alex_j

Andrew R, you are right.... it is the *cheap* plastic ones I was mainly referring to... and I was more referring to the camera body, rather than the lens. If you want, you can use those newer optics on your older camera body... well at least for most of the Pentax K mount and Nikon F mount which I am more familiar with... I'm not sure what year Canon and others may have changed lens mounts, so it depends what his current 25 year old SLR is.

 

I'm sure that under those plastic covers of your Canon EOS 1n, there is quite a sturdy metal frame, just like there is under Nikon F5 and F100 plastic. No problem with high quality plastic used properly, rather than just to save cost. If Andrew A, is looking to buy a 35mm SLR in the price range of the EOS 1n, then he shouldn't need to worry about the quality of construction.

"NEF Compressed only (i read that somewhere - if true, thats a big deal)"

 

I'm not sure why that should be a big deal. Take a regular NEF from a D100, transfer it to your PC, compress it with WinZip, uncompress it again..... did you lose anything?

 

You'll find you haven't lost anything, and you shouldn't lose anything with the D70 NEF Compressed format either. If you check the previews/reviews at places like www.dpreview.com, you'll find that it is described as "NEF (12-bit lossless compressed RAW)". The key word is "lossless".

 

There might be some good reasons for sticking with a replacement D100, or going for a Canon 10D, or that Pentax digital with the funny name, instead of a D70.... but the "NEF Compressed" format isn't one of them.

"my current slr is 25 years old"

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Why replace the 25 year old camera.... 25 years ago, would be the era of the Pentax ME/MX, the Nikon F2/FM/FE... great metal bodied cameras, surely worthwhile keeping - maybe a CLA required? Many of the lenses are compatible with the new. These cameras are able to take as good as or better pictures than most modern pieces of plastic.

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What would you want to replace something like that, with a modern piece of plastic (and I don't just mean Canon, low end Nikon plastic - e.g. F55, is about the same)? Having said that, if you move up the range to say Nikon F80/N80, there's at least some metal under the plastic covers!

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Regarding advantages of film.... if you shoot with something like Fuji Velvia 50 Color Slide film, yes.... hopefully you don't want to take pictures of things that move do you? But if you are using color print film and/or higher ISO ratings, then the advantages of film disapper. If you do sports photos using higher speed films, then digital already has the advantage.

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The flatbed scanner idea has had some valid criticism, but at least you'll have those colour slides carefully stored and you'll be able get the best ones scanned again (with a better scanner) at a future date.

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There's an interesting article at Ken Rockwell's site - like most of Ken's stuff, well worth a read, but possibly not to be taken as gospel:<br>

<a href="http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filmdig.htm">http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filmdig.htm</a>

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Having said all that I'm happy with my Nikon D100 - I almost never make huge prints, or want to project slides. Love the freedom to take photo, get immediate feedback, delete, adjust/correct, experiment without ever thinking about the cost of film, or film processing issues.<br>

Specs here:<br>

<a href="http://home.aut.ac.nz/staff/rvink/nikon.html">http://home.aut.ac.nz/staff/rvink/nikon.html</a>

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Subjective evaluations by someone who could be called "expert" here:<br>

<a href="http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_wide.html">http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_wide.html</a>

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Regards,<br>

Lex<br>

Not really, ISO rating refers to International Standards Organization rating of film speed (or digital equivalent) so Nikon ISO 1600 should be the same as Canon ISO 1600.

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<a href="http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/faqs/faq0010.shtml">http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/faqs/faq0010.shtml</a>

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However it would seem to be true that the Canon has a greater range at the bottom end. Some would question the need to the ISO 100 setting.... if the noise at 200 is no worse than 100, then why bother? Others might argue that there are certain contitions (strong light, but you want open up the lens for more narrow depth of field) where you want a lower ISO. Still others would say if you really <i>need</i> this ISO 100 option (rather than just wanting to win the spec wars), then on those few occasions, you could get the same effect with a neutral density filter.

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<a href="http://www.geocities.com/cokinfiltersystem/gray_nd.htm">http://www.geocities.com/cokinfiltersystem/gray_nd.htm</a>

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Of course you can argue all day about noise etc and is Canon's ISO 1600 better than Nikon's ISO 1600..... and what about post processing etc. I'll leave those discussions to others.

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regards, Lex

<a href="http://www.nikon-image.com/eng/PDF/d100_12p.pdf">http://www.nikon-image.com/eng/PDF/d100_12p.pdf</a>

 

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On Page 10 of the PDF:<br>

Lens Compatibility Chart (IX-Nikkor lenses cannot be used).<br>

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I guess they put that there for a reason.<br>

Regards, Lex

In New Zealand there is one Parallel importer (would be called Gray Market in US?) already advertising the D70. I guess they get them direct from Japan.... delivery times are not stated, but would suspect you could find something in Japan by April... if you know were to look.

