Monkeyless

I’ve been thinking about getting a digital SLR camera, and I’m writing this up to summarize my opinions based on using both the D70 and Rebel XT for a while. Hopefully this might help other people make some decisions. If you don’t want to read about how I narrowed it down to those two cameras, you can skip straight to the comparison.

Narrowing it down to the XT and D70

From doing some preliminary research it looked like the Nikon D70 and the Canon Rebel XT are really the main contenders at the “low-end” of the DSLR market right now. There is the Pentax *ist and Olympus E-300, both of which have a few reasons to recommend them, but they really aren’t much competition for Canon and Nikon (for example, the E-300’s noise is much higher than any of the other low-end DSLRs). Canon and Nikon just have the best overall offerings.

Then there’s the Nikon D50, which maybe should be in the running. I wound up discounting it fairly early because it seemed to lack a few features that I wanted. The SD slot rather than the CF slot is a fairly big deal, since I already have CF cards, but there were a few other reasons I didn’t look at it further. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what they were right now. From skimming the spec sheet, the only thing that jumps out right now is the lack of a depth-of-field preview button, but I think there were other things as well.

Then there’s the original Digital Rebel (the 300D). There are some good deals on this camera since the Rebel XT came out, but not good enough for me to really consider it. The main reason is that it’s just a lot slower than both the D70 and XT. Taking a few seconds to get ready to shoot really does make a difference. With a DSLR I found myself leaving it turned on all the time. The camera will occasionally turn off if you haven’t shot in a few minutes, but will be ready instantly if you half-press the shutter. That means that you never notice it turning off, and as far as you’re concerned it’s always ready to pick up and shoot, just like a 35mm SLR. Those extra seconds would really be noticeable when you’re doing that. The XT also adds a lot of features over the original Rebel. Now, there’s always the firmware hack to the original to enable some of those features, but considering what you still get in the XT, and considering that the price difference is really under $100, it just wasn’t worth it.

Wait, we’re not done eliminating cameras yet. The Canon 20D is very similar to the XT, but larger and with a more rugged body. Also a number of nice features (like 3200 ISO). However, in this case the price difference between the Rebel XT and the 20D is pretty huge, and the extra features, while nice, aren’t worth that much to me.

And then there are all the older models that you can pick up relatively cheap on eBay, like the Canon D30, D60, 10D, etc. None of these respond as quickly as the D70, 20D, or XT. They can take excellent pictures, and if you want to get into digital SLRs as cheaply as possible, a used Canon D30 is probably a great way to do it, but these just didn’t work for me.

Comparing the D70 and XT

I was lucky enough to use both cameras for a while. Here are my thoughts on the pros and cons of each:

Reasons I liked the Canon Rebel XT better:

• Smaller than the D70. This is a bigger deal than I expected it to be. The XT is just a little easier to fit into the different bags and carriers that I tried, so it’s just a little easier to take with you.
• Lighter. If you’re carrying it around your neck for a day, a few ounces can really add up.
• Better noise levels at equivalent ISO settings. The D70’s lowest ISO setting is 200, while the Rebel goes to 100. Comparing them both at 200, the Rebel just has noticeably smoother and cleaner pictures; going to 100 on the Rebel gives it an even bigger advantage.
• Higher resolution (8 megapixels vs. 6 megapixels). This isn’t a big difference, since 8mp isn’t going to give you much more detail than 6mp. But it is a little more detail, so this is a slight advantage.

Reasons I liked the Nikon D70 better:

• Fits in your hand better. The XT is a bit too small to fit comfortably in your hand, and my pinkie was always resting below the camera rather than being wrapped around the grip with the rest of my fingers. The D70 just feels better in your hand. It also feels a little more solid, probably because it’s heavier.
• Two control dials for adjusting settings. On the XT you are sometimes holding down a button and spinning the single control dial, while on the D70 you would just spin the second dial. This wasn’t really that big of a deal, but is a slight advantage.
• Much easier ISO control. On the XT, to see what ISO you’re at and/or change the ISO setting, you have to bring up the menu on the graphical LCD display and scroll through that to change it. There’s no way to see your current ISO without using that. On the D70, there’s a dedicated ISO button for changing it, and the new ISO will show up in the viewfinder. It is also always displayed on the top LCD panel. I don’t want people to think it’s a lot of button pressing on the XT, though: you press the ISO button and that menu comes up. It’s just not as convenient.
• The top LCD panel. On the XT, the LCD panel that shows the current settings is on the back of the camera, above the photo review LCD screen. On the D70, it’s on the top, which is just more convenient. The D70’s panel also shows more information.

I didn’t really notice any difference in responsiveness between the two of them. In many areas, they are more similar than different. They are available for roughly the same price. They are both excellent cameras that will take amazing pictures.

What it really comes down to for me is smaller, lighter, and better pictures vs. fits in the hand better and seeing and changing settings easier. What did I choose? The Rebel XT. But I can definitely see people choosing the D70. The slight picture quality advantage of the XT is just that, a slight advantage. If you’re not blowing up huge prints shot at high ISO, you may never see the difference in real life (assuming you’re not a pixel peeper who’s zooming into each image in Photoshop to look for small imperfections).

That said, the thing I most missed on the XT was being able to easily see and change the ISO setting. On my old digital point-and-shoot I never touched the ISO setting, since the pictures just got mostly useless because of the noise levels if you bumped that up. With a DSLR I’m constantly changing the ISO setting. When I was using the XT, there were several occasions when I had bumped up the ISO, and then the next time I used the camera I just didn’t think to check it before shooting and wound up shooting a number of pictures at a higher ISO than I needed to or wanted to. Assuming I go ahead and get the XT, I’ll just have to get used to checking it in the menu every time I get the camera out.

Right now I’m planning on eventually getting the Rebel XT without the kit lens, and getting something like the Canon 28-105 3.5-4.5 USM lens to go with it. We’ll see what happens, though.

If you found any of this at all helpful and want to help defray the costs of operating this web site, please consider buying through these Amazon links. Amazon has a 30-day return policy on digital cameras, so if you wind up buying one and then realize that you hate it, you can return it without having to pay a restocking fee or anything like that, the way you would at Circuit City or Best Buy. Monkeyless-supporting links:

• Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D) without the kit lens
• Canon Digital Rebel XT with the 18-55mm kit lens (not really a bad lens in my opinion, despite its reputation)
• Nikon D70S with kit lens, since I can’t seem to find just the D70 body around any longer (Nikon’s kit lens is a definite improvement over Canon’s kit lens, by the way)
• Nikon D70 without the kit lens