Nikon D70S VS Canon 20D

anubis404 · Nov 28, 2008

I'm curious, which one of these bodies outperforms the other? They're both around the same price range, with the 20D costing slightly more. Lets also say resolution wasn't an issue. Which body would you buy?

Note: This is going strictly on the bodies performance, without considering buying into the Nikon or Canon family of lenses.

chrisburke · Nov 28, 2008

i havent used the 20D, but I've got a d70 at my house right now, and it seems like a great camera. its a nice beefy camera (which I like cause I have big hands) it took me a few minutes to find the aperture dial, but other than that, it seems to work great, very similar to using my D50 or D40... which is what I expected from a nikon product.

Big Mike · Nov 28, 2008

I seem to remember that the 20D was rated quite well, back in it's day....better than the D70 but I'm not sure what improvements the D70s might have.

I can tell you that the 20D is a great camera, I've got a couple of them.

But really, they are both very good cameras, albeit a bit older technology. In practical terms, they would be very similar.

anubis404 · Nov 28, 2008

I think the D70s had improvements in AF, screen size, and battery life. I really love my D70s, I was just curious if I was missing out on anything in the canon side of things.

Big Mike · Nov 28, 2008

Side by side comparison
I'd still say that the 20D has better features. Notably, it shoots at 5 fps to the D70's 3 fps. It's got more pixels, although this might mean that the D70s has less noise, but I'm not sure about that. The 20D also has ISO 3200 (H), which isn't really usable, but it's there.

chrisburke · Nov 28, 2008

i would say from a practical stand point... you already have money invested in nikon glass already... and they are both similar cameras, you should likely stick with the d70s

SpeedTrap · Nov 28, 2008

One Nice thing about the D70s is the flash will sync at 1/500 sec

ksmattfish · Nov 29, 2008

anubis404 said:
...I was just curious if I was missing out on anything in the canon side of things.

You aren't. There are no other camera manufacturers as similar as Nikon and Canon. They have worked very hard to be as identical to each other as possible for the last 50+ years. As soon as one innovates something, or downgrades something, the other comes along and does the same pretty soon (Canon introduced the plastic lens mount, Nikon soon followed, Pentax was disgusted...

) The only thing they've worked harder at is convincing people that it's the gear that really matters.

When the 20D came out I'd say Canon had an edge. Yesterday Nikon was in the lead with the amazing D3. Today the 5D mkII starts shipping, and if it lives up to the hype Canon will take the lead again. I see rumors of the D3 replacement already. I'm sure that when it comes out it will be the coolest camera. But wait until the 5D mkIII!!! And the battle will continue on and on.... Unless you've got loads of moola, I'd just stick with what you've got. Technological image quality increases are insignificant compared to what you can do with your brain.

anubis404 · Nov 30, 2008

Ok, thanks guys.

Ken Rockwell actually did a review on the D70 VS. the 20D. But then again, I don't think I would trust a guy who said the D70S's *only* improvement over the D70 is the larger screen.

frXnz kafka · Nov 30, 2008

SpeedTrap said:
One Nice thing about the D70s is the flash will sync at 1/500 sec

It will actually sync faster than that. A few of the old Nikons had electronic shutters (above 1/250th the mechanical shutter opens at 1/250, and the sensor turns on and off for the given shutter speed). This means if you have your flash connected with a PC cord it will sync up to 1/800th. The only thing you lose is a bit of flash power above 1/1000. Wireless triggers won't sync that high, simply because by their nature there is a signal delay, but Pocket Wizards will still sync up to 1/1000.

I'm not sure why Nikon (and one of the old Canon 1Ds) list the sync speed at 1/500. I believe if you use a TTL flash on the shoe the camera won't let you shoot faster than 1/500 unless you're in FP mode, but PC cords and wireless triggers let you get around this.