Haha, it's not really such a stupid question, and you can still have interchangeable lenses..... you can have as many other lenses (Tamron or whatever) as you like, but only one of them can be Nikon! Or at least that's how the the question reads.

 

Maybe a 85mm f1.4 but I'll probably change my mind in 5 minutes.

Do you aready have some Nikon lenses or other compelling reason to switch.... for as much as I would prefer the D70 to the Canon digital rebel (called 300D in most of the world?), what the others say is true.... in six months Canon or Pentax or someone else will have something better.

 

Just like the PC market, there will always be a better DSLR out every 6-18 months or so.... at least better in terms of *features* per dollar.

 

If you still feel you *may* wish to switch, when D70's are actually available, then maybe some second hand Canon lenses (not sure what is compatible in Canon - maybe ask in Canon forum) could be the way to go for the moment.... then if you decide to sell later on, you don't lose so much money.

Hmmmm.... 3 frames per second for a continuous burst of up to 144 pictures, shutter speed range 30 to 1/8,000 sec, flash sync shutter speeds up to 1/500 sec..... can anyone see anything important (anything at all?) that the D100 does better than the D70 spec suggests?

In my experience, with motorsports, I rarely need less than 80mm for actions shots (maybe World Rally where you can sometimes get really close). I'm just wondering why you feel you must have one lens to cover everything?

 

I'm also in the market for a zoom for my D100, for motorsport and some wildlife and don't feel the need for 28-200 in one lens, so interested in what other people have to say here.

You could, but as others have pointed out, it all depends. For example if you already have a perfectly good SLR, and you simply want to learn a bit about digital image post processing, then as Ian pointed out, there is another option. Instead of buying a DSLR, you could get a small digital point and shoot, and learn about the Nikon Viewer, Browser and Editor applications, Photoshop or whatever else you might want to experiment with.

 

The longer you put off buying that DSLR, the better DSLR you can get for the money. If you put off that DSLR purchase for a while, you might find that not only do you get a better DSLR, the cost saving will be enough, so that the digital point and shoot was effectivly free!

 

.....and this advice is coming from someone who recently purchased a D100 and is beginning to wish he waited till at least the D70 was out.

Maybe it's a bit too late for me to say what I would like to see from Pentax.... I used to have Pentax gear. Used a Spotmatic F many years ago, a Yashica (Pentax 42mm screw mount lenses) for a while and then a more recent (M series) Pentax until a few years ago when it was stolen along with the lenses :-(

 

After a few years without an SLR, I decided I wanted one again. Not only that, but I decide that I wanted a digital SLR. As I wasn't starting from a large base of existing lens and other kit, I looked at the main options: Nikon, Canon and Pentax.

 

While I would have liked to have gone with the Pentax, I didn't for several reasons:

 

1. availability - haven't seen any samples of the *istD in New Zealand yet. I'm sure you can order one but didn't see any samples. Advantage Nikon and Canon.

 

2. price - mainly due to availability? I don't think anyone is doing any special deals (?) Maybe, but I never heard about it, so better pricing with Canon 10D and Nikon D100.... not to mention Canon 300D and upcoming Nikon D70. Advantage Nikon and Canon (big advantage Canon, if 300D meets your needs).

 

3. lenses - not a big issue for me, but if my old F mount lenses hadn't been stolen, they probably wouldn't have worked on a *istD anyway. Simlar problems with Canon and Nikon but at least there's some hope.... I'm told all (almost all?) AF Nikon lenses will work and even older MF ones can be upgraded:

http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_CPUconversion.html

http://home.carolina.rr.com/headshots/NikonFAQ.htm

 

Advantage seems to be with Nikon (unless someone can do this for Pentax lenses).

 

4. What sort of stupid names are *ist and *istD anyway? Sounds trivial I know, but I know I'd get sick of people asking me "what model camera is that?" and me saying "it's a asterix-ist-D".... they're probably going to look at me like I need to up my medication. Who comes up with these ideas? What's wrong with Pentax using letters and numbers just like everybody else... and like Pentax used to do?

 

In the end I purchased a Nikon D100.

 

What I'd like to see from Pentax....

 

1. up the volume and reduce price of the *istD to compete with the upcoming Nikon D70.

 

2. get rid of the silly name while they're at it.

 

3. Consider introducing a higher spec DSLR based on one of the higher end Pentax bodies. Price and spec above 10D/D100 but price well below Nikon D2H. I don't care if it uses 1.3x or even 1.5x multiplier/cropping factor - it doesn't seem to worry Nikon and doesn't worry me either. Maybe some special lenses are needed for the wide angle fans.

 

4. Future DSLRs (and *all* high end DSLRs) to take more of the older lenses too.

 

Now if they can do all of that, they might really make me regret not waiting longer before getting that D100. Maybe I'd even consider a move back to Pentax again in the future.