which would you choose and why?

 

shoulda got in on that sd400 for 284?

 

that'd be nice for just a point and shoot, but i want a dslr.

 

i would choose the d50 mainly because I could use it at a backup for my d70.

the 350d is a tad bit better imo than the d50. the d50 lacks a few features which I could not do without. why not spend a little more for the d70 instead of the d50?

 

d70 better than the 350d? what about d70s?

 

If you're just looking at Nikon and you're likely to buy just one lens to go with your spiffy new dSLR like most people have been doing since auto focus became popular, the lens included with the D50 kit is kinda junk while the lens with the D70 kit is rather nice. If you buy the D50 body and the lens that comes with the D70 kit as separate items, they end up costing as much as a D70 kit.

D70s is only a very slight upgrade of the D70. Hardware wise it has a slightly bigger screen on the back (2.0" vs 1.8"), the built-in flash covers the field of view of an 18mm lens instead of a 20mm lens, and can take a higher-capacity battery pack. In terms of software Nikon supposedly upgraded algorithms for making the metering and autofocus a little quicker and menus that are supposedly a little more intuitive. The software stuff can be added to a regular D70.

See here's the thing though. Looking only at image quality the little bitty Canon Rebel XT a.k.a. 350D pretty much stomps all over every Nikon dSLR short of the D2x which costs about 5 grand. Sure it's really tiny, which I guess some more amateur type folks like although personally I don't when yer talkin SLR cameras. But ultimately it comes down to if you want the camera that makes better looking pictures or a camera that feels nicer to hold and maybe has a couple other tricks up its sleeve.

Back before digital came around the only things that *really* affected image quality were the lens and the film. The body itself was just a light-proof box that held the film and could have some neato features integrated into it. Now with digital, the "film" is essentially part of the body so that makes choosing one all that more important. Looking at the pics resized for viewing on a computer screen yer not gonna be able to tell the difference between any of these cameras. But when it comes to making big prints with a sufficiently good photo printer, either at home or sending them off to be printed professionally, the 350D has a definite advantage.

Oh and of course we're forgetting the most important thing here: how much do you want to spend for everything? Are you just going to buy the body and one lens? One of the main points of having an SLR is access to lots of different lenses. What about an external flash? Body-integral flashes are useful in a pinch but really they're all rather crappy and should not be relied upon as your only flash. An overall budget range would be helpful to know.

 

i've been kind leaning towards the 350d, and your post helps with that. i already have canon lenses, which would make the canon the cheaper route, at first. i'd like to stay around the $1000 mark.

 

I will sell you my d70 kit lens for cheap if you buy just the d70 body.

as for the battery pack difference between d70 and d70s. there isn't any physical difference. I have both battery packs and they both work with the d70. the one that comes with d70s has 100mAh more capacity than the one that comes with the d70.

I say try out both the d70 and the 350d and see which one you like better both in terms of menu,etc and how it feels in your hands. I found both the 300/350/20d to be too small for my hands.

 

What lenses do you have right now? I take it you have some kind of Canon EOS 35mm SLR?

 

also to counter mikey, I personally found the image quality on the d70 to be just as good if not better than 350,20d. but that has more to do with the person behind the lens.

again pick the camera you are more comfortable with then go from there. then don't worry so much about the equipment.