Need some advise on DSLR body.

[NicoYap]

Hi,

I will like to get some of your advices before I go and get a DSLR camera. I have 2 camera in my mind now. That is Nikon D70 kit or Canon 20D kit. I use it for hobby. Mostly, I like to take picture of cars, outing with friends, city, scenery, like waterfall, etc...

And which mirco lens will you recomment if I use to take picture like model plane, model cars, etc...

Thanks for your precious advices and your times for typing the comments for me.

p.s. My budget is 3k - 4k.

 

[Witness]

get a d70 with the kit lens ($1700), and maybe a 90mm tamron di macro lens($595)...
perhaps a sigma 70-300 ($330)......with a sb600 flash ($340) with memory card still less than 3k.....

good enuff for wat u want to use it for.....not sure about prices...but should be close la...

juz my suggestion...its not foolproof..

 

[blurblock]

Hi,

I will like to get some of your advices before I go and get a DSLR camera. I have 2 camera in my mind now. That is Nikon D70 kit or Canon 20D kit. I use it for hobby. Mostly, I like to take picture of cars, outing with friends, city, scenery, like waterfall, etc...

And which mirco lens will you recomment if I use to take picture like model plane, model cars, etc...

Thanks for your precious advices and your times for typing the comments for me.

p.s. My budget is 3k - 4k.

a. You may want to put Minolta's 7D into consideration.
b. Taking pictures of cars, outing, secenery, model plane, model cars .... etc do not require a Micro / Marco lens (there are difference between a micro and a marco lens .... for one the spelling is different)
c. The zoom lens 18-70 included in Nikon D70 is excellent enough, additional zoom lens not required, but you might want to invest in a good prime lens for your model plane, model cars, as a prime lens can focus nearer then Zoom lens.

What else do you need?

 

[NicoYap]

Thanks, for your advise. I go and look at Minolta's 7D. It look not that bad, but wondering how much will it cost? In Australia is selling at Aus$2399, just for the body. It also seem like not much lens to choose at the moment. Thinking to get a better lens in the future.

 

[mpenza]

go for the D70 or 300D. with the recent price cuts, they offer the best value for money among the DSLRs and are more than enough for the subjects that you want to take.

 

[AReality]

$4k budget is not enough for 20D.
also set aside $500 for your camera accessories, unless you want to buy the cam for display purposes only.

 

[jimtong]

from your description of intended usage, I would advise you to go with D70 or 300D.
But let's say you have a bigger option other then DSLR, a normal compact prosumer range cam is enough for you and it is portable and light.

 

[Dennis]

You need a D70. With the price reduction you can get most of the things you needed and still have spare to eat lunch and take a Taxi back home. Most importantly you will be able to take great photos after that.

 

[NicoYap]

So if I buy 70D kit, which other lens will be good for outdoot shooting and nighttime. Like Christmas Dec on shopping centre, etc... Get 70D and was thinking to get SB-600 SPEEDLIGHT. Is SB-600 and SB-800 any much diff?

 

[glennyong]

go for the D70, it has pre-programme mode for u to learn and choose the correct and proper settings and Nikon D70 has alot of lenses for u to choose from.

nt onli its recent slash will make it a best buy, i will also need to consider the fact that the D70 is built to satisfy the amatuer's dream of owning a DSLR. Its cheap, good and not forgetting being one of the best camera yet. For such a low price u can get a Nikon DSLR for yourslef will give you the satisfaction u need. Look no longer. Nikon is for you.

Consider the External flash. SB-600 and SB-800 the difference would be its ISO Flash guide. SB-800 has a longer flash guide den the SB-600.. and of course u will need to pay more for it.

For a $4k budget

these are my personal recommendations for you.

a) Nikon D70 with Kit Lens 18-70mm
b) Nikon SB-800 / 600
c) Sandisk / Lexar 512 - 1gb CF
d) Sigma 70-200mm F2.8
e) Nikon 50mm F1.8

that should keep you in the range of wide angles and mid-range telephoto zooms.

gd luck !~

 

[epia]

Hi, I'm newbie to dSLR so please don't mind my ignorance... The kit for d70 is the 18-70mm lens right? So does it mean it is around 4x optical zoom in layman term? Also.. may I know how many times is the zoom the body itself has?

