Digital SLR Recommendations?

[alf]

Looking for a DSLR. Got any recommendations? Indoor Macro shooting for swords (www.japanesesword.com), kids and general outdoor.

[nostatic]

Macro usually means Nikon as their lenses are better for that. Canon rules the roost for high speed sports.

Budget? I have a Nikon D70 with a couple of lenses including a macro 105mm. I would actually go for the 55mm macro instead as I like to get rather close to subjects and the depth of field on the 105 is pretty tight. If I were buying a body now I'd get a D200 with the 18-200 VR lense for general use.

[gchappel]

What is your budget?
Do you want to get into the details of photography or do you want to let the camera take great pictures.
Both canon and nikon have great systems- and sony may be coming on strong as well.
In my opinion- and I am a nikon system user with a d70, d2h, d2x, d2xs- nikon has slightly better color and detail rendition. Nikon also has a slightly better flash system.
Canon has better noise at high iso.
Both have great glass.
You can't go wrong with either.
Give us a budget, and we can help you overspend it
gary

[VaSteve]

Love my D70

[alf]

Budget around $1000-1500. I checked out a several cameras today the D70, D80, Rebel XTi. Prefer the feel of the Nikons.

The clerk recommended the D70 with a Sigma 17 to 70 F2.8 to 4.5 with Macro for $1100 to get started, good choice? $700 body, $400 lens.

[nostatic]

I'm not a big fan of Sigma lenses. My only non-Nikon lens is a Tokina 12-24 wide angle zoom. Find a D70 combo with a zoom lense and buy the 60mm Macro (Nikon calls it Micro, should be about $400).

[alf]

Todd
Do the older Nikon lens fit the D70? I do not need AF for Macro stuff that i will be using indoors on a tripod with a light box.

There is a D80 package with 18-135 lens for $1300. Pick that up with an older Nikon Macro off the bay for another $100 or so?

[nostatic]

yes, I believe all the older Nikon lenses will fit. The D80 package would be the way to go. You can shoot the swords with the 18-135 lense pretty well too...just would be limited as to how close you could get. But given the number of MP involved, you can crop and get very good "closeups"

[gchappel]

The older lens will fit the d70- they may not meter, but that is also not a problem with a macro setup with a lightbox- just chimp the histogram. Buy as much body as you can afford, but the glass is just as important. The d80 has had great reviews- I have not shot with one. Don't skimp on the glass, it would be like putting walmart tires on your porsche. The older nikon glass is still awfully good- a good used copy of a micro lens would do you well. Leave room in your budget for the tripod, camera plates, flash, lighting, computer programs like photoshop, etc. Just remember, just like computers, as soon as you buy a camera they will release a better one
gary

[jyl]

On a tangent, for serious closeup work you should keep an eye out for a used bellows. Scroll down this page to see what I am talking about

http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/nikon_articles/other/close-up_macro/macro_8a.html

With a bellows and a reversed lens you can fill the entire frame with, say, the edge of a quarter. Far beyond the capabilities of a "macro" lens.

I have a Canon FD bellows I used to play with. Such micro-photography had no practical application for me, but for your sword site it would be useful.

If you get a Nikon DSLR, it may be possible to use an old Nikon bellows. I know the higher-level Nikon DLSRs are able to meter with the older manual-focus Nikkor lenses, while the lower-level Nikon DSLRs cannot. I am not sure if this also applies to a bellows. I think asking around at a photo site like photo.net would be the way to find out.

Per eBay, used Nikon bellows are quite affordable.

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by alf
Todd
Do the older Nikon lens fit the D70?

Yes, I had a 6006 before so it was super easy to put my big lens on the D70. I used a friedn's D50 for a day at a DE and I found it harder to use than my D70. I couldn't figure out intuitively how to change the shutter speed or the aperature. I could do one but not the other. Don't recall which though.

[gassy]

D70
D70
D70

[jyl]

On another tangent, compare the prices of the older used MF Nikkor lenses to the current AF lenses. Can be <1/4 the cost, the optical quality is very good in the older glass, and the mechanical quality is great.

Consider how often you will really need AF. By nature of subject, certainly not for outdoor/landscape photography, not for posed/portrait photography, not for macro/micro photography. By inherent depth of field, not for wide angle shots.

So my conclusion is the frugal guy will want to have a mix of MF and AF lenses. Thus will want a DSLR that meters with MF and AF. Meaning, avoid the lower-level Nikon DLSRs like D50 and, I think, D70? I think D200 will meter MF lenses.

P.S. Checked, D70 does not meter with AI/AIS lenses, oldest lenses it will meter with are AI-P.

[rick-l]

I got a D200 and the 18-200 vibration reduction lens after reading this
K Rockwell site

The D80 is supposed to be the same camera as the D200 only with a plastic body.

[NICKG]

d50 is supposed to beter than the 70...

[rick-l]

This digital photography stuff is EZ wit the d200. I've had it 3 weeks now

[alf]

Thanks for all the great feedback, keep them coming

I have been taking the pics on the site www.japanesesword.com with an old Nikon Coolpix 990 in 640x480 I bought used for $300.

So many choices makes getting an SLR rather overwhelming...

[djmcmath]

If you've narrowed it down to Canon and Nikon, you're doing better than 90% of the shopping crowd already. I can't disagree with Todd's opening statement about the quality of Nikon's closeup gear, despite my history as a Canon user.

I would make two recommendations:
1 - If you're serious about making good pictures, spend money on the glass, not the body. It's an old line that we used in the film days, and it's still (mostly) true in the digital era. Whatever you do, don't spend $1200 on a body and $50 on the cheap-o Sigma thing. And please, for the love of god, don't buy a zoom lens for your macro work.
2 - Check photodo.net for lens ratings. They do lens testing, and have done most of the available lenses. Look at the comparable lenses from both Canon and Nikkor, then cross-reference against B&H Photo and Video prices for them.

Dan

[nostatic]

It's not overwhelming at all. Just get the Nikon and be done with it. I'd go D70/80/200 depending on budget. You can generally get an inexpensive Nikon zoom as part of a kit that will be a perfectly acceptable general use lens. Then get a Nikon 60mm Micro. You're done. If you really want to do it right out of the gate, get the 18-200 VR zoom and the 60mm or 105mm Micro. That'll cover 99% of anything you'll ever shoot.

http://www.nostatic.com/photos/park7may06/

lo res versions shot with the D70/105Micro combination...no tripod.

[hytem]

Rather than spend a thousand bucks for a good digital SLR, keep the film SLR you have (I have a Leica M3), shoot a roll of film, have the developer make a CD, and transfer the pics to your computer. Use any digital software for editing. The pictures are as good or better than what you can take with any digital camera.
What I hate is loading the damn film in the camera (tricky for an M3). What you don't get is the instant LCD readout of your shot on the camera.