Re: Canon or Nikon

Just do not be overwhelmed by the 6 vs 8mp thing because in reality it is a
non-starter and will not make any difference at all in whether you take good
pictures or not.
The Nikon kit lens, the 18-70, is superior to what Canon offers with the
digital rebel by a significant factor, particularly with regard to
distortion (linear and chromatic) at the wide end. However if you do not
understand what this kind of distortion is or how to identify it then it
hardly matters (if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it . . .) in
real world picture taking.
Good Nikon lenses (and they are mostly still the original higher end
formualtions for 35mm film SLRs) tend to be a bit more expensive than
comparable quality Canon glass, which may or may not be a factor. High
quality Canon lenses are as good or better than their Nikon counterparts.
In my opinion the D70 is a more sophisticated camera than the digital rebel
but that which makes it more sophisticated is something that, if important
to you, you can identify by reading the many reviews available of these
cameras. In particular it is the software engineering of the D70, and
software seems to be Canon's bete noire across its entire digital product
line, that distinguishes the D70 as one of the best camera values ever
marketed.
Now if you want to consider the Canon D20 instead of the Rebel, apart from
the lens thing, you would be considering a very sophisticated camera that
Canon finally seems to have worked most bugs out of (Canon had to revise the
firmware that operates the D20 within weeks of its release---a good example
of Canon software problems).
If I did not already have many Nikon lenses my personal choice of current
consumer digital SLRs would actually be the Canon D20 and the Nikon D70s a
very close second. I would not personally consider the Canon Rebel or the
Nikon D50 because the next step up in the product line of either manufactuer
yields a significantly higher quality camera. However I would not buy the
Canon kit lenses which would add immensely to the overall cost.
If you get a D70 just don't get buyer's remorse if Nikon offers a second
tier (a la D70) version of the upcoming D200 in 6 months!
In either case, if you are moving into dSLR of any brand, I urge you learn
to use the RAW format, Photoshop and color management. If you intend only to
shoot jpeg you will not see a great increase in image quality over a high
end point and shoot and you will be lugging around a much heavier camera. In
fact mastering the software side of digital photography may improve your
images more than buying a new camera.


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