Also, if I'm going to buy D70 (i'm saving up for a dslr like the topic starter here), what lens should I buy? I see so many XX-XXmm lens and I'm puzzled.. how do I read what each lens do? Please guide me ...

 

[glennyong]

maybe these should help you out...

a "normal" range lens will be

a) 50mm f/1.8
b) 50mm f/1.4

whereby 50mm is considered a normal lens, not too long nor short, not a wide angle neither a zoom.. simply called a normal lens...

any focal length below 50mm.. will be considered a wide angle or the fish eye.

Nikon has several wide angles... ranging from 12mm to 35mm...

telezooms will be ranging from 100mm to 600mm~

 

[AReality]

U didn't take the crop factor into account?

 

[Witness]

wide angle??? during my dad's time 35mm and 28mm was wide...
from the looks of it...12mm is wide now.... on digital tt is//

 

[epia]

Hmm.. so am I right if I say 18-70 has a range of wide to tele providing zoom effect?

 

[glennyong]

U didn't take the crop factor into account?

we muz understand he is a noob... if we tell him so mani things where can he absorb ? slowly.. take things one at a time....

he cannot run when he is juz learning to crawl...

let them grasp the basics to equipment theory followed by some hands on practical lessons and then the advanced equipment theories.. haha.. isnt it better ?

he can absorb faster like this....

crop factor comes in later when he knows the difference between Primes, WAs, FEs, and 2 different teles and the Super teles.... hahaha

 

[glennyong]

Hmm.. so am I right if I say 18-70 has a range of wide to tele providing zoom effect?

yes u can... 18 will provide u with wides angles and 70mm will provide u a short zoom if u require...

therefore in short.. the 18-70mm DX lens will cover ur basic needs of photography, when u require a "higher" level of lens u might want to consider different lens for different occasions like 50mm f/1.8 for low light, 17-55mm for general street photography, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR for sports or action, and 600mm f/4 for wildlife photography...

if Nikon's lens are too expensive to invest, u might wish to consider third party lenses such as Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron.

however i personally felt that Sigma lenses have that certain punch to their lenses though... nt only they look good, they feel rather better then the others as they do not have the "plasticty" feeling as compared to the others...

 

[scott]

20D is the camera for you. It's the best mid-range DSLR on the market today.
D70 and 300D are low-range DSLR. Although both are good, more than adequate for you to produce excellent images, their body are made from plastic.

20D has more solid feel, magnesium alloy body, and the focusing is the fastest at this moment. It has the lowest noise, even compared to 300D and its big brother, 1DMII.

 

[epia]

Oh that's very informative, tnks glen! Btw can recommend some sites where I can read and learn more about dSLR and lenses & filters(especially)? Hope to learn more about this art :lovegrin:

Oh ya, if I invest in Nikon D70 Lenses, what other camera can use these lenses as well?

yes u can... 18 will provide u with wides angles and 70mm will provide u a short zoom if u require...

therefore in short.. the 18-70mm DX lens will cover ur basic needs of photography, when u require a "higher" level of lens u might want to consider different lens for different occasions like 50mm f/1.8 for low light, 17-55mm for general street photography, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR for sports or action, and 600mm f/4 for wildlife photography...

if Nikon's lens are too expensive to invest, u might wish to consider third party lenses such as Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron.

however i personally felt that Sigma lenses have that certain punch to their lenses though... nt only they look good, they feel rather better then the others as they do not have the "plasticty" feeling as compared to the others...

 

[PLRBEAR]

20D is the camera for you. It's the best mid-range DSLR on the market today.
D70 and 300D are low-range DSLR. Although both are good, more than adequate for you to produce excellent images, their body are made from plastic.

20D has more solid feel, magnesium alloy body, and the focusing is the fastest at this moment. It has the lowest noise, even compared to 300D and its big brother, 1DMII.

However, on the practical side of things, none of these attributes will cater to his needs any more than a D70 or 300D. The noise level on a D70 or 300D is not much of an issue, until you start nitpicking.

I'd put the 300D below the D70, and place the 20D and 7D in another category. After the price drop of the D70, the 20D is definetly not in the same market share. What's the difference in price now? $1k? Spend the money on some good optics for the D70 instead to complement the 18-70 kit lens, which is already very good.