A Day in Paradise

Nikon D50/D70 vs Canon Rebel XT Shootout

I’m looking at upgrading my s100 to a digital SLR. I played with Mike’s on Sunday and I am totally sold on getting an upgrade.

Taking these kinds of pictures is worth whatever the cost.

I checked out this review on the difference between the Nikon and Canon low end digital SLRs. The conclusion was somewhat inconclusive:

Both the Nikon D70 and the Canon Digital Rebel XT offer a number of individual advantages when compared side by side. Overall, the Nikon D70 provides the richer feature and function set of the two cameras, while the Digital Rebel XT offers a smaller, lighter 8MP solution, and the benefit of Canon’s latest DIGIC II image processor (faster performance than predecessor Digital Rebel, lower high ISO noise.)

While many potential buyers might be drawn by the 8 megapixel power of the Canon EOS Rebel XT, it is important to remember that resolution is not the end all in terms of image quality. The difference in print quality that the 8MP resolution offers is for all intents and purposes barely noticeable at an 11″ x 14″ print size compared to the same shot taken at 6.1 MP. The advantage of the 8MP resolution sensor lies mainly in the ability to crop an image while preserving more detail.

When comparing the respective standard kit lens packages, the Nikon D70 with the AF-S Nikkor DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G zoom versus the Canon Rebel XT with the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II zoom, the Nikon DX 18-70mm offers superior performance with its AF-S motor, brighter f/4.5 aperture at telephoto, ED low dispersion glass to minimize ghosting and flare, metal lens mount, internal focusing and extended focal range coverage up to 70mm. The higher Nikon D70 kit price versus the Canon Rebel XT kit is mainly reflected in the value of the lens.

Which camera to choose is a personal one and depends on a number of factors. All things considered, bottom line is that the Canon EOS Rebel XT and the Nikon D70 digital SLR are both capable of delivering excellent image quality. We recommend looking at what features are the most important to you, and making your decision accordingly. You really can’t go wrong.

Does anyone have any suggestions either way?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Hardware, Add-it-to-my-wishlist, Those Cute Kids, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.