D70s vs D50 vs Rebel XT

[GarrettG]

Hello all, I have been looking around some sites about DSLR, and this seemed like a great one to ask my question on. I am looking for a fast shutter speed DSLR that can still have high quality images. I have narrowed it down to these three, and I have heard plus's and cons about all of them. The main thing i would be using one of these camera's for is high speed sports etx. Biking, Paintball, and skiing.

Thanks for all your help
Garrett G.

[candide]

I pretty much have the same question, looking at these same cameras (well mostly the XT and d50).

I'm also interested in macro photo's of my fish tanks, and some underwater (snorkling mostly, later diving) shots.

[Rhys]

The XT is pretty good. This was taken with a Tamron 70-300 lens at 300mm. Not a fantastic photo but the camera's good.

[coldrain]

The Canon 350D and Nikon D70s are about equal in features, the D50 lags behind to give the D70s a reason to exist. The Canon 350D and Nikon D50 are about equal in image quality, the D70s lags a bit behind.

The Canon has a better software package, if you plan to shoot RAW Nikon will want some extra money from you (in europe about 170Euro) for their RAW conversion tool Nikon Capture. Canon gives DDP free with the camera, which you can update to the newest version for free from their USA site.

The Nikons can at times give strange artifacts and moire, something other DSLR's do not do. This is because the Nikon's have an unusually high resulting resolution for a 6MP camera, higher than the 6mp competition. To achieve this, Nikon uses quite agressive image processing in camera, which can result in moire and strange artifacts with some patterns and image areas. This only afflicts some photos though. The D50 is better than the D70/D70s in this respect.

The Nikons feel more sturdy, the 350D is lighter and feels more plastic.

The 350D and D50 have fast USB 2, the D70(s) has slow USB 1.1.

The D50 uses SD cards, the 350D and D70(s) use Compact Flash cards.

The EOS 350D can lock its mirror up for vibration free long exposure shots, the Nikons can not do that due to the way they are constructed.

The 350D and D70(s) can finetune white balance, the D50 can't.

The 350D and D50 are light and compact compared to the D70(s).

There are many more little differences, but I think these are the main deciding ones.

[GarrettG]

I am leaning more towards the Rebel XT then the d50 because it has a faster sequence shot, and I aslo prefer the lightness. What I like about the d70s though is how fast it is. (I think it is 1/8000 as the XT is 1/4000) But is the D70s worth the extra 500 dollars to the XT?

[coldrain]

I am leaning more towards the Rebel XT then the d50 because it has a faster sequence shot, and I aslo prefer the lightness. What I like about the d70s though is how fast it is. (I think it is 1/8000 as the XT is 1/4000) But is the D70s worth the extra 500 dollars to the XT?
Have you ever taken a 1/8000th of a sec exposure photo? Or 1/4000th for that matter? I sure have not. So I am not sure if this will be at all an issue for you.

The D70s is not 500$ more expensive, the difference in price is small. And even if it was cheaper than the 350D/XT I would still choose the 350D. The D70s is not a better camera, just a different one.

[Balrog]

I think you should be looking at lenses as well as cameras: you can't expect either camera to take stellar sports photos with its kit lens, and you'll need to have a fast lens for freezing action. In fact, the maximum aperture on your lens will likely be far more important to you than 1/4000 versus 1/8000, specially considering that stopping down to reduce light is no big deal, and 1/4000 will freeze things just fine.
I suggest you read up a little more on sports photography to see what's involved, before making a decision.

by the way, coldrain - I didn't know the reason the nikons didn't have MLU was due to their construction ... what exactly is the difficulty?

[coldrain]

by the way, coldrain - I didn't know the reason the nikons didn't have MLU was due to their construction ... what exactly is the difficulty?

The mechanism that lets the mirror go up before exposure also triggers the 1st curtain shutter. This means the mirror can not be locked up, the 1st curtain trigger would never come.

[Balrog]

Ah, okay. Makes sense. I wonder why they did it like that, though ... I'm pretty sure the F bodies had MLU, right? Why remove a potentially useful feature?

[coldrain]

Ah, okay. Makes sense. I wonder why they did it like that, though ... I'm pretty sure the F bodies had MLU, right? Why remove a potentially useful feature?
Probably an engineering decision to make it fast and cheap? 1/8000 maybe has to do with it. Having a real shutter and an imaginary digital one of course can not be compared construction wise. I do not think the cheaper film range could lock up the mirror btw?

[Balrog]

Yeah, I assumed it was a cost issue, I just didn't think it would be that expensive - after all, pretty much all the other DSLRs have it, even the entry-level ones.. and actually yeah, I think just the F4/5/6 have it, in the film bodies.