pay $250 to a decend P&S. $800-1000 range SLR-like cameras are marketing hype... Either buy $250 P&S or DSLR.

[cwphoto]

I own both cameras & agree with the preceeding posters. I will add one more. The Nikon menu is MUCH better for me then the Olympus. I always hunt for the propper menu sets with the 8080. Olympus is excellent until it is compared to a DSLR.

[hakon_soreide]

Digital Point & shoot C-8080 and digital SLR D-70 are two completely different classes of products. And really, the price shouldn't be all that different either if the prospective buyer already has Nikon lenses and can go for a body-only D-70.<p>

Still, it's about what kind of pictures are going to be shot with the camera, how they will be presented (size), shooting convenience, etc.<p>

When it comes to the latter point, for composing, focus, buffering and shutter-lag alone - before viewing the image specs - there's no doubt the D70 is the better camera, and obviously the camera shops have a lower profit margin on them, or they wouldn't be pushing point & shoots. Also, a salesman who make a claim without backing it up with facts - in this case what areas the C-8080 outperforms the D70 - is simply just lying or telling you what he's been told to say.<p>

Selling point & shoots also has the added benefit for a photo shop that people will have to come back to get new ones a lot more often. Considering that, it's actually a lot more value for money to go for a D70, in addition to being the best camera by far of the two.<p>

<a href="http://www.hakonsoreide.com/Photos">www.hakonsoreide.com</a>

[frankie_frank1]

David, your girlfriend has 2 Nikon SLRs, and I assume that she has couple of lenses to be used for D70. Then the price of D70 body is not much more thant the price of 8080 with included lens. However, women are women; men are men. A lot of women prefer convenience to quality. It is all up to her to choose the camera you want, not the quality you want.

[eskoufos]

it is an apples and oranges comparison as most people here said already. The only feature that the Olympus outperforms the D70 is for the convenience of macro pictures. Never used the 8080, but used both the 5060 (which is very similar to the 8080) and the D70. If she is used to a film SLR, she would be extremely frustrated with the luck of buffer for the P&S and no matter how good the olympus lens is (and it is good as far as P&S goes) it cannot compare to even a G series Nikon zoom cheapy lens on a D70 for sharpness. As I said before, if eazy macro matters, I see the only advantage of the 8080... And with the current rebate, since she has Nikon lenses, the price is a wash...

[haris]

I own a C-4040 and was extremely happy with it for a while until I got annoyed with its limitations and bought a D-70. C-8080 is most likely much better at what C-4040 could do, but I found it most annoying to dig through the menus to find fuctions, to wait for camera to start and process images, and not being able to see what I am shooting through the viewfinder.

 

One thing I have not seen mentioned that Olympus has going for it, though, is the fact that it's sensor does not get dust. You never need to clean it!

[ky2]

Post this in a Nikon forum, what do you expect?

 

There's NO CONTEST concerning the fact that the D70, being a DSLR, is the better camera. BUT please consider the following:

 

1) Some people don't care much about the lens being interchanable. In fact, they want a good lens that would just tay there. The Oly has a VERY GOOD LENS. It beats the D70 Kit lens, easily. Also: no lens changes = no dust.

 

2) If you can shoot at ISO 50, the Oly will resolve more detail. PERIOD. I've seen A2 prints made of 8080 captures, and they are VERY GOOD.

 

3) Some people don't care much about high-speed shooting. The Oly is capable of shooting at roughly 1 fps, which is adequate.

 

4) You can (and SHOULD) frame your shot with the LCD monitor. Not available with most DSLRs. You can also shoot movie clips.

 

5) While high-ISO suffers on the Oly, the kit lens is fast at f/2.4~3.5. This is much better than Nikon consumer zooms.

 

6) Although it's not small, it's SMALLER than the D70.

 

7) It's CHEAPER. Big point there.

 

I would choose a D70. But some people find the Oly 8080 perfect. It's also BUILT right-- all in all, your friend can't go wrong.

 

My only concern: You're 3 days into your honeymoon, and you're posting camera-shopping threads on photo.net for a female friend? =)))

[eric friedemann]

"If you can shoot at ISO 50, the Oly will resolve more detail. PERIOD."

 

 

Having shot both cameras, I can tell you that the Oly 8080 at ISO 50 will not resolve more detail than the D70 at its minimum ISO, 200. The larger imaging chip on the DSLR trumps the lower ISO capability on the ZLR.

[lex_jenkins]

P&S digicams like my Olympus C3040Z are convenient within their limits. You just have to decide whether you can live within those limits.

 

Olympus digicams typically have noisier sensors at higher ISOs than the nearest competitor. This has been true of the two other Olympus P&S digicams in my family and has generally been shown to be true in dpreview.com tests, which provide image samples for comparison.

 

When I bought mine it was the direct descendent of the Olympus C2000, which was considered to be something special way back when. But the C3040Z was behind the curve and so was I.

 

One of the most annoying limitations is the inability to take rapid consecutive shots at anything higher than moderate resolution. Good enough, maybe, for e-mailing or snail-mailing CDs of Junior sliding into home, but not good enough for even a 4x6 print.

 

To me, that is one of the single most unacceptable limitations for any digicam. Otherwise the camera is relegated to the role of a single shooter while everyone chimps after every shot.

 

Tell your friend that if she's going to get a P&S digicam, at least get the smallest, lightest good quality digicam she can afford. I could forgive a lot of the sins of most digicams if they were small than my wallet or cell phone but took reasonably good photos (good enough for a 3.5x5 or 4x6). Then I'd be more likely to get some real use out of my digicam.

[ky2]

Eric, I respect your input, but beg to differ. The 8080 is certainly up there against the D70 kit lens. Sorry, but it's the hard truth. It even looks good against the 20D, which is superior to the D70.

[eric friedemann]

Yaron, we don't disagree by that much. The lens on the 8080 is outstanding and is certainly superior to the D70's kit lens. That is why I think the 8080 is a good value at its current price. To equal the lens on the 8080, you would have to pair a D70 body with a better Nikkor lens, like a 17-35mm f/2.8 AFS or a 17-55mm f/2.8 DX. So, I'm not dismissing the quality of Olympus lenses on better Oly P&S cameras.

 

 

However, I would rather shoot with a D70 or my D100s with a better Nikkor lens at ISO 200 than shoot with the 8080 at ISO 50. The size of the D70's chip simply outweighs the lower ISO of the 8080 or the 8080's stellar zoom.<div></div>

[ky2]

Agreed. But a D70 + 17-55 doesn't make a cheap alternative. I would also use a DSLR over any P&S.. but for $700, well.. the choices are limited to kit lenses.

[david_rivera2]

Maybe I should change my screen name huh. If you're wondering I've been a member of the www.photo.net community since June 05, 2001.

 

A different Dave.