jessica. said:
I recommend anything from the Nikon range, the Canon G6 is a great camera and both offer manual exposure settings, not manual focus though. If you don't care about that then don't go dslr. If you go dslr I recommend the d70 used if you can find it that way it sticks around your budget or the drebel. I prefer Nikon over canon based on years of use, how the cameras feel, and just how their dials are placed. You have to go to the store and hold the cameras and see which are more comfortable to you. I am not saying Canon is bad, but my experience with them had been on the pro side only. Nikon is what I use at home.
Good advice Jessica. Believo & mkrishnan, for your money, a digital rebel will be a nice starting point. That said, if you're looking for something that will get you better low light focusing, and has the option to manually or auto-focus right on the lens. For most canon's and nikon's you have to flip a swicth. With the d70 & kit lens, since it's AF-S, you can use auto and manual focus simultaneously. When i do photojournalistic gigs, I start with manually focusing and let AF finish the job. On my D2h which I use with the 18-70 kit lens, I get 99% of the photos wonderfully in focus. It's really a great combo, and having used the D70 the same way, i can honestly say it's a great choice.
You guys both sound like advanced photographers, and I think that while image quality between the Drebel and D70 are VERY similar, you'll like the D70's fast AF, it's better low light AF and the aforementioned ability to switch between MF and AF on the fly with the kit lens, which is infinitely better than the kit lens that comes with the DRebel.
My friend had a DRebel and his images were pretty soft compared to my D100 (at the time). When he bought a better Canon lens, the 24-70, he found his results stepped up.
He then traded the Rebel for a D70 and kit lens, in order to use some of my lenses, and he was stunned at how good his kit lens photos looked compared to his old rebel shots with kit lens. The D70 can be had NEW for $999 after rebate, and given the upgrade that the lens is, it's a much better bang for the buck-- plus it'll be a camera you can grow into, rather than the rebel, who's missing features could possibly hold either one of you back.
Purely on image quality? With good canon glass, it's a toss up. But given that buy that combo is gonna put you WAY above your ~$700 price range, I'd say to save the extra $$ and grab a D70 with kit. It's tops in its range.
Again, the new Rebel, while I haven't tried it out, still comes with the crappy kit lens. So even then, you're not really getting the full oomph of your image. Regardless of which DSLR you choose, remember-- your lens is 90% of the image.
You can use a 1d MK II with a crappy $100 canon lens and your image quality will suffer greatly. Put L glass on it, and it'll work great. Same with the D2x, D2h, D70 and D100. The only difference? In your range, only one DSLR comes with an advanced lens-- the D70.
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