Actually, as most of my friends have Nikons, I was thinking I should probably buy into the Nikon system as well to facilitate sharing.. I mentioned Canon cuz it seems there're a lot of 20Ds being offered in bns at what I think are pretty attractive prices and 20D is/was a semi-pro camera.
Comparing the D40 and the D70, I'm not entirely convinced there's that much of an advantage to the D70. Not really sure about the D100 though.. In either case, however, both the D70 and D100 are really old cameras and the D200 is still beyond my budget.
Maybe it's cuz I don't know enough about DSLRs.. Can anyone enlighten me as to how the D70 is a more capable camera? The most obvious issue is the lack of AF motor making the older lenses, especially the prime lenses unable to AF on the D40.
Other than this, it seems I read several reviews stating that while the D40 and D70 use the same sensor, the image processing pipeline has been improved in the D40..
And I don't think have 1/8000s shutter speed is really that big an advantage to the max of 1/4000s on the D40, and neither is the fractionally faster continuous shooting speed of 3fps vs the 2.5fps on the d40... 5 point AF? Well, it'll only affect portait orientation shots and there's always the half-depress then re-compose method so not a huge issue...
Is there any other feature on the D70 that isn't available on the D40 that I'm missing? Is the inability to AF with older lenses that big a deal? :dunno:
(That's an actual question, not an opinion, since I don't have any experience with DSLRs)
based on wat u have said, i have to say its 100% true. however this 100% is only 50% of the difference between d40 and a d70... my gf is using the d40 while i m using the D70s and the following is the difference that i felt:
1) D40 has a much better lcd screen. It is larger and can zoom in much more than the D70s. It wins the D70s hands and legs down thoroughly.
2) The main reason why D70/s is favored and created the big hoo-haa in the DSLR market is handling. What i meant by handling - u just have to pick up a D40, D40x, D50, canon 400d, canon 350d, sony alpha. After that close ur eyes, and i can assure u that ur hands will feel the best fit and most shiok. The body simply feel solid and not plasticy at all.
3) 3rd difference is again about handling. If u use the D40, u will be having a headache trying to change iso, whitebalance, apeture etc. if u want to change iso and whitebalance, u have to enter the menu via the lcd and then access a sub menu and then finally select the iso and then shoot. It take more than 5seconds. for seaoned ppl, it take arnd 3seconds. For the D70/s u just have to press one button and turn the wheel and u can set the iso, the whitebalance etc.
4) wat particularly irritates me on the D50 and D40 is that i have to use my index finger to hold one button and use the thumb to turn the wheel to change apeture. But on D70/s, there is an additional dial that is use specifically to change the apeture.
5) The viewfinder of the D40 is larger than the D70/s and is much more pleasureable to look at.
6) On the D70/s there is a top status led screen and u can easily see all the camera settings. However on the D40, u have to use the menu again.
7) D40 wins D70/s hands and legs down on iso noise. Shooting the same scene at the same settings at the higher isos, D40 shows significantly lesser noise.
8) My gf says that the D40 is small enough to fit snugly into her hands and hates the D70/s which is more fitting for guys. Since u are a guy, u should be loving the D70/s
9) image quality - image quality for all dslrs including D40 and D70/s are the same to me. (my eyes cant differentiate that well, maybe others could). But i can see the differences in image quality from different lenses.
10) the 1/8000s shutter speed of the D70/s - well.... i dun really use up till 1/8000s often, 99.9% of the situations requires me to shoot at 1/2500s at most... so without the 1/8000s on the D40 shouldnt kill u
11) Another main and VERY important difference - the flash of the D70/s can act as a commander and wirelessly trigger ur flash that is positioned at another location. To me, this is a very important and very useful function. On the D40, u need to place at least a SB800 on it and let the sb800 to act as a commander to remotely fire another flash.
12) And u already know that D40 works in Autofocus for only AF-S lenses. this really restrict the variety of lenses that u can use as there are many other non AF-S excellent lenses. Even the tiny 50mmf1.8 cant be used on it in autofocus.
13) in the viewfinder, there is only 3 focus point for the D40 while the D70/s has 5. I find that 3 focus point is really too little and my gf often complaints abt it. yaya some ppl may say that u can half press and recompose, but if u its easy to lose focus when u recompose.
to sum up: D70/s has superb handling as compared to the D40, and thus the reaction time to take every picture is much faster eg. change iso, whitebalance etc quickly to shoot ur intended pic. however if u like low noise high iso pics and small size camera, then D40 is for u. D70/s still handles iso well till iso640, so u still has much room to work with..
