Nikon choice.

[Ganoderma]

I am having a bit of a time deciding. right now i have a Nikon coolpix 5400. i love this camera and i bought it at the time to see if i was more interested in photography (prosumer camera). i have started getting the hang of it (after 3 years....) and am starting to think about making my next step to dslr. i am thinking getting the nikon d50/70, or the Canon EOS 350D.

first of all the nikon. does it have TIFF format? i have only found that it has 3 size JPEG and RAW. no TIFF?

also lenses. i am confused as to lenses. i am reading dpreview lots but cant figure it out. i am mostly aimed at macro photography. especially small animals, bugs, microscope etc. are there any good sites i can look up to learn what lenses do what and why? preferably in a comprehensible way.

maybe not the most important but the D50 uses SD cards. i have always used CF. how are these? in comparison to CF?

Canon EOS 350D
2 more mega pixels. i know these are not the only thing to look at, but i do want to make prints. Would these extra 2 make a large difference in macro prints? prints may be up to 60cm. would i be compromising something else by going for this over the nikon?

"Aperture range n/a" i don’t get it? what does it not show the range (dp review)?

-/+2 EV, nikon is 5.

2 JPEG settings and RAW, no TIFF?

I heard a few bad things about the sensors in the canon A series (A90 and such). If they were true, how are the censors now?

All in all if wildlife/nature/biology photography was your focus, as well as travel. You did a LOT of macro work, which would you choose and what features made that decision?

This will be a next year purchase to ensure i know as much as i can before buying. Perhaps then one of the better cameras will be comparable price? i do not want to go over $1000US for the body though, and will have little extra for lenses right away.

Thank you so much for any feedback!!!

 

[Arch]

I can answer some of your questions;

The D50 doesnt have TIFF format...... but you wont need it..... for snapshots you can use the large jpeg setting which is easily good enough resolution for editing and printing. For your more serious shots..... use RAW, and RAW software to get the best results from your camera.

SD Vs CS..... not much difference here..... apart from having to move over to SD if you have a collection of CS, which can be annoying..... apart from that you wont have any bother with the card format.

The diffrences in quality between the Nikon d50 or the Canon EOS 350D, are not much....... its kind of the question of the week around here, evryone wants to know which to choose...... the answer is..... its up to you.... the 350D is alot smaller than the D50.... so best thing is to have a look in a shop at both..... then make your decision...... i went for the D50...... but if i chose the 350D i doubt i'd see much difference in my pictures.

The D70 or D70s is a step up from the above cameras....... so has more features...... again its up to you if you think you'd use them.

 

[LWW]

Both will do quite well as noted. Nikon's available glass selection IMHO is a little better.

As to the size, it's a matter of what you feel comfortable with. After using an F4s for yrs a D50 feels VERY small to me. That's the one thing I don't like, you may feel diffferent.

LWW

 

[markc]

You might want to look at reviews of macro lenses available from Nikon and Canon, if that's where your focus is going to be.

Cameras don't have aperture ranges. That's based on the lens.

Most RAW formats I've seen use 12-bit color. TIFFs use either 8-bit or 16-bit. If the camera used TIFF, you'd either lose color information or take up wasted space.

I haven't heard anything specific bad about the Canon sensors.

 

[Ganoderma]

excellent thanks! i am pretty new to it as you can see. any good sites anyoen would suggest for learing about lenses i spent some time googling and am now an "expert" on prices but am still not sure how a lense works.

by nikons glass selection, that means lenses right? sorry...

i have gone a few times already to look and play with these cameras they both feel good. i personally like the nikon feel (everytime i go camera shopping nikon seems to fit my hands quite nicely!), but the cannon is still pretty comfy.

so the 2 megapixel difference does not make much difference in picture quality on the larger prints?

one last Q. do the d50 and d70/s lenses fit on each others bodies? interchangable?

thanks for the help! muchly appreciated!

sorry one last question. about durability. for those that own these cameras pretend you are a biologist and go out in teh feild a lot for pictures. anywhere from ocean, to rainforest, to desert, to snoy or rain and even down some caves. this is where my 5400 was really nice, it took some abuse! i know they are very delecate machines. but in a word whcih is stronger (physically)?

thanks again!

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Any nikon lens will work on any of their Digtial SLR's. Canon on the other hand is different, some lenses will only work on about half of their cameras.

 

[LWW]

sorry one last question. about durability. for those that own these cameras pretend you are a biologist and go out in teh feild a lot for pictures. anywhere from ocean, to rainforest, to desert, to snoy or rain and even down some caves. this is where my 5400 was really nice, it took some abuse! i know they are very delecate machines. but in a word whcih is stronger (physically)?

thanks again!

I can't make a statement on Canons but have owned several Nikons. The only case I know pf personally where a Nikon body failed was an N2020 which was made in 1986 I believe and I bought used it 1993. I used it as a main body for years and then later as a backup. I finally sold it to a friend and she poked the shutter with a long fingernail while changing film at a New Year's Eve party. $60.00 to reattach the blade and it still works great a year later.

LWW