Waht does teh D20 in nikon D20 stand for? etc...

[cmyk]

Helloski persons of the light-writing world! I'm not to photography and I had a few simple (or at least I hope simple) questions.I have a Canon ebel XTi I bought for myself, and I know how to use it fairly well (considering I've only been taking pictures for a year) but I havent expanded my horizon to other cameras. Unfortuantly I dont know anything about other cameras so I have come here in hopes of educating myself further on the ... so jsut to break the ice I'll ask some quesiotns that've been bugging me for a while, so here we go:

Waht does the suffix on the camera title mean? i.e. Nikon D30, what does D30 mean? is it better than a D100 or worse? Is it somehting to do with Chronology? Does it change from "D#" to something else if it's a different brand of camera? All this stuff I want/need to know! any other information, please dont hesitaste to elaborate

edit: I can't believe I'm the guy who has "waht" and "teh" in the thread name... will not happen again!

 

[Peanuts]

Best rule of thumb is to look at the price range and the release date and that answers your question. Hopefully a Nikon user will enter this conversation and give you the low down on the different Nikon 'lines'

 

[ScottS]

Well, pretty much it goes in chronological order. Starting from the most basic camera, to the most advanced...
-D40
-D40x
-D50 ( older camera... and some might argue that it is not better than the D40 )
-D70
-D70s
-D80
-D100
-D200
-D300

start to get the picture?

 

[cmyk]

Well, pretty much it goes in chronological order. Starting from the most basic camera, to the most advanced...
-D40
-D40x
-D50 ( older camera... and some might argue that it is not better than the

this sentance implies that the smaller the number, the newer the camera? or is it strike that, reverse that?

 

[ScottS]

well... not really, The higher the number, the more features they have.

for example, The D50 is an older camera, while the D40 is newer... but the D100 is older than the D80....

hmm that may have just confused you more....

 

[gizmo2071]

The numbers kinda represent what level/consumer they are aimed at.
The models that are D** (with 2 digits) are usually aimed at your standard level photographer. They have good features, but not as many as the next level.
So Nikon started with the D50, then released the D70 and the D70s and then the D80.
They released the D40 and D40x very recently, but I'm not sure of it's specs, but isn't it aimed at people buying their first DSLR or something?

The next level of Nikon Cameras are the D*** (with 3 digits).
They are aimed at the high end ametuers and professionals.
They have more features, like more AF points and more control of different variables. Since they are aimed at this level of photographer and have more features, they are more expensive.
The D100 was first, then the D200 and now the D300.

The top level of Nikon DSLR's is the D* (single digit), which are aimed at the professional photographers.
Their prices are higher than the other levels, but I guess you get what you pay for. You had the D2x and now the D3 is being released and no doubt in the future the D3x.

The same goes for the Canon cameras aswell. Though their bottom line is the ***D(three digits) then the **D (two digits) and the top line is the single digits and the 1D mk**. The 1D is the top canon camera, and their new modelsare always 1D mkI or 1Ds mkII (they just go up in the Mk**).

 

[cmyk]

Thanks! That was a huge help cause I had no idea what any of that meant until now, but it'l take a whiole for all of that to sink in perminantly