*ist Ds vs Digital Rebel vs Nikon D70

[asdasd12345]

I am getting one of these cameras very soon. I do not know which one to get but I am very excited about getting my first real digital camera. I would like to know which one people think gives you the most for your money. I think I am going right now with Nikon D70 because everyone says it is the best thing ever. But I heard the new digital rebel will be coming out soon.

Any advice apprecitated.

[Rhys]

I am getting one of these cameras very soon. I do not know which one to get but I am very excited about getting my first real digital camera. I would like to know which one people think gives you the most for your money. I think I am going right now with Nikon D70 because everyone says it is the best thing ever. But I heard the new digital rebel will be coming out soon.

Any advice apprecitated.

Ok. The Fuji S1/S2/S3 should be in there too.

These take AA batteries
Fuji S1/S2/S3
Pentax *ist

These don't take AA (without an extra adaptor)
Canons
Nikons

Notes:
The Fuji seems to be a clone of the D100
The Pentax *ist - I heard rumours that the later models take only XD cards.

My personal opinion is that it's better to use something all-in-one until the DSLRs improve to an extent that they're good value for money.

[speaklightly]

Because the physical size of a digital camera has become a real issue, I can understand why there is so very much interest in the Pentax 1stDS. Perhaps the next electronics show will bring out more new dSLR digital cameras. In that group is bound to be the new replacement for Canon's Digital Rebel. Will the Rebel replacement be smaller?

Sarah Joyce

[jeisner]

The Pentax *ist - I heard rumours that the later models take only XD cards.

Not true regarding XD, although you are right it doesn't use CF :)

The ist DS takes SD Cards (which are becoming more common than CF due to its popular use in PDAs and Digicams), the prices are slightly higher than CF, but not that different, and obviously the card are physically a lot smaller.

Using the smaller SD, and also good design :) helped make the ist DS the smallest DSLR on the market, it uses the same Sony sensor as the D70, and if you hold the camera you will see what I mean about the compact size, it is a very nice camera to use IMHO.

There really is very little difference between the 300d/d70/istDS in actual picture quality, the differences are more in physical dimensions, build quality (I hate the plastic feel of the 330d) and in the choice of features (example do you prefer the faster flash sync of the D70 or the smaller size of the ist DS?). So try them out to which feels right to you and look through the specs to see if any have or don't have features you think you may need.

[Rhys]

Not true regarding XD, although you are right it doesn't use CF :)

The ist DS takes SD Cards (which are becoming more common than CF due to its popular use in PDAs and Digicams), the prices are slightly higher than CF, but not that different, and obviously the card are physically a lot smaller.

Using the smaller SD, and also good design :) helped make the ist DS the smallest DSLR on the market, it uses the same Sony sensor as the D70, and if you hold the camera you will see what I mean about the compact size, it is a very nice camera to use IMHO.

There really is very little difference between the 300d/d70/istDS in actual picture quality, the differences are more in physical dimensions, build quality (I hate the plastic feel of the 330d) and in the choice of features (example do you prefer the faster flash sync of the D70 or the smaller size of the ist DS?). So try them out to which feels right to you and look through the specs to see if any have or don't have features you think you may need.

SD does seem to be becoming a standard, doesn't it? I have feelings for and against SD. For SD the fact I can shove a lot more into my pocket. Against - CF is easier to handle and has a much larger theoretical capacity. Against SD again is that they've just come out with a mini-SD card so the SD card standard is going to change yet again. Personally I'll advise sticking with old faithful - Compact Flash.

[jeisner]

LOL, yeah memory standards are a joke, we have CF, MMC and SD, then mini SD came out, now there is another even smaller than MiniSD from sandisk called transflash, they are too small in my opinion as is mini-sd, just too easy to misplace. Then Olympus has there overpriced XD format, and Sony of course being Sony don't just have their own format but have more than one (MS, MS pro, MS Duo). I left out one didn't I? those thin card like ones, Smart Media?

[Rex914]

I can see the argument for SD since it is smaller and fits into more compact cameras, but I'm still overwhelmingly supportive of CF. It's survived all these years, still has the strongest support, and holds far more capacity at a lower price. It'd be really nice if the industry could agree on 1 or 2 standards and keep it at that.

Smart Media is a dead format (super small cards) used extensively by Fuji and Olympus. For a while, it was actually more dominant than CF, but people realized that CF was more practical and went for it. The xD (also used by just Fuji and Olympus) is somewhat similar to it.

[Rhys]

I can see the argument for SD since it is smaller and fits into more compact cameras, but I'm still overwhelmingly supportive of CF. It's survived all these years, still has the strongest support, and holds far more capacity at a lower price. It'd be really nice if the industry could agree on 1 or 2 standards and keep it at that.

Smart Media is a dead format (super small cards) used extensively by Fuji and Olympus. For a while, it was actually more dominant than CF, but people realized that CF was more practical and went for it. The xD (also used by just Fuji and Olympus) is somewhat similar to it.

Smart Media wasn't that small. It was the same height and width as Compact Flash but was very thin. The maximum size that was commonly available was 128mb. It was good if you had several because they were thin enough to pack together in a small space. It wasn't a widespread standard though as only Fuji and Olympus together with Ricoh used it. When Fuji and Olympus designed XD, only Fuji and Olympus used it. That gives them somewhat of a reputation of creating funky new cards every few years just to make sure they sell ever more cards. The only problem aside from the thinness of Smart Media was that the contacts were easily touched. Those on Compact Flash and Secure Digital are recessed. This means there's less danger of damaging the contacts. I don't know about Sony Stick or XD though.

Compact Flash is unique in needing no drivers because it's pin for pin compatible with the old-style flash memory that many laptops used to use in their PCMCIA ports.

SD is yet another format that's changing. I thought SD had been standardised but since they're changing it again, there's not much point now in buying a camera that uses it. Interestingly, all the pro cameras use Compact Flash now. It's just the amateur cameras that use SD, XD etc. Personally, using pro stuff most of my life, I'll stick with CF and AA batteries. I've seen so many of these funky batteries come and go. I'm seeing memory card formats come and go too. I'll stick with what looks like being around for a good long